Kerbel, Marcos interview

Permanent Link:: http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/MBVM000012/00001

Material Information

Subjects / Keywords:: Oral histories -- Miami Beach (Fla.)
Jews, Cuban -- United States
Cuba -- Emigration and immigration
Genre:: Video Recordings
Spatial Coverage:: United States -- Florida -- Miami Beach
Coordinates:: 25.8116481 x -80.1927944

Scope and Content:: Marcos Kerbel was a young Jewish boy living in Cuba when Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. He was sent by his parents to the United States as part of the Pedro Pan airlift of children whose parents feared their children would be be drafted or influenced politically by the Castro regime. Kerbel was one of over 300 Jewish children airlifted from Cuba. He wanted to stay in Miami but had no relatives here who could sponsor him so he was sent to live with a foster family, complete strangers, in Los Angeles. He talks about his childhood in Cuba, the huge upheaval of leaving, and adjustment to life in L.A. He discusses the foundation of the Cuban Hebrew Congregation in Miami and how they helped many Jewish families resettle in South Florida. He is the current president of the congregation and its unofficial historian.