Susan Philipp Oral History Interview

The interview opens with Susan Philipp describing the events that led to her moving to Corvallis, Oregon with her husband, Kurt, who had been offered a job in the history department at Oregon State University. She also describes their family origins, explaining that both she and her husband were from Germany but left shortly before the outbreak of World War II. Her family was deported to France when she was a child, and he spent the war years in Switzerland, where he had been staying before his parents were forced to leave Germany. Each of them eventually moved to the U.S., where they met. They got married in Denver, Colorado in 1957, and moved to Corvallis in 1962, by which time they had two children.

Philipp then talks about her memories of Corvallis from the time she arrived, and how the city has changed since then. She estimates that perhaps fifteen other Jewish families lived in Corvallis when she arrived. She recalls that her own family was the only one which was very traditional in their practices and beliefs. Despite their status as a minority community, Philipp states that she rarely encountered issues with anti-Semitism and that the community and her children’s school teachers were for the most part very cooperative and enthusiastic in terms of accommodating the family’s traditional beliefs and practices, including dietary restrictions and restrictions on weekend activities. The Corvallis community in general knew very little about Judaism, and Philipp recalls that her husband was often asked to speak at local churches, schools, and other groups.

Philipp then describes the process of obtaining kosher meat and how it changed as more Jewish families settled in the Willamette Valley and the greater Pacific Northwest. The meat had to be ordered in from across the country and shipped to Portland on a truck, where the families would then have to pick it up. Philipp describes in some detail one harrowing trip that her husband made in terrible weather. She then returns to the subject of religious observances and mentions that they frequently attended services in Portland, because her husband was asked to read the Torah there regularly as he was qualified to do so. She talks about the organization of the Corvallis Jewish community by a small group of women, herself included, who were all mothers with children that were close in age. The group began meeting irregularly out of concern that their children were not receiving any Jewish education. This eventually led to the foundation of the Corvallis chapter of Hadassah. The interview concludes with her describing some anti-Semitic experiences that her son experienced in high school.