Strom began taking photographs when he embarked on his first trek to Eastern
Europe in 1981 in search of remnant Jewish culture — he has since returned
more than 60 times, with camera in hand. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: A circa-1932
synagogue in Birobidzhan, Russia (2000); a Hungarian-Romanian violinist on the
train to Cluj (1993); the former Jewish quarters of Kazimiercz in Krakow, Poland
(2000); Tisha B’Av in a synagogue in Miskolc, Hungary (1987).

“The recording project was brought
to me with Yiddish songs written in the
early 1930s, when there was a renais-
sance of Yiddish culture in the Soviet
Union.
“I’m also working on a documentary
about Eugene Victor Debs, a one-time
presidential candidate representing the
Socialist Party of America and a labor
organizer who was not Jewish but had
Jewish cronies. [And] my wife and I
are working on a play about the life of
Chagall.”

The Stroms and their 18-year-old
daughter, Tallulah, are active in their
local synagogue, Ohr Shalom, where he
performs once a month.
Strom, who will return to the area
in May to make a presentation at
the Windsor International Writers
Conference, has strong emotional ties to
what klezmer represents.
“To play these tunes and see enjoy-
ment as people express themselves is
especially nice,” he says. “It’s a small
token of my appreciation.”

*

March 31 • 2016

53