MEMOIRIST: JANICE OETTINGER ROTHSCHILD BLUMBERG (1924- )
INTERVIEWER: ANN SCHOENBERG
DATES: AUGUST 7, 1989
OCTOBER 14, 1989
FEBRUARY 25, 1995
APRIL 2, 1994
LOCATION: ATLANTA, GEORGIA
NUMBER OF PAGES: 136
Transcript (PDF)
BIOGRAPHY
Janice Oettinger Rothschild Blumberg was born in Atlanta on February 13, 1924. She was an only child. Her mother, Carolyn Goldberg Oettinger, was born in Columbus, Georgia. Her father, Waldo Edouard Oettinger, was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Janice attended public schools and attended Sunday school at the Temple. She started college at the age of 15 and graduated from the University of Georgia during World War II when she was 18.
During World War II, Janice worked for the Army Corps of Engineers in the Panama Canal Zone, where they were combating malaria, and in Washington, D.C. for the Signal Corps among other jobs. During that time she also spent some time in Mexico attending the Experiment in International Living. When she returned to Atlanta in 1946 she met and married Jacob Rothschild, the new rabbi at the Temple. They had two children, Marcia and William.
On October 12, 1958 the Temple was bombed by white supremacists. Janice testified in court against George Bright, the primary suspect in the bombing. During the civil rights era, she worked on behalf of the National Conference of Christians and Jews and served as a panelist with Coretta Scott King and others speaking to groups about “Raising Children of Good Will.”
After the leading the congregation through a time of transition, growth and controversy, Rabbi Rothschild died suddenly of a heart attack on New Year’s Eve in 1973. In 1975, Janice married insurance executive David Blumberg who served as president of B’nai B’rith International. They lived in Washington, D.C. After her second husband passed away, Janice remained in Washington, D.C. until she returned to Atlanta in 2009.
Janice is active in Jewish community and civic activities and has held leadership positions in numerous organizations including the B’nai B’rith Klutznick Museum, American Jewish Historical Society, and the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington. She served as President of the Southern Jewish Historical Society.
Janice is the author of several books including Prophet in a Time of Priests: Rabbi Alphabet Browne 1845-1929; One Voice: Rabbi Jacob M. Rothschild and the Troubled South and two histories of the Temple: As But a Day: The First Hundred Years (1867-1967) and As But a Day: To a Hundred and Twenty (1867-1987). She has contributed to publications including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Southern Israelite, Encyclopedia Judaica, Education for One World, and the Jewish Georgian.
SCOPE OF INTERVIEW
Janice begins the interview with a detailed account of the events of the day the Temple in Atlanta was bombed in 1958. She provides historical context, discusses the investigation and subsequent trials and offers her insights into how the bombing affected the congregation, her family and the city—both Jewish and non-Jewish community. She reflects on her life as the wife of a rabbi, for which she admits she was unprepared and required much learning. She also discusses the history, nature, and relationships of the Atlanta Jewish community, and Atlanta’s history in general: its challenges, growth, Southern identity and other factors.
Janice shares information about her parents, Waldo and Carolyn Goldberg Oettinger, and her maternal and paternal family and their origins and background, in Boston, Massachusetts and Columbus, Georgia, going back several generations, including her ancestor “Alphabet” Browne, who was the first rabbi of the Temple in Atlanta. She reflects on growing up in Atlanta and the impact her mother’s ‘bohemian’ musical and artistic milieu and how her mother’s association with Hugh Hodgson and other musicians, writers, and prominent Atlanta people, impacted her early life. She also remembers her mother’s civic, cultural, and Jewish activities as well as her memories of Dr. David Marx, the rabbi of the Temple. Janice discusses her youth, her friends and social life, her musical education with Hugh Hodgson, early religious education, and her early attraction to becoming an actress and being involved in the theater world in Atlanta.
Janice talks about starting college when she was 15. She discusses graduating from the University of Georgia (Athens, Georgia) during World War II, working in the war effort at Fort Benning, in the Panama Canal Zone and in Washington, D.C. (among other jobs) and recalls her time with the Experiment in International Living in Mexico and later Vermont, including helping Dr. Donald Watt write two books.
Janice recalls how she and Rabbi Jacob Rothschild met when she returned to Atlanta in 1946 and spoke of Rabbi Rothschild’s upbringing, his service as a Jewish chaplain in the Pacific during World War II, his education and previous rabbinates, especially at Rodef Shalom in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that she believes contributed to his social activism in regards to both Judaism and civil rights. She is candid about the challenges she faced as the wife of a prominent rabbi and the challenges they faced as a family, and the concerns the Temple faced as it moved through a time of great transition regarding Zionism, Jewish identity and observation, and the civil rights movement. She discusses her own involvement in the civil rights movement and she also shares insights into several influential members of the Temple.
Janice describes her marriage to David Blumberg after Rabbi Rothschild’s death in 1973 and her subsequent activities with her husband, who was president of B’nai B’rith International. She remembers her life in Washington D.C. and her involvement with many Jewish community activities there.
Janice talks about some of the opportunities she had to write earlier in her life. She discusses becoming an author and several of her books.
The conversation with Janice is rich with stories about Atlanta, southern Jewish history, the Civil Rights Movement, and her family's wisdom and humor.
KEYWORDS
Aaron, Billye Williams
Acting
Actors
Adler, Rudolph (Rudy)
Ahavath Achim—Atlanta, Georgia
Alpha Epsilon Phi
Alsace-Lorraine
Ansley Park (Atlanta, Georgia)
Antisemitism
Anti-Defamation League
Apartheid
Architects
Allen, Ivan Sr.
America-Israel Cultural Foundation
American Council for Judaism (ACJ)
American Jewish Committee
Antisemitism
Anti-Zionism
Asher, Eugene
Atlanta, Georgia—Growth
Bockmann, Eleanor Troutman
Bar mitzvah
Bennett, Hildegarde
Bermont, Hill
Bernhardt, Max
Beth Jacob—Atlanta, Georgia
Biltmore Hotel—Atlanta, Georgia
Blockade runners
Blumberg, David
Blumberg, Janice Rothschild Oettinger
B'nai B'rith International
B'nai B'rith Gate City Lodge No. 144—Atlanta, Georgia
B'nai B'rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum—Washington, D.C.
Bohemians
Boston, Massachusetts
Boston University—Boston, Massachusetts
Brail, Nina
Breman, Elinor Rosenberg
Breman, M. William
Briarcliff Hotel—Atlanta, Georgia
Bright, George
Briscoe family
Brockey, Harold
Brown v. Board of Education
Browne, Alphabet (Rabbi)
Browne, Edward Benjamin Morris (Rabbi)
Brumby, Thomas Micajah Jr.
Camp Blue Star—North Carolina
Camp Coleman—Cleveland, Georgia
Candler, Asa Griggs
Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR)
Central State Hospital—Milledgeville, Georgia
Century Club—Columbus, Georgia
Chagall, Marc
Chang, Dorothy
Chaplains, Jewish
Choirs
Civil Rights Movement
Civil War, 1861-1865
Coca-Cola
Cohen, Joseph (Rabbi)
Cohen, Louisa Palatchi
Columbia University—New York City, New York
Columbus, Georgia
Davison, Hal
Davis, Stuart (Rabbi)
Davison, Natasha
Delta Phi Epsilon
Driving Miss Daisy (film/play/fictional character)
Druid Hills (Atlanta, Georgia)
Druid Hills High School—Atlanta, Georgia
Eisendrath, Maurice (Rabbi)
Eisenhower, Dwight David (President)
Emory University—Atlanta, Georgia
Epstein, Harry (Rabbi)
Epstein, Reva Shashesman
Evansville, Indiana
Experiment in International Living
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Feldman, Emanuel (Rabbi)
Feldman, Estelle
Feminism
Ferst, Doris Marks
Fiji (island)
Fisher, Carlyn Feldman
Five O’Clock Shadow
Five Points (Atlanta, Georga)
Fort Benning—Columbus, Georgia
Frank, Leo—Trial and lynching
Freehof, Solomon Bennett (Rabbi)
French embassy—Washington, D.C.
Friedan, Betty
Garland, Reuben
Garson, Frank
Geffen, Sara
Geffen, Tobias (Rabbi)
Georgia Bureau of Investigation
Georgia Federation of Women’s Clubs
Germany
Gershon, Rebecca (Reb) Mathis
Gestenfeld, Norman (Rabbi)
Gin rummy (card game)
Gittelsohn, Roland (Rabbi)
Goldberg, David
Goldberg, Lylah
Goldberg, Simon
Goldenson, Samuel S. (Rabbi)
Great Depression, 1929
Guadalcanal (island)
Haas, Aaron
Haas, Helen Weil
Haas, Herman
Hadassah
Hartsfield, William (Mayor)
Harvard Law School—Cambridge, Massachusetts
Hebrew Benevolent Congregation—Atlanta, Georgia
Heyman, Josephine [Jo] Joel
High Holy Days
Hirsch, Harold
Hirshberg, Isaac A.
Hodgson, Hugh
Hodgson, Jessie McKee Nunnally
Holocaust denial
Horseback riding
Immigration
Insurance industry
Israel
Israel Bonds
Jacobs, Joseph (Dr.)
Jacobs, Muriel
Jacobs, Sinclair Sartorius Jr.
Jepson, Helen
Jews, German
Jewish-Christian relations
Jewish-Jewish relations
Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta—Atlanta, Georgia
Jewish War Veterans of the United States
Journalism
Journalists
Judaism—Customs and practices
Judaism, Conservative
Judaism, Reform
Judaism, Classical Reform
Judaism, Ethical
Judaism, Orthodox
Judaism, Prophetic
Kaddish
Kashrut
Kaufman, Gus
Kaufman, Marian Waxelbaum
King, Coretta Scott
King, Martin Luther Jr.
Kosher
Ku Klux Klan
League of Women Voters
Lehrman, Richard (Rabbi)
Levy, Barbara Fox
Loeb, Marcus
Loeb, Morris
Lowenstein family (Max and Betty)
Lowenstein, Frank
Lowenstein, William
Luck, Tom
Lucky Thirteen Club
McClain, Roy (Reverend)
McDowell, Michael Angelo Jr.
McGill, Ralph Emerson
Macon, Georgia
Mahjong
Mantinband, Charles (Rabbi)
Mantler, Marshall (Bud)
Marienthal, Stanley
Marienthal, Evelyn
Marx, David (Rabbi)
Maskit
Matchmaking
Mayer, David
Mayerberg, Samuel (Rabbi)
Menorah
Mexico
Milledgeville, Georgia
Minister’s Manifesto
Mitchell, Francis
Modigliana, Amedea
Music Club—Atlanta, Georgia
Music, teaching
Musician's Supply Business—Boston, Massachusetts
National Association of Women's and Children's Apparel Salesman (NAWCAS)
National Conference for Community and Justice
National Conference of Christians and Jews
National Council of Jewish Women
National Services Industries—Atlanta, Georgia
New Caledonia (island)
Newnan, Georgia
Oettinger, Carolyn Goldberg
Oettinger, Rose Hamburger
Oettinger, Waldo
Olympics, 1996 (Atlanta, Georgia)
One Voice: Rabbi Jacob M Rothschild and the Troubled South
Orchestras
Or VeShalom—Atlanta, Georgia
Oswego, New York
Panama Canal Zone
Pariticutin (volcano, Mexico)
Pascin, Jules
Paschall, Walter Goode
Paschall, Eliza King
Passover
Pendergast machine—Kansas City, Kansas, Missouri
Pesach
Pissarro, Camille
Posner, Philip (Rabbi)
Phillips, Nettie Elsas
Pianists
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Private schools
Race riots, 1906 (Atlanta, Georgia)
Racism
Rationing
Rebbetzin
Rearing Children of Good Will
Religious education, Jewish
Rich’s—Atlanta, Georgia
Rodef Shalom—Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Roosevelt, Eleanor
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (President
Rosenberg, Leman
Rosenberg, Herbert J. (Sr.)
Rosenberg, Herbert Jerome (Jerry) III
Rothschild family (Columbus, Georgia)
Rothschild, Marcia
Rothschild, William (Rabbi)
Rothschild, Jacob (Rabbi)
Sabbath
Salons
Samuels, Clara
Samuels, Sigfried
Sandmel, Samuel (Rabbi)
Schatten, William (Dr.)
School of Malariology—Panama Canal Zone
Schwartz, Sonia Weinberg
Schwartz, William B.
Schwob, Simon
Seders
Sephardim
Sexias, Moses
Shabbat
Shearith Israel—Atlanta, Georgia
Shidduch
Shulhafer, Hannah Grossman
Shurgin, Eloise
Shutze, Philip Trammell
Sisterhoods
Six O'Clock Shadow
Slann, David
Smith College—Northampton, Massachusetts
Sommerfield, Clara (Cissy) Rosenfeld
Sororities
Soutine, Chaim
South Africa
Southeastern Traveler Exhibitors
Southern Israelite (Jewish newspaper)—Atlanta, Georgia
Standard Club—Atlanta, Georgia
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church—Atlanta, Georgia
Stern, Isaac
Suffragettes
Sugarman, Alvin (Rabbi)
Sunday school
Symphonies
Taylor, Esther
Temple Sinai—Atlanta, Georgia
Temple—Atlanta, Georgia
Temple Bombing, 1958—Atlanta, Georgia
Travel services
Twelfth Night (Festival)
Uhry, Alene Fox
Uhry, Alfred Fox
Uhry, Marguerite Taylor
Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC)
Union for Reform Judaism
United Jewish Appeal
United Service Organization (USO)
United States Corps of Engineers
Universalism
University of Georgia—Athens, Georgia
University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Venable, James
Violinists
Volcanos (Mexico)
Voting, women
Washington, George (President) Washington, D.C.
Washington Hebrew Congregation—Washington, D.C.
Watt, Donald (Dr.)
Waxelbaum Family—Columbus, Georgia
Weinberg, A.J.
Weinstein, I.M.
Weinstein, Milton
Weiss, David
Weiss, Morton L. (Bud)
Westminster School—Atlanta, Georgia
Wice, David (Rabbi)
Wice, Sophie
Williams, Samuel W. (Dr.)
Willkie, Wendel
Wittenstein, Charles
Wise, Isaac Mayer (Rabbi)
Wittow, Frank
Women's Liberation
World War, 1914-1918
World War, 1939-1945
Writing
Writers and authors
Yancey, Carolyn Dunbar
Yiddishkei
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur War, 1973
Zionism