Sol Drachler (Part I)
Interviewed by Michael Berke
October 12, 2011
Seattle, Washington
Sol Drachler (Part I)
Video 01:53:20
Sol Drachler (Part I)
Audio 01:53:20
Abstract
In this interview, Sol Drachler speaks about his parents and their immigration to Canada, and then to the US, and ultimately in Detroit by the time he was two years old. He has memories of the entire family working in the laundry business after his father had a stroke while he was young. He discusses growing up in a poor school system where he was promoted and tutored other children.
He speaks about his mother’s family and their immigration to the US before World War II. He mentions his grandparents and that his father was delegate to one of the World Zion Congresses. He has family in Israel and speaks at length about Labor Zionists, and Habonim. He also talks about going to summer camp as a child and going to school for chemistry, but eventually wanted to go into accounting because he was good at math.
Drachler goes into how he secured his job as co-director of the Jewish Parent’s Institute at the Jewish Community Center. He talks about how he met his wife Leah at a Labor Zionists meeting. He speaks about his relationship with his in-laws and the influence they had on his life. He mentions Leah’s career as a social worker and as a teacher.
Drachler speaks at length about his trips to Israel and also his family he has there and how he keeps in contact with them. He speaks about how working for Federation impacted his own children and family life.
Drachler goes in depth about Federation. He talks about his impressions of the Federation when he first joined and what his impressions of Jewish issues were at the time. He speaks greatly about mentors and colleagues at the Federation and the programs and projects implemented by him, as well as others he had worked with during this time.
Drachler talks about the factors in Detroit being a large contributing community and also the current climate of the Jewish community. The interview ends with Drachler speaking about the changes that had occurred at the Jewish Community Center over the years, the implementation of the Holocaust Memorial Center and also the endowment fund of the Allied Jewish Campaign.
History of Narrator
Sol Drachler was born on February 27, 1927 in New Jersey. He came to Detroit at the age of 2. Drachler began a 26-year career of fund-raising and community organization in 1956 when he joined the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit as director of the Allied Jewish Campaign’s Mercantile and Real Estate and Building Trades Divisions. He was later promoted to assistant campaign director, campaign director and associate director, prior to being named executive vice president, a position held from 1976 to 1982.
Nationally, Drachler served as a chairman of the United Jewish Appeal Campaign Director’s Institute and was a member of the Council of Jewish Federations’ Campaign Services Committee. He held memberships in the Labor Zionist Alliance and the Association of Jewish Community Organization Personnel (AJCOP) and was a director of the Irwin and Bethea Green Foundation. Upon his retirement from Federation, he established a consulting service to a variety of philanthropic organizations and non-profit institutions. In recognition of his achievements,
the University of Michigan School of Social Work, with the support of the Metro Detroit Jewish community, created an endowed chair in his name.
Sol Drachler passed away on September 27, 2016 in Seattle, Washington.
Transcript
Important Subjects
Important Names
Credit as: Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community Archives. Sol Drachler Oral History Interview, October 12, 2011.