Archives West Finding Aid

Scope and Content: "Recollections of Life in Richland as a Jew" describes the Jewish community in Richland, Washington about 1951 and the problems of keeping a kosher home in a small town isolated from large Jewish populations.

Scope and Content: Audiocassette recording and transcript of oral history interview with Norman Ketzlach, April 18, 1993 (Reva K. Twersky, interviewer). Also contains 15 page reminiscence contributed by Ketzlach to substitute for part of taped interview which was damaged; and two abstracts of reports authored in part by him.

The oral history interview reviews Ketzlach's life and times. He discusses his background, education, marriage and early career in Seattle. He also chronicles his religious upbringing and life-long practice of Orthodox Judiasm. He details the various congregations he and his family joined and the religious and educational activities they participated in during their various moves for his employment to Richland, Washington, Los Angeles and LaJolla, California, Bethesda, Maryland, Sherman Oaks, California and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He provides evidence of discrimination he suffered in his professional life, but primarily recalls a career that advanced steadily as he became an expert in the field of nuclear criticality safety. Finally, he discusses his ties to various members of the Seattle Jewish community.

Scope and Content: Tape recorded interview primarily covering the years 1951-1959, taken on June 20, 2000; transcript, accompanying material regarding Temple Beth Sholom in Tri-Cities, Washington. Mr. Ketzlach discusses his family, his participation with Jewish services, his work developing regulations for nuclear safety, his life in California, wife and children. He also talks about returning to Richland, Washington in 2000 and the 50th anniversary of Beth Sholom.