Tape-recorded interview conducted by Meta Buttnick on 2/10/81 and spanning the period ca. 1900-1981.

Cantor Gottlieb was born in Nowysacz, Poland near Cracow and was the fifth of six children. His father was the cantor in the city Shul, the largest Shul in the city. From his father he learned chazonisch (cantorial skills), music, and Torah. In 1939 his father told him to flee, and he fled deep into Russia. The Russians helped people to flee, and saved 250,000 Jews. The Germans took his parents, 2 brothers and 1 sister, to Belgitz, where they were killed and buried in mass graves. He tells of his refuge in Middle Asia, Russia and Siberia, of coming to a Kibbutz near Frankfurt, and of studying music with Professor Adorno who taught him voice and technique. He came to America in 1952 with the help of his cousins who were already in the U.S., and to Seattle in 1956 where he has been Cantor of Congregation Bikur Cholim Machzikay Hadath since.