Community Voices: The Postville Oral History Project Recording with Barbara Herzmann

• Main Author: Herzmann, Barbara
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: UNI ScholarWorks 2014
• Subjects: Herzmann; Barbara > Interviews; Postville Immigration Raid; Postville; Iowa; 2008; Public Affairs; Public Policy and Public Administration; United States History
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/postville_oralhistory/2; https://scholarworks.uni.edu/context/postville_oralhistory/article/1001/type/native/viewcontent/Herzmann_B_10272014.mp3; https://scholarworks.uni.edu/context/postville_oralhistory/article/1001/filename/0/type/additional/viewcontent/Transcript.pdf

Barbara Herzmann and her husband bought a farm near Postville in 1972, and she has lived there ever since. She worked at the Postville elementary school for 27 years before retiring in 2012. In the interview, Barbara discusses the changes in Postville and especially within the school as students from Russia, Ukraine, Mexico, Guatemala, and many other countries came to rural Iowa. The day of the May 12th, 2008 ICE raid, Barbara was teaching third grade and shares emails and recollections of the events that occurred over the next couple days. She also offers insight into how she came to understand the sacrifices and struggles of undocumented immigrants. Before the raid, Barbara, along with some other teachers, were able to take a tour of Agriprocessors and she shared that experience in the interview as well. Finally, Barbara closes the interview with her hopes for the future of Postville. https://scholarworks.uni.edu/postville_oralhistory/1001/thumbnail.jpg