Forverts podcast: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
The 1911 tragedy reminds us what could happen when immigrant workers’ lives are put in danger.
Photo by the Forward
By Rukhl Schaechter March 16, 2026
As calls for immigrants’ rights reverberate throughout the country these days, an upcoming anniversary can serve as a reminder of the consequences for impoverished, immigrant workers when their lives are put in danger.
On March 25, 2011, 115 years ago, 146 young Jewish and Italian women perished in an inferno that broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City. Because the employer had locked the sweatshop door from the outside, the workers had no way to escape.
Morris Rosenfeld, known as one of the Yiddish “sweatshop poets” of New York, was a writer and poet at the Forverts when the fire broke out and he immediately rushed to the scene. Overcome by the tragedy, he immediately wrote a poem and personal essay in response that appeared on the front page of the newspaper.
In this episode of Yiddish With Rukhl: A Forverts Podcast, the Forward’s Yiddish editor Rukhl Schaechter reads Rosenfeld’s pieces, as well as several poems written by other poets in reaction to the tragedy.
Yiddish with Rukhl, a podcast for people who love spoken Yiddish, consists of 15-20 minute episodes in which listeners hear engaging Forverts articles written in conversational Yiddish. Each episode focuses on a single topic. Previous episodes have been about coffee, seeking love, the cemetery, at-risk languages and Jewish education.
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