Category Archives: History

Where has Schiller gone?

From Marion Tauschwitz

Visiting Czernowitz in September 2013 our guide took us the granite base of the former Schiller-monument that had used to stand in front of the theatre before young romanian nationalists carried it away in 1920. Schiller has not been found again – but the base was taken to the small park in (former) Maria-Theresiengasse (behind “Deutsches Haus”) – where it still is. Nobody seems to care.

Schillercanvas Kopie

Unveiling of the Schiller Monument and its reception in the contemporary press:

FriedrichSchiller

“Die Gartenlaube”, Nr. 27, 1907: “Das Schiller-Denkmal in Czernowitz. (Zu der untenstehenden Abbildung.) Es ist ein erfreuliches Zeichen für die noch heute unverminderte Wertschätzung des Deutschesten unserer Dichter, daß in der gemischtsprachigen Stadt Czernowitz in der Bukowina der 150. Geburtstag Schillers am 10. November v. J. durch die Enthüllung eines Schillerdenkmals gefeiert worden ist. Der Schöpfer des Denkmals, dessen Ausführung auf den Antrag Dr. Anton Norsts hin vom Gemeinderat einstimmig beschlossen wurde, ist der Bildhauer Georg Leisek, der auch den schönen, figurenreichen Fries des Wiener Zentralfriedhofs ‘Eingang in die Ewigkeit’ geschaffen hat. Das Denkmal selbst, aus karrarischem Marmor gehauen, steht in einer Brunnenanlage vor dem Stadttheater und zeigt den Dichterfürsten auf hohem Sockel stehend, schlicht und hoheitsvoll zugleich.

Die Enthüllung des Schillerdenkmals by Bukowinaer Post, November 12, 1907.

Die Enthüllung des Schillerdenkmals by Czernowitzer Allgemeine Zeitung, November 12, 1907.

The Schiller Monument had been standing in front of the city theater since 1907, but later it did not fit into the Romanian national policy on Bukovina, and due to the decree of the 8th Infantry Division commander – general Zadik, the monument was displaced in 1922 into a closed courtyard of the German house, and after the Second World War the figure of the poet was  destroyed and only the pedestal remains.

The Suffering of the Deportees in Transnistria

IMG_2511
Click on the front cover above to download the booklet!

I succeeded to acquire a very rare book: The Suffering of the Deportees in Transnistria by Fabius Ornstein, edited by the Association of the Former Deportees to Transnistria immediately after WW2 still in 1945. On Fabius Ornstein’s life-saving activity in Transnistria we learn from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency report dated July 26, 1943 as follows:

“Thousands of Jews in Transnistria Have Not Seen Bread for Months, Hundreds Starving
Thousands of Jewish deportees confined in the various ghettos which the Rumanian occupation authorities have established in Transnistria, the Rumanian-administered section of the Russian Ukraine, have not seen any bread for months and the vast majority of them are threatened with starvation unless some assistance is forthcoming soon, according to private advices received here today. In the township of Copaigorod about 2,220 Jews are confined at present, the report discloses. Under the leadership of one of the deportees, Fabius Ornstein, the Jewish community has organized a free kitchen which has so far managed to distribute about 500 meals twice daily. These ‘meals,’ however, almost always consist of potatoes and nothing else. […]“

Fate of Rumanian Jewery During the Holocaust – 15 Vol.

From Marion Tauschwitz
[At] the Frankfurt Bookfair I talked to Beate Klarsfeld and her husband Serge. What an amazing couple. I was attracted by a series of books with hundreds and hundreds of “documents concerning of the fate of Rumanian Jewry during the Holocaust” – more than 15 volumes full of documents. Volume V is on the Bukowina and Transnistria.
Further information at:
http://www.klarsfeldfoundation.org/
Regards,
Marion

BeateKlarsfeldFoundation

Joseph Schmidt- 110 birth anniversary in Berlin

From Hedwig Brenner:

Hi, I got this poster about Josef Schmidt and Czernowitz.from  Leonid Flyderman,  born in Czernowitz and a researcher about Josef Schmidt. He presented his research also last year in Vienna.. May be some members of the list will be at this time in Berlin, I am sorry, I could not be there, I will be, I hope, 3 to 10 November, to present my new book, the 5.Volume of the Lexicon”Jewish Women in Visual Arts” in some galleries and the Bauhaus.
Hatima Tova
Hedwig

schmidtposter

Anny’s New Year’s Message

MY PICTURE FROM ISRAEL, ONE WEEK IN MY LIFE.

HISTORY: After WWI the world said never again. They created the League of Nation, what was done there was unimportant for, 20years later, we had WWII after which the United Nations was created. The only difference I can see between those two is that in 1948 they agreed to accept Israel as a State and thus have created the country which, whatever happens anywhere, the fault for all evil and wars have now a name and address – Revolution in Egypt – unrest in Syria – all this is caused by ISRAEL/the Jews who don’t agree to sign a peace treaty with the Palestinians which would solve all the Middle East and world problems. This is history.

A week, nearly 2 weeks ago / just my near past incredibly cruel pictures were transmitted from Syria more horrid than any ones before like thousands killed daily, a people killing, bombarding, their own but none shook the world so hard as the use of Gas!! We have heard of it before Iran/Iraq – father Assad used it to kill a part of the population he didn’t like but there was no media to report it on real time, not everyone had some camera in their pockets to show it all and there were hundreds of children slayed by GAS!!! Even Hitler didn’t make use of it when all was lost. Really heartbreaking – by the way if you want to know who started the war in Syria, ISRAEL of course!! Anyway, the French were the first to shout ” Bloody murder, unacceptable!” the Brits/Turks/Germans/USA/the Arab League made loud noises. In the Bible when God created the world between one day and the next it’s written ” There was evening there was morning and day 2, And so all these nations demanded action.

We in Israel prepared our gas masks -which by the way we have had for the past 2 years in our gas-shelter, mail delivered for 25 Shekel, but not all Israel is disciplined and arrived “just before Obama’s attack” last Thurs. Fri. latest Sunday. Meanwhile France thought they had shouted too loudly, got scared of their own voices, Cameron went to Parliament and was voted down and the USA had second thought and they still think. Turkey and the Arab League are waiting and I am too. Suppose Yom Kippur and Syria’s “great victory” over Israel, as they call it, is a nice day for another one??

So, I want to wish all our friends in Israel and all those living all over the world SHANA TOVA, Have a Happy, healthy year and do go on writing and reading.
anny

K&K Juden

By way of Peter Elbau and Cornel Fleming:

Aus dem Rundbrief Nr. 113 der ARGE Feldpost Österreich-Ungarn, Autor: Horst Taitl
[From the circular letter No. 113 of the Working Field Post Austria-Hungary, Author: Horst Taitl]

Click on the link below:
Juden in der Armee
Jews in the Austro-Hungarian Army as seen through WWI military conrrespondence. — in German with photographs.