Forgotten Holocaust – A Journey to Transnistria

The Chernivtsi Museum of the History and Culture of Bukovinian Jews: „The official trailer of a documentary ‘Forgotten Holocaust – a journey to Transnistria’ (film director: Resa Asarschahab, Idea: Markus Winkler und Kristina Forbat) has been aired. The film was shot in the autumn of 2019 in the framework of a Ukrainian-German educational project. The project was initiated by the Institute for the German Culture and History of Southeast Europe at the Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich (https://www.ikgs.de) and implemented in cooperation with the Chernivtsi Museum of the History and Culture of Bukovinian Jews, Yurii Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University and the State University of the Republic of Moldova (Chisinau).

The film describes the life of a Chernivtsi citizen Rosa Zuckermann, who was deported to Transnistria in the autumn of 1941 together with her parents, a husband and a small child. Rosa was the only one of the whole family who survived. The story of this family resembles the fate of many Jewish families from Chernivtsi. That is why it is so meaningful and important to get to know it.

Film crew from Germany made the journey from Chernivtsi through Măşrculeşti, Soroca, Mohyliv-Podilskyi to a small town in Podillia – Bershad. It was accompanied by Dr. Markus Winkler (Berlin), the head of the project; Mykola Kushnir, the director of the Museum of the History and Culture of Bukovinian Jews (Chernivtsi) as well as by students from Ukraine (Chernivtsi, Mohyliv-Podilskyi) and the Republic of Moldova (Chisinau, Bălți).

Felix Zuckermann, the son of Rosa Zuckermann, also took part in the project. For him it was a moving trip into the terrible past, searching for traces and answers to questions he hadn’t dare to ask his mom when she was still alive.

Students, who participated in the project, were able to learn more about the Holocaust in Transnistria. During the seminar ‘Memory Workshop’ they discussed issues related to the culture of remembrance in their countries as well as presented their projects in this field.

Official presentation of the film was to be held at the end of February in Berlin. However due to the coronavirus pandemic it has been postponed.”