Re: [Cz-L] October trip to Czernowitz

Re: Conference in Czernowitz in October.
  1. Headstones in the Turkengasse: In the mail Marianne Hirsch
writes about these
as" alleged " , but we have documented photos of the stones existence.
  Just today another photo appeared.
    The local Jewish community doesn't seem to get excited, they are
used to this.
    The stones were probably dumped .
  2. The missing audience at the conference :
       How humiliating !
         How predictable !
Hardy
----- Original Message ----- From: "Marianne Hirsch" <mh2349_at_columbia.edu>
To: "Czernowitz Genealogy and History" <czernowitz-l_at_list.cornell.edu>
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 5:42 PM
Subject: [Cz-L] October trip to Czernowitz

>Dear Czernowitz friends,
>
>Here, as promised, a brief report about the trip to Chernivtsi I
>took in October with Leo Spitzer, Florence Heymann and a group of
>scholars from France, Israel, US, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine.
>We were there for a one-day conference about Czernowitz 1941-1945
>sponsored by the US Holocaust Museum and the Chernivtsi University.
>We spent two extra days in the city and were able to check on a few
>of the things that have concerned the members of our group. We
>will send some picture to Jerome to place on the website.
>
>While the conference was very good and we were able to have some
>great conversations with colleagues, its organization was
>lamentable. Even though high level administrators at the university
>were among the sponsors, their own colleagues and students did not
>know about the conference and thus there was virtually no audience.
>We ran into other faculty and students who had not been informed
>and who certainly would have been there. The same goes for the
>Jewish community -- the contact was the new head of the community
>Mischa Klein who also neglected to inform community members about
>the event. He appeared for a few minutes and a few others came
>during the afternoon, having just found out about it during that
>morning. Among those were a number of survivors who are
>interesting and well-informed and who had a great deal to
>contribute. This was truly a missed opportunity and I'm afraid it
>is indicative of the state of things in Chernivsti and its Jewish
>community. It is not lack of interest at all -- there is interest--
>but a sense of apathy and disorganization.
>
>
>We talked to everyone about the gravestones allegedly found at the
>site of the Turkish fountain -- no one there knew anything about it
>and assured us that had such stones been found, they would have been
>taken to the archaeology department at the university. The site of
>the renovation is completely torn up, the stairs no longer exist,
>and I am sure that the stones that were removed can no longer be
>found.
>
>On a more positive note, the city is abuzz with preparations for the
>600th anniversary. There are banners up everywhere and you will see
>on the photos that Czernowitz is featured along with Cernauti and
>Chernivtsi. The city looks great.
>
>We also found, after much searching, a quite out of the way and
>neglected monument to the victims of the shooting by the Pruth in
>1941. See the photos.
>
>All best, Marianne Hirsch

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Received on 2007-11-06 12:48:54