[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
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This moderated discussion group is for information exchange on the subject of
Czernowitz and Sadagora Jewish History and Genealogy. Messages sent to the
 group are archived at <http://czernowitz.ehpes.com>. Please post in "Plain
 Text" if possible (help available at:
<http://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/PlainText.html>).

To remove your address from this e-list follow the directions at
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/elist/lyris/leave.html

To receive assistance for this e-list send an e-mail message to:
owner-Czernowitz-L_at_list.cornell.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on 2007-11-05 15:42:08