Re: [Cz-L] FW:Prof. Zwi Yaavets Passed away - My former schoolmate and our "Mister Czernowitz"

It is indeed quite a loss, but for Prof. Yaavetz it was a deliverance because in his last period he was quite lost. He was a great man and was perhaps the pioneer of the establishment of the Tel-Aviv University and quite a fighter and fund raiser for it and for his department,

A little story about him - apropos the comment of Irene re his period in Cyprus.

In 1942 several Jews from Czernowitz, together with some others - I suppose from Bucharest - were able to purchase a Danube boat from some Romanian, fitted it with some food and other basics and, I do not how they managed it, were able to leave Czernowitz and board the boat in Constanta with thei families. and leave Constanta..I have the story from my late aunt, Mrs. Regina Grossman.

They encountered a heavy storm in the Black Sea on the way towards Constantinopole, the motors failed or drew sea water, and the mechanic of the boat was dead drunk. Luckily my uncle, Leon, who was a highly experienced mechanical meister (he owned and operated a textile factory in Czernowitz) took charge and was able to get the motors working, but they struck a shoal , luckily at the Northern part of Turkey. Their the Turks imprisoned them, and only thanks to a lot of efforts by the Jewish Agency delegates in Constantinople, who negotiated with the British and Turkish authorities, were they not returmed ot Romania but were interned for the rest of the war in Cyprus.

My aunt remembered well the adolescent Zvi (I believe she remembered him as Hershel or something like this, who was with them on that boat and later in Cyprus. Thanks to her husband's experience, he was able to establish a home loom wool spinning industry in Cyrpus, the local peasant women processing the wool from the sheep and goats, and thus was able to provide cloth to the local economy, since they could not obtain it from Britain, cut off by the German and Italian U-boats in the Mediterranean. Thanks to this contribution to the local economy and population, they became the protegee of the Commissioner, obtained a villa in Nicosia. and were somewhat food-affluent - taking into consideration that Cyprus was in a wartime Austerity regime. Zvi was a hungry and active adolescent and therefore she used to prepare for him daily lots of sandwiches. and he used to come to their kitchen and devour them without leaving a trace.

I suppose your late cousin, Mr Enzer also was on that boat and later with them In Cyprus.

Laila Tov

Mordecai

----- Original Message -----
From: Irene Fishler <irenef_at_netvision.net.il>
Date: Tuesday, January 8, 2013 21:26
Subject: RE: [Cz-L] FW:Prof. Zwi Yaavets Passed away - My former schoolmate and our "Mister Czernowitz"
To: 'Miriam Taylor' <mirtaylo_at_indiana.edu>, 'Abraham Kogan' <akogan_at_netvision.net.il>
Cc: Czernowitz-L_at_cornell.edu

> Abraham is right.
>
> Prof. Zwi Yavets was THE Czernowitzer par excellence!
>
> The (Hebrew) book launch in May 2008 in the big auditorium of
> the Eretz
> Israel Museum in Tel-Aviv was a real "Czernowitzer happening".
>
> Hundreds attended and laughed to the very Czernowitzer jokes and
> allusionsduring Lia Koenig's stand-up show ( in" Czernowitzer
> Deutsch").
>
> Then we queued 1 hour to receive his signature on the new book.
> He talked to
> everyone!
>
> He wrote two slightly different versions in Hebrew and German .
>
> All the names of persons are indexed at the end of the books.
>
> Zwi Yavetz was an important and charismatic personality and a
> dear friend of
> my late cousin Marcel-Meir Enzer whom he met in Cyprus 1942.
>
> I'm so sorry we can not ask him any more questions about this period.
>
> Zichrono lebracha,
> Irene
>

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Received on 2013-01-08 17:31:36