Re: [Cz-L] Discrimination Thread

Repeating my visit to my grandmothers house.

Visit to my Grandmother’s House.
August 2010, my last visit to Czernowitz, the town where I was born, I wanted to visit my grandmother’s house.
I called a taxi to take me to the house. The taxi arrived and the driver said “kuda” (“where”) and I said “Vozmite menya k domu moye babushki v Kos¬modemianskoy ulitse”, (“take me to my grandmother’s house in Kosmodemianskoy street”). Before the war the street was called Schießstätten Gasse. He starts driving and we pass the Russische Gasse but he drove the wrong way. I tell the driver “Vy vidite etot dom, eto gde ya rodilsya.” (You see this house, this is where I was born”). I tell the driver, turn around and drive strait to my grandmother’s house without detours as I know this city and that I am not a dumb tourist. We arrive at the house, I knock, the door is opened by a young lady, she asks me what I want; I tell her that I would like to see the interior of the house as this house is was my grandmother’s house. She tells me that it is impossible; she tells me that the house belongs to her own grand¬mother. I tell her
 OK, I have no desire of taking this house away from you and all that I want, is to see the inside of the house. My taxi driver tells her to let me in and that he does not see a problem. She lets me in, I walk to the kitchen, gone is the “pripicheck” the place where my father and I used to sleep on top during the cold Czernowitzer winters and where my grandmother cooked and baked those fabulous meals.
Gone are the beautiful curtains and the old furniture. I thank the lady and she takes me to the door, and as I say goodbye, it clicks; I ask the lady if I could also see the cellar. She wants to know why and I say just for old times. The cellar was the place where my grandmother kept her wood for heating and cooking; also her “Vorräte” (“provisions”), like potatoes, onions, jars of pickles, the sauerkraut and her jars of schmaltz. We walk down the few steps, I walk over to the wooden column which is in the middle of the cellar and there it is my name ARTUR, which I carved before leaving Czernowitz in 1945. I showed this to the lady, and told her, you see this is my name.
The lady opened her mouth, but no sound came out. I believe that she stopped breathing. She stood there with her mouth open for a long time and as we walked up the stairs she kept on whispering, “eto nevozmozhno, staraya babushka eto nevozmozhno” (“this is impossible, old grand¬mother, this is impossible”). I kept on telling her, not to worry; I have no desire taking your house away. The only person who really enjoyed this was my taxi driver, he just could not stop laughing and when he took me back to the hotel he did not take any money from me. He kept on saying “molodets, molodets” (“you are great, you are great”), and also “umnik”, which I believe is “smart” or “a person with brains”.
He kept on shaking his head, waving his hands and laughing.
*
P.S.: It was Artur without the H, the way it was written in Czernowitz at that time.

--- On Sat, 2/9/13, HARDY BREIER <HARDY3_at_BEZEQINT.NET> wrote:

> From: HARDY BREIER <HARDY3_at_BEZEQINT.NET>
> Subject: Re: [Cz-L] Discrimination Thread
> To: czernowitz-l_at_list.cornell.edu, AJS1PRES_at_aol.com, "cornel fleming" <cornel.fleming_at_virgin.net>
> Cc: "MIRIAM TAYLOR" <MIRTAYLO_at_INDIANA.EDU>, HJarvis16_at_aol.com, "fred love" <fredhotman_at_yahoo.com>
> Date: Saturday, February 9, 2013, 6:15 AM
> Heart moving story.
> The Guard and the Tourist.
> " No visitors, go away" the cruel guard said.
>    But there was rescue underway.
>      Student and boyfriend came and
> explained how
>    these tourists built this town with many
> houses
>     which they left for us free of charge.
>    Then they took us home where they
> danced  the tango..
>     but this is from a different story..
>       Moving story,
>
> Hardy
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "cornel fleming" <cornel.fleming_at_virgin.net>
> To: <AJS1PRES_at_aol.com>;
> <czernowitz-l_at_list.cornell.edu>
> Sent: Friday, February 08, 2013 12:30 PM
> Subject: RE: [Cz-L] Discrimination Thread
>
>
> > Bruce....all those who describe all Ukrainians as
> anti-Semitic monsters
> > should read this! And it very much ties up with the
> experience my family had
> > on our" 600th Czernowitz anniversary" trip. I wanted to
> show them the
> > University,with all it's Jewish connections...and the
> security guard on the
> > gate said "No visitors allowed..go away!"...at which
> point a young student
> > and her boyfriend marched up,informed the guard that we
> were part of the
> > people who had built up the town and we were their
> guests and took us in. We
> > then got invited to the young lady's parents! 
> Again,treated as very
> > welcomed visitors by total strangers.   
> Cornel
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: bounce-73014622-8441035_at_list.cornell.edu
> > [mailto:bounce-73014622-8441035_at_list.cornell.edu]
> On Behalf Of
> > AJS1PRES_at_aol.com
> > Sent: 08 February 2013 03:44
> > To: czernowitz-l_at_list.cornell.edu
> > Subject: [Cz-L] Discrimination Thread
> >
> > Dear Cousins,
> >
> > I am about a week behind my  reading of the list,
> so forgive if this seems
> > late.
> > I never lived in CZ and,  thank g-d, never had the
> unfortunate
> > circumstances that you all lived  through.
> > All I can relate to is my experience when I visited
> Czernowitz in  2005. I
> > went to the home of my great grandfather with the
> intention of telephoning
> > my mother on her 97th birthday from the home of her
> grandfather.
> > On a whim, I asked our guide and translator to knock on
> the door and
> > explain  to the current occupants my reason for
> being there. To make a long
> > story
> > short,  we ended up being fed, dancing with and
> having an amazing time with
> > these  strangers.
> > Did I mention that I wore a kippa the entire time I was
> in  Czernowitz?
> >
> > So, as Paul McCartney has written " there is good and
> bad in  everyone",
> > yet my experience in Czernowitz was everything I could
> have hoped for  and
> > more. The experience with these wonderful strangers in
> Chernivtsi was
> > certainly a highlight of my life.
> >
> >
> > Bruce Wexler
> > Jackson,  NJ

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Received on 2013-02-10 05:30:28