Tag Archives: Transnistria

Transnistria, Then and Now

The territory of Romanian-ruled Transnistria (1941-44, 42,000 km2 / 16,216 sq mi) is incongruent with and included present-day Transnistria (4,163 km2 / 1,607 sq mi). Learn more on that subject from the disambiguation effected by Daniel Katz by clicking here for a PDF download of Daniel’s presentation, including detailed maps and additional links.

Please remember, Fabius Ornstein’s testimony “The Suffering of the Deportees in Transnistria” is still available at our Blog! On Fabius Ornstein’s life-saving activity in Transnistria we learn from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency report dated July 26, 1943 as follows:

Thousands of Jews in Transnistria Have Not Seen Bread for Months, Hundreds Starving
Thousands of Jewish deportees confined in the various ghettos which the Rumanian occupation authorities have established in Transnistria, the Rumanian-administered section of the Russian Ukraine, have not seen any bread for months and the vast majority of them are threatened with starvation unless some assistance is forthcoming soon, according to private advices received here today. In the township of Copaigorod about 2,220 Jews are confined at present, the report discloses. Under the leadership of one of the deportees, Fabius Ornstein, the Jewish community has organized a free kitchen which has so far managed to distribute about 500 meals twice daily. These ‘meals,’ however, almost always consist of potatoes and nothing else. […]

Maps of 2 territories named TransnistriaMaps of 2 territories named Transnistria1

Hitler’s Forgotten Ally – Ion Antonescu and His Regime, Romania 1940-1944

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http://us.macmillan.com/hitlersforgottenally/DennisDeletant

http://www.humanitas.ro/humanitas/aliatul-uitat-al-lui-hitler-ion-antonescu-si-regimul-sau-1940-1944

European History Quarterly 01/2009 (Lucian N. Leustean): “The prime merit of the book lies in its systematic investigation into the tumultuous evolution of the Antonescu regime and into his personal life. In addition, the combination of historical details with societal factors brings new facets to this analysis. Thus, examination of the Iron Guard leadership and of religious confessions in Romania helps to decipher the atmosphere of those times. In addition, Deletant’s writing style makes the book a gripping read, revealing the intimate connections between the personal life of the dictator and the political evolution of his regime. These points, coupled with the fact that most probably Antonescu remained the only leader who could publicly contradict the Führer, offer an incisive image of ‘Hitler’s Forgotten Ally’.”

She [Sonja Jaslowitz] did not survive to have her history recorded…

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During a lecture on “The Concept of Postmemory”, Marianne Hirsch raised the question to an intimate audience in Doheny Memorial Library in L. A. on April 25, 2013: “She [Sonja Jaslowitz] did not survive to have her history recorded, but we have her testimony in the form of her poems, but what are we to do with them?” – Click here for the full article at Daily Trojan.

In addition, Marianne Hirsch brought to us Judith Aistleitner’s and Marianne Windsperger’s (German) article on “Die Poesie der Sonja Jaslowitz” [Sonja Jaslowitz’s Poetry], published in the December 2013 edition of Zwischenwelt (Click on the logo for the full article!).

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Marianne Hirsch: “Sadly, this article came out after the death of Harry Jarvis, I wish he could have seen it! At least he did get to see the four poems Florence published in French. I am still working on publishing her Romanian poems in Romania. I have also asked Marianne Windsperger to correct the facts here — Sonia and her parents were in Cariera de Piatra before they were relocated to Tiraspol.”

The Suffering of the Deportees in Transnistria

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Click on the front cover above to download the booklet!

I succeeded to acquire a very rare book: The Suffering of the Deportees in Transnistria by Fabius Ornstein, edited by the Association of the Former Deportees to Transnistria immediately after WW2 still in 1945. On Fabius Ornstein’s life-saving activity in Transnistria we learn from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency report dated July 26, 1943 as follows:

Thousands of Jews in Transnistria Have Not Seen Bread for Months, Hundreds Starving
Thousands of Jewish deportees confined in the various ghettos which the Rumanian occupation authorities have established in Transnistria, the Rumanian-administered section of the Russian Ukraine, have not seen any bread for months and the vast majority of them are threatened with starvation unless some assistance is forthcoming soon, according to private advices received here today. In the township of Copaigorod about 2,220 Jews are confined at present, the report discloses. Under the leadership of one of the deportees, Fabius Ornstein, the Jewish community has organized a free kitchen which has so far managed to distribute about 500 meals twice daily. These ‘meals,’ however, almost always consist of potatoes and nothing else. […]

Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies

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The Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies is a collection of over 4,400 videotaped interviews with witnesses and survivors of the Holocaust. Part of Yale University’s department of Manuscripts and Archives, the archive is located at Sterling Memorial Library.

Professor Dr. Dori Laub was born in Czernowitz in 1937. With his parents, he was deported to Transnistria in 1942. His father disappeared during a German raid prior to liberation by the Soviets and he and his mother were reunited with his grandparents who had survived in Czernowitz. He immigrated to Israel in 1950 where he attended medical school. Today he is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University and a psychoanalyst in private practice. In 1979 he co-founded the Holocaust Survivors’ Film Project, Inc., which subsequently became the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale. Dori Laub has published and lectured extensively on the Holocaust.

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Bearing Witness to the Holocaust – How the First Video Archive of Holocaust Testimonies Was Established
“Tell Us What You See” – Interview with Professor Dori Laub by Yad Vashem

“Transnistria” by Aurel Baranga (Aurel Leibovici) • 1913-1979

11442.1973.10.pag014-pag015

Transnistria

Dacă toate frunzele pamântului s-ar face hîrtie, dacă toate mările s-ar preface
în cerneala, dacă toate pădurile s-ar preface în condee, dacă toate
viețuitoarele ar scrie îndeajuns… Scriu despre supraviețuitorii de la
Vapniarca [Transnistria] și aș vrea ca fiecare literă să ardă, sa arda ca ochii
lor rătăciți, ca fețele lor devastate, ca mîinile tremurînde, ca pașii lor
triști, paralitici, ca trupurile lor înconvoiate și frînte.

Transnistria

If all the leaves on earth would turn into paper, if all the seas would turn
into ink, if all the forests would transform into pencils, if all the living
would write enough… I write about the survivors of Vapniarka [Transnistria] and I would like
that every character should burn, should burn like their stray eyes,
like their devastated faces, their trembling hands, their dragging feet,
paralyzed, like their bent and broken bodies…

Translated by Ruth Gold