Shellie Wiener

Hi, all,

Although I am not able to join you this spring in Czernowitz, my thoughts are with you.  My immediate family having lived in Wiznitsa, Sanok, Putila, and other nothern Bukovinian villages and also many from the southern Bukovinian town of Dorna Vatra, I cannot say with any certainty that I had family living in Czernowitz.

And yet, you give voice to a place and time that means a great deal to me.  Since I have no first hand knowledge or memories to share, I have mostly been a silent participant in the group planning process. Yet, your experience gives me hope that I will one day have time and funds to take this same trip [and of course, I will have benefited from your trials and tribulations - even as to which hotel.]

In the books referenced for reading in preparation to the trip, I see that the book compiled by Felicia Steigman Carmelly, my third cousin - "Shattered! 50 Years of Silence: History and Voices of the Tragedy in Romania and Transnistria" is recommended.  This book is heart-breaking for me, as both of Felicia's Rubinger grandmothers were first cousins to each other as well as to my paternal grandmother.  In fact, until I read it three years ago I didn't even know that Felicia existed.  [My grandmother had 55 first cousins just on her father's
side!]

Nonetheless, I was born in Brooklyn to American-born parents - my grandparents having left Kolomea and Dorna before 1920.  I have always assumed that Czernowitz was a larger and more active city than Kolomea.  While my Kolomea grandfather's surname was Windwehr, there were Rubingers in Kolomea as well as Bukovina.  Without a doubt, all Rubingers are related. I have relatives in Israel, Australia, Canada, Europe, Argentina and Brazil and the U.S.  Jane Reifer and I have not spoken in a while but her family is intermarried with 4th & 5th cousins of mine.

For almost 20 years I have lived in San Francisco with my husband and two sons.  My older son was born on April 20 - which was Hitler's birthday, as well.  When the two boys killed students at Columbine HS in Colorado on April 20, 1999, they left a note about celebrating Hitler's birthday.  This was talked about often at the time, and my son now hates his birthday. I have mentioned that like the idea of the Messiah being born on Tish B'Av, perhaps he is destined to do some good in the world.

So, if you have any comments about Kolomea vs. Czernowitz or any thing to say that is encouraging about sharing a birthday with the most reviled person on the planet, please drop me a note.

I remain a staunch Czernowitz supporter and wish you only the best for the trip and for always.

Shellie Wiener
San Francisco, CA