[Cz-L] The Jewish Cemetery

Dear Czernowitzers,

I'd like, respectfully, to offer a thought as you plan your reunion to
Czernowitz next year - a trip I unfortunately cannot do as I just went,
for the first time, two weeks ago. Now I am listening to your many
conversations about /arrangements /for your excursion and my interest
has more to do with the /purpose/ of why you are going in the first place.

During my short time in Czernowitz, my most moving experience was
walking in the now-neglected Old Jewish Cemetery. One can see it once
was a beautiful place, with a beautiful Synagogue, and many families
laid to rest there on a hill overlooking the town, sun-drenched, with
flowers, birds, snails, and somehow the smile of g-d looking down and
not at all far away.

I walked around there looking for the sites of my family's graves -
thanks to help from Bruce and others on this listserv I literally had a
list of names that were important to me to look for. I'd expected,
silly me, that I'd get there, and just go up one section and over to
another block and up and down a couple of rows and there! I'd find my
family. But far from it: this cemetary is completely overgrown - and
probably the best news is that it simply has not been desecrated.

I ended up having an exquisite experience, thanks to the assistance (I
paid, of course) of the Cemetary Keeper, a fine Ukrainian man who also
speaks French and a little German and whom anyone may contract for
assistance as did I. He did find two of my family and promised to
continue to look. However, the challenge is this: everything is
virtually impassable - you will need good shoes, socks, long pants,
someone with a helping hand if you are unsteady at all on your feet, and
lots of sun-tan lotion and a hat as it was extremely hot. The Synagogue
is utterly disintegrating, and with some exceptions where you can sense
what once was there, it is a shambles, and a shame at that.

All to say, wouldn't it be a great thing if we, as a group of people who
care about the history of Jews - and our families - in Czernowitz - were
to collaboratively find a way to clean up the Cemetery so it is a real
tribute to those who are buried there and to our memory and sense of
history about Jews - and our families - in Czernowitz and Bukovina?

I am not a rich person - not by a long stretch - but I believe with all
my heart that we together, a collective of not-rich-people could
resurrect this place and turn it into a garden others will want to visit.

I've been holding this thought since I returned about a week or two ago
- waiting for some "right" time to say this but somehow I couldn't
figure out what a right time would be - so I decided this morning I'd
share these feelings and thoughts.

I had a guide and a driver who went with me - who virtually took care of
me - while I was in Ukraine - a professional driver about 30 years old
and a young woman who teaches English in Ivano-Frankvts University and
knows and loves Ukraine. They were wonderful, willing, and loving.
They might serve as wonderful - and affordable - resources for others
wanting to make this journey.

Finally, I have to tell you that this trip I made - Berlin - Krakow to
see Auschwitz - L'viv - Ternopil - Czernowitz - Kolomayja - Ivano
Frankvts and back to L'viv was powerful, meaningful, and life-changing.
It will be an experience that stays with my all my life. And, as I
traveled, I read a marvelous novel some of you may be interested in if
you haven't already read it: "Everything is Illuminated" by Jonathan
Sofran Foer, a New York writer with a great sense of poignancy and humor
- about Jews in Ukraine during WW II.

Well, I guess I've poured my heart out enough for one session, eh?
Let me know what you all think ...

Best wishes,
Nina
Received on 2005-08-17 12:01:48