Re: [Cz-L] Czernowitz 2008: Centenary of the 1908 Yiddish Language Conference

Dear David,
 
I am but one member of the list, but here is my reaction:
I think that would be a brilliant way to help celebrate the 600th anniversary of Czernowitz. Unfortunately I can not get involved at this time. There is a writer by the name of Joseph Burg who, although quite aged might be someone to contact. In addition there is the university there. Don't know how much help there would be.
The Jewish community there is quite small.
I was under the impression that the conference was held at the Jewish National house, which opened the same year as the conference.
I was in that building last year, and it is quite beautiful still.
Coincidently, my mother left Czernowitz about a month after the conference. She will, G-d willing, celebrate her 99th birthday in May.
 

I wish you luck and i am sure others on the liast will send you replies and suggestions.

Bruce
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: dmazower_at_yahoo.com
To: Czernowitz-L_at_cornell.edu
Sent: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 11:53 AM
Subject: [Cz-L] Czernowitz 2008: Centenary of the 1908 Yiddish Language Conference

Dear all

Since I am new to your group, let me introduce myself. I am a journalist with
BBC World
Service in London, and a writer and researcher on Yiddish culture and Jewish
history.
 
I have also written on the life and work of my great-grandfather, the Yiddish
author
Sholem Asch. He has an important connection with Czernowitz as one of the
participants in
the historic Yiddish Language Conference held there in 1908.

The Czernowitz Conference was a key event in modern Jewish cultural history, and
I think
it would be wonderfully appropriate to organise some sort of event in the town
in 2008 to
mark the 100th anniversary. What sort of event it might be is something I'd like
to throw
open for comment and debate. I had in mind something that would revisit the 1908
Conference, but also look at Czernowitz and the surrounding region in terms of
its place
in modern Jewish history and Yiddish culture more widely. It might perhaps
combine an
academic conference with a more popular Festival of Jewish Culture. Perhaps also
to look
more widely at the state of Jewish culture in Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

I'd be very interested to have your reaction to this suggestion. I've never been
to
Czernowitz, so I'd be interested to know whether there are local partners who
might be
keen to be involved? Also, whether the original venues for the 1908 Conference
(the
Concert Hall and the Ukrainian National House) are still standing? Is there much
of a
Jewish community still left? Would any of you be interested to get involved in
some sort
of steering group or committee to look into this?

(By the way, if you want to find our more about the 1908 Conference, just Google
'Czernowitz 1908' and you'll reach the Mendele site put up by Iosif Vaisman,
with a
wealth of information).

Many thanks - I look forward to reading your comments.

David Mazower
 
Received on 2006-12-01 12:37:27