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

I, too, am a Yiddish speaker with a Czernowitz background and would be very interested in such a gathering.
  Frieda Tabak
  Philadelphia, Pa
  USA
  

Gabriele Weissmann <G.Weissmann_at_gmx.de> wrote:
  
> Subject: [Cz-L] Czernowitz 2008: Centenary of the 1908 Yiddish Language Conference
> From: David MAzower
> Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 16:53:33 +0000 (GMT)

snip

> 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.
>

Dear David,
Yes, I completely agree with you (anad Bruce and many others probably)
that it is a great idea. Maybe a bit too early now, since we are busy
with the
March 2007 meeting in Israel. Joseph Burg is one of the last writers in
Eastern Europe who writes in Jiddish and he would be very helpful,
although when
I visited him last May he looked very fragile. However, he started
talking and telling me his life-story and went on for about two hours,
it is I who was tired
at the end. He is a well-known figure and proud of his achievements, he
told me about ambassadors coming to meet him, etc.
My husband also speaks Jiddish well and and I am sure he would love to
take part in such a "conference" and contribute with his knowledge. Also, in
Israel, there are still quite a few persons native of Czernowitz with
excellent knowledge of Jiddish and more. Let us see the reactions to
your suggestion.
Maybe you attend the meeting in March in Israel, it would be enriching
for both sides.
With best regards,
Gabriele Weissmann

-- 
Gabriele Weissmann
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D- 14057 Berlin
Tel./Fax: +49.30.321 15 38
E-Mail: G.Weissmann_at_gmx.de