Gabriele made a beautiful English translation of the "Czernowitz 600 – a
stolen celebration."
Too bad that the 1930's Romanian government did not read this article.
Then, they might not have gone to all the trouble to seperate Jews who were
born in REAL Romania [like Bucharest] and the ACQUIRED Romania which
included CZ. Maybe they would have treated us Jews like real Romanians like
the lucky ones living in Buch...
I have paperwork from my paternal grandfather which deals with proving his
citizenship, sometime in the 1930's. And, there is a sad book, Quality of
Witness, written by a Bucharest doctor Emil Dorian, that mentions this
discrimination between REAL and acuqired Romanian Jews.
In light of the above, claiming CZ as part of the REAL Romania after
discriminating against Jews because they are were REAL Romanians, is
hypocracy on a grand scale.
Wolf
wolfgang schaechter
santa clara, ca 95051-4516
[Moderator's note: Jerome and I decided to send this post out, and Gabriele
kindly supplied a rough translation. Whether we agree or disagree with the
article, it concerns historical views of the history of Czernowitz;
certainly on topic for our list. The English translation is at the end of
this email. Moderator Bruce]
-------- Original-Nachricht --------
Betreff: Fwd: Fw: E-Mail schreiben an: ZIUA pe Internet
Datum: Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:21:45 +0100
Von: ilan.erlbaum_at_gmx.de
[English Translation of above article.]
Here an informal translation of an article published in the Romanian „ZIUA - THE DAY –
Analysis and commentaries - 01. Nov. 2008
Czernowitz 600 – a stolen celebration
In the capital of Romania the Ukraine boasts with an exhibition of
photographs and documents which mark the 600th anniversary of the official
existence of Czernowitz.
That it celebrates this event at home, let’s say that it is somewhat OK, but
the insolence
of coming with its interwoven propaganda in the Romanian Capital and to put
a grip on the
Ukrainean influence on the Bukowinean city denotes a complete lack of good
taste.
Czernowitz deserves at least respect for the historical truth: the capital
of historical
Bukowina is not an urban Ukrainean creation and its walls do not breathe
Ukrainean
history. The coat-of-arms of the region was a red shield, with a
silver-coated, uprooted oak-tree, on both sides a gilt, uprooted fir-tree,
and above, two golden, crossed swords.
The trees symbolize the upturned history of the region, and the swords – the
victorious
fights of the Romanian prince Alexandru cel Bun (Alexander the Good) in the
forest of Cosmin.
There is also a coat-of-arms of the city, on a red shield, the battlements
of fortress, with two silver-coated towers on each side, with open gates
showing the Moldavian coat-of-arms, - the ox bearing the star on its
forehead.
The certain proof of 600 years of existence is certified by the Princely
Charter of 8 October
1048, in which the Romanian ruler Alexandru cel Bun gave privileges to the
Polish merchants of Liov (Lvov?). It stipulated that these foreign
merchants be obliged to pay customs tax in Czernowitz. Market life there was
intense, wealth prospered, this whetted the appetites of the Poles,
Austrians and Russians for the lands and wealth of the Romanians.
The first who taught these villans who were coveting Romanian land and
wealth a lesson, was Stefan cel Mare (Steven the Great). The Romanian ruler
conquered the knights and soldiers of the Polish king John Albert in 1497,
in the Cosmin forest. Later, those who survived were decimated again in
Czernowitz. And at the same time, in Lentesti, leader Boldur beats the
Mazoviti….(can’t translate) who had come to help the Polish king.
From then on, the love for Romanian Bukowina as sung by Mihai Eminescu, was
tried again and again for the next 6 centuries.
After Austria kidnapped Bukowina, in 1777, Czernowitz became the capital of
the province.
The Bukowineans did not give up hope, they opposed the wave of foreign
oppression
and one and a half centuries later, in 1918, the National Assembly
proclaimed the
fusion of this part of Moldavia with the ancient homeland.
The historic monuments tied to Romanian history are numerous: the
Metropolitan Residence,
built in 1875; the Cecina fortress, famous in the military history of
Moldavia, which
ruins can be seen in the city park; the “Ascension” church in Lujeni, built
in the XVth
Century by Teodor Vitold; the church in Toporauti, built by the Moldavian
ruler
Miron Barnovschi; the church and the house of the Hurmuzachi family –
buildings where
the quintessence of the Romanian national spirit was always felt and
sustained .
Many rulers, bojar families and great scholars have their roots in these
Czernowitz surroundings, such as Alexandru cel Bun, Petru Rares, Miron
Costin and Ioan Neculce.
Once, the capital of Bukowina, the “city in the mists” as poets used to
call it, was one of the
strongholds of romanism. In the XIX century, Aron Pumnul, the Hurmuzachi
brothers and so many others, created in Czernowitz a hearth of Romanian
literature, science and spiritual values. The poet Vasile Alecsandri lived
for a while in the countrside estate of Cernauca near Czernowitz. Here the
future ruler (of the united principalities) Alexandru Ioan Cuza, met with
the writer Mihail Kogalniceanu, Gheorghe Baritiu from Ardeal/Translyvania,
and together they stirred up awareness for the creation of a national
state, “including all provinces where Romanians live”.
In the summer of 1940, when the Soviet blackmail policy tore away Bukowina
and Bessarabia
from the Romanian body, the entire country cried. However, one year later,
in the summer
of 1941, Romanians from all over were happy with the parade in Czernowitz,
attended by
the king Michael I and Marshall Ion Antonescu, when both provinces were
freed and
reintegrated in the Kingdom.
Today Czernowitz may be an Ukrainean city, but its heartbeat continues as a
Romanian one.
The Exhibition “Cernauti 600” opened in Bucharest by the Ukraineans, does
not change
this spiritual reality.
Tesu Solomovici
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Received on 2008-11-05 15:20:26
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