Re: [Cz-L] Re Schwitzbad

To all the Schwitzers.
  First the word Schwitzer as bragger, boaster - this is not in the German
language.
  In German it is Aufschneider, Prahler .
   Schwitzer, in my opinion , is a this purely Czernowitzer expression.
     Back to the Schwitz.
      The first room to visit , as you entered ,was the Heissluftkammer- the
sauna.
   To open the sweat pores of your skin. Without this, your Schwitz would
be a waste.
    The air was hot and dry and in 5 minutes the pores would be wide open.
    Then came a cold shower to make the pores close again.
     Then Papa would work on us with the soap and after this we were free
for the pool.
     We also went to the Schwitz , the Turkish steam bath . Most people came
for this.
      It was a big hall with wooden steps on one side and with a big oven
opposing.
      Also a small cold water basin. Whenever steam was low, people would
yell:" Dampf !"
         Vasily would take a bucketful of water from the basin and pour it
on the hot stones.
     The water would sizzle and steam was produced.
         There were six or seven steps the higher the denser the steam .
       On the lower steps were sitting the "Politiker". People who liked to
chat. There Politik
      was made. Everything was discussed. The Max Schmeling -Joe Louis
boxing match,
       the Macabi -Jask forthcoming football match and the latest sex
scandals.
         On the upper steps, where steam was so dense you couldn't see more
than 20cm
       lay the real schwitzers.
         Like blubby seals ,on a seal colony island, they would revel in the
dense steam,
         moaning.
          It would sound like foghorns in a foggy sea.
          If you wished you could have massage and a Beseml (broom).
            This is all, till next Friday.
                 Hardy

     ----- Original Message -----
From: "Arthur von Czernowitz" <vonczernowitz_at_netscape.net>
To: "Abraham Kogan" <akogan_at_netvision.net.il>
Cc: "HARDY BREIER" <HARDY3_at_bezeqint.net>; "Irene Fishler"
<irenef_at_netvision.net.il>; "'fred love'" <fredhotman_at_yahoo.com>;
<Czernowitz-L_at_cornell.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 9:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Cz-L] Re Schwitzbad


> Abraham you are the greatest, after reading your e-mail, Ich hab so ein
> Heimweh bekommen.
>
> I too was taken to the Schwitzbad, but for me it was a scary place. All
> saw there were hairy old men flogging themselves with birch branches. I
> never saw you Freddy, Jerry, Hardy or Berti, why did you hide from me.
> I felt that I was the only young boy there. The hottest place in the
> steam room were the upper benches, the men who sat there were called by
> my father the Schwitzers. One nice thing was the change of clothes
> which I received after my bath. My white shirt was starched with
> krochmail, I loved the smell.
>
> Arthur
-snip-
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Received on 2008-11-13 05:51:25