Re: [Fwd: Re: [Cz-L] a memory]

Dear Rachel,

thanks for sending this question to the group; it has sparked one of
the more interesting discussions we have had. In my experience, as
the daughter of Czernowitzers who grew up in Bucharest and the US, and
whose parents were born in Czernowitz in the teens, german was and
remains the language of Czernowitzers. I spoke German with my parents
through our time in Romania, where I attended a German language
school, and the US (where we arrived in 1962). My mother and I speak
German together to this day, and, mostly, German is the language I
use to speak to childhood friends, other children of Czernowitzers,
when we meet in Israel, Paris, New York, or Chernivtsi. My
grandparents spoke some Yiddish but that was abandoned in my parents;
generation, except for some cousins who went to a Yiddish school to
learn literary Yiddish.

best,


Marianne Hirsch
Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Director, Institute for Research on Women and Gender
Columbia University




On Jan 10, 2008, at 6:36 AM, Gabriele Weissmann wrote:

>
> -------- Original-Nachricht --------
> Betreff: Re: [Cz-L] a memory
> Datum: Tue, 08 Jan 2008 12:34:49 +0100
> Von: Gabriele Weissmann <G.Weissmann_at_gmx.de>
> An: Rachel Cylus <rcylus1_at_jhu.edu>
> Referenzen: <
>
>
>
> Rachel Cylus schrieb:
>> Dear Gabrielle,
>> I must say that I am learning so much for my paper from
>> reading the
>> stories you and the others on the list serve share with me and with
>> the
>> group. I was curious whether your family considered themselves
>> primarily
>> yiddish speakers or primarily german speakers. I am very intrigued
>> by the
>> role that yiddish played in Czernowitz from 1918 onward. You
>> mentioned
>> people in England not knowing much Yiddish when you arrived there
>> in the
>> 1950s.
>> Thanks,
>> Rachel
>>
>>
>> On 1/7/08, Gabriele Weissmann <G.Weissmann_at_gmx.de> wrote:
>>
>>> Czernowitz Genealogy and History digest schrieb:
>>>
>>>> Subject: [Cz-L] a memory
>>>> From: Lucca <lucca99_at_netvision.net.il>
>>>> Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2008 21:38:08 -0500
>>>> X-Message-Number: 6
>>>>
>>>> Charles Rosner's story reminded me of my own
>>>> experience ? and this is a story which I may have
>>>> told you in the past, but I'll try to make it
>>>> short.
>>>>
>>>> My late husband and myself were tourists in the
>>>> renowned university city of Heidelberg. We had
>>>> looked forward to see this town so famous through
>>>> literature
>>>>
>>>> and music. But instead of finding the expected
>>>> romantic atmosphere, we soon found ourselves in
>>>> the proverbial tourist trap.
>>>>
>>>> It was raining lightly and we sought refuge in a
>>>> crowded café. I spoke to my husband, who was also
>>>> born and raised in Czernowitz, in our mother
>>>> tongue, our own Bucovinean German.
>>>>
>>>> At a table quite close to ours, sat an elderly,
>>>> bearded gentleman smoking a pipe. He listened to
>>>> us for a while and then he turned to us and said:
>>>>
>>>> I'm sorry to bother you, but I am, or rather was
>>>> a philologist all my life, and I am sure to know
>>>> every accent of my mother tongue which is German.
>>>> Now I am trying to figure out where you come
>>>> from, are you Austrians? Somehow it isn't
>>>> quite?or maybe you come from the Slovakei?"
>>>>
>>>> "We both were born in the Bucovina, I tell the
>>>> gentleman, Now the Bucovina belongs to Ukraina,
>>>> but once it was Rumania. Also Russia But we are
>>>> actually Rumanians and we went to Rumanian
>>>> schools!"
>>>>
>>>> "So shouldn't you be speaking Rumanian, or maybe Ukrainean?
>>>>
>>>> "Well you see up to the first world war The
>>>> Bucovina was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire,
>>>> and that's why we talk German!"
>>>>
>>>> The man couldn't let go and continued:
>>>>
>>>> But you were not yet born before the first world
>>>> war as far as I can judge, and why did it
>>>> happen? Why did this country change hands?"
>>>>
>>>> Philology yes, but history no.
>>>>
>>>> A young and beautifully tanned blonde got up from
>>>> an adjoining table and approached us. With
>>>> typical American arrogance which does not accept
>>>> other languages she tells me:
>>>>
>>>> "I see a "TIME" magazine on your table! I haven't
>>>> seen an English printed word since we started our
>>>> tour! Could I have the magazine for a while?"
>>>>
>>>> I tell her she may keep it, I finished reading it on the bus.
>>>>
>>>> The professor approaches us again:
>>>>
>>>> "Your English is so good! How did you acquire this?"
>>>>
>>>> "After the second world war I lived with my
>>>> parents on a small Caribbean island!"
>>>>
>>>> "Was it an English island?"
>>>>
>>>> "No, a Dutch one!"
>>>>
>>>> At this point the man gave up. He sat back
>>>> quietly and smoked his pipe. We were served our
>>>> coffee and cakes which looked much better than
>>>> they tasted. The rain had stopped. We left the
>>>> café.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I think that we Czernowitzers find ourselves more
>>>> often than others in a position where we have to
>>>> explain our whereabouts. Sometimes we even enjoy
>>>> it!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Lucca
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ---
>>>>
>>>> END OF DIGEST
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> I must add one too! When we emigrated from Romania to Bristol,
>>> England,
>>> in 1959, we tried to explain to the persons around us (especially in
>>> school) where we came from and why we spoke several languages. It
>>> was
>>> difficult, if not impossible, for the English to understand. They
>>> knew
>>> few countries outside the Commonwealth, except Austria perhaps.
>>> But the
>>> countries in the East block were very unfamiliar to them, and
>>> Romania,
>>> Bulgaria or Hungary were all the same, although geographically
>>> speaking,
>>> not too far away, still in Europe. They political changes which had
>>> taken place in the past 50 years for Czernowitzers were hard to
>>> explain.
>>> They would acknowledge the facts, nodd politely, but it was
>>> obviously
>>> something very remote for them.
>>> And in the small Jewish community which existed there, most of the
>>> persons had come to England a long time ago or their grand-parents
>>> (mostly from Poland or
>>> Russia) and hardly anybody spoke Jiddish, and if so, they knew
>>> only the
>>> odd word or two. My family and myself sometimes felt as if we had
>>> landed
>>> on the moon.
>>> It was a good thing, so we had to learn English fast.
>>> A good, happy New Year 2008 to all of you,
>>> from Gabriele
>>
> Dear Rachel,
> Regarding Yiddish -
> In Czernowitz, even after the WWI, when Czernowitz was given to
> Romania and the Romanian language was introduced as obligatory,
> everybody continued
> to speak German, Austrian German. Most of the Jewish population had
> always spoken Yiddish along with German which had been the official
> language in Bukowina for well over a century.
> My parents emigrated to Bucharest, Romania at the end of the war,
> from Czernowitz. At home, we spoke only German, and outside the
> house, Romanian of course. However, whenever we met other
> Czernowitzers, they immediately started speaking German and
> sometimes Yiddish, we, the young ones, would listen
> but we spoke Romanian.
> In Czernowitz, before the war, on my father's side, only German was
> spoken in the family, they were well-versed in German and Austrian
> culture,and were looking a bit down on Yiddish. In my mother's
> family, Yiddish was spoken parallel with German, like in many other
> families. They changed from one language to another very easily.
> The Jewish population in Czernowitz being the largest ethnic group,
> many people spoke or understood Yiddish to some extent, and also
> quite a number of non-Jewish persons. Of course, it was a unique
> situation, since the social structure of the population was so
> mixed, one spoke and understood one another's language, a
> development in time, for social commercial, political reasons.
> Gabriele
>
> --
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Gabriele Weissmann
> Kaiserdamm 18
> D- 14057 Berlin
>
> Tel./Fax: +49.30.321 15 38
> E-Mail: G.Weissmann_at_gmx.de
>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
--
This moderated discussion group is for information exchange on the subject =
of
Czernowitz and Sadagora Jewish History and Genealogy. Messages sent to the
 group are archived at <http://czernowitz.ehpes.com>. Please post in "Plai=
n
 Text" if possible (help available at:
<http://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/PlainText.html>).

To remove your address from this e-list follow the directions at
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/elist/lyris/leave.html

To receive assistance for this e-list send an e-mail message to:
owner-Czernowitz-L_at_list.cornell.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
--
Received on 2008-01-10 14:51:23