Re: [Cz-L] Latest about the plaque

Miriam (Mimi) Taylor <mirtaylo_at_indiana.edu>

Dear Marianne and all Czernowitzers,

If there is an error it is mine. The exact wording of Mr. Altskan's letter
is:
-------------------------------------------------
> Dr. Radu Ioanid, Director of the International Archival Programs Division=
 at
> the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC have asked m=
e to
> send you the following quote from his book _ The Holocaust in Romania_ (=
 Ivan
> Dee, Chicago 2000), p.159 related to the rescue of Jews in Chernivtsi by
> Traian Popovici who served as a mayor of the city in 1941-1942:
>
>
>
> ...Popovici tried to oppose the deportations, and he managed to win - wit=
h the
> help of the governor of Bukovina- the approval of Antonescu (who was in
> Tiraspol at the time) to retain in the city some 15, 600 Jews as
> "specialists", along with some 4, 000 others to whom he himself had issue=
d"
> temporary permits"
>
>
>
> This information is based on the archival sources that could be found in =
the
> following archives and publication:
>
>
>
> USHMM Archives RG - 25-004M, roll# 14 (original document in the State Arc=
hives
> of the Chernivtsi Region, fond 2868, opis 1, delo 207 ), also see Carp,
> _Cartea neagra_, ( Black Book) volume 3, p.141
>
------------------------------------------------------------

Since the quote from the book says:
 
>> "specialists", along with some 4, 000 others to whom he himself had issu=
ed"
>> temporary permits",
I took the word "had" to mean that the 4000 temporary permits were issued
before the 15600 signed by Calutescu.
This was a mistake. Antonescu had agreed to 20 000 Jews being allowed to
stay in the city. The selection process took a long time and governor
Calutescu eventually signed 15600 authorizations or permits.
Then mayor Popovici signed many hundred more.

Follows an additional excerpt from his "Testimony":

--------------------------------------------------------------------
 How often, I fought with him to save this one or that one who was slated
for deportation. How many family members who came to me to plea after the
lists were already closed (parents, brothers, father-in-laws, cousins, etc.=
)
went away unsatisfied? I resisted sometimes, that is true, because I had to
create a new authorization on my own, but finally, I inscribed the name of
their loved one on the authorization beginning with the standard lines:
Authorized for non-deportation, who lives in common household, he will
receive, supported, and so on and I courageously signed my name to the
document and stamped it with the seal of city hall. This one operation whic=
h
later was responsible for my being charged with ³misuse of office² save=
d not
tens, but hundreds of souls who were indissolubly bound to the holiest in
human society, the family.....


I had finished the work of selection, revisions and verification when the
Marshal gave the order that the Jews who hadn't been deported up to that
point should be allowed to remain under the responsibility of city hall and
they stepped into the history of the deportation as the beneficiaries of th=
e
³Popovici Authorization² so as to differentiate them from those who
benefited from the ³Calotescu Authorization.²
---------------------------------------------------

If any of you want to read the complete English translation
of Traian Popovici's Testimony, it is available from http:
//www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/Bukowinabook/buk2_062.html.

Mimi
 




> Dear all, I'm afraid Vadim Altskan's version is not accurate. The
> ghetto was formed on October 11, 1941. Popovici was instrumental in
> convincing governor Calotescu to issue 15600 permits. By mid-
> November November 4000 people were still left in the ghetto without
> permits, so Popovici issued the additional 4000 in his own name.
> These "Popovici authorizations" were deemed invalid in June 1942 and
> many of those people were deported in June/July of 1942.
>
> Here are some excerpts from Popovici's testimony (please forgive the
> strange formatting):
>
> On the morning of October 11th, a cold day, damp, sad as the hearts of
> so many unfortunates, I was looking out my bedroom window at the
> snowflakes and I could not believe my eyes. Outside an enormous group
> of wandering people. Old people aided by children, women with babies
> in their arms, invalids dragging their crutches, all with bundles in
> their arms, were pushing small carts with boxes, or were carrying
> packs on their backs, rags, bundles of linen, clothes, blankets.
> They were walking in a pilgrimage toward the veil of suffering of the
> city, towards the ghetto. Š
>
> Only someone who knows he topography of Cernauti, can
> realize how inadequate was the space into which the Jewish population
> was ³invited² to move before 6 PM under the threat of death. It was
> an area that could at its most crowded accomodate 10 000 people, but
> which now had to house 50 000, not counting the Christian population
> that was living there. Š Even if every available room were to hold
> 30 people or more, most would still have to stay in corridors,
> cellars, garages, under bridges, or wherever they could find shelter
> from the snow. I¹m not even going to speak about health and hygiene.
> Lack of drinking water, and more, since two of the three water works
> were destroyed. The pungent smells of urine, sweat and feces, and the
> loathsome humidity spread over the entire area which smelled exactly
> like a flock of sheep in a field. Š ŠThe next day, on October 12, I a=
m
> invited to a meeting at the governor¹s. There were 18 others present.
> Š I am the only one of all of these whoŠ stood up and spoke about the
> Jewish problem in light of the times in which we are living, in the
> atmosphere of racial hatred in which we in Romania, as part of a small
> nation, do not need to participate . I also showed them the
> participation of the Jews in the economic development of our country,
> and what they brought us in all domains of culture and work, and I
> protested in my position as mayor against their deportation. Š
> I asked for the exemption of those to whom our people
> owed their appreciation, artists, pensioners, officers, invalids. I
> asked if we might keep here professionals in all branches of
> industry. I asked for the exemption of all doctors, and in the
> interest of rebuilding, I asked for all engineers and architects. In
> the interest of science and knowledge I asked for all magistrates and
> lawyers. Š The result was that the governor relented and agreed to a
> list of thoseŠ who most deserved the appreciation of our people. I was
> limited to Š 100-200 people. ...
>
> On the afternoon of October 15, in a telephone conversation with the
> governor, Marshall Antonescu agreed to a revision of the massive
> deportations, ordering the exemption of up to 20000 people, made up of
> the groups that I had mentioned in the administrative meeting of Sunday.
> On that very evening of October 15 after I had agreed on
> a course of action with general Ionescu I went to the Jewish hospital
> which was on the edge of the ghetto on a main street leading to the
> train station. Š I wanted to bring the Jewish community leaders the
> message from the Marshall that part of the Jewish population would be
> saved. Š
> The dramatic scene that I lived at the moment that I
> brought them the message of hope I consider the most solemn, the most
> moving of my life.Š
> Old rabbis, intellectuals of all ages, leaders of all
> walks of society, business men, workers, all cried, sank to their
> knees, thanked their God, thanked the Marshall for his grace, and
> tried to kiss my hands, my clothes, my feet. Tears do not always
> embarass a man. In that moment, I was moved by this spontaneous
> outbreak of gratitude and I started crying . ŠAt that moment I was the
> mayor of the entire city and not just of a part of it.Š
>
> In the absence of official census lists that would catalog the
> inhabitants by professionŠ we immediately agreed that the selections
> should be made by the Jews themselves since they knew each other
> better among themselves and since they had the leaders of their
> respective professional organizations to which they belongedŠA force
> of 48 military functionaries Šaided by a team of officers worked
> indefatigably so as to complete in a month a project that normally
> would have taken several months. Š
>
> The most interesting fact is that once general Ionescu and I succeeded
> in halting some of the departures, we searched for more ways to slow
> things down, thinking that the coming winter would stop the
> deportations altogether.
>
> I have to highlight one fact. All the work of this commission of
> selection was done in the light of day, in full view of all
> functionaries who were charged with carrying it out, in full view of
> the public which could exercise its control when it wished to, and
> under the control of the secret police who, as delegates of the
> general staff, had the job to verify all undesirables. ŠThe doors of
> the commission, and especially those of the mayor were open to anyone.
>
>
> best, Marianne
>
>
> Marianne Hirsch
> Professor of English and Comparative Literature
> Director, Institute for Research on Women and Gender
> Columbia University
>
-snip-
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Received on 2008-05-14 02:01:36