AW: [Cz-L] THE volunteer cleaning of the cemetery in our city.

Dear Mimi, dear Anny Matar, dear Czernowitzers,

In answer of your mails I have to correct some things.

I did not bring a group of Germans to Czernowitz. All volunteers - the Germ=
ans, French, Swedish, Polish, Italian, Americans and Australian - came as pa=
rticipants of a work-camp by SVIT-Ukraine on their own expenses.

The organization I work for is in now way involved in my personal activitie=
s around the work-camp.

Mimi was the one who invested the most to make this work-camp true. It was =
she who wrote to the mayor and to the volunteer organizations and went throu=
gh the endless and tiring ups and downs of this communication, at least succ=
essful.

Mimi describes very good the contribution of all others: John Myers, Julia =
Miyasyshevka, the city's administration, the volunteers, the work-camp leade=
rs, the students of the local school. I support the idea to send a thank-you=
 message to them.

In case of the local students I would like to make a proposal: They are the=
 Czernowitzers of today, you are the ones who know everything about the city=
's past. Why not offering them to ask you questions and to learn about the h=
istory and fate of the town? This could be a wonderful school project during=
 the anniversary.

During the last two weeks I received many individual thank-yous from member=
s of the list, some of them very touching. I'm very grateful about this. I f=
eel that I profited a lot from the knowledge and passion of many of the list=
's members, more then I ever could give back. You enriched my life.

Best wishes
Christian


--------------------------------------------
Christian Herrmann

Fachkräfteportal der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe
- Webredaktion -
www.jugendhilfeportal.de

Kennen Sie schon den Newsletter des Fachkräfteportals der Kinder- und Jug=
endhilfe? Unter http://www.jugendhilfeportal.de/wai1/newsletter.asp?typeID=
=1 können Sie ihn abonnieren.

Jugend online
- Webredaktion -
www.jugend.info
www.netzcheckers.de

IJAB - Fachstelle für Internationale Jugendarbeit der Bundesrepublik Deut=
schland e.V.
Godesberger Allee 142-148
53175 Bonn

Tel. 02 28 / 95 06 156
Fax 02 28 / 95 06 41 19
herrmann_at_ijab.de

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: bounce-2989042-5644785_at_list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-2989042-5644785=
@list.cornell.edu] Im Auftrag von Miriam Taylor
Gesendet: Sonntag, 31. August 2008 00:47
An: Anny Matar; Czernowitz Genealogy and History
Betreff: Re: [Cz-L] THE volunteer cleaning of the cemetery in our city.

Miriam (Mimi) Taylor <mirtaylo_at_indiana.edu>

In response to Anny Matar's letter:

Like Anny, I feel that we owe the organizers and the volunteers who worked
to clear part of the Chernivtsi Jewish cemetery a great debt of gratitude.
We cannot send them a giant poster, but we can send each of them a thank-yo=
u
message and we could contribute money to the organizations to which they
belong and on who's behalf they did this generous work.

The first person we owe thanks to, is Christian Hermann, a member of this
list. It was his idea to ask various volunteer organizations to hold a
work-camp for the clearing of the cemetery. It was he, who gave me a list o=
f
organizations to write to, it was he who advised me to write to the city
authorities in order to gain their support. You might say that he guided
and helped me at every step of the way. Once we found organizations willing
to undertake the project, he stayed in contact with them and is continuing
to do so. He also contributed from his own funds towards the expenditures o=
f
the work-camp. Christian works for:
Fachkräfteportal der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe
- Webredaktion -
www.jugendhilfeportal.de
 

Next we owe thanks to Mr. John Meyers of SCI Germany. I had written him,
asking whether his organization could send a group of volunteers to clear
the cemetery. It happens that his organization could not organize a
work-camp for this year, because their schedule was already full. So it was
John Meyers of SCI Germany who contacted Julia Miyasyshevka of SVIT Ukraine
and helped her to organize the work-camp. He has already promised to assist
in further work-camps next year. SCI stands for Service Civil International=
.
Their website is: <www.sci-d.de>

Third, but certainly not least, we owe thanks to Julia Miyasyshevka of SVIT
Ukraine, who:
1. Persuaded Chernivtsi city officials to extend assistance to the
volunteers, in the form of housing and to provide some workers to cut down
the sapling trees which fill the cemetery.
2. Publicized and organized the work-camp and made all the local
arrangements. She too, is thinking of continuing this project next year and
on a larger scale. SVIT Ukraine is an organization created to aid the
activities of volunteer organizations in the Ukraine. Their website is:
<www.svit.ukraine.org>

Then we owe thanks to the two "on location" organizers; Jasmin Sohner from
Germany and Barbara Chmielowska from Poland. They were responsible for all
work being done in the cemetery and for the welfare of the volunteers.
They worked with the volunteers in clearing the cemetery and they all worke=
d
hard.

And finally we owe thanks to each of the volunteers, who came from
Australia, Germany, France, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden and the USA and
those local volunteers, who joined the others, when they learned of the
work-camp from the local media and hand-outs by the volunteers.
We should also remember that the volunteers paid their own expenses in orde=
r
to come to Chernivtsi.

I have no detailed information about the students from the local school,
who also volunteered to work in clearing the cemetery, but we certainly
owe them and their teacher or school principal great many thanks.

I suggest that we as a group write to each of these people to express our
gratitude and publicize their selfless actions, by writing to newspapers an=
d
newsletters, tell the story to our friends and relatives and contribute to
the funds of the organizations involved.

I would like one or more members of the list, to volunteer to get these
thank-you notes to the appropriate people;
Write and/or design the notes, collect the signatures of members of the lis=
t
and mail them to each of the organizers, each of the volunteers and also to
those who were willing to help the volunteers, while they were in
Chernivtsi.

Among these, let me mention Dr. Bursuk, Rabbi Kofmanski and Natalya
Shevchenko.

I agree with Anny, do not let grass grow over this,

Mimi

>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Anny Matar <annymatar_at_gmail.com>
> Date: Sat, Aug 30, 2008 at 1:12 PM
> Subject: THE volunteer cleaning of the cemetery in our city.
> To: owner-Czernowitz-L_at_list.cornell.edu
>
>
> I CALL ON ALL THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED
> to prepare something very special for all those who participated with
> Mr. Christian Hermann and his group of GERMANS, as well as for the "local=
"
> UKRANIAN volunteers who not only worked at the cleaning and clearing but =
are
> also willing to continue looking after it, which I think is a MOST laudab=
le
> gesture. Such gesture comes not only from the pupils but must be supporte=
d
> by the Headmaster, therefore I suggest we sent a poster size letter of
> thanks to Mr. Hermann's people as well as the Headmaster of the Czernowit=
z
> school.
> This, I think, is the least we can do for such gracious offer.
> To my greatest regret, we Jews, don't really know how to show gratitude,
> what we're great in is complaining. If you managed to collect money for t=
he
> plaque (I'm a late comer to this forum)
> so I think we should be able to collect enough money for a beautiful, lar=
ge
> poster of thanks.
> Let's not time and grass grow over it.
> I hope I'll find some who'll agree with me,
> Regards,
> anny
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Received on 2008-09-01 08:49:23