Please excuse the incompleteness of what I remember, but this is it:
Sasha Wolloch and I arrived in Czernowitz on April 17th, late in the
afternoon. That same day, after dinner, we went for a walk, during which I
wanted to show Sasha where the plaque would be attached. We walked down the
former Karolinengasse, from near the Tempel and to my amazement, there the
plaque was, already attached to what is now #6 Zankovet'ka.
Some days later, when we met with Dr. Bursuk, he told us that he had
arranged to have the plaque attached, well ahead of the unveiling ceremony,
so that there would be no risk of anything going wrong at the last minute.
At that time Dr. Bursuk also informed us of the schedule of events planned
in conjunction with the memorial plaque unveiling for Tuesday April 21st.
Here let me say, that I had wanted the unveiling to be on the 21st, because
this was Yom Ha-Shoah and because this was a convenient date after Passover
and Easter as well as after Orthodox Easter. What I had not known and not
planned for, was that Monday after Orthodox Easter is also a holyday and
that early May, until May 10th is a period of holydays in the Ukraine.
Beside participating in the unveiling ceremonies for the Popovici plaque,
I had also hoped to be able to speak to either the mayor Mr. Fedoruk, or
Mr. Kylynych, about possible plans for the restoration of the Jewish
cemetery. In the event, neither Mr. Fedoruk, nor Mr. Kylynych were in town,
during the time I was there.
On Tuesday, April 21st the ceremonies for the unveiling of the plaque
started at 10:00 AM in the morning in the council chamber of city hall
presided over by the vice-mayor of the city. About 15 - 20 people were
present. The vice mayor, some council members, including Lev Kleyman, the
former chairperson of the Jewish community. Dr. Bursuk, Sasha and I,
Florentin Lehaci, his wife and daughter, the Romanian consul to Chernivtsi,
the head of the Romanian cultural association in Chernivtsi,
Prof. G. Jernovei, who teaches Romanian at the university and possibly
others whom I do not remember. The vice-mayor of the city spoke about the
long multi=ethnic history of the city and the fact that it is still
multi-ethnic today. The Romanian consul thanked the city, the Jewish
community and me for putting up the plaque to Train Popovivi. I thanked the
city council for allowing me to have the plaque put up and said that I was
glad that the courageous, generous and decent deeds of Traian Popovivi would
now be remembered in the city in which he performed these deeds. I also said
that I was particularly honored and glad to be sitting in the council
chamber of the city, because about 80 years earlier, my maternal grandfather
had been a member of the city council and had sat in the same chamber.
The speeches were given variously in Ukrainian, Romanian and English and
then translated by either Dr. Bursuk or Prof. Jernovei into the other two
languages.
We were then invited to the Romanian cultural association center for a
lavish reception and an exhibition of paintings by Teodora Liscu, a painter
from Sibiu Romania. I had a chance to speak to Florentin Lehaci and convey
to him my appreciation for what he is doing in Fundu Moldovei. Many members
of the Association Traian Popovici, came to Chernivtsi for this occasion.
I was also interviewed for Romanian television in Iasi.
Then there was a reception at Hesed Shushana, Jewish dishes were served, we
had a tour of the building and the guests were told about all the endeavors
of Hesed Shushana.
At 3:00 PM the actual unveiling took place at #6 Zankovet'ka.
The ceremony was filmed by Ukrainian television, Romanian television from
Iasi, Stuart, the nephew of Ilana Gordon and possibly others .
A reasonable large number of people were present. Of course my friends in
Chernivtsi, Zoya Danilovich, Luda Alleyeva, Segei Kulipanov, Natasha
Sevchenko and members of this list; Ilana Gordon, her husband, her sister
and nephew and of course Sasha. Daphna Yizrael from Journey into Jewish
Heritage together with two architects from Israel, who will be participating
in the study group planned for this summer were also there.
I am sorry, I do not remember the content of the speeches given by others.
I was concentrating hard on what I should say, so as not to repeat what had
been said by those who spoke before me. I said that in 1941 I was 4 years
old, but that even then I knew who Traian Popovici was and realized how
grateful my parents and their friends were to this extraordinary man.
Later that afternoon, Prof. Jernovei and his wife took us on a tour of the
university - the former residence of the Metropolitan and then to their
house in the country for Schmettentorte and coffee.
The day was a beautiful day, perfectly blue sky, just the right temperature
and CZERNOWITZ IS BEAUTIFUL. It is now all painted in pastel colors, not
solemn and sedate beige/grey as I remember it from my childhood. It reminds
me of pictures from a children's fairy tale book. Actually of one, I had
in my childhood in Czernowitz and I like it. On most buildings, the
architectural details have been restored and I looked and marveled at the
variety of architectural styles and how harmoniously they blended with each
other.
It was a good day and a good visit, I wish many more of you had been there.
Mimi
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Received on 2009-05-06 23:22:57
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.2.0 : 2009-06-27 20:03:59 PDT