Re: [Cz-L] Popovici at the Jewish Museum

From: Miriam Taylor <mirtaylo_at_indiana.edu>
Date: Thu, 06 May 2010 17:10:20 -0400
To: Bruce Reisch <bir1_at_nysaes.cornell.edu>, "Czernowitz-L_at_cornell.edu" <Czernowitz-L_at_cornell.edu>
Reply-to: Miriam Taylor <mirtaylo_at_indiana.edu>

This is the first time that I heard anyone accuse Traian Popovici of having
tried to save the Jews of Czernowitz for monetary gain. Jewish people in
Czernowitz, lived in the same neighborhoods, were interrelated and knew each
other well. Because we had been chased out of our apartments, we lived in
crowded conditions so that secrecy was impossible. After the war, wherever
they lived, Czernowitzers stayed in touch, often discussed the past and the
events of the war. Anything known to one, was soon known to all.
Had Traian Popovici taken bribes in order to issue authorizations, it would
have been general knowledge.
 
Yad Vashem does very thorough research before it awards the title
"Righteous among the nations" to anyone. Yet they awarded it to Popovici.
Radu Ioanid of the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. and other researchers
who wrote about the Holocaust in Romania, all have nothing but esteem and
praise for Traian Popovici.

During the seven years in which I have been a member of this list, no one
ever wrote, that Traian Popovici was anything, but a decent honest human
being,

Aside from what Bruce wrote us about her, I know know nothing about Yevgenia
Finkel.
Did she interview Czernowitzers living in various countries, or only those
living in Chernivtsi under a Communist regime? I assume that she herself was
not an old time Czernowitzer and had no personal knowledge of what happened
there during the war. At the time that she published her book, was it not
general policy in the USSR to defame all Romanians associated with the
Fascist regime of Antonescu?
Was she herself, possibly influenced by such policies, or did the people she
interviewed, think it safer not to laud a Romanian who was nominated by
Antonescu to be mayor?

Mimi

On 5/6/10 12:04 PM, "Bruce Reisch" <bir1_at_nysaes.cornell.edu> wrote:

>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Miriam Taylor" <mirtaylo_at_indiana.edu>
>> To: "HARDY BREIER" <HARDY3_at_bezeqint.net>; <Czernowitz-L_at_cornell.edu>
>> Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 4:23 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Cz-L] Popovici at the Jewish Museum
>>
>> Who is Yevgenia Finkel? And what are her credentials?
>>
>
> Dear Mimi:
>
> I met Mrs. Finkel during my trip to Czernowitz in 1998. She was
> Secretary of the Chernivtsi Society of Yiddish Culture "E.
> Shtainbarg", with offices in the Jewish cultural building near the
> Theatre. Dr. Gaby Rinzler introduced her to me via correspondence
> and she was of great assistance to me while I was there. She edited
> the five volume collection of testimonies (in Russian) and I believe
> that Gaby has copies.
>
> She has since passed away, many years ago.
>
> Bruce

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This moderated discussion group is for information exchange on the subject of
 Czernowitz and Sadagora Jewish History and Genealogy. The opinions expressed
 in these posts are the opinions of the original poster only and not necessarily
 the opinions of the List Owner, the Webmaster or any other members
 or entities connected with this mailing list. The Czernowitz-L list has
 an associated web site at http://czernowitz.ehpes.com that includes a
 searchable archive of all messages posted to this list. Please post in "Plain
 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 2010-05-07 11:27:15

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.2.0 : 2010-07-03 14:34:39 PDT