Re: [Cz-L] Gregor Von Rezzori

I have not read enough of Rezzori's books in order to be able to judge
whether he was an Anti-Semite or not, but if he was, it would certainly
bother me. What I have read of him, I did not find particularly interesting.
Would I refuse to read the books of an Anti-Semite?
Most probably, yes. After all, being a Semite, I would not enjoy them,
but I might read them out of curiosity.

As to how Jews in Czernowitz felt about Gentiles and how Gentiles felt about
Jews, I disagree with Hardy.
Not all Gentiles were Anti Semites, nor did all Jews, at all times, hate
Gentiles.

In the plebiscite at the end of WW1 Jews and Ruthenians voted together
against annexation to Romania. The Metropolit of Czernowitz hid some Jews,
Mayor Popovici, at least temporarily, saved about 20 000 Czernowitz Jews
from being sent to Transnistria. From personal experience I can say that
some Czernowitz Gentiles helped Jews during WW2 and I am sure that those I
knew, were not the only ones.

In the history of inter-ethnic relations in Czernowitz, one needs to
separate the period of Romanian rule from the period of Austrian rule.
And having left Czernowitz in the summer of 1945, I will not discuss how
inter-ethnic relations might have been since then.

Religion, customs, social status and language kept Czernowitzers of all
kinds, within their ethnic groups in both periods, but it was only during
the Romanian period, when Romanians enjoyed preferential treatment and
Anti-Semitic laws were enacted, that antagonistic feelings came into being
on both sides.
 
Czernowitz Jews, like Jews everywhere, were aware of the long history of
Anti-Semitism and therefore were cautious and suspicious in their dealings
with Gentiles but this should not be equated with hatred.

I visited some of the villages around Czernowitz, where my ancestors once
lived and was lucky to find people who remembered them. From the way these
villagers spoke about my great-grandfathers and my relatives, it was clear
that they had had cordial relations.

Mimi

On 7/17/10 8:13 AM, "HARDY BREIER" <HARDY3_at_BEZEQINT.NET> wrote:

> If von Rezzori was antisemitic ? Why should this trouble us ?
> Are we going to boycott him for this , like the Nazis boycotted Heine ?
> In Cz., where everyone was either a Jew or an antisemite I would'nt
> wonder if he was.
> In Cz. if you were not a Jew ,you were antisemitic.
> They hated us and we hated them. Since Chmelnitzky and before.
> Our hatred was passive - theirs very active.
>
> We like von Rezzori because he spoke and wrote like us.
> He was fluent in Yiddish and uses Czernowitzer Yiddish German
> making his Jewish characters come alive and true.
> In translations this is lost.
> Take this from "Hermelin"in the dialog between Uscher Brill and
> Paschkano:
> " Ein schoner Stein " sagte Brill langsam . "Ein sehr ein schoener Stein ".
> How do you convey this in other languages ?
> We should pay tribute to von Rezzori for immortalizing our hometown
> instead of speculating on his sentiments.
> Hardy

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Received on 2010-07-17 14:49:33