AW: [Cz-L] A short history of Czerowitzer Jews.

A reply to HARDY's mail as to where we came from, ( all based on speculation )

We know that the Ashkenazim generally (not only the Jews of Bukowina) originated
in the Rhine valley and surrounding areas and Yiddish is actually a derivation
ofmedieval German.

When I'm asked where I came from I usually answer: Czernowitz, but after my
emigration from there I finally landed in Cologne, in the Rhine Valley,
just to discover that this city and this area with the help of some imagination
could have been the place where my forefathers once lived.

As the place of the oldest known Jewish community north of the Alps it is more
and more discovering it's ancient Jewish history.
Jews definitely came to this town in Roman times. The Roman emperor Constantine
wrote two letters concerning the election of Jews into the City council and
concerning the synagogue. Marble pieces of the synagogue's floor cover
from a refurbishment in the 5th century were discovered.

Whether the Jewish population continuously lived in the town from Roman times
till late Middle Ages is not definitely known, but it looks like the location
of the synagogue didn't change till 1349 - the year of the end of the medieval
Jewish Cologne.

http://www.museenkoeln.de/archaeologische-zone/ - unfortunately no English link

Alex

----- Ursprüngliche Mail ----
> Von: HARDY BREIER <HARDY3_at_BEZEQINT.NET>
> An: CZERNOWITZ-L <Czernowitz-L_at_cornell.edu>
> Gesendet: Samstag, den 4. September 2010, 8:50:11 Uhr
> Betreff: [Cz-L] A short history of Czerowitzer Jews.
>
> A reply to Jessica Attiyeh's question as to where we came from,
> ( all based on speculation ):
>
> The Jews started settling the Pruth valley in the early 15 - th century.
> They came from the West , from Lemberg and farther.
> They spoke Yiddish and this shows us their origin.
> Yiddish derives from a medieval German regional language spoken
> in some Rhine valley villages.
> To this they added some Hebrew words that could not be found
> in the Rhine dialect.
> On their way East the language picked up some Polish, Rumanian
> Ruthenian too.
> So now we know where we came from.
> Why did they leave the the lush Rhine valley and go to the
> unknown lands of the East ?
> Because the Germans persecuted them since time began.
> Putting them in Ghettoes and imposing on them draconic laws .
> Every crusade started with the butchering of the home Jews for
> military practice. This was a kind of weapon drill.
>
> So the Jews took their Bibles, their language and their gold and
> moved on , mostly to the East.
> In the safety of the Carpathian mountains , so far away.
> But here lived the Hutzuls and Ruthenians , Poles and Valachians,
> the Russians and Turks not so far away.
>
> But the trading was good , goods from Europe going to the
> Orient and vice versa . The Jews showed their merchant skills.
> On the Pruth river a trading post came into being -first on the
> North bank and later on the South bank .
>
> Later came the Moldovians ,Turks , Russians and many more Jews.
> Then the local people wanted independence and fought the
> occupiers . Ever uprising was accompanied by the slaughter
> of the Jews.
> During the Hmelnitzki uprising alone some 100,000 Jews
> were butchered .
> Today the Dreifaltigkeitsgasse was renamed as Hmelnitzki street.
> Because he was a big hero.
> Which he was.
>
> Then came the Habsburgs who were liberals and granted freedom to
> the Jews as never before.
> The Jews gratefully reciprocated by becoming good Austrians.
> They went to the Army, grew mustaches ,wore swords and became
knights.
> They got positions and became very influential.
> Also rich.
> The rest is known and very sad.
> Austria became a republic and soon dicovered that they were
> actually Germans as the Bavarians are for instance.
> But the Czernowitzer Jews remained Austrians forever.
> Austrians of the Habsburg period.
> Reciting Schiller and Busch.
> Living in a dream.
> Not for very long.
>
> Hardy
> -----=
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 2010-09-06 06:05:43