Re: [Cz-L] Deciphering German script

Hello Robert and all Czernowitzers.

Like Robert, I have a lot of documents and private correspondence between
various relatives and my parents. These documents and letters were not
written on acid-free paper and therefore in time will yellow and become
brittle, eventually disintegrating. It is therefore important to keep them
in climate controlled storage. The Holocaust Museum in Washington DC,
has both the interest and the facilities to preserve any material which
pertains to the WW2 period. I do not know definitely, but imagine, that so
does Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Radu Ioanid is the conservator at the
Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. I would write him and ask if he is
interested in the material you have. His Email address is:
"Ioanid, Radu" <rioanid_at_ushmm.org>

I doubt that you could get a tax deduction for giving the documents and
correspondence to any museum or archive, simply because there is no market
for such items, and therefore no possible estimate of their monetary value.

I have previously looked without success, for researchers working on the
history of central European Jews, during the period shortly before and
during WW2. I think that it would be most interesting to write such a
history as experienced by individual people, as evident from their
correspondence.

If any members of the list know of such research being done by anyone,
anywhere, please let the rest of us know.

I still have not given up the idea of publishing a collection of stories,
essays, reminiscences, documents and letters by members of this list. So
far, I have not been successful in finding a publisher, but as soon as I am
less busy with the Czernowitz Jewish cemetery restoration, I will try some
more and if I cannot find a publisher, we may consider self-publishing.

Last but not least, Robert, I am willing to try and translate some of the
letters of your grandfather. Scan some and send them to me.
My parents went through the same, mostly futile, attempts to get entry visas
to a safe country. Even though I was less than three years old in the spring
of 1940, my mother told me of one of the funny incidents which happened at
that time; one afternoon, when my mother came to pick me up after my
afternoon nap, she found me holding my teddy bear and saying to him in a
grave voice: "Nichts zu machen, der Consul war nicht da."
( nothing could be done, the consul was not there).
My father had traveled somewhere, possibly Bucharest, in order to speak to
the Chilean consul, only to find that the consul was away.

Baruch she-hechianu, ve-kiemanu ve-higianu la-zman ha-zeh!
I am not religious, but when I think of what our parents or grandparents
went through, I am grateful to have survived, be alive and be able to tell
about it.

Mimi

On 9/10/10 4:20 PM, "Robert Burton" <robert.burton_at_rogers.com> wrote:

> Hello all with wishes for a sweet and healthy year.
>
> I also have no German to speak of, but many letters and documents that I
> would dearly loved to have translated. My parents were able to get out to
> Toronto Canada just as the War was breaking out. They arrived in New York
> City on August 22 and were in Toronto - after being held a few days until
> the US cleared their Visas - by September 2 and wrote to their parents on
> the 4th.They came to Canada on special "Orders in Council", orders made by
> the Cabinet of the Government, because they had money and had undertaken to
> open a factory and create jobs.
>
> I have over 250 letters from them to their family and back. I also have
> several documents, mostly in Romanian. The letters from my grandfather were
> written in the old German script. Some of the letters have been glanced at,
> and a huge part of them was the repeated futile, and by the end of 1940,
> frantic attempts to get exit documents from the Romanians and entry
> documents from Canada. There are many other business letters.
>
> This is a very substantial undertaking, and I do not want to give the stuff
> to an archive only to have the box put in a cellar somewhere. I had thought
> that an archive might receive the collection in exchange for having it
> translated. If I could get a tax deduction for the gift, I would donate it
> to the archive. But it does not seem to be a practice. So, I too am hoping
> that one of you can offer to translate even a part of this fairly unique
> collection.
>
> If anyone can help me, I would be grateful.
>
> Bob Burton
>
> Robert Burton
> Cobob Holdings Limited
> 307 Sheppard Avenue East
> TORONTO, Ontario
> Canada M2N 3B3
>
> Tel: 416 226 6895, Ext. 29,
> Fax: 416 223 0321
>
-snip-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 2010-09-12 18:08:30