Re: [Cz-L] Jewish roots in Czernowitz

From: Miriam Taylor <mirtaylo_at_indiana.edu>
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2010 22:58:55 -0400
To: "W.A. Terner" <w.a.t-r_at_athenaeum.se>, "Czernowitz-L_at_cornell.edu" <Czernowitz-L_at_cornell.edu>
Reply-to: Miriam Taylor <mirtaylo_at_indiana.edu>

Manfred Reifer writes mostly about the presence of Jews in Moldavia, not in
the Bucovina and not in Czernowitz. Where he mentions that Jews were present
in Czernowitz and vicinity before 1500, it is conjecture and he does not
mention any documented evidence. Anyhow, even if there were Jews settled in
Czernowitz and vicinity, they would mostly have been killed during the
Chmielnitzki revolt.

I quote from the article as translated by Silverbush:
> The oldest source we have available to us and which points to the existence of
> Jewish settlements in Bukovina originates from the year 1684.
Manfred Reifer does quote documents which substantiate the presence of Jews
in the southern Bucovina in the first half of the 18th century. About the
earliest document proving a Jewish presence in Czernowitz, he writes:
> A document from 1751 concerns the complaint of the Jews of Czernowitz against
> the Prince Racovita because of the salt tax unjustly imposed on them. The Jews
> brought into evidence old privileges granted them in princely letters.
This indicates that there were Jews living in Czernowitz some time earlier
than 1751, but we do not know since when, where they came from and how many
of them there were.
Manfred Reifer cites other documents which indicate a Jewish presence in
Czernowitz, between 1751 and 1775, but concludes:
> The old Czernowitz Jewish cemetery has wonderfully ornamented grave stones
> which for the most part originated from the period when Bukovina was occupied
> by Austria. If one wants to use these stones as a guide to the history of the
> Jews in Bukovina, one must place the settling of the Jews in Czernowitz in the
> middle of the 18th century.

Mimi

On 9/15/10 4:32 PM, "W.A. Terner" <w.a.t-r_at_athenaeum.se> wrote:

> Dear Czernowitzers,
> For those in doubt about the existence of Jews in Bukowina and surrounding
> areas in earlier times ( then 1788) here some additional details:
> Dr. Manfred Reifer(Tel-Aviv) has written an article, translated by Jerome
> Silverbush, under the title: THE ERA OF THE MOLDOVIAN PRINCES.
> The material is made available by JewishGen.Inc. and can be seen on the
> internet by all those interested in the History of Jews in Bukowina. It is
> an interesting presentation of facts regarding Jewish presence as far back
> as the period 1300-1500.
> As with regard to Sephardic Jews in Poland:
> The Polish king Sigismund II Augustus (1529-72) encouraged Jewish Sephardic
> families to move to Poland. Most of them moved to Lvov(Lemberg) ( not so far
> away from Czernowitz). In 1588 Jan Zamoyski, Polish Chancellor, established
> a special privilege allowing Sephardic Jews to live in his own newly founded
> town of Zamosc. Ashkenazi's where not authorized, in the beginning, to
> settle in Zamosc.
> Documentation exists in different archives and family names can be found.
> To chose the date 1788, as proposed, as a starting point for Jewish life in
> the area, seems to be a bit late. For some it perhaps comes as a surprise.
> The old stories about the Kazars seem to be still in circulation. The
> subject remains for many a very sensitive one. Checking the telephone
> registers in Czernowitz as well as in the US and elsewhere will have to
> wait, perhaps for the next generation. The names are and will still be
> there.
> GMAR CHATIMA TOVA,
> Wolf ( W. A.Terner, Stockholm, Sweden).
>

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Received on 2010-09-15 22:37:54

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