[Cz-L] Daily life in Czernowitz

This morning, as soon as I woke up, I wanted to open the windows, but it was
quite cold outside and I debated with myself whether to open them or not.
Then I remembered our Czernowitz compulsion about "Frische Luft". Czernowitz
winters were quite cold and most if not all homes were heated by means of
Kachelofen" (tiled ovens in which we burned wood). By morning the oven,
which had been stocked with wood, shortly before we went to sleep, was quite
cold. No matter how cold it was outside, my mother would open all the
windows, shake out the pillows and the "Steppdecken" (quilted covers), or
"Uberbett" (down comforters) and put them on the window sill to "luften"
(air out). Even at the end of November 1944 when I was sick with measles and
had a high temperature, my mother covered me very well and the windows were
opened as usual.

The next ritual, was to sweep and dust the whole apartment and then, on all
reasonably warm days, usually around 8 o'clock my mother would go to the
market, which was on the Austria Platz. There she would buy vegetables,
fruit, butter and cheese, from the peasant women who had come from the
villages. I think that each housewife had her favorite supplier and I
remember my mother engaging in friendly conversation with the woman from
whom she bought the butter, wrapped in a large rhubarb leaf. It was the best
butter, creamy yellow and smelling of red flowered clover. During the war,
Jews were not allowed to be on the streets before 10 o'clock and therefore
there was no point going to the market, because by 10 o'clock all provisions
would be sold. The peasant woman, from whom my mother usually bought butter
and cheese, even though prohibited by law from doing so, brought the butter
and the cheese, hidden inside her short fur jacket, to us. She belonged to
the sect of "Sabotniki" and was very upset at the fate of the Jews.

By the way, does anyone know whether this sect was a large percentage of the
population? Also, in which villages, most of them lived?

I think it would be interesting if those of us who remember daily life in
Czernowitz as it was, or as it was described to them by their parents and
grandparents, would write about it to the list.

Shavua Tov,

Mimi
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 2010-10-03 17:30:15