Re: [Cz-L] Call for Survivors thanks to Popovici!

I was nine years old when we were taken to the Ghetto. Although my memory is somewhat hazy; partly because it was a long time ago, and partly because my family did not share much information with the children. There are certain things I do remember vividly.

At the time we were told to leave for the Ghetto, we (my father, mother, baby brother and I) were living with my uncle, Dr Salo Koffler, at #5 Stefaniegasse. My uncle housed us in a room in his apartment after the Soviets, accusing us of being Capitalists, confiscated our house and all our possessions in Lipcani, Bessarabia.

When the order to go to the Ghetto came out, I remember having to pack up in a hurry. We ended up in an apartment on the Judengasse. I do not remember whose apartment it was. What I do remember was that there were many people in each room, probably ten or more. My bed was a small suitcase. In the next room there was an ill person and the rumor was that he had Typhus. Deportations had also begun and then news came that people of certain professions could submit an application to remain in Czernowitz. My uncle was a physician and my father applied as an agronomist.

My uncle, received his permit almost immediately. My family, however, did not. Several weeks passed by, and I remember clearly standing every morning under that second floor window waiting in vain for our name to be called out.

My mother had a cousin who was a wheeler dealer. She said that she knew a Rumanian colonel, who, for 10,000 Lei, would add my mother's name, mine and my brother's to my uncle's permit. My father, unfortunately could not be added and he would have to go to Transnistria. The money was scraped together and my uncle's permit came back with three additional names handwritten across the bottom in green ink. (I can still see the vivid green of that ink). My uncle was afraid that, since that addition looked so unkosher, we would all end up in Transnistria, so we decided to wait hoping to get a permit of our own. Transports were continuously leaving and we were lucky enough to be able to continue waiting. Miraculously, at the last minute, my family,too, received a permit and were able to return to the apartment which had been sealed by the authorities.What I remember very clearly, as we walked in, the apartment was very cold, and, on my bed, a family of mice with
  multiple baby mice had made their home.

To be very honest, I had not heard the name Popovici until about fifteen years ago when visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington. All I knew was that we were saved by the mayor of the city.

We remained in Czernowitz for the duration of the war, my father having been sent to a labor camp, I think, it was near Ploiesti. The circumstances under which we lived have been described by many list members.\

Frieda Tabak
220 locust street 26B
Philadelphia, Pa 19106
215-625-9023
 

--- On Wed, 1/12/11, veni vici <venivici_at_inbox.com> wrote:

From: veni vici <venivici_at_inbox.com>
Subject: [Cz-L] Call for Survivors thanks to Popovici!
To: "Czernowitz Genealogy and History" <czernowitz-l_at_list.cornell.edu>
Date: Wednesday, January 12, 2011, 1:15 PM

This is a message to all Bukovina survivors of the Holocaust thanks to Traian Popovici!

I need your stories for a film and a book about when and how your families got the permits from Popovici. The film and the book will have a powerful title:
[snip]
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Received on 2011-01-13 17:21:24