My late father-in-law, whose ancestors as far back as he could determine had all been born in Toronto, had moved to Chicago in the late 1940s. When he visited us once in the 1960s he broke out in tears when he saw how the town had changed, what they had done to HIS town. (It had doubled or tripled in size, etc.)
Leaving our roots tugs at our heartstrings in ways similar to the pain experienced when our children grow up and go off on their own. When I suffered the pains of empty nesters, a friend quoted to me a line by an Asian philosopher who said about children, "They are like arrows. All we can do is aim them and let go."
Our town was Czernowitz even after it became Cernauti and both are long gone, except in our memories, which we frequently share. Chernivtsi is NOT our town and the sudden appearance of that memorial brings that home. For some of us, visiting the buildings that once belonged to us brings certain rewards. Some of us would prefer to simply visit the memories.
Who among us would want to live there today? If you live there, work there, pay taxes there, you get a voice in their affairs. If you don't, then you are a tourist and tourists have limited rights in the running of towns they visit.
It's sad but true. For me, the only happy outcome from all this came through Cornell. I thought I had been studying Urdu and now I realize I can read Swahili.
Czernowitz is dead. Long live Czernowitz.
Andy
> From: cornel fleming <cornel.fleming_at_virgin.net>
> Subject: RE: Re: [Cz-L] Memorial to the Czernowitz Ghetto
> To: "'Charles Rosner'" <frenchczern1_at_yahoo.com>, "'Czernowitz Genealogy and History'" <czernowitz-l_at_list.cornell.edu>
> Date: Monday, June 6, 2011, 6:00 PM
> Charles...why should they contact
> us?? To ask for permission? To ask for
> support? To ask for???? This was a local initiative and it
> is a good start
> for future initiatives....as they say in Swahili
> "Gezunterheit!" Cornel
>
>
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Received on 2011-06-07 05:27:56
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