Re: [Cz-L] Rescue Operation of Czernowitz Jews - A Joint Venture

Most likely the police officer convinced Arthur's grandmother that
she would not get a Popovici Permit, unless she gave him a bribe.
We shall never know definitely, whether the officer just put
the gold chain in his pocket, or handed it over to Popovici
or someone else in Popovici's office.

The evidence is overwhelming that thousands of Czernowitz Jews
got Popovici permits, without bribing anyone. Many Jews were
allowed to keep their small stores, as long as no Romanian
wanted that store for himself.
I clearly remember, that I was often sent to buy yeast at a small,
Jewish owned grocery located on the Brauhausgasse, between
the Siebenburger Strasse and the Schmidtgasse.

Bribery was endemic in Romania and I think that during WW2,
many in Romania as well as in other countries, took advantage
of the plight of Jews to extort money from them.

I also remember that before we moved to the ghetto, probably
in September 1941, two soldiers came to our house and said
that we were in possession of weapons. They searched the house,
including the ashes in the fireplace and "found" two bullets in them.
After my father gave them some money, they left peacefully.

Mimi
 

On 12/28/11 4:04 AM, "Arthur von Czernowitz" <vonczernowitz_at_yahoo.com>
wrote:

> Below is a rerun of my previous message regarding the "Popovici Permit"
> bribes.
>
> As long as I can remember, my grandmother always talked about her heavy gold
> chain which she wore on Shabes.
> She swapped the gold chain for a Popovici permit. She gave it to an official
> or a police officer. This official arranged that she did not have to move to
> the ghetto, wear the yellow star and also kept her store in the
> Kuczurmarerstrasse.
> But every time when she met a Czernowitzer she told the story and cursed that
> official who took her heavy gold chain. Nor a cholere sol im trefen. (I hope
> he caches cholera)she cursed.
>
> Arthur
>
>
> --- On Mon, 12/26/11, Miriam Taylor <mirtaylo_at_indiana.edu> wrote:
>
> From: Miriam Taylor <mirtaylo_at_indiana.edu>
> Subject: Re: [Cz-L] Rescue Operation of Czernowitz Jews - A Joint Venture
> To: "cornel fleming" <cornel.fleming_at_virgin.net>
> Cc: "'HARDY BREIER'" <HARDY3_at_BEZEQINT.NET>, "'Edgar Hauster'"
> <bconcept_at_hotmail.com>, "'Berti Glaubach'" <berti.glaubach_at_gmail.com>,
> "'Czernowitz Discussion Group'" <czernowitz-l_at_cornell.edu>, "'Jerome
> Schatten'" <romers_at_shaw.ca>
> Date: Monday, December 26, 2011, 11:07 PM
>
> Absolutely not!
> He joined the NSDAP in 1932, when it was as yet not indispensable
> for each diplomat to be a party member.
> He also was briefly a member of the SS.
> (of course this he did just because he liked to ride horses)
> He was a trained physician, he did not have to work for a Nazi government
> in a provincial small Romanian town.
>
> There were German citizens who risked their well being and even their lives
> in order to save Jews, but I have read nothing which convinces me
> that Schellhorn was one of them.
>
> And why if he had been the savior of 20000 Jews in 1941,
> did he let about 4000 Jews be deported to Transnistria in 1942?
>
> Mimi
>
>
> On Dec 26, 2011, at 2:29 PM, cornel fleming wrote:
>
>> Mimi...Schellhorn was in the German Diplomatic Service long before
>> Hitler..but to stay in his job he had to join the NSDAP...which did not
>> necessarily make him a Nazi!  Cornel
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: bounce-39065716-8441035_at_list.cornell.edu
>> [mailto:bounce-39065716-8441035_at_list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Miriam Taylor
>> Sent: 26 December 2011 15:17
>> To: HARDY BREIER
>> Cc: Edgar Hauster; Berti Glaubach; Czernowitz Discussion Group; Jerome
>> Schatten
>> Subject: Re: [Cz-L] Rescue Operation of Czernowitz Jews - A Joint Venture
>>
>> Yevgenya Finkel may also have written that the moon is made out of
>> blue cheese.
>> This does not mean that she knows the facts or represents them
>> correctly.
>> I have previously read about some of the assertions of Yevgenia Finkel
>> and have found them just as unfounded.
>> "Nisht geshtoigen, nisht gefloygen, nor fom finger ausgesoygen"
>>
>> It is possible that some Popovici authorizations were sold by people
>> who worked
>> in Popovici's office. But I am absolutely sure that my parents did
>> not buy the authorization
>> I still have, nor did any of the friends of my parents buy their
>> authorization.
>> Would my father have bought an authorization for himself and not for
>> his mother?
>> Were all Czernowitzers who respected Popovici blind, stupid and
>> mistaken?
>>
>> All the denials of Popovici's important and humanitarian role in
>> saving many
>> of the Jews of Czernowitz, is largely based on the Russian and German
>> attitude
>> towards Romania and Romanians. Read Shellhorn's own words and you
>> will see.
>>
>> Schellhorn may have thought that the Jews were important to the
>> economy of the city
>> and he may have thought that it was better for the war effort to
>> leave them be.
>> Had he been such a great humanitarian, would he have joined the Nazi
>> party?
>>
>> And why did he do nothing about the revocation of the Popovici permits?
>> My family had a Popovici permit, but on June 7, 1942 when the
>> deportations resumed,
>> we had to hide in order NOT to be deported,
>> the same in July of 1942. Where was Schellhorn then?
>>
>> Mimi
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
Received on 2011-12-28 07:50:56