RE: [Cz-L] Popovici --more data

Chapeau to Liviu Carare for having located and published the fascinating,
horrifying, but greatly revealing document of the Commission of Inquiry set
up by the Fascist Authorities re the saving of more than 20000 of Czernowitz
Jews (myself and my parents and relatives amongst them) from deportation to
Transnistria.
Having read the Romanian report of the Commission it is clear to me that in
a way the Commission "laundered" the actions that were performed by Popovici
and the other officials involved. As they mention there - you cannot prove
the actions of bribery since neither the bribers nor the bribed can be
expected to volunteer confirmation of their acts... As if the Sigurantza of
the Fascist Regime could not have extracted the information had they wished
to do so... All they mentioned in detail in their report were the
discrepancies they discovered in the lists of those who were saved, e.g.
persons that were obviously not of the profession that was recorded, or the
names added in pencil or ink to the typed lists.
I was 8 year old at the time but aware, from rumours that went around
between the grown-ups, that apparently some bribery was involved. However it
was believed not to be related to Popovici himself but to the many
intermediaries. Now I learned a lot about what really happened from this and
the other articles mentioned below.

Chapeau also to Edgar for locating this article by Liviu Carare. It is
worthwhile to enter his name in Google - I found a number of interesting
related articles by him.
One about our Ghetoization in Czernowitz - CONSIDERAŢII PRIVIND PROCESUL DE
GHETOIZARE
A EVREILOR DIN CERNĂUŢI
http://www.history-cluj.ro/Istorie/anuare/AnuarBaritHistorica2010/07.pdf

Another - a collection of articles "Partide politice şi minorităţi naţionale
din România în secolul XX" includes some interesting articles:
one on p. 11 "The Resolution of the Hebrew Issue in the Romanian
Principalities (1848-1866) between Political Will and Social Failure",
one by Lya Binyamin on p 51 "Idei diriguitoare în Mişcarea Sionistă din
România. Congresul Sionist din 1919", and
one on p 247 by Liviu Carare based on the above mentioned report of the
Commision of Inquiry "Deportările din Cernăuţi (1941). Mărturii pe baza unui
raport de anchetă informativă"
http://istorie.ulbsibiu.ro/cercetare/Texte/Partide%20politice%20%205.pdf
as well as few others related to antisemitism in Romania and fate of Jews in
other cities - e.g. Transilvania. Of course, only for those of us who still
read Romanian, but all can benefit of the abstracts in English.
Shabbat Shalom
Mordecai

-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-58621490-30942314_at_list.cornell.edu
[mailto:bounce-58621490-30942314_at_list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Ken Cutler
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2012 6:44 PM
To: 'Edgar Hauster'; Czernowitz Discussion Group
Cc: Liviu Carare; Eytan Fichman; Stephen Winters; Ruth Gold; Frieda Tabak;
Cornel Fleming; Miriam Taylor; Gerhard Schreiber; Irene Fishler; Iosif
Vaisman; Marianne Hirsch
Subject: RE: [Cz-L] Popovici --more data

I can't recall if this was in the discussion about Popovici but these are
his words translated:

http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/bukowinabook/buk2_062.html

-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-43584045-13349945_at_list.cornell.edu
[mailto:bounce-43584045-13349945_at_list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Edgar
Hauster
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 9:12 AM
To: Czernowitz Discussion Group
Cc: Liviu Carare; Eytan Fichman; Stephen Winters; Ruth Gold; Frieda Tabak;
Cornel Fleming; Miriam Taylor; Gerhard Schreiber; Irene Fishler; Iosif
Vaisman; Marianne Hirsch
Subject: [Cz-L] Popovici --more data

Czernowitzers, dear friends...
 
Let's support our current discussion with hard data and thus let me draw
your attention to an article under the headline
 
CONCLUZIILE COMISIEI DE ANCHETA PENTRU "CERCETAREA NEREGULILOR SAVARSITE CU
OCAZIA EVACUARII EVREILOR DIN CERNAUTI" (1941)
 
["CONCLUSIONS OF THE INQUIRY COMMISSION WITH RESPECT TO THE IRREGULARITIES
DURING THE EVACUATION OF THE JEWS FROM CZERNOWITZ" (1941)]
 
In my eyes, these are the most exciting and thrilling newly discovered
records, which I noticed during the last years, brought to us by Liviu
Carare, PhD candidate in contemporary history at the Romanian Academy
"George Baritiu" Institute of History in Cluj-Napoca. He received a master's
degree in Jewish History and Hebrew studies from the Alexandru Ioan Cuza
University. Actually he is completing his researches for his dissertation on
the subject "Jews from Czernowitz. 1941-1944" on a scholarship of the USHMM
in Washington:
 
http://www.ushmm.org/research/center/fellowship/fellows/fellow.php?year=2011
&content=carare
 
FOR THOSE, WHO READ ROMANIAN: Download the original document [24 pages] from
the website of the Institue of History "George Baritiu"

http://historica-cluj.ro/anuare/AnuarBaritHistorica2011/12.pdf
 
read and get horrified at the sight of the cruel bureaucratic description of
the conditions in the Czernowitz Ghetto and of the evacuation [=
deportation] of the Jews from Czernowitz!
 
FOR THOSE, WHO DON'T READ ROMANIAN: Read the following abstract and wait -
together with meand with bated breath - for the English version Liviu
Carare's thesis:
 
"The events in Czernowitz during 1941-1942 are a constituent part of the
phenomenon of "ethnic cleansing" developed by the Romanian state immediately
after the reconquest of the territories ceded to the USSR in the summer of
1940. The Jewish population of the city was enclosed in a ghetto as a
preliminary measure to their deportation to Transnistria. The deportations
were halted three days later because the Romanian authorities had realized
that the majority of professionals and technicians in Czernowitz were Jews.
These actions were possible due to the Mayor of Czernowitz, Dr. Traian
Popovici, who managed to persuade the Romanian military governor and the
head of state, Ion Antonescu to spare 20,000 Jews from deportation, claiming
that they were vital to the economic stability of the town. The mayor
attempted to stop deportations, issuing more than 3,000 certificates of
exemption from deportation, but the officials of the municipality, the
police, and the gendarmerie extorted enormous sums of money in return for
these exemptions. Many Jews were deported even after they paid the ransom.
The report captures the details of the establishment of Czernowitz ghetto,
planning and organization of the deportations, but also how mayor Traian
Popovici and other members of the sorting commission prepared the tables
with Jewish experts in Czernowitz, saving from deportation sometimes even
whole families."
 
Whithout minimizing, but relativizing the engagement of Traian Popovici, it
is in my understanding clear and beyond any reasonable doubt, that
corruption played a major role, if not the decisive, in issuing the
indespensability certificates for the Jews from Czernowitz.
 
There are many Jewish names mentioned in the original document, but many of
them were misspelled, so I tried to excerpt some of them, to correct them
and to list them in alphabetical order as follows:
 
Albrecht, Samuel - Antschel - Bernstein, Isac - Blumenstein, David - Dauber
- Faug - Fingerhut, Carol - Finkel, Adalbert - Flinker - Föbus, Meller -
Friedwald, Clara - Harth, Camillo - Kissmann - Klein, Norbert - Klier -
Körner, Bernard - Langberg, Kurt - Laufer, Pinkas - Linker, Benjamin -
Margulies, Rubin - Meisler, Paul - Merdler, Isac - Neuberger, Dr. S. -
Neuberger, Zeno - Polesiuk - Ramler - Reghiu - Salter, Adela - Schickler -
Schirold, Tachel - Schmilovici - Scholl, Iakel - Schreiber, Froim Ber -
Schreiber, Gerhard - Schreiber, Maria - Schwartz, Iosif - Sehneiorici, Etri
- Seinfeld, Felix - Silber - Silberstein, Rozalia - Steufler, Isidor -
Steyer - Sturm, Max - Teitler, Avram - Thau, Hersch - Vilenco, Marcel -
Wittner, Max - Wittner, Solomon - Zenter, Louis - Zisu, Charlotte
 
Let me draw your attention to the fact, that relatives of our fellow
members, for instance Irene Fishler, and even our fellow member Gerhard
Schreiber himself and his family members, are mentioned in this unique
document.
 
I wouldn't like to conclude this mail, whithout taking the opportunity, to
give my thanks to
 
- Liviu Carare for his confidence and his cooperation,
- PD Dr. Mariana Hausleitner for drawing my attention to Liviu Carare's
publication.

Warmest wishes to all of you enjoying the current discussion thread!

Edgar Hauster
http://hauster.blogspot.com/
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Received on 2012-05-18 05:05:43