Re: [Cz-L] My big brother and me. Crossing at Siret.

While I know nothing about the crossing at Siret in 1946, I do remember
the crossing during the summer of 1945.
My parents and some of their friends managed to hire a carter with his horse
and cart to take us from Czernowitz to Tereblesti. Before we left, my father
burnt all the books we had. He said he did not want them to be used as
toilet paper. We also had to abandon our black and white cat, Minzia.

On the way to Tereblesti, we passed the village of Ghliboka, where my father
had worked for the last year, at the "Spirtus" factory. Some of my father's
co-workers and their families joined us there and we made the rest of the
way to Tereblesti on foot. One family was named Schmetterling (butterfly),
which greatly impressed me at the time.
As it was told, 12000 Jewish Czernowitzers gathered in Tereblesti to wait to
be allowed to cross the border. Most of them stayed in one very large barn.
I do not know how many days we had to wait for our turn to cross, but it was
said that while we waited, one woman gave birth to a baby, one elderly
person died and one couple got married.

The border control took a long time, because we were not allowed to take
with us money or jewelry, or even watches. People invented a lot of hiding
places and tried to smuggle out what little valuables they had. The border
guards were just as determined to find hidden valuables, but fortunately,
they were no match to our inventiveness.
My parents had long managed to keep my maternal grandfather's gold pocket
watch. For this occasion, they blackened the embossed cover of the watch
with coal and my father planned to slip it to a friend after the friend had
passed the control. This maneuver was observed by a "Spitzel" (spy) who
was watching the proceedings from the top of a cart and he alerted
the border control commissar, who took the watch from my father. But one
look at the blackened watch, made him spit in disgust, the watch was
returned to my father and is still in the possession of one of my cousins.

My family was lucky in that we had relatives in Radauti, whom my parents
succeeded in letting know when we would cross the border. My mother's
cousin, Baruch Steinmetz, then 19 years old was sent to Siret to find
a horse and cart in which to transport us to Radauti. While looking for
a horse and cart, he met a nice 18 year old girl. A few years later they
were married and still are together.
But on the evening on which we finally were allowed to cross the border,
Baruch was waiting for us and took us to Radauti where I was welcomed
as a grandchild by my great-aunt Rivka Steinmetz.

Mimi

 
On Apr 15, 2012, at 7:13 PM, Irene Fishler wrote:

On 4/15/12 7:13 PM, "Irene Fishler" <irenef_at_netvision.net.il> wrote:

> Next?
>
> Next "we" met in Siret (Sereth) on , March 24 in 1946 !
>
> You, the Breier-boys&parents were already 3 days old repatriates .(March 21)
>
> Check the list on the link below . ( our family was terribly misspelled
> :Erencrantz)
>
> http://radauti.blogspot.com/2009/12/repatriates-at-ussrromanian-border.html
>
> Can you please tell us how the "Sereth -episode" looked like to you and
> Fredi??
>
> My brother was too young to remember.
>
> I'm curious about this. How was the crossing of the borders?
>
> What did these "displaced people " do there?? How were they received? By
> whom?
>
> I belive my family spent there a week or more, until they managed to catch
> a train to Bucharest.
>
> They were in a great hurry to reach Bucharest. You know why.
>
> Thanks for the picture ,
> Irene
>

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Received on 2012-04-15 23:43:29