RE: RE: [Cz-L] Do you love Czernowitz ?

Dear Mordecai,

=20

Thanks for the reply.

=20

I do have more information. Unfortunately, I don=E2=80=99t have the time =
to relate it now, but I am keeping a copy of this email to remind me to =
give you what I know.

=20

Regards,

=20

Bob

=20

From: lapidotm_at_inter.net.il [mailto:lapidotm_at_inter.net.il]=20
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2012 3:47 AM
To: Robert Burton
Cc: 'Miriam Taylor'; czernowitz-l_at_list.cornell.edu
Subject: Re: RE: [Cz-L] Do you love Czernowitz ?

=20

Dear Robert,
=20
=20
Your message rang a bell regarding the escape from Romania of my aunt =
and uncle, the Grossman Leon family, and I would appreciate if you have =
some more info.=20
=20
You mentioned the Vitorul (I suppose it should be Viitorul - the future =
- but perhaps you know better). I know that Leon Grossman was able to =
organise somewhere in 1942 a Danube boat, somehow get it fit for travel =
in the Black Sea, and together with a score or two scores of fellow =
Czernowitzers they left Constanta. In the Black Sea they were struck by =
stormy weather, the motor stopped, the Romanian operator/machinist was =
drunk beyond help, so Grossman, who was a gifted machinist was able to =
revive the motor and somehow move on, but then they got stuck on a =
shoal, on Turkish soil. They were rescued by Turkish personnel, interned =
in Constantinople and, with the intervention of the Jewish Agency staff, =
who negotiated with the British authorities, were transferred to Cyprus. =
They were kept there until end of the war, after which they were allowed =
to go to Palestine with certificates. Probably thanks to the gratitude =
of the local Authorities, because in view of the scarcity of cloth in =
the war years in Cyprus (no import from the UK was possible because of =
Italian and German U-boats in the Mediterranean), Grossman, who was a =
manufacturer of textiles, constructed home waving tools for the local =
peasants, who were thus able to create cloth from the wool of local =
herds of sheep and goats, and this was quite a boost to the local =
economy. I know that the (later history Professor at the Tel Aviv =
University) Yaavetz was with them on the boat, but I did not know the =
name of the boat. Could it have been the Vitorul ot Viitorul?=20
=20
Please your enlightenment.
=20
Thanks in advance
=20
Mordecai

----- Original Message -----
From: Robert Burton <robert.burton_at_rogers.com>
Date: Monday, August 20, 2012 22:24
Subject: RE: [Cz-L] Do you love Czernowitz ?
To: 'Miriam Taylor' <mirtaylo_at_indiana.edu>, =
czernowitz-l_at_list.cornell.edu

> Just a quick note. We have corresponded before. My parents left=20
> in the
> summer of 1939 on the Staatendamm, and landed at Ellis Island on=20
> August 22.
> They were interned there for a few days (my father's first frightful
> experience - Coca Cola) and left by rail for Canada thru LaColle=20
> arriving on
> the 29th. He wrote their parents in Czernowitz a week later=20
> (Sept. 4):
> "Well, they declared war here yesterday ...". Their parents=20
> expected it was
> just a matter of travel arrangements for them to leave, but ... every
> attempt fell apart. They finally got exit visas and travelled=20
> from Constanta
> to Turkey on the Vitorul (which broke up just as it got into=20
> Constantinopleharbour; they could not get on Die Struma.=20
> Eventually they reached Cyprus,
> and then on to Palestine. My father's parents flew to Beirut and=20
> then to
> Lydda. My mother's father died on Cyprus in 1942, but her mother=20
> got to
> Palestine - I don't know how. My mother's sister and her new husband
> travelled overland to Palestine. Shortly after the war, my=20
> parents were able
> to bring everyone over. My father's mother was a partner in a=20
> weaving mill
> (Lermer Fratii e Budabin. The Lermers never bothered to become=20
> Romanianafter the first war, and - of course - could not get=20
> exit visas. So far as I
> know, only one (Fritz) survived. (Although there was an Anna=20
> Lermer, a very
> old lady then who lived in a huge home in a stately part of=20
> Toronto (of
> course, it's a high end condominium now), who must have been=20
> able to get out
> somehow, but I never found out what the story was). The Lermers=20
> disappearedin the war. Fritz was liberated from a death camp,=20
> and we brought him out.
> Fortunately his TB was not evident when he landed, and he got=20
> in. A few
> months after, he was in a TB sanitarium in Hamilton, Ontario=20
> (for about 6-8
> months, then he disappeared from our lives.=20
>=20
> It's said that Jews know when to run, but, sadly, not all of=20
> them did.
>=20
> I have never been to Czernowitz, and have no inclination to go.=20
> My parents
> lived lives there that no longer exist. And whatever may be left=20
> (the Jewish
> Hospital my great-grandfather built, the soapworks/tanning=20
> factory or the
> agribusiness lands) is, I'm sure, either derelict or something=20
> altogethertransformed.
>=20
> I read so many stories on the website, and a lot of what seems=20
> at times to
> be picayune "dancing on the head of a pin", but I'm sure it was=20
> and is all
> very real and a substantial part of the identities of the people=20
> who lived
> through those experiences. I only get to live with the=20
> incomplete stories
> that my parents and a few other relatives told me.
>=20
> Best regards,
>=20
> Bob
>=20
>=20
> Robert Burton
> Cobob Holdings Limited
> 307 Sheppard Avenue East
> TORONTO, Ontario M2N 3B3
>=20
> Tel: 416 226 6895, Ext. 29
> Fax: 416 223 0321
>=20
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Received on 2012-08-21 14:41:34