[Cz-L] Czernowitz Jewish diversity - 2

To pour a little bit of oil on the fire of conflicting narratives of
Czernowitz's Jewish past, I'll use another extended quotation. 100
years after the Church of Scotland mission, in 1937, another Brit paid
a visit to Czernowitz. Sir Sacheverell Sitwell was a poet, an esthete,
and a rabid anti-semite (in his obituary New York Times decided that
only the first two of these three characteristics were fit to print -
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/03/obituaries/sir-sacheverell-sitwell-dies-at-90-last-of-trio-of-literary-eccentrics.html).
Sitwell's writings on the "Jewish question" and its solutions would
make many Nazis pale in comparison. Here is what he saw in Czernowitz:

==========
Czernowitz has improved, at least, by becoming Cernăuţi. It sounds
more euphonious. But what an unlikely town it is, with its inevitable
one hundred thousand inhabitants! There is not a shop that has not a
Jewish name painted above its windows. The entire commerce of the
place is in the hands of the Jews. Yiddish is spoken, here, more than
German; as for Roumanian, it is almost a foreign language. Cernăuţi
has all the contradictions that this state of affairs might
presuppose. During the week days, business is carried on at the pace
of the New York Stock Exchange at the height of one of its more
dangerous booms. The market square, meanwhile, is thronged with
peasants in picturesque costumes. A sudden lull falls on Saturday
which is the Jewish Sabbath; on Sunday, the noise of commerce is more
loud than ever, while the peasants, in their Sunday clothes, look on
passively at the spectacle of the Jewish Monday morning. The benefit
of this Jewish hegemony is a noticeable quickness of brains. Shopping
takes up a tenth of the time that it consumes in other towns. And any
foreigner who has the good fortune to be mistaken for an American can
depend upon a rapturous welcome, for the U.S.A. is the land of
opportunity where everybody has a brother or cousin who has made
money.

It is not possible to say that Cernăuţi is a beautiful town. It has an
Armenian church, and synagogues in the style of those off Bayswater
Road. The Jewish almshouses are not a pretty sight and the hospital
wards, male and female, present the appearance of a Walpurgisnacht. In
particular, the olfactory nerves are subjected to a strain from which
it takes some considerable time to recover. The refectory, also, is a
scene, or experience, that is painful in the memory. Unfortunately
there is nothing, in Cernăuţi, to take one's mind off the horrors of
these adventures in the macabre. And yet, all the same, Cernăuţi has
its qualities. The women are so well dressed. Often, the small
children are beautiful. It is essential, in thinking of Cernăuţi, to
stress that anachronism between these sophisticated richer Jews and
those peasants, of the age of Brueghel, who elbow them upon the same
pavement. The effect is as though a portion of the Mile End Road had
been taken up and transferred, with its inhabitants, to the Bucovina.
==========

Actually, in the next paragraph Sitwell did find the only redeeming
feature of Czernowitz Jews - their theater talents, according to him,
the best in Europe. But that's another story.

Source: Sacheverell Sitwell, Roumanian journey (London: B. T. Batsford, 1938).

Iosif

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This moderated discussion group is for information exchange on the subject of
 Czernowitz and Sadagora Jewish History and Genealogy. The opinions expressed
 in these posts are the opinions of the original poster only and not necessarily
 the opinions of the List Owner, the Webmaster or any other members
 or entities connected with this mailing list. The Czernowitz-L list has
 an associated web site at http://czernowitz.ehpes.com that includes a
 searchable archive of all messages posted to this list. As a result,
 Messages sent to the list are available to the general public within days
 of posting.

Please post in "Plain Text" if possible (help available at:
<http://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/PlainText.html>).

To remove your address from this e-list follow the directions at:

<http://www.it.cornell.edu/services/elist/howto/user/leave.cfm>

To receive assistance for this e-list send an e-mail message to:
<owner-Czernowitz-L_at_list.cornell.edu>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on 2012-12-12 20:00:31