RE: [Cz-L] language & A Shtetl in the Caribbean

Dear Mark,

Wow, what an amazing and breathtaking story, with all good ingredients for a thrilling documentary (or even for a motion picture)! Thank you so much for sharing, it made its way from our Discussion Group to our ehpes.com Blog:

http://ehpes.com/blog1/2014/04/03/a-shtetl-in-the-caribbean/

I made my small contribution to the realization of the project (27 days to go - 42 % funded) and hope the documentary film comes true!

Edgar Hauster
Lent - The Netherlands

----------------------------------------
> From: markwiznitzer_at_gmail.com
> Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2014 18:57:59 -0400
> Subject: Re: [Cz-L] language
> To: shelley.mitchell_at_att.net
> CC: judithlmeyers_at_hotmail.com; mirtaylo_at_indiana.edu; josefineaz_at_gmail.com; cornel.fleming_at_virgin.net; hardy3_at_bezeqint.net; pheger_at_gmail.com; glynn_at_spontini.co.uk; czernowitz-l_at_cornell.edu; b.grilj_at_perspectiveast.com
>
>
>
> Language and culture are so intertwined.
>
> My father left Vascauti (Vashkivtsi, Vashkowitz) 40 km from Czernovitz in
> Bukovina in 1927.
> He attended cheder and did not have the opportunity to complete his
> education because he left Romania with his older brothers while in his
> mid-teens.
> But he eventually learned to do business in 7 languages, including
> Japanese.
> But Yiddish was his first language, in which he wrote to his brothers using
> Hebrew letters.
>
> My maternal grandmother, having finished gymnasium in Dresden where my
> mother was born,
> and her Polish-born university-educated husband, spoke German.
> But their other European languages came in handy as they had their other
> children in France and Belgium,
> and settled first in Colombia, and ultimately in Cura=E7ao.
> To assimilate, my grandfather added "Montevenado" to his name, a Spanish
> translation of his surname.
> And so the name on his gravestone in the ancient Jewish cemetery Beit Haim
> Blenheim reads "Max Hirschberg Montevenado".
>
> My mother, having received a Dutch education in Cura=E7ao was fluent in
> several languages.
> But she did not learn Yiddish until she and my father made it through WWII
> in Japan,
> where they lived with my father's cousin from Czernovitz and socialized
> with other Jews from Eastern Europe, as well as Iraq and Syria.
> When my parents returned to Cura=E7ao in 1946, Yiddish came in handy as the
> language of the growing Ashkenazi community,
> which had reached a sufficient critical mass to resemble a "Shtetl".
> In Curacao we Ashkenzi Jews were callled "Polacos" because the first to
> arrive came from Polish Galicia,
> ironically from Snyatin, immediately across the Cheremosh river from, and
> the nearest town to, my father's birthplace.
>
>
> My childhood classmate, Sherman de Jesus, lived near our community's
> Shaarei Tsedek synagogue and social Club Union.
> He was fascinated by our community early on.
> A successful documentary producer and director, he is now completing a film
> project on the Shtetl in the
> Caribbean.<http://www.cinecrowd.nl/een-sjtetl-de-cariben>
>
> At the link above, there is a clip of some scenes shot so far in Bukovina,
> Belarus and Israel.
> The text further explains the project.
>
> [Mark Wiznitzer]
=
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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" (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 2014-04-03 07:30:05