Czernowitzers...
Meridian Czernowitz is a multi-lingual, multi-disciplinary poetry festival.=
It brings together writers, poets and artists from across Europe. On the p=
rogram there are public readings and discussions as well as concerts and av=
ant-garde theatre. It’s all taking place at different locations in Czerno=
witz, often considered one of the major cultural centres of West Ukraine. T=
he Jewish cemetery offered repeatedly one of these locations:
http://ehpes.com/blog1/2015/09/17/meridian-czernowitz-poetry-festival-2015-=
a-snapshot/
But what do we have to learn from the media coverage, which is of course ma=
inly in Ukrainian and German, about our Jewish heritage? It's our fellow Fr=
iedrich Ortwein, who drew my attention to a most interesting article releas=
ed by the prestigious German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ)=
two days ago. The concluding paragraphs read - in my English translation -=
as follows:
"Two curiosities: The birthplace of Paul Celan in the Saksahanskyi Street N=
o. 5 is nicely renovated, a plaque donated by Austria commemorates the grea=
t poet. The house, which is still inhabited today, was not the birthplace o=
f Paul Antschel, he came into the world in the house next door to the left,=
No. 3, in a narrow basement apartment. A relative has pointed out that as =
children they could climb always directly out the window into the yard, but=
that’s only possible from No. 3. The owner of the real birth house, bein=
g approached, he tried to capture a lot of booty calling such a high price =
and therefore the town administration dropped the purchase and is subsequen=
tly satisfied with the wrong house.
The decay of the old Jewish cemetery is depressing, a place of desolation a=
nd neglect. Wild bushes overgrown graves. The paths are partly impassable. =
Nor are there small stones on the graves indicating, that visitors are rare=
, who are coming for their dead. The large hall in which the dead laid out =
and where the Kaddish was said, is in ruins, windows and doors are roughly =
bricked, the last remnants of shattered panes hanging in the window crosses=
. The myth of a once thriving Jewish town - here it is stone-dead."
Thank you so much, dear Friedrich, for sharing with us this article, althou=
gh it is not so encouraging. Perhaps we should invite Lerke von Saalfeld, t=
he author, to join one of the voluntary groups, in order to improve the sit=
uation at the cemetery?
P.S.: This year's festival ended on September 6, but events in Chernivtsi w=
ill be a central part of this year’s Meridian Czernowitz Poetry Festival =
tour, which will take in several other cities across Europe including Khark=
iv, Lviv, Metz, Paris, Brussels, Luxembourg, Stans, Lenzburg, Zurich and Fr=
ankfurt.
Edgar Hauster
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Received on 2015-09-17 22:50:46