Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2022 00:23:33 +0200
To: CZERNOWITZ-L <CZERNOWITZ-L_at_list.cornell.edu>
Dear Czernowitzers,
This group has offered so much in the past years that I can hardly convey
my gratitude or show what learning about Czernowitz means. Even if my
family comes from Bucharest, getting to know Elite Olshtain, currently
Professor Emerita at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem meant I could read
the first testimony of a real survivor. It is difficult to express what an
eye-opening experience this was and that it immediately stirred my
curiosity to learn more and join this group.
Elite's memoir is finally available in Romanian, adding to the already
existing German and English versions. What does it bring about Czernowitz?
"This memoir tells the story of a little Jewish girl born in the spring of
1938, just before the Second World War. The family, who was relatively well
off, lived in a small town, which had been part of the Austro-Hungarian
empire and was now a district of Romania. Although the anti-Semitic climate
had increased, life was still comfortable, until the Soviets took over the
district in 1940 and the author s father was recruited to the Red Army. In
1941 the Germans and Romanians conquered the town and all Jews were sent to
a ghetto. Many of the Jews were deported from the ghetto to the
concentration camps in Transnistria, including the author's mother. The
little girl, however, stayed with her grandmother throughout the war. The
mother was away for nearly three years in the camp, but miraculously, the
whole family reunited and eventually immigrated to Israel, where they built
their lives again."
https://www.amazon.com/Terracotta-Ovens-My-Childhood-Czernowitz/dp/1434906531
I am grateful to various members in the group for all their kind support
over the last years whenever I asked questions, as well as to the Hasefer
Publishing House from Bucharest which now offers this story in Romanian.
I attach the cover, and below *a short fragment from the Foreword signed by
Professor Victor Neumann, University of Timisoara*, who has generously
accepted to present the book to the local audience:
"A memoir is complementary to a history book. Beyond the subjective note that
particularizes any recollection of the facts of personal life, memories are
another kind of source of socio-political past events. Elite Olshtain did
not dare, for many years, to tell what happened in her childhood in
Czernowitz. She thought that her own life during the Second World War was
not tragic, that it could not compare with the horrors others survived and
are really worth telling. However, once she confronted her memories with
historical events, she grasped why the events in her own childhood needed
to be further told. This is how *Terracotta Ovens of My Childhood. The
Story of a Little Girl from a Small Town Called Czernowitz* came out. It is
a particular rendering of the Shoah, the one seen by a survivor recalling
family life and social relationships in the context of the tragedy
experienced by the Jews in Czernowitz and Bukovina in so many ways."
So far, *I have NEVER met any community like this one, that of
Czernowitzers* who preserve their memories and support each other in so
many ways. You are a model I keep praising and mentioning whenever I
discuss with various individuals, be they teachers or not.
May your memories be retrieved as you strive to, be cherished and back
everyone's life and learning! I attach the English cover, and then the
Romanian one.
Highly grateful for all your messages, questions and help,
Dana Radler
Bucharest
*******************************************************************************
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(image/jpeg attachment: Elite_Olshtain__Terracotta_Ovens_of_My_Childhood__RO_cover_jpg)