Ghosts of Home: The Afterlife of Czernowitz in Jewish Memory

391 Pages·2010·8.35 MB·English

by  Marianne Hirsch

Ghosts of Home
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 .   
   
  
 .    
   
     
   
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Ghosts of Home
The Afterlife of Czernowitz
in Jewish Memory
Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer
University of California Press
Berkeley Los Angeles London
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The publisher gratefully acknowledges the
generous contributions to this book provided
by the Jewish Studies Endowment Fund of
the University of California Press Foundation,
which was established by a major gift from
the S. Mark Taper Foundation, and by the
University Seminars at Columbia University.
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For Lotte and Carl
And for their remarkable generation
of Czernowitzers
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University of California Press, one of the most distinguished
university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the
world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences,
and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press
Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals
and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2010 by The Regents of the University of California
Text and image from maus i: a survivor’s tale / my father
bleeds history, by Art Spiegelman, copyright © 1973, 1980,
1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986 by Art Spiegelman, is used by per­
mission of Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
The views or opinions expressed in this book, and the context in
which the images are used, does not necessarily reflect the views or
policy of, nor imply approval or endorsement by, the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Library of Congress Cataloging­in­Publication Data
Hirsch, Marianne.
Ghosts of home : the afterlife of Czernowitz in Jewish memory /
Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978­0­520­25772­6 (cloth : alk. paper)

1. Jews—Ukraine—Chernivtsi—History—20th century.

2. Jews—Ukraine—Chernivtsi—Social life and customs—20th

century. 3. Chernivtsi (Ukraine)—Ethnic relations—History—

20th century. 4. Chernivtsi (Ukraine)—History—20th

century. 5. Chernivtsi (Ukraine)—Description and travel.

6. Hirsch, Carl, 1912—Travel—Ukraine—Chernivtsi. 7. Hirsch,

Lotte, 1918—Travel—Ukraine—Chernivtsi. I. Spitzer, Leo,

1939– II. Title.

ds135.u42c4533 2009
947.7'6—dc22 2009015365

Manufactured in the United States of America
19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on Cascades Enviro 100, a 100% post con­
sumer waste, recycled, de­inked fiber. FSC recycled certified
and processed chlorine free. It is acid free, Ecologo certified,
and manufactured by BioGas energy.
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Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xiii
Part One
“We would not have come without you,” 1998
1 / “Where are you from?” 3
2 / Vienna of the East 20
3 / Strolling the Herrengasse 53
4 / The Idea of Czernowitz 72
5 / “Are we really in the Soviet Union?” 99
6 / The Crossroads 122
Part Two
The Darker Side, 2000
7 / Maps to Nowhere 147
8 / The Spot on the Lapel 162
9 / “There was never a camp here!” 197
10 / “This was once my home” 232
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Part Three
Ghosts of Home, 2006
11 / The Persistence of Czernowitz 259
12 / The Tile Stove 290
Epilogue, 2008
Chernivtsi at Six Hundred 303
Notes 319
Selected Readings 343
Index 353
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Illustrations
Maps
1. From Czernowitz to Chernivtsi xxv
2. Czernowitz city map, early twentieth century 6
3. Czernowitz, showing the streets of the ghetto in
its 1941 configuration 126
4. Romania with Transnistria, 1941–42 146

Figures
1. Lotte Hirsch at the front door of her former home, 1998 2
2. Lotte and Carl Hirsch on the former Ringplatz, 1998 4
3. Cernăuti Primăria (1920) and Chernivtsi city hall (1998) 5
4. Rosa Zuckermann in her apartment 17
5. The ceremonial hall at Chernivtsi’s Jewish cemetery, 1998 21
6. Gravestones at Chernivtsi’s Jewish Cemetery, 1998 24
7. Postcard showing Czernowitz’s two main commercial streets,
early twentieth century 31
8. Cernăut¸i’s Moorish­style temple, ca. 1929 32
ix
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