Bukovina Jewish Museum and Student Competition

Afterwards I met Anna at 3:30 to go to the Bukovina Jewish Museum near the Opera House. I learned so much from talking with the director (Anna served as translator).

Bordering the exhibits are photos of buildings that were once Jewish run establishments in Chernivtsi:

Some of the exhibits:

AH!

I learned that the Jewish area of town was located near the train station, and the town grew up hill from there. I learned that the area around the flat became filled with Jews between the world wars. Jews comprised approximately 50% of Chernivti’s population before WWII. Many stats suggest 32-33%, but the Director of the museum mentioned that many Jews were not registered and that the statistic is much higher. He also told us that Jews essentially ran Chernivtsi: Chernivtsi had had 2 Jewish mayors, and Jews provided much of the legal, medical, and banking services in Chernivtsi.

After WWII erupted, a Jewish ghetto was established near the train station (Romania sided with Germany). The Romanian mayor of Chernivtsi received permission to spare 16,000 Jews, largely bc without them, he argued, Chernivtsi would not really exist, and the professional services in the city would be gone. Jews were required to wear the yellow Star of David, and those who were exempted from deportation were given certificates to carry with them. The Romanian mayor fudged the numbers a bit and was able to keep between 19 and 20,000 Chernivtsi Jews from being deported to the villages around Khmelnitski.

Here is the Romanian mayor, Trajan Pepovici:

Chernivtsi ghetto:

I was curious as to what seemed like a discrepancy: I had read reports that suggested that Chernivtsi’s Jewish population was devastated during the war, but also read reports of this Romanian mayor who saved nearly 20,000. One report I read said that Chernivti’s post-war Jewish population was higher than other Ukrainian cities after the war. This was my time to find out what happened.

The director spent a lot of time answering my questions. He said that in 1944 and 1945 as the war was winding down and the Soviets had taken over, many Jews took advantage of the fact that they had Romanian passports (Chernivtsi was Ukrainian from the end of WWI to 1944) and the free border that existed between this area and Romania for a period of time. Most of the Jews who had been saved left, knowing they could go to other places around the world from Romania much easier than they could from the USSR.

Other Jews from Ukraine then migrated into the Chernivtsi area, Jews with little to no roots in the area. They too sought to move into Romania, but the ones who came here after 1945, when the Soviets began registering people and issuing Soviet passports, were out of luck. So the Jewish population of Chernivtsi was higher than it was in other western Ukrainian cities. The USSR wasn’t kind to Jews either. In the 1960s and 1980s, the USSR made it somewhat easier for Jews to leave. The room that houses the museum was the HQ of the local office that helped Jews leave the Soviet Union. Many left for Israel and the U.S.

Of those who didn’t leave then, many left after the fall of the USSR in 1991. That is why the city now has a Jewish population that comprises 1.2% of the local population.

Here is Anna in front of the museum. She starts her job in July, handling their public affairs.

After leaving the museum, Anna and I went to watch a student competition at a nearby theatre. The competition was for the Mr. and Mrs. Contest and included about 15 students, men and women. They sing, dance, give monologues, and answer questions, and then the panel votes. The students were seriously into this. The winners go to the university-wide competition.

The emcees were my students, Marianna Derda and Taras (they are dating). Taras picked me up and walked me to class the first day of classes in February.

Anna and I had earlier discussed the language issue in Ukraine, and how it bothered many Ukrainians that Russians see themselves as the heirs of Kyivan Rus, the first society in this area. Kyivan Rus, I was told, is separate from both Ukraine and Russia, and furthermore, if anyone is going to make claim to that society, Ukrainians have more of a right to than Russians, given that the society was based in Kyiv. She told me that much of the Russian that Ukrainians inject into their language is incorrect Russian, and that has created a kind of slang that is Ukrainian-based with Russian additions. The language issue is highly politically charged. So, I was therefore intrigued when, in the theatre during the student competition, one of the guys onstage spoke Russian throughout his presentation, and a large group of guys behind me started grumbling. One of them yelled so that the audience auditorium could hear, “Ya ne rozi meyu/ I don’t understand you.” He made his point.

Afterwards I stopped at the supermarket on Ruska to buy some chicken and an apple. Then I came back and cleaned and threw out a lot of papers. More packing…

Going Away Lunch

Today was a great day. At 1:00, I met Mykola in his office to go to my going away lunch. Three other faculty joined us, including Valentina, my language teacher. Before we left, Mykola told us that so many of his friends in the US are Mormon, bc Chernivtsi’s sister city is Salt Lake, and therefore don’t drink. I think he was wondering if all Americans refrain from alcohol. He asked if I liked horilka. He then pulled out a bottle of Jean-Jacques cognac and asked if I could carry it in my purse. Uh oh!

Here are the steps leading to my classroom:

Here is the American Studies Center, complete with an American flag, a copy of the Declaration of Independence,  two maps of the US, and photos from the US.

Lots of copies of David Shi's US History textbook, and thanks to Norton, who sent a full box of books and other materials to me via the Embassy's diplomatic pouch. Now American Studies has a lot more!

Mykola's desk:

I will miss Mykola, my "big brother." He always greets me with enthusiasm and constantly asks if he can do anything to help me. It has meant a lot every time he has said, "I am here to help you."

The restaurant we went to was traditional Ukrainian and had traditional tunes playing. They started off with dark bread (hlib) and salo, onions, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, and homemade horilka (honey and horseradish flavored). I ordered deruny (potato pancakes) and potato varynky for lunch. Other people had mammilga (a sort of polenta), and trout.

The chair of the International Relations Department, which has jurisdiction over the American and Canadian Studies Centers, sat beside me. He is more comfortable with French than with English, resulting in a situation in which I used 3 (4 if you count my demonstration of all 10 Russian words that I know) languages during lunch. Combined with the many toasts, this got sort of interesting. At one point I started mixing them up, using the Ukrainian word for the number 4 instead of the French word in the middle of a French sentence. It was funny.

There were many toasts, including one from Mykola to my Mom. Mykola and I toasted each other, which was sweet. He has taken to calling me his little sister. I told them how much I appreciated his efforts, and their efforts, to make me feel at home here, and how much I have gleaned from the time I have spent in Ukraine and especially with their students.

Everyone had a great time, and Mykola seemed to take pride in this outing. I was pleased to see that. He was the one who secured the Fulbright and has handled nearly all the logistics regarding my trip.  We talked about how I am the first Fulbrighter to come to Chernivtsi’s American Studies Department (there was one woman from the University of Maine who was here last year when the university and basically the whole city was closed for a month bc of the outbreak of swine flu…this area was hit REALLY badly…she was here for 4 days and then Fulbright and the State Dept decided she should return to the US). So I was the guinea pig. American Studies was awarded another Fulbright Scholar for this fall, so hopefully they will continue to be successful with their bids to host Fulbrighters.

On the way back, we passed the Youth Culture Palace. I was told that during Soviet times, this was the Political Education building, or political indoctrination building, more appropriately. They mentioned that the political education consisted of learning only about the communist party. Ha!

I also found out our building, the green building, was built between 1870 and 1873. It served as the Bukovina Government HQ. During the wars it served as the seat of the Romanian Land Parliament, and from 1944 to 1991 it served as the Communist Party Headquarters. As a child of the Cold War, I get a sick thrill from teaching US History here. The irony of it...

Photo Safari in Chernivtsi

Today/Tuesday, I slept late and then immediately went to workout at Ace. Can’t believe guys are outside playing ping pong and tennis with shirts off…this place is a far cry from the Chernivtsi I knew in February and March.


Ukranian fashion update: all gold, including the sneakers you can't see. All gold at approximately noon on a Tuesday. Love it.

I came back, had my favorite yogurt for lunch (Activia with muesli) and then decided to wear my hammer pants today.

After working a little bit and exchanging some emails, I decided to go find the oldest church in Chernivtsi, built in 1607. On the way I passed the Drunken Church, and saw a large Polish tour group going in.

Head covered, hammer pants.

Of course the whole time I was walking around, I had “Hammer time!,” From London to the bay…,” and “can’t touch this” going through my head.

Then I found the old church. It was closed, unfortunately.

You can see the back of the Drunken Church from this church's courtyard.

Around the corner from the church is an old synagogue that is in ruins, but it is undergoing renovation. I had read about this and was pleased to see it. Funding this is a joint venture between a few different parties, including one family in New York.

My BFF Anne Genevieve and her sweet Dad like to go on what they call “photo safaris” together. That is basically what I did in the early evening. See this building. It is hilarious. The left side of it has been redone, while the other side hasn't.

and right side:

Across from the nice part of this block is a monument to soldiers from WWI and WWII.

Vul Ruska:

The top of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church:

Although these apartment buildings have not been maintained well, you can see that they were built during Austro-Hungairan times and I'm sure used to be very beautiful.

Then I passed the building where I went to get credentials and for the press conferences back in February. Across the street from that building is the former Armenian Cathedral.

Typical street in Chernivtsi:

Check this out...building from the time of the A-H Empire next to building built by the Soviets. Can you tell the difference?

Olga:

All the various spelling of Chernivtsi in the languages of countries that have occupied Chernivtsi and the many ethnicities of groups who have lived here, are spelled out along the side of the street on Olga. Here is the Polish spelling of Chernivtsi.

Fashion alert:

I took a break and had a Staropramen at the Movie Palace on Olga outside, and then decided I was hungry.

It turned out to be good. I had pizza, with chicken (and corn and black olives) on it, of course.

On the way home I stopped at a mini-market on Olga and bought fresh red peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, and bottled water.The walk home was pretty.

Now I have to grade my final exams and work on my presentations for the Embassy conference.

I was just playing with the international radio that Marian Strobel gave me for Christmas a few years ago and found a channel with some English music. Just heard Barbie Girl. Ha! Oh, now it is back to Ukrainian/Russian…