Hitler's Forgotten Ally - Ion Antonescu and His Regime, Romania 1940-1944

 

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"For most Western scholars, the Marshal is a war criminal, held responsible for the deaths of between 250,000 and 290,000 Jews and between 10,000 and 20,000 Romas. [...] For many Romanians, Antonescu is a national hero, a brave patriot who preserved Romania as a sovereign state during the war." Dennis Deletant doesn't resolve the ambiguity of "Hitler's Forgotten Ally", but his book is an excellent contribution to track the development of Antisemitism in Romania, to comprehend Ion Antonescu's rise and fall and to learn on the tragic fate of the Jews during the Romanian Holocaust. Even the Royal Family and several Romanian politicians - not too many - were horrified by the brutality of the Romanian anti-Jewish measures:

"Through these methods, unfamiliar in civilized countries, and totally alien to the spiritual structure of the Romanian people in this province, which has been brought up over the last 150 years to respect the law and in the most profound public morality [...] the Romanians have been condemned to witness how hundreds and thousands of Jews, most of them personal acquaintances alongside whom they had lived their whole lives, were led through the streets of Cernauti on Sunday mornings, while the church bells were ringing the summons to the holy mass, in convoys flanked by armed police and soldiers, carrying on their backs their entire fortune, calling out and shouting in their pitiful desperation [...]"

This quotation (see p. 161-165) comes from a memorandum dated July 14, 1942, addressed to the Romanian government erroneously attributed by Dennis Deletant to Traian Popovici. As a matter of fact, this enlightening memorandum is an act of resistance, drafted by Dori Popovici, Traian Popovici's uncle. Despite small inaccurancies, Dennis Deletant's book is a most worthwhile reading.

The Ethical Seminar in Czernowitz

Leo Baeck Institute: Constantin Brunner (actually named Leo Wertheimer) was born in Altona, Germany on August 27, 1862, the grandson of Rabbi Akiba Wertheimer. [...] Brunner lived since 1895 as an independent academic with his family in Berlin; 1913-30 in Potsdam and after l933 in exile in The Hague, where he died on August 27, 1937. With his Magnum Opus "Die Lehre von den Geistigen und vom Volk" he conceptualized a philosophical system connected to Spinoza and against Kant, Nietzsche and academic philosophy. [...] Since the publication of his main work in 1908, but especially due to his personality, Brunner attracted the spiritually young, as well as intellectuals, politicians and artists, thus creating the "Brunner-Circle". [...]

Constantin Brunner and Frederick Kettner, Misdroy/Poland, August 1912

Apart from Berlin, where a Constantin Brunner Society was formed in 1925, the main center was in Czernowitz, the "Ethical Seminar" founded by Frederick Kettner [actually named Friedrich Katz] in 1919.

The Ethical Seminar Czernowitz, 1921

The Ethical Seminar Czernowitz, 1922

Since 1933 his followers dispersed all over the world. In 1947 they founded the "International Constantin Brunner Institute" in The Hague to publish Brunner’s work once again and to advocate his memory.

Eduard Rudnicki / Eli Rottner, 1925

Leo Baeck Institute: Eduard Rudnicki, better known as Eli Rottner, was born on March 8, 1898 in Stryj, East Galicia. [...] His friend Schlomo Ball introduced Rudnicki to the Jewish Zionist youth organization Haschomer being a member himself. In the spring of 1919, however, they formed their own youth group working on a farm in Slobodka-Lesna in order to enlarge their agricultural abilities aiming to immigrate to Palestine in the near future. In June 1919, a pogrom in this town, in which several were killed and others badly injured, forced Rudnicki and Ball to leave Slobodka-Lesna. They illegally fled to Czernowitz, which was Rumanian territory since 1918. In Czernowitz, Rudnicki got to know Friedrich Katz. Friedrich Katz (1886-1957) was a teacher, philosophical author and poet, who called himself Frederick Kettner after his immigration to the U.S.A. [...] Katz played an important role in the reception of the philosophy of Constantin Brunner, being the founder of the so-called 'Ethical Seminar' in Czernowitz, which Eduard Rudnicki joined. [...] In 1957, he immigrated to Israel after having lived in Poland until then. Because of bad health, Rudnicki returned to Germany to his daughter in 1966, divorced his wife and died in 1979. Eduard Rudnicki/Eli Rottner is the author of [...] "Das Ethische Seminar in Czernowitz - Die Wiege des internationalen Constantin-Brunner-Kreises".

• PDF: The Members of the Ethical Seminar Czernowitz
• PDF: The Members of the Ethical Seminar Poland
• PDF: "Das Ethische Seminar in Czernowitz" by E. Rottner

• Link: The Papers of Constantin Brunner 1866-2010
• Link: Photographs 1866-1994
• Link: The Papers of Eduard Rudnicki 1898-1979
• Link: The International Constantin Brunner Institute
• Link: The Biosophical Institute
• Link: Lothar Bickel 1919-1951 by Meschulam Eisenstein

No.	First Name and Surname	Original Profession	Residence (1965)	Deceased	Year	Photographs 1866-1994 Series VI Subseries / Box / Folder
1	Ignaz / Irving Ausländer	employee	New York
2	Rose Ausländer née Scherzer	poetess	New York			7 / 1 / 1
3	Bella Ball née Rosenkranz	hausfrau		Perished in the Holocaust	1941-1944	6 / 1 / 1; 7 / 1 / 2
4	Schlomo Ball	accountant		Perished in the Holocaust	1941-1944	6 / 1 / 1; 7 / 1 / 2

Iuliu Barasch's Travel Report on Jewish Life in the Kraków Area, Galicia, Bukovina, Moldavia and Walachia

...from Kraków via Lemberg, Brody, Tarnopol, Czernowitz, Jassy and Galați to Bucharest. Dr. Iuliu Barasch (June 1815 - 30.04.1863), physician, philosopher and writer published for the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums in 1843-1845 a series of articles on Jewish life in Kraków, Galicia, Bukovina, Moldavia, and Walachia.

Source: http://www.compactmemory.de/

Click here for a PDF compilation of these 35 articles and/or download transcriptions of particular articles by clicking on the respective dates!

28.01.1843 • 04.02.1843 • 11.02.1843 • 18.02.1843 • 25.02.1843 • 11.03.1843 • 08.04.1843 • 15.04.1843 • 30.10.1843 • 06.11.1843 • 13.11.1843 • 20.11.1843 • 27.11.1843 • 18.12.1843 • 25.12.1843 • 05.02.1844 • 06.05.1844 • 13.05.1844 • 20.05.1844 • 27.05.1844 • 15.07.1844 • 29.07.1844 • 05.08.1844 • 19.08.1844 • 02.09.1844 • 09.09.1844 • 28.10.1844 • 04.11.1844 • 11.11.1844 • 16.12.1844 • 10.02.1845 • 17.02.1845 • 17.03.1845 • 14.07.1845 • 28.07.1845 •

Wikipedia: Iuliu Barasch or Baraş (1815—1863) was a Galician-born Jewish physician and writer who made his career in Romania. Born in Brody into a Hasidic family as Yehuda ben Mordehai Barasch. He studied Philosophy at the University of Leipzig and took his doctorate at the University of Berlin. Barasch tried to settle in Moldavia, but the authorities refused to give him the right to practice medicine and as such he settled in Wallachia, being firstly, in 1842, a physician in Călăraşi, then in 1845, in Craiova and finally settling in Bucharest, starting teaching natural sciences at the Saint Sava Academy in 1852 and then a professor at Bucharest's School of Medicine and Pharmacy. Beside working as a doctor, became a radical and ardent Romanian patriot. A friend of C.A. Rosetti and Ion Heliade Rădulescu. He was a popularizer of medical science and of natural science in general, and the first Jewish Romanian journalist. In 1856-1859 he edited a journal Isis sau Natura (Isis or Nature), the first popular science magazine in Romania. The magazine published studies of astronomy, hypothetical articles about the plurality of worlds or about the most popular inventions of the time, such as aerostat and "submarine ships". In 1857, he started work editing Israelitul Român, a magazine that was to remain in print for almost 100 years. Barasch was also the founder of the first children's hospital in Bucharest. He is memorialized in Bucharest's historically Jewish Văcăreşti neighborhood: the Baraşeum Theater, now home to the State Jewish Theater; the adjoining Baraşeum clinic; and the street that runs in front of the theater, formerly Ionescu de la Brad, now str. Dr. Iuliu Barasch.

Letter from Iuliu Barasch to his brother Eisig, 1839

Jews Deported as Aliens or Stateless Persons from Bukovina to Transnistria in 1942

Click on the pictures to enlarge or click here in order to download the PDF version of the listing! These data are brought to you by courtesy of Dragoș Olaru, Czernowitz Regional Archives.

Jüdisches Städtebild Czernowitz

 

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Viel mehr als die Summe der einzelnen Teile!

Manche Leser werden meinen, dass eine Anthologie so gut sei, wie die darin versammelten Autoren. Falsch! Die Qualität einer Anthologie hängt in erster Linie von ihrem Herausgeber ab und jeder, der sich mit der Bukowina beschäftigt, weiß natürlich, dass es kaum einen besseren Herausgeber für das Jüdische Städtebild Czernowitz gegeben hätte, als Prof. Dr. Andrei Corbea-Hoișie, den herausragenden Kenner der deutschsprachigen Literatur der Bukowina.

Etymologisch betrachtet, ist eine Anthologie nichts anderes als eine Blütenlese, aber erst die sorgfältige Auswahl der 38 einzelnen Texte lassen das einzigartige literarisch-historische Bouquet entstehen. Gleichsam auf magische Weise greifen die einzelnen Texte wie Puzzleteile ineinander und der Leser begibt sich voller detektivischer Neugier auf die spannende Reise in die Bukowina. Von "Paul Celan aus Czernowitz bei Sadagora" stammt der letzte Text dieses Bandes und dennoch ist hier nicht die Magie des sagenumwobenen Wunderrabbi von Sadagora bei Czernowitz [sic!] am Werk. Der hohe Lesegenuss ist vielmehr der unvergleichlichen Belesenheit von Andrei Corbea-Hoișie und seinem treffsicheren literarischen Gespür zu verdanken. Hier stimmt einfach alles, angefangen bei der Text-, Foto und Literaturauswahl, über die biografischen Notizen, bis hin zu Druck und Layout. Für Czernowitz-Kenner ist diese Anthologie ein Muss, für alle anderen, die sich der Bukowina nähern möchten, ist es eine überaus lehrreiche, genussvolle und zugleich spannende Lektüre.

Der Fall Dreyfus - Teufelsinsel, Guantánamo, Alptraum der Geschichte

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Eine Auftragsarbeit von Louis Begley

Für alle, die - so wie ich - nicht auf Anhieb verstehen, warum "Der Fall Dreyfus" den seltsamen Untertitel "Teufelsinsel, Guantánamo, Alptraum der Geschichte" trägt, hier ist die banale Erklärung: Louis Begley hat für seinen amerikanischen Verlag, Yale University Press, eine Auftragsarbeit geschrieben, und zwar für die Reihe "Why X Matters". Der Fall Dreyfus "pur" reichte dem Verlag wohl nicht aus, es musste unbedingt der "aktuelle" Bezug her. Nichts war in 2009, dem Erscheinungsjahr dieses Buches, aktueller, als die Amtseinführung von Barack Obama, der, nach den dunklen Jahren der Bush-Administration, die USA und die ganze Welt in eine kollektive Aufbruchstimmung versetzte. Zudem versprach der damals frisch gekürte Friedensnobelpreisträger, das Gefangenenlager auf Guantánamo binnen Jahresfrist zu schließen. Die Guantánamo-Häftlinge durften auf ein rechtsstaatliches Verfahren hoffen und Autor und Verlag hatten ihren gewünschten aktuellen Bezug.

Natürlich kann man, wenn man unbedingt möchte, Dreyfus auf der Teufelsinsel mit den Häftlingen auf Guantánamo vergleichen. Hätten Yale University Press und Louis Begley jedoch nur noch wenige Jahre gewartet, dann hätte ihnen der Whistleblower Edward Snowden, mit seinen Enthüllungen über die westlichen Geheimdienste, statt eines aufgesetzten Vergleiches, die wirkliche Parallele zum Fall Dreyfus geliefert.

Heute, fast auf den Tag genau, fünf Jahre nach der Amtseinführung von Barack Obama, sitzen die Gefangenen auf Guantánamo immer noch ein und die geschichtliche Entwicklung hat gleichermaßen sie und den Fall Dreyfus überrollt. Das hat der Autor bestimmt nicht zu vertreten, aber sein Buch steckt in einer weiteren Zwickmühle. Für das Verständnis des hochkomplexen Falles Dreyfus ist es mit seinen 248 Seiten zu kurz und bleibt daher an der Oberfläche; für die politische Einordnung in die Zeit um 1900 ist es zu lang und verliert sich in Details. Insbesondere beantwortet der Autor die Ausgangsfrage "Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters" für meine Begriffe nicht hinreichend.

Mecheln-Auschwitz 1942-1944 - The Destruction of Jews and Gypsies from Belgium

As a result of the meticulous and thorough research of the Kazerne Dossin Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre on Holocaust and Human Rights, Mecheln-Auschwitz 1942-1944 is a trilingual series (Dutch, French and English) of four books dealing with the persecution and deportation of Jews and gypsies from the SS-Sammellager in the Dossin Barracks in Mechelen to Auschwitz. Only a few miles away fom the SS Camp Fort Breendonk, the Dossin Barracks were used from 1942 until 1944 as a transit camp for Jews and gypsies from Belgium and the North of France, assembled here to set out on their journey of no return to Auschwitz. The first part of the series presents the reader with a historical overview of the racist and anti-Semitic persecutions in Belgium and the North of France. It focuses on the complex and poignant story of the action, reaction and interaction between occupier, occupied and persecuted, confronted with the final solution. It also relates the history of each individual transport.

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Parts two and three show us the portraits of 18,522 out of 25,259 deportees, wagon by wagon and transport by transport. These pictures literally give the genocide a face. Among these portraits we succeeded to identify 97 out of 104 deportees, who had their roots in Bukovina. Leon Messing, born on 12 June 1927 in Czernowitz, was 15 years old and the youngest deportee from Bukovina on the date of departure of Transport 10 on 15 December 1942. The oldest deportee from Bukovina was Abraham Moses Reder, born on 17 August 1866 in Czernowitz, i. e. he was 76 years old on the date of deportation on Transport 11 of 26 September 1942. Just like my uncle Maximilian Hauster, born on 26 November 1909 in Czernowitz, deported with  Transport 19 of 14 January 1943 to Auschwitz, neither would return in 1945.