Love Story - Part I - in Iași (3,294 km)

(2023-06-05/08) Adolf Hussar came from the family of a Hungarian Catholic Archbishop. He fell madly in love with Maria Hausthor, a sister of my great-grandfather Isak Hauster. In order to marry Maria, Adolf converted to Judaism. They had two sons, Herman (1859-1931), a pharmacist, and Iosif (1867-1933), one of the leading Romanian publishers and editor of the renowned weekly newspaper "Bursa" [The Stock Exchange]. How do I know this? From a letter written by my grandfather Elias Hauster on 07.10.1948 to his youngest son, my father, Julius Hauster: "You may be interested to know that there is not a piece of romance missing in my family." In Iași, in the Romanian National Archives, I find the marriage documents of Herman Hussar and Berta Marcovici from 1880, another piece of the puzzle in my family tree.

Let's go to town now, starting at Union Square. It was designed by Gheorghe Hussar, my 3rd cousin, in 1961 and realized in 1969. From the balcony of the Grand Hotel Traian, Nicolae Ceaușescu used to deliver his speeches to the people, here the Romanian Revolution of 1989 would have started, had it not been stifled by the Securitate before; so this honor went to Timișoara. The square has undergone the transformation from communism to the European Union and is now one of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe.

If we turn north, we come to the venerable Alexandru Ioan Cuza University; if we go south, we pass the Neuschotz Palace and arrive at Iași's main landmark, the all-surpassing Palace of Culture. Right next to the Neuschotz Palace stood the Neuschotz Synagogue until 1944, where the banns for the wedding of Adolf Hussar and Maria Hausthor were displayed. The circle is closed, but the Love Story continues!