Regarding the cemetary itself, what is happening with clean up in view of covid19 Mimi used to give us updates I think an update as te of activities and how the contributions are being spent would be useful Also please remind us where to remit donations for the cemetery project
Thanks to all for the hard work and thoughts Stephen Sent from my iPhone > On Mar 21, 2021, at 8:24 AM, Johannes Czakai <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Dear Mr. Wolloch, > > thank you very much for your response. I am glad we are having a conversation. > > Again, you have my deepest respect and support for your work. I think it is > amazing, I think it is inspiring, I think it is more than important. The > Jewish cemetery in Czernowitz is an extraordinary cultural and historical > landmark and every effort to conserve and to preserve it is priceless. Thank > you for that! > > I did not write my criticism lightheartedly, because I did not want to offend > anyone and I wanted to differentiate between your work and the content of the > video. And there is no doubt that I made that very clear. Therefore I am a > bit surprised and hurt by the personal and insulting tone of your response > (baklava?). I did not write - as you suggest - to show my "erudition". I > received several very positive e-mails from people who found the video > disturbing and supported my criticism. I think you and me agree on many > things and I would be happy to work together on finding our common ground. > > Although I repeat myself: As I said, I never claimed that a video like that > needs to be perfect and academically satisfying. Quite the contrary! It > should be inspiring, and Mr. Lupu's video certainly is. We all make mistakes > and that is fine. But I think we agree that there must be a sensitive > threshold of quality and this particular video crossed it. > > Mr. Lupu has certainly created a good video and I praise his skills. But what > it depicts is simply misleading. The more I think about it, it is less the > historical errors, but the imagery (I speak about the film material, not the > photos): In nine minutes we see a lot of HD footage, but only one (!) actual > shot from Czernowitz (to my knowledge only the aerial shots of the university > are from the city; if there is more I am hapy to stand corrected). The rest > is a collage of imagination, which reproduces stereotypes. Much of that is > kind of fine, because HD videos are more fun to watch than just immobile old > postcards. But when not a single other building, landscape, interior, and > most importantly even any of the gravestones were filmed in Czernowitz and > the viewer is not informed about that, this is more then problematic (again: > the film material, not the photos). Just imagine if I would produce a > documentary about the Jewish quarter in Vilnius and use primarily stock > footage from Krakow, Prague, and Stockholm. The "average viewer" would not > notice, but I find it fundamentally and ethically wrong. > > Although it is just a short video, creating it comes with a certain > responsibility. After publishing it, it serves not only your cause, but other > people will learn for the first time about Czernowitz's amazing Jewish past. > They should not learn mistakes and see images of a fictional and pieced > together city that never existed. Especially in a time, when memory fades, > when historical places of worship are desecrated and turned into cinemas, and > when unique landmarks like the cemetery crumble, even short videos like that > one will raise awareness and help to remember and preserve the Jewish > community's material and immaterial legacy. And I think we agree that this > invaluable task needs to be done as thorough as possible. > > All the best, > > Johannes Czakai > PS: In order to prevent a lengthy discussion in the group, I would be happy > to further discuss the issue directly (if you like). > > -- > Johannes Czakai > Visiting Research Fellow > Franz Rosenzweig Minerva Research Center > Hebrew University Jerusalem > https://rosenzweig.huji.ac.il/people/johannes-czakai > ******************************************************************************* This moderated discussion group is for information exchange on the subject of Czernowitz and Sadagora Jewish History and Genealogy. The opinions expressed in these posts are the opinions of the original poster only and not necessarily the opinions of the List Owner, the Webmaster or any other members or entities connected with this mailing list. The Czernowitz-L list has an associated web site at http://czernowitz.ehpes.com that includes a searchable archive of all messages posted to this list. To send mail to the list, address it to <[email protected]>. To remove your address from this e-list follow the directions at https://it.cornell.edu/lyris/leave-e-lists-lyris To receive assistance for this e-list send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
