Thank you again for sharing these snippets of news from the past. This one
brings to mind how my lat mother would, at time, speak of shortages in Romania
with some wonder, knowing how abundant the nation was in its own natural
resources.
Eytan Fichman
B.Arch., M.Arch., Ed.M. 42 / 11 Trần Bình Trọng,Ngô Quyền, Hải PhòngViệt Nam
On Tuesday, April 22, 2025 at 01:29:09 PM GMT+7, Edgar Hauster
<[email protected]> wrote:
Czernowitzers...
A new edition of “Die Stimme”, the monthly Newsletter for the Bukovinians, was
published on 01-NOV-1946. Let's take a journey into the past together to
comprehend what moved our ancestors, their relatives and friends back then!
“Die Stimme” informs about the ”FOOD PRIZES IN BUKOVINA”: “In Gurahumora in
November of this year: 1 liter of milk 5,000 lei, 1 kg of flour 10,000 lei, 1
kg of meat 15,000 lei, 1 kg of potatoes 2,500 lei. Despite the abundance of
forests, timber prices are prohibitive. Coffee, tea and sugar are virtually
non-existent for the poorer classes.”
SIX MONTHS LATER, PRICES HAD ALREADY TRIPLED. THE EXORBITANT PRICE INCREASES IN
SOVIET-DOMINATED ROMANIA PROMPTED MY GRANDFATHER ELIAS HAUSTER TO MAKE A
GENERAL RECKONING WITH THE POLITICAL SYSTEM AND TO TAKE A MERCILESS LOOK BACK
AT HIS OWN EXISTENCE. COMPARED TO 1924, HE LOST 39/40 OF HIS FORMER INCOME AND
HE AND HIS WIFE HAD TO MAKE A LIVING WITH THE REMAINING 1/40. IT WAS
PARTICULARLY THIS LETTER TO MY FATHER JULIUS HAUSTER, DATED 07-APR-1947, THAT
MOVED ME SO DEEPLY THAT IT SPARKED MY INTEREST IN THE FATE OF THE JEWS FROM
BUKOVINA; THIS TOPIC HAS SHAPED MY PAST TWO DECADES.
„You should therefore not be surprised, dear Julius, if you find us living at
the level of cavemen. And if the 'democratic' regime [in Romania] even now
decides to bring our pensions up to the level of the inflation index (which the
regime wouldn’t dream of doing), who will compensate me for what I have had to
throw overboard in the meantime? Unfortunately, I have been caught up in a time
when the most harrowing tragedy of mankind is taking place, when European
culture has been dealt a fatal blow by the advance of the steppe [Soviet
Union], comparable only to the migration of peoples, which only came to a stop
after 300 years. Displaced from my home and my domestic existence, I went from
being an intellectual precision worker to a canal and water carrier, we live in
empty rooms with a few crudely built household appliances, our clothes are
tattered, one son has been murdered [in Auschwitz], in winter we suffered from
the cold, even now it is still very cold here early in the morning and at
night. Our hygiene (only ablutions, because we are «people without a bath») is
at zero in winter; as far as possible, the cold must replace hygiene. In 1942 I
squandered some of the tools of my spiritual life on cornmeal, others I had to
throw into the steppe. Mother can't keep to a diet, we haven't seen bread for
months. We can't spend 100,000 lei on a kilo of bread! You will therefore
understand my hobbyhorse Palestine, since the instinct of self-preservation
drives me away from the steppe, which also influences the neighborhood, and I
would like to spend the few years I have left for my earthly life in an
environment where human rights and human dignity are respected.”
https://radautz.blogspot.com/2007/12/blog-post.html
https://www.difmoe.eu/uuid/uuid:8ed9e350-28b4-4a10-ab82-dcf756efb746
Dr. Manfred Reifer founded the Chug Olej Bukovina [Association of Immigrants
from Bukovina] and decided to publish “Die Stimme”. He entrusted with this task
Dr. Elias Weinstein, the former editor of the renowned daily newspaper
“Czernowitzer Morgenblatt”.
I will try to let “Die Stimme” continue to resound in the future and invite you
to follow me on this journey. Your comments are highly welcome!
Edgar Hauster [MacBook]
P.S.: By courtesy of the Digital Forum Central and Eastern Europe (DiFMOE)
"Jewish-German Bukovina 1918+" Digitization Project: https://www.difmoe.eu
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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. Beginning in 2021,
archived messages can be found at:
https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
To send mail to the list, address it to <[email protected]>.
To remove your address from this e-list follow the directions at
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