Hi Edgar, The book and associated correspondence in Die Stimme – both are simply priceless.
Thanks for finding these treasures and sharing them with all of us so freely! A free download of the book itself – wow! A bunch of years ago, Sylvie Gsell and I found an original tombstone from the Old Jewish Cemetery of Czernowitz on display in the Museum of the Holocaust in Paris. We tried to find out how it got there, but got no response. Thank you, Bruce From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Edgar Hauster <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, October 22, 2025 at 06:24 To: CZERNOWITZ-L <[email protected]> Subject: [czernowitz-l] A Snippet from "Die Stimme" [The Voice] in 1950: ANDRÉ SPIRE'S VISIT TO CZERNOWITZ Czernowitzers... A new edition of “Die Stimme”, the monthly Newsletter for the Bukovinians, was published on 01-MAY-1950. Let's take a journey into the past together to comprehend what moved our ancestors, their relatives and friends back then! ANDRÉ SPIRE'S VISIT TO CZERNOWITZ in 1925 continues to fascinate "Die Stimme" 25 years later and us 100 years later. We learned more about the visit itself from the March 1950 issue of "Die Stimme"; in this May 1950 issue, we learn about the outstanding value of the book “Jüdische Volkskunst” [Jewish Folk Art] by Dr. Max Diamant. And because the Old Jewish Cemetery of Czernowitz has been gone for a long time and Diamant’s book contains what are probably the only remaining photos of it in the world, I have unearthed it for you from the depths of the archives: http://czernowitzbook.blogspot.com/2025/08/judische-volkskunst-jewish-folk-art.html https://www.amazon.de/photos/share/cMJlQyi5NHqal3tO3jm0IFxohoir3wDh33sg0cR1v6t “We received the following letter: In the article by André Spire reproduced in the previous issue of your newspaper, the gravestones that Dr. Diamant showed in Czernowitz are compared with those in the Prague Jewish Cemetery, among others. What is remarkable about them, however, is that they have nothing in common with those. The Prague stones, for example, were created by Christian stonemasons in the style and ornamentation of the Christian environment there. The stones that Diamant discovered in northern Bukovina, the southern tip of Eastern Galicia, and Moldavia were carved by Jewish stonemasons, members of the Chewrah Kadischah, in fulfillment of a sacred duty. They are worked from left to right, the writing itself is a means of expression, the ornamentation harks back to ancient symbolic motifs from the Middle East and is often completely redesigned. The craftsmen often succeeded in expressing something of the nature of the person buried beneath the stone (see, for example, the gravestone of a young girl or that of the rabbi in Diamant's book). Diamant was therefore right to claim that he had discovered a kind of Jewish folk art in these stones. In doing so, he refuted the assumption that we Jews are incapable of developing folk art. These stones have such richness and power of expression that they are something entirely unique and become an experience for the viewer.Diamant's book “Jüdische Volkskunst” [Jewish Folk Art] was published by Präger Verlag, Vienna, but due to a lack of funds it had to be printed in Czernowitz and the clichés for the illustrations were obtained in Bucharest, not always to our full satisfaction. A subscription in Vienna, followed by one in Czernowitz, covered part of the printing costs; Diamant himself paid the rest, just as he had often restored the gravestones in the cemeteries at his own expense. Most of the book's print run was destroyed by the Nazis in Vienna. It would be welcome if a new edition could be published, which, among other things, could provide a wealth of inspiration for Jewish arts and crafts. The people of Bukovina will remember that Ing. Dawidowicz created chandeliers and grilles for the lodge house in Czernowitz based on motifs from Diamant's book. M. Seidman” https://www.bukowina-institut.de/de/bukowiki/personen/detail?id=19 http://hauster.de/data/192709DiamantMenorah503.pdf https://www.difmoe.eu/uuid/uuid:0f546d56-fc21-4779-ab5b-619522956402 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 ******************************************************************************* 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]>. 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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 https://it.cornell.edu/lyris/leave-e-lists-lyris To receive assistance for this e-list send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
