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"How Goodly Are Thy Tents, O Jacob..." Wall Paintings in Bukovinian Synagogues. Catalogue of the Exhibition / edited by Mykola Kuschnir,
Eugeny Kotlyar, Anna Yamchuk. - Chernivtsi-Kyiv: The Chernivtsi Museum of the History and Culture of Bukovinian Jews, "DUH-I-LITERA, 2016. - 172 pp., 133 figs.
The catalogue presents the materials of a photographic exhibition dedicated to the wall paintings of eight synagogues located in the Northern (Ukrainian) and Southern (Romanian) Bukovinian
region. The catalogue features analytical articles, historical reviews and recent photographs with descriptions and explanations, as well as graphic reconstructions.
They shape a holistic view of the eastern European tradition of synagogue wall painting and its regional peculiarities. An in-depth analysis of the iconography, semantics and artistic approaches
to traditional motifs enables the reader to realise the profound spiritual content and social value of the cultural heritage of Eastern European Jewry largely lost during Holocaust and as a result of
policies of the post-war authoritarian regimes.
(Photos and illustrations).
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One of the most sources for Bukovinian Jewish history is the collection of articles and memories, Geschichte der Juden in der Bukowina, edited by Hugo Gold. It consists of two volumes and was published in 1958-1962 in Tel Aviv in German.
The history of the Bukovinian Jewish Community and different aspects of
their social, religious and cultural Jewish life are minutely examined
in the collection. Many historical photos and illustrations by
Bukovinian Jewish artists accompany the articles.
(Photos and illustrations).
Most
of the articles in this collection have been translated into English
and are accessible online on the website of the Jewish genealogy
project JewishGen.
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An important source for research into the life of the Jews of Bukovina
in the Habsburg Monarchy is the collection of documents and materials, "The
Jewish Population and the Development of the Jewish National Movement
in Bukovina in the Last Quarter of Eighteenth to the Beginning of the
Twentieth Century". The authors are the Chernivtsi historians O.Dobrzhanskyi, M.Kushnir and M.Nikirsa. The collection was published in Chernivtsi in 2007 in Ukrainian.
This collection is the first systematic compilation of documents and
materials on the history of the Bukovinian Jews in the period when
Bukovina was a part of the Habsburg Monarchy (1774 - 1918). Documents
from the State Archive of Chernivtsi oblast, the Austrian State Archive
and numerous publications of the Bukovinian press from that time are
contained in the book.
Markus Winkler's review of the compilation.
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Israeli art historian Boris Khaimovich’s book, The Work of our Hands to Glorify is dedicated to the murals of the Bejt Tfilah Benjamin synagogue in Chernivtsi.
It acquaints the reader with the visual language of the unknown Jewish
artist who created these unique murals. The book was published in Kiev
in 2007 in Russian and English.
The murals
of the Bejt Tfilah Benjamin synagogue are among the few works of art
that date from the mid-twentieth century which are filled with true
religious feelings. Among all the art works that can be found in East
European synagogues, these murals are exceptional in the wealth of
various motives they contain. Despite the artist’s numerous
innovations, these paintings belong to the old medieval art tradition
and represent an artistic embodiment of pure religious spirit.
(Photos and illustrations) .
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An issue of L'viv's independent, Ukrainian-language cultural journal
"Ї" (#56/2009) is entirely dedicated to the history and culture of
Chernivtsi. Authors who contributed to this edition of the journal are
famous Ukrainian historians, writers and cultural experts. Almost every
article addresses the topic of Jewish presence in the multicultural and
multinational Chernivtsi and Bukovina. Moreover, some articles of
the edition are relevant to our museum exhibition and activity.
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The Holocaust on the Periphery.
Policy concerning Jews and the destruction of the Jews in Romania and Transnistria from 1940 to 1944.
Collection of articles. Edited by Wolfgang Benz and Brigitte Mihok, Berlin 2009 - 263 pages.
After World War II the main opinion in Romanian historiography was that the country was virtually
occupied by the Germans. This way the atrocities were attributed to the Nazis. The full historic
truth however is more complicated: the country that was allied with Nazi Germany left the Jews in
its main territory untouched, but expelled and murdered the Jews in the newly acquired territories
Bukovina and Bessarabia without mercy.
The contributions to this collection on the Holocaust are based on an international conference of the
Centre for Research on Antisemitism (at Technical University Berlin, translator's note) in 2008. The
authors are distinguished Holocaust researchers from Romania, the UK, the United States and Germany,
who discuss different aspects of the persecution in Transnistria and give insight to the current
discussion on Romanian and German responsibility.
(The book cover)
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The Final Report of the International Commission on Holocaust Research in Romania. Abstracts, connected
with Bessarabia and Bukovina.
Published based on the materials of the book "The Final Report" (by the
International Commission on Holocaust Research in Romania; Head: Elie Wiesel, editors: Tuvia Friling,
Radu Ioanid, Mihael E. Ionescu. Ia?i, 2005) and materials from the National Archive of the Republic
of Moldova.
For a long time Romania refused to acknowledge its participation in the Holocaust at the time of the
pro-Nazi regime of General Ion Antonescu. In 2003 the Romanian government decided to clear this situation
and called an international commission of historians chaired by Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, which minutely
studied this period of the country's history and came to a conclusion that was unfortunate for Romania.
According to the commission's report, 400,000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews died because of the state terror
from 1940 to 1944.
(The book cover)
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Markus Winkler: Jewish identities in a communicative space: press, language and
theatre in Czernowitz until 1923.
Bremen 2007. 322p.
This monograph focuses on Jews and the German-language and Jewish press in Czernowitz (the capital
of Bukovina) from the 1880s till 1923.
It presents a diversified history of the cultural and political development of Czernowitz Jewry.
The analysis is based on a large and important
body of primary sources (German-language press and documents), and the use of methodologies from
linguistics (Critical Discourse Analysis) and media sciences.
Czernowitz had been a centre of the German
and Yiddish languages and cultures in the Habsburg Monarchy since the 1850s, and a focus of the
Jewish-National and socialist movements. This was reflected particularly in a diverse German-language
press.
The most important German-language newspapers published before and after the inter-war period (1918-1940)
were edited by Jews, and provided a space of communication for Jews to maintain their identity.
The thesis explores the content and evolution of Jewish identities after Czernowitz came under
Romanian rule in 1918 through the analysis of two issues: the language battle
(German - Yiddish - Hebrew - Romanian), and the theatre, both of which played a significant role
in the Jewish nation-building process.
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