History of the Jews in Chernivtsi

Gravestones in the Jewish cemetery , one of the largest preserved in Central and Eastern Europe

Museum of Jewish History and Culture of Bukovina

The story of the Jews in Chernivtsi is a description of Jewish life in today's Chernivtsi in Ukraine . In Chernivtsi were u. a. the Jewish writers Itzig Manger , Rose Ausländer and Paul Celan were born.

Austrian Empire

Since 1775 Chernivtsi belonged to the Habsburg monarchy . In 1787 there were 74 Jews (houses).

In 1849 Chernivtsi became the capital of the crown land of Bukovina . In 1866 the new Jewish cemetery was laid out. Since 1867, Jews had full equality in the city. In the following decades they provided mayors, rectors and other important personalities of the city. The Franz Joseph University was opened in 1875, and there were also Jewish students and nine student associations as well as teachers and rectors. The large synagogue was inaugurated in 1877 .

Most of the Jews spoke German , partly also Yiddish as a colloquial language. In 1908 the Chernivtsi Conference took place, which was supposed to promote the Yiddish language. In 1910 the Jewish sports club Hakoah Chernivtsi was founded.

Romania

Since 1919 Chernivtsi belonged to Romania. During this time, Jewish cultural life flourished in Chernivtsi.

In 1940 the city was occupied by the Soviet Union. Many Jews were deported to Siberia.

In 1941 the city was conquered by Romania. The Chernivtsi ghetto was established with 50,000 Jews from all over Bukovina. Two thirds were deported to Transnistria and killed there. 20,000 Jews were saved.

Ukrainian SSR

After 1944, Chernivtsi became a place from which many Jews emigrated to Palestine.

In 1989, 5.9% of the population were Jews. After the political change in Europe, a large part of them emigrated again to Israel or the USA.

Ukraine

In 2001 a synagogue was inaugurated on Sadowa uliza. In 2010 the Museum of Jewish History and Culture of Bukovina opened in the former Jewish National House.

Population development

year	Ges.-Bev.	Jews	proportion of
Jewish population
1857	22,000	04,678	21.6%
1869	34,000	09,552	28.2%
1880	46,000	14,449	31.7%
1890	54,000	17,359	32.0%
1900	68,000	21,587	31.9%
1910	87,000	28,613	32.8%

Personalities

Joseph Schmidt

Benno Strauch (1854–1940), politician
Salomon Wininger (1877–1968), author of the Great Jewish National Biography
Elieser Steinbarg (1880–1932), Yiddish writer
Mosche Altman (1890–1981), Yiddish writer
Arthur Kolnik (1890–1972), expressionist graphic artist
Rose Ausländer (1901–1988), German-speaking poet
Itzig Manger (1901–1969), Yiddish writer
Joseph Schmidt (1904–1942), famous opera singer (tenor)
Josef Burg (writer) (1912–2009), Yiddish writer
Paul Celan (1920–1970), German-speaking poet
Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger (1924–1942), German-speaking poet
Aharon Appelfeld (1932-2018), Israeli writer
David Vyssoki (born 1948), psychiatrist
Mila Kunis (* 1983), American actress
Dimitri Chpakov (* 1989), German rapper, known as SpongeBOZZ and Sun Diego

literature

Gregor Gatscher-Riedl: imperial and imperial place of longing Czernowitz: "Little Vienna" on the eastern edge of the monarchy . Kral-Verlag, Berndorf 2017, ISBN 978-3990246900 .
Gregor Gatscher-Riedl: Student life in "Jerusalem am Pruth". The Jewish university connections in Chernivtsi . In: DAVID. Jewish cultural magazine, vol. 29, No. 114, Rosh Haschanah 5778 (Vienna, September 2017), 72–76.
Andrei Corbea-Hoișie (ed.): Jüdisches Städtebild Czernowitz . Frankfurt 1998.
Gertrud Ranner; Axel Halling; Anja Fiedler (Ed.): ... "and it makes my heart heavy". Czernowitz Jews remember. German Cultural Forum for Eastern Europe V., Potsdam 2009, ISBN 978-3-936168-28-0 .
Marianne Hirsch , Leo Spitzer : Ghosts of Home: The Afterlife of Czernowitz in Jewish Memory . University of California Press, 2010
Hermann Sternberg: On the history of the Jews in Czernowitz , Tel Aviv 1962. Partial print from: Hugo Gold (Hrsg.): History of the Jews in Bukowina . A compilation, 2 volumes. Olamenu, Tel Aviv 1958/1962 (Vol. 1, until 1919, with 172 pages; Vol. 2 1919–1944 with 230 pages)

Remarks

^ Results of the censuses of the KK Statistische Central -ommission u. a., in: Anson Rabinbach : The Migration of Galician Jews to Vienna. Austrian History Yearbook, Volume XI, Berghahn Books / Rice University Press, Houston 1975, pp. 46/47 (Table III)

[1] Results of the censuses of the KK Statistische Central -ommission u. a., in: Anson Rabinbach : The Migration of Galician Jews to Vienna. Austrian History Yearbook, Volume XI, Berghahn Books / Rice University Press, Houston 1975, pp. 46/47 (Table III)