In Sadagura

I give credit for these photos, in Sadagura, to Ola, from Poland, one of the group. By this time my camera was no longer working. Ola is a kind and generous person, and I don't think she will mind my using her pictures! She was very helpful to me in translating, because she speaks Russian, as well as German and English. She and I were partners in handing out fliers: I would mutely put one in front of someone, and she would explain! In the picture listening to the rabbi, are Shannon, the other U.S. volunteer, who is in the Peace Corps in Ukraine, and Clare, who is just 18 and recently graduated from high school. She is from Australia.


Sadagura is where my family actually is from. It is across the Prut River from Czernowitz, was a separate village, but is today a suburb of the city. There was a small graveyard, and I would guess I also have relatives buried there. The rabbi from Czernowitz provided the synagogue van and came with us. He is the one who maintains what he can there.

Sadagura was also the home of the "Wonder Rabbi" (I love the sound of that) in the 19th century,who dispensed advice to Jews and non-Jews alike, was known widely, and is mentioned in various places in literature. He lived in a veritable palace, which is featured on postcards of the time. The building is still there, but in ruins. We were let in by a man who I assume is the caretaker, although the rabbi had said it was too dangerous to go inside. I am glad we did go, but had the sense that it was upsetting for the rabbi to visit.

On the plaza

One day we worked with a local agency to advertise the project,make the public aware of what we were doing, and invite people to join us. The local group had printed fliers, made a large banner with photos of the cemetery, and set up a tent on one of the main plazas. That's four of our group getting ready to distribute the info, late in the afternoon when people were leaving work. We were shy at first, but paired off and handed out fliers, one Russian speaker in each pair. Local people seemed entirely unaccustomed to fliers, and nearly everyone took and read one. We did have several local people join us in the following days, and, I am sure, many who became aware of the project.

The woman with me in the second photo is Agnes, who we'd met a few days earlier and came to join us on the plaza. Pedro had originally met her when he stopped to look at what looked like a swastika graffitied on a wall, and Agnes stopped to talk to him. Agnes, according to Pedro, was Jewish, or had been, but was now a devoted Baptist. I never got to hear more of that story, but would liked to have. Had she been a hidden child? I asked, through Pedro, if she had lost relatives in the Holocaust, and she began to cry. Agnes invited us to dinner at her house, an invitation, unfortunately, that we never had time to accept.

But on this day, she had brought us cans of Coke to drink, even though it seemed as though she was on a very limited income. I was grateful for two reasons, even though I am usually not a Coke drinker, and had Pedro thank her doubly for me. The first reason was just my thirst, on this hot afternoon. The second reason is that I have quite a collection of ordinary items, like soda cans and cereal boxes, at home, from many countries to which I have travelled. I have used these in the past in presentations for elementary school children , focussing on both the similarities and differences between people around the world. More about this at some later point. Suffice it to say now that I have perhaps a dozen suitcases full of various artifacts from many places, to which I can now add a Coke can with writing in Russian. And when I show it to children, I will always think of Agnes. I told her that, through Pedro, and hope she understood.

Inside

Here's a couple of views of inside the house. It wasn't fancy, but definitely luxurious by volunteer project standards! We even had sheets and towels, and they cleaned our rooms until we were embarrassed and told them not to.

We cooked for ourselves and ate pretty well, had enough money in our budget to afford plenty of fresh fruit and veggies and cheese and meat for those who were so inclined(about 1/3 of the group was vegetarian.) But on a couple of nights Christian, who along with Mimi was responsible for making this project happen, cooked for us, delicious stuff. And one night, after we'd visited Sadagora and the Wonder Rabbi's Palace, he read to us from literature referring to the Wonder Rabbi, and from poetry by Paul Celan, the famed Czernowitz poet who survived the Holocaust but committed suicide in the 1970's.

Our house

Our house was located on the edge of a beautiful park, one of the largest in the city. It was well used by the people of Czernowitz, from families with children to young couples to old ones.There were several cafes and restaurants within the park. One night I could see a wedding party in one of the restaurants, and was very tempted to walk in. When Mimi Taylor, who helped initiate the project, and her husband were visiting, they invited us one day to one of the cafes and treated the whole group to drinks.

On our end was a carnival, and from the house you could hear the sounds of the roller coaster at night. I really wanted to ride on the bumper boats! One night it was Lukash's birthday, and we decided to go there to celebrate. But we were too late, the Carnival had closed down at 10pm, just a few minutes before we arrived. We never made it back.

The house looked like an old mansion. But it was currently used as a school for deaf children. They were on vacation and the city had arranged for us to use the house.
Both of these pictures are looking back at the house from the edge of the park.

Details

There were beautiful details everywhere you looked.

Scenes of the city

These brightly colored houses were just across from where we were living, and give you an idea of the fairly upscale neighborhood. A beautiful park was virtually outside our door.

Everywhere in downtown Czernowitz there was preparation for the upcoming 600th anniversary celebration in October. Buildings were being painted, and it was interesting to notice the contrast between old and new. In some cases the new color combination were a bit garish, and I preferred the "before" to the "after." But I decided I rather liked this one. I wonder how historically accurate the new colors are. The buildings in Prague are painted in similarly bright color combinations.

Herein lies the proof!

For those who didn't believe I would actually do it!