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<html><head><meta http-equiv=3D"content-type" content=3D"text/html; charset=3D=
utf-8"></head><body dir=3D"auto">Adding my thanks to Jim for this fascinatin=
g and moving tribute to Paul Celan and my best wishes for a happy meaningful=
Passover. We hope for better times for Israel and the Jewish people, and th=
e safe return of the hostages and our soldiers from the front.<div><br id=3D=
"lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir=3D"ltr">Miriam Suss OAM</div><div=
dir=3D"ltr">Melbourne Australia<br><div>Email: ms...@bigpond.net.au</div><d=
iv><br></div></div><div dir=3D"ltr"><br><blockquote type=3D"cite">On 22 Apr 2=
024, at 3:08=E2=80=AFPM, Irene Fishler <ire...@netvision.net.il> wrote=
:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type=3D"cite"><div dir=3D"ltr">=EF=BB=
=BF<meta http-equiv=3D"Content-Type" content=3D"text/html; charset=3Dutf-8">=
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--><div class=3D"WordSection1"><p class=3D"Ms=
oNormal">Thank you very much, dear Jim !<o:p></o:p></p><p class=3D"MsoNormal=
">It was the exact right day to remember Paul Celan and=E2=80=A6Czernowitz.<=
o:p></o:p></p><p class=3D"MsoNormal">Wishing you and our dear List-Members a=
PEACEFULL Passover.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=3D"MsoNormal">Regards from Haifa=
,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=3D"MsoNormal">Irene<o:p></o:p></p><p class=3D"MsoNo=
rmal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div style=3D"border:none;border-top:solid #=
E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in"><p class=3D"MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> b=
ounce-128158988-3499...@list.cornell.edu <bounce-128158988-3499296@list.c=
ornell.edu> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Jim Wald<br><b>Sent:</b> Saturday, April 2=
0, 2024 3:18 AM<br><b>To:</b> czernowit...@cornell.edu<br><b>Subject:</b> [c=
zernowitz-l] Paying Tribute to Paul Celan in Chernivtsi - Tablet Magazine<o:=
p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=3D"MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=
=3D"MsoNormal" style=3D"margin-bottom:12.0pt"><a href=3D"https://www.tabletm=
ag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/paying-tribute-paul-celan-chernivtsi">=
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/paying-tribute-paul=
-celan-chernivtsi</a><o:p></o:p></p><div><div><p class=3D"MsoNormal" style=3D=
"vertical-align:baseline"><o:p> </o:p></p></div><p class=3D"MsoNormal" s=
tyle=3D"vertical-align:baseline"><span class=3D"herocaption"><span style=3D"=
font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;paddin=
g:0in">Auschwitz-Birkenau, 1989</span></span><span class=3D"herorte-credit">=
<span style=3D"font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;text-transform:upper=
case;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in"> </span></span><span class=3D=
"herorte-credit"><span style=3D"font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;tex=
t-transform:uppercase;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in"><o:p></o:p><=
/span></span></p><p style=3D"margin:0in;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=
=3D"font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;text-transform:uppercase;border=
:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">EDWARD SEROTTA</span><o:p></o:p></p><div=
><div><div><div><div><p class=3D"MsoNormal" style=3D"vertical-align:baseline=
"><a href=3D"https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters";><span style=3D=
"text-decoration:none"><o:p></o:p></span></a></p><div><p class=3D"MsoNormal"=
style=3D"vertical-align:baseline"><a href=3D"https://www.tabletmag.com/sect=
ions/arts-letters"><span style=3D"border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in;t=
ext-decoration:none"><img border=3D"0" width=3D"739" height=3D"96" style=3D"=
width:7.7in;height:1.0in" id=3D"_x0000_i1035" src=3D"https://tablet-mag-imag=
es.b-cdn.net/production/d429be5dbdc47053ebb6d5cb9325bc897b78592a-739x96.svg?=
w=3D200&q=3D70&auto=3Dformat&dpr=3D1" alt=3D"Navigate to Arts &a=
mp; Letters section" data-unique-identifier=3D""></span><span style=3D"color=
:windowtext;text-decoration:none"><o:p></o:p></span></a></p></div><p class=3D=
"MsoNormal" style=3D"vertical-align:baseline"><o:p> </o:p></p></div><h1=
align=3D"center" style=3D"text-align:center;vertical-align:baseline;-webkit=
-font-smoothing: antialiased;box-sizing: border-box;margin:2.125rem 0px 0px;=
font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch: inherit;font-size:4.5r=
em;line-height:4.5rem;font-optical-sizing: inherit;font-kerning: inherit;fon=
t-feature-settings: inherit;font-variation-settings: inherit;letter-spacing:=
-0.03125rem"><span style=3D"font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;fo=
nt-weight:normal">Paying Tribute to Paul Celan in Chernivtsi<o:p></o:p></spa=
n></h1><h2 align=3D"center" style=3D"text-align:center;vertical-align:baseli=
ne;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;box-sizing: border-box;margin:1.875re=
m 0px 0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-stretch: inherit;font=
-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.5rem;font-optical-sizing: inherit;font-kerning: i=
nherit;font-feature-settings: inherit;font-variation-settings: inherit;color=
:var(--gray-darker)"><span style=3D"font-family:"Arial",sans-serif=
;font-weight:normal">Our correspondent concludes a literary journey through w=
artime Ukraine<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p class=3D"MsoNormal" style=3D"vertica=
l-align:baseline"><span class=3D"heroauthor-text"><b><span style=3D"font-fam=
ily:"inherit",serif;text-transform:uppercase;border:none windowtex=
t 1.0pt;padding:0in">BY</span></b></span><span class=3D"heroauthor"><b><span=
style=3D"font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;text-transform:upper=
case;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in"><a href=3D"https://www.tablet=
mag.com/contributors/edward-serotta"><span style=3D"text-decoration:none"> <=
/span><span style=3D"font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none"><o:p></o:p></s=
pan></a></span></b></span></p><div><p class=3D"MsoNormal" style=3D"vertical-=
align:baseline"><span class=3D"heroauthor-text"><b><span style=3D"font-famil=
y:"inherit",serif;color:blue;text-transform:uppercase;border:none w=
indowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in"><a href=3D"https://www.tabletmag.com/contributo=
rs/edward-serotta"><span style=3D"text-decoration:none">EDWARD SEROTTA</span=
><span style=3D"font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:windowtext;=
text-transform:none;border:none;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none"><o:=
p></o:p></span></a></span></b></span></p></div><p class=3D"MsoNormal" style=3D=
"vertical-align:baseline"><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=3D"MsoNor=
mal" style=3D"vertical-align:baseline"><span class=3D"color-gray-darker"><sp=
an style=3D"font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;text-transform:uppercas=
e;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">APRIL 18, 2024</span></span><spa=
n style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p></di=
v></div></div></div></div><div><div><div><blockquote style=3D"margin-top:5.0=
pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt"><p class=3D"MsoNormal" style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;v=
ertical-align:baseline"><em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",s=
erif;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">No one bears witn=
ess for the witness.</span></em><i><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit&=
quot;,serif;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in"><br><em><s=
pan style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif">=E2=80=9CAshglory,=E2=80=
=9D Paul Celan. Translation by Pierre Joris</span></em></span></i><span styl=
e=3D"font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p><=
/span></p></blockquote></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-al=
ign:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:bla=
ck">The first time I heard of Paul Celan was on the press bus as we were lea=
ving Auschwitz-Birkenau on Sunday, Nov. 12, 1989.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div=
><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D=
"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">The motorcade was cuttin=
g its way across southern Poland toward the Krakow airport. Inside the bus w=
ere 40 West German photographers and reporters who had just accompanied Chan=
cellor Helmut Kohl on his visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau.<o:p></o:p></span></p>=
</div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span sty=
le=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">Except for the whin=
e of tires on the asphalt, there was total silence in that bus. Minutes befo=
re, Heinz Galinski, the 77-year-old chairman of the Central Council of Jews i=
n Germany, had faced the German chancellor and recounted how 46 years before=
, he, his first wife, Gisela, and his mother, Renata, had been brought to th=
is place.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;ver=
tical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;c=
olor:black">This was the very last time he saw them alive. Galinski was sent=
off to work as a slave laborer. His wife and mother were sent immediately t=
o the gas.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;ve=
rtical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;=
color:black">Galinski told his story in flat, cold cadences and with every s=
entence Kohl=E2=80=99s fleshy face seemed to crumple. Then, Menachem Joskowi=
cz, Poland=E2=80=99s sole rabbi, stood next to Galinski and recited <em=
><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;border:none windowtext=
1.0pt;padding:0in">El Malei Rachamim, </span></em>then <em><span s=
tyle=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;p=
adding:0in">Kaddish</span></em>. As he prayed, he closed his eyes and his ha=
nds grabbed at the air before him. When he finished, no one moved, nothing s=
tirred. Then everyone quickly headed toward the waiting cars and buses.<o:p>=
</o:p></span></p></div><div><div><p class=3D"MsoNormal" style=3D"background:=
#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"Times New R=
oman",serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div><div><=
p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-f=
amily:"inherit",serif;color:black">It was clear how much the exper=
ience had shaken the photographers. They cleaned lenses, rewound film, and l=
ooked anywhere but at each other. I was the only non-German, and I presume, t=
he only Jew on that bus. Back at Birkenau, I had been the only one who had c=
overed his head with a yarmulke<em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit&=
quot;,serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">.</span></em><o:p></o:=
p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseli=
ne"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">Sudden=
ly, a young photographer turned to me. =E2=80=9CThat=E2=80=99s the first tim=
e I=E2=80=99ve ever been to such a place!=E2=80=9D he said, nearly blurting o=
ut the words in English. =E2=80=9CI never learned anything about the Holocau=
st in school and my teachers refused to discuss it. What I learned I learned=
from TV.=E2=80=9D<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7=
F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit"=
,serif;color:black">When he saw the surprised look on my face, he added hast=
ily, =E2=80=9CI saw you wearing that little cap at Birkenau when the rabbi p=
rayed. You are Israeli?=E2=80=9D<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D=
"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:&quo=
t;inherit",serif;color:black">Taken aback, I shook my head. I stammered=
that I was an American. =E2=80=9CAnd Jewish,=E2=80=9D I added.<o:p></o:p></=
span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline">=
<span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">Another ph=
otographer leaned forward. =E2=80=9CWhen we asked our teacher about the Holo=
caust, she said all we have to know is that everything the Nazis did was hor=
rible, and we should do the opposite.=E2=80=9D He added softly, =E2=80=9CThe=
n she started crying so we didn=E2=80=99t push it any more.=E2=80=9D<o:p></o=
:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:basel=
ine"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">Anoth=
er put his camera down and moved closer. =E2=80=9CCrying has always been a g=
ood way to stop the children from asking about the war,=E2=80=9D he said, =E2=
=80=9Cespecially at home.=E2=80=9D<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D=
"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:&quo=
t;inherit",serif;color:black">Heads nodded in agreement. =E2=80=9COh ye=
ah,=E2=80=9D one said. =E2=80=9CThat always worked.=E2=80=9D<o:p></o:p></spa=
n></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><sp=
an style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">It seemed eve=
ryone wanted to say something, but the words, in English or German, weren=E2=
=80=99t coming. Then one young man began slowly. =E2=80=9CWell our teacher m=
ade us learn=E2=80=94by memory=E2=80=94=E2=80=9C<em><span style=3D"font-fami=
ly:"inherit",serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Todes=
fuge</span></em>,=E2=80=9D by Paul Celan. =E2=80=9CDeath Fugue=E2=80=9D in E=
nglish. Do you know it?=E2=80=9D<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D=
"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:&quo=
t;inherit",serif;color:black">I said I didn=E2=80=99t. Had never heard o=
f it.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertica=
l-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color=
:black">=E2=80=9CWell I still do. And repeating from memory, he recited the l=
ast stanza, which I recount here in the English translation by Michael Hambu=
rger, although I will later provide another version, by John Felstiner.<o:p>=
</o:p></span></p></div><div><blockquote style=3D"margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bot=
tom:5.0pt"><p class=3D"MsoNormal" style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align=
:baseline"><em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:bl=
ack;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Black milk of daybreak we drin=
k you at night</span></em><i><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",=
serif;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in"><br><em><span st=
yle=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif">we drink you at noon death is a=
master from Germany</span></em><br><em><span style=3D"font-family:"inh=
erit",serif">we drink you at sundown and in the morning we drink and we=
drink you</span></em><br><em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit"=
,serif">death is a master from Germany his eyes are blue</span></em><br><em>=
<span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif">he strikes you with le=
aden bullets his aim is true</span></em><br><em><span style=3D"font-family:&=
quot;inherit",serif">a man lives in the house your golden hair Margaret=
e</span></em><br><em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif">h=
e sets his pack on to us he grants us a grave in the air</span></em><br><em>=
<span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif">he plays with the serp=
ents and daydreams death is a master from Germany</span></em><br><br><em><sp=
an style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif">your golden hair Margaret=
e</span></em><br><em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif">y=
our ashen hair Shulamit</span></em></span></i><span style=3D"font-family:&qu=
ot;Times New Roman",serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquo=
te></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span s=
tyle=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">The press bus rol=
led on. No one said a word. Finally, this sandy-haired young man, whose name=
I never learned, looked up. Staring directly at me, he said, =E2=80=9CSo I=E2=
=80=99m German.=E2=80=9D He paused, and as if to explain something, he added=
, =E2=80=9Cand 24 years old. Bloody, bloody Germany. Bloody, bloody me.=E2=80=
=9D<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-=
align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:b=
lack">To visit Paul Celan=E2=80=99s hometown of Chernivtsi, I was taking the=
evening train from Lviv. The 702 is a modern, five-car train with second-cl=
ass seating and makes only four stops. It leaves the ornate, Austrian-era st=
ation at 5:25 p.m. and comes to a halt at 9:55 p.m. in the equally ornate Au=
strian-era station in Chernivtsi. I had nabbed the last seat on the train, a=
nd these days, entire trains are sold out for days, if not weeks, in advance=
. In the first year of the full-scale invasion, I almost never used my Ukrai=
nian Railways app more than a day ahead. Can=E2=80=99t do that now.<o:p></o:=
p></span></p></div><div><div><p class=3D"MsoNormal" style=3D"background:#F7F6=
F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"Times New Roman=
",serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D=
"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:&quo=
t;inherit",serif;color:black;text-transform:uppercase;border:none windo=
wtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">MAKS LEVIN<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div><p=
style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-fa=
mily:"inherit",serif;color:black">The brutal September heat wave t=
hat had followed me for the past 16 days as I traveled around Ukraine had fi=
nally broken, and I exited the Chernivtsi station in a soft rain.<o:p></o:p>=
</span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline=
"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">Unregist=
ered, illegal taxis still abound in Ukrainian cities but much to Ukraine=E2=80=
=99s credit, there are now local apps as well as Uber to use. But none were w=
orking at 10:00 p.m. as I walked out of the station. I chose the oldest, mos=
t beat-up taxi, where a tiny elderly man looking all the world like a munchk=
in from the <em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;bo=
rder:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Wizard of Oz</span></em> hoiste=
d himself out of the driver=E2=80=99s seat, shook my hand with the grace of a=
n official greeter, and we lumbered off in his aging Korean car and over the=
shiny black cobbled lanes.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"back=
ground:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inh=
erit",serif;color:black">In the yellowish gauze of the street lamps set=
against the turn-of-the-last-century buildings, it was clear I was riding t=
hrough yet another Austro-Hungarian city: an art nouveau apartment house her=
e, a huge opera square there, and looming behind a brick wall, an enormous, M=
oorish-styled red brick university campus. Hello Habsburgs, I said to myself=
.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-al=
ign:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:bla=
ck">Where the Austrians had invested heavily in Lemberg/Lwow/Lviv as the cap=
ital of Galicia, they invested just as heavily in Czernowitz/Cernauti/Cherni=
vtsi, the capital of their easternmost province of Bukovina, and which sat h=
ard on the empire=E2=80=99s eastern border with Russia.<o:p></o:p></span></p=
></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span st=
yle=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">The population of C=
zernowitz at the end of the Austrian era was around 100,000 and the language=
of its administration, its law courts, and that impressive university was G=
erman. Nearly half of the city was Jewish, and Jews looked to Vienna as thei=
r beacon. German was spoken as much or more than Yiddish. After 1867, Jews o=
btained full civil rights and they became the empire=E2=80=99s most loyal ci=
tizens. A third of the students in what was then the Emperor Franz Joseph Un=
iversity were Jewish; three daily German-language newspapers were edited by J=
ews. A majority of doctors and attorneys were Jewish. And wealthy Jews suppo=
rted the symphony, the Museum of Art and both the German-language and Yiddis=
h theater companies.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:=
#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit&qu=
ot;,serif;color:black">But this was a multi-ethnic city, and Romanian, Russi=
an, Polish and Ukrainian were also heard on the streets and taught in its sc=
hools.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertic=
al-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;colo=
r:black">When the First World War began in 1914, Romania=E2=80=99s King Ferd=
inand kept his country neutral. Then in 1916 he sent his army to fight the C=
entral Powers in Transylvania. In a matter of weeks, much of Romania was ove=
rrun and occupied by German and Austro-Hungarian troops, but since the count=
ry had been on the winning side at war=E2=80=99s end, Romania was able to si=
t at the winners=E2=80=99 table at the treaties of Versailles in 1919 and Tr=
ianon in 1920. Even the most rabid Romanian nationalists could hardly believ=
e their winnings.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7=
F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit"=
,serif;color:black">Romania was given all of Hungarian Transylvania, the lan=
ds south of the Danube were taken from Bulgaria, and Russia lost Bessarabia.=
Czernowitz would now be known as Cernauti and the rest of Bukovina came alo=
ng with it.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;v=
ertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif=
;color:black">But Romania received something it desperately did not want: hu=
ndreds of thousands of Jews. In his landmark study from 1983, <em><span=
style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt=
;padding:0in">The Jews of East Central Europe Between the Two World Wars</sp=
an></em>, Ezra Mendelssohn labeled Romania, along with Russia, as the most a=
ntisemitic country in Europe. Which was saying something.<o:p></o:p></span><=
/p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span s=
tyle=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">For the most part=
, the Romanian authorities left Cernauti to its own devices. My institute in=
terviewed a half dozen elderly Jews in Vienna who had been born there betwee=
n the wars. They, as children, had little difficulty learning Romanian in sc=
hools; few of their parents ever did. And it was during the interwar years t=
hat Cernauti continued to produce a plethora of writers we know of today: th=
e Israeli novelist Aharon Appelfeld is the best known among them, as well as=
the poet Rose Ausl=C3=A4nder and Yiddish poet Joseph Burg. Perhaps most enj=
oyable of all was Gregor von Rezzori, who wrote fiction, several volumes of m=
emoirs and spent a decade in the 1970s as a talk show host in Vienna. His ir=
ony-laced <em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;bord=
er:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Memoirs of an Antisemite</span></em>&n=
bsp;is well worth your time.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"bac=
kground:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"in=
herit",serif;color:black">To briefly summarize Paul Celan=E2=80=99s lif=
e: He was born in 1920 and his family name was Antschel, which he would late=
r change. His father, Leo, was a building engineer, worked as a broker in th=
e lumber industry and was an ardent Zionist. His mother, Fritzi, had a passi=
on for German culture and Paul grew up speaking German at home, Hebrew and t=
hen Romanian in school, and he became fluent in French.<o:p></o:p></span></p=
></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span st=
yle=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">Celan left to stud=
y medicine in the French city of Tours in 1938. He returned for summer holid=
ays in 1939, but once Germany invaded Poland that September, he found himsel=
f trapped at home. With no possibility of studying medicine, he turned his a=
ttention to literature.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"backgrou=
nd:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit=
",serif;color:black">In June 1940, King Carol II was forced to relinqui=
sh much of the territory Romania gained after the First World War and Cernau=
ti found itself under Soviet rule. A year later, the Romanians invaded, this=
time accompanied by Nazi Germany. Jews were forced from their homes, sent t=
o labor brigades, herded into ghettos. And whereas Romania=E2=80=99s earlier=
governments were truly antisemitic, under strongman Marshal Ion Antonescu, t=
hey turned murderous.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background=
:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit&q=
uot;,serif;color:black">According to Israel Chalfen=E2=80=99s book <em>=
<span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;border:none windowtext 1=
.0pt;padding:0in">Paul Celan: A Biography of His Youth</span></em>, in June 1=
942, his friend Ruth Lackner offered Celan refuge but his parents refused to=
join him. They were deported to camps in Transnistria by the Romanian army,=
then turned over to the Germans, who sent them to the camp in Mihailovka. T=
here, Leo died of typhus. Fritzi, too weak to work, was killed, I have read,=
by a shot to the back of the neck.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><div><p c=
lass=3D"MsoNormal" style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><spa=
n style=3D"font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black"><o:p>&=
nbsp;</o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-ali=
gn:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:blac=
k;text-transform:uppercase;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">EDWARD S=
EROTTA<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;=
vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",seri=
f;color:black">Celan spent the next two years in Romanian forced labor, and J=
ohn Felstiner, author of the indispensable <em><span style=3D"font-fami=
ly:"inherit",serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Paul C=
elan: Poet, Survivor, Jew</span></em> (1996), tells us he learned Yiddi=
sh from fellow prisoners.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"backgr=
ound:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inher=
it",serif;color:black">Celan returned to Cernauti in February 1944 to w=
ork as a nurse in a mental hospital where he learned Russian. With the Sovie=
ts in control and the name of the city changed to Chernovtsy, he made his wa=
y to Bucharest. Around the time King Carol=E2=80=99s son Mihai was forced to=
abdicate in 1947 and the communists began their arrests, Celan fled=E2=80=94=
surely with great difficulty=E2=80=94to Vienna. At that time, there were few=
functioning trains and the borders were heavily guarded. I=E2=80=99m assumi=
ng Celan must have walked most of the way=E2=80=94a distance of nearly 700 m=
iles.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertica=
l-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color=
:black">The vaunted cultural world his mother had loved so much was hardly i=
n evidence, while Austria=E2=80=99s denazification program was coming to an a=
nd. In 1948 Celan made his way to Paris. Felstiner said it best: =E2=80=9CFra=
nce would have to serve for now, since Bukovina was Soviet, Romania Communis=
t, Austria hopeless, and Germany out of the question.=E2=80=9D<o:p></o:p></s=
pan></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><=
span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">Celan broug=
ht nothing with him other than his language: German, which was his <em>=
<span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;border:none windowtext 1=
.0pt;padding:0in">muttersprache und m=C3=B6rdersprache</span></em>, as he sa=
id (mother tongue and murderer=E2=80=99s tongue). He was alone in the world,=
broke, depressed and stateless. He began earning his way by translating, gi=
ving German lessons, taking on any jobs he could. In September 1948 he began=
studying at the Sorbonne. He married a graphic designer, Gis=C3=A8le Lestra=
nge, in 1952 and they had two sons, one of whom died in childbirth. They div=
orced in 1967.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2=
;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",ser=
if;color:black">Celan taught German literature in the =C3=89cole Normale Sup=
=C3=A9rieure. As a translator, he brought Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Val=C3=A9ry, a=
nd Apollinaire from French into German; Shakespeare, Robert Frost, Marianne M=
oore, and Dickinson from English, and Mandelstam and others from Russian.<o:=
p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:=
baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">=
All the while he wrote poetry: Felstiner tells us he wrote 800 poems that we=
re collected, in German, in eight volumes.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><=
p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-f=
amily:"inherit",serif;color:black">Paul Celan threw himself into S=
eine either on the 19th or 20th of April 1970; his body was found downstream=
a few days later. He was buried in the municipal cemetery of Thiais on May 1=
2 and his grave can be found one row outside the Jewish section. Just on the=
other side of the Jewish section lies the grave of Joseph Roth.<o:p></o:p><=
/span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"=
><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">Paul Cela=
n may have survived the Holocaust but he did not escape it. He felt overwhel=
ming guilt and shame about the death of his parents, especially his mother. H=
is first poems, written before the Second World War, are one thing. After 19=
43, the Holocaust would not let go of him.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><=
p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-f=
amily:"inherit",serif;color:black">Thousands of research papers ha=
ve been written on Celan. German composers and artists have drawn from his w=
ork, and German academics have mined one incident after another in Celan=E2=80=
=99s life to dissect it. Just google =E2=80=9C<em><span style=3D"font-family=
:"inherit",serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Der Tod=
ist ein Meister aus Deutschland</span></em>=E2=80=9D and you=E2=80=99ll fin=
d books, films, theater pieces, panel discussions, and works of art=E2=80=94=
by the thousands. And<em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",seri=
f;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in"> </span></em>=E2=80=9C<em><=
span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;border:none windowtext 1=
.0pt;padding:0in">Todesfuge</span></em>=E2=80=9D overshadows everything he w=
ould write later.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7=
F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit"=
,serif;color:black">Countless school classes in Germany recite it each year.=
For instance: In February 1995 I sat in the audience of a high school audit=
orium in Berlin=E2=80=99s K=C3=B6penick, where nine girls sat on the stage a=
nd recited the poem to a packed hall of students and family members. A year l=
ater I was in a Waldorfschule in Bremen, where 30 high school seniors took t=
o the stage and with a choir master in front of them, yelled the poem, in pe=
rfect precision, at the top of their lungs, to devastating effect.<o:p></o:p=
></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baselin=
e"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">Celan i=
s such a powerful force in German literature and its relationship to the Hol=
ocaust that German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier hosted an evening comme=
morating the centenary of his birth in November 2020. Among his most telling=
remarks:<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;ver=
tical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;c=
olor:black">=E2=80=9CToday it seems that no one who has ever read one of Cel=
an=E2=80=99s poems and who knows about his origins and life story could ever=
be surprised that this poet had a broken relationship with Germany, the cou=
ntry of his mother tongue. Precisely because his mother loved German culture=
and German his mother tongue, and because both meant everything to him and h=
ad been the foundation for his career as a poet, the loss of his mother was a=
lifelong sorrow. He could never overcome the fact that she was killed at Ge=
rman hands by a shot to the back of the neck. His mother tongue had become t=
he language of murderers; the language of =E2=80=9Cracial jurists,=E2=80=9D =E2=
=80=9Cpeople of culture,=E2=80=9D even that of the =E2=80=9Cphilosophers=E2=80=
=9D had become toxic, like Celan=E2=80=99s relationship with Germany: a mism=
atch.=E2=80=9D<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><div><p class=3D"MsoNormal" s=
tyle=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-fami=
ly:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></=
p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span s=
tyle=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black;text-transform:upp=
ercase;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">MAKS LEVIN<o:p></o:p></span=
></p></div></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline=
"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">While Ce=
lan certainly had a toxic relationship with Germany, it is where his work wa=
s lauded, discussed and published.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D=
"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:&quo=
t;inherit",serif;color:black">Celan found little acceptance of his poet=
ry in France, though. I have been told that until the day he died he was nev=
er asked to give a public reading. Although the French love commemorating an=
d memorializing their intellectuals, it was not until 2016 that the first mo=
nument for Celan went up in Paris.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D=
"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:&quo=
t;inherit",serif;color:black"><br>His reception in Germany, however, wa=
s the opposite, although the first encounter could not have been more painfu=
l.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-a=
lign:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:bl=
ack">Celan could not find a German publisher and in 1952 he was invited to p=
resent his work to Gruppe 47<em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit&quo=
t;,serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">,</span></em> a regu=
lar gathering of young German writers who met in various cities. Among its m=
embers were G=C3=BCnther Grass, Heinrich B=C3=B6ll, Hans Magnus Enzensberger=
, and Ingeborg Bachmann, an Austrian poet who had been a friend and lover of=
Celan. Hans Werner Richter, whose own novels are now forgotten, led the gro=
up for some two decades. Gruppe 47 would invite a writer to present and the a=
ssembled would critique the work then and there.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div>=
<div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"=
font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">Celan presented at their m=
eeting in the Baltic port of Niendorf. It was Celan=E2=80=99s first visit to=
Germany and that evening Celan read three of his poems, one of which was =E2=
=80=9C<em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;border:none w=
indowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Todesfuge.</span></em>=E2=80=9D<o:p></o:p></spa=
n></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><sp=
an style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">It did not go=
down well. Others reported that Richter said Celan=E2=80=99s reading remind=
ed him of Goebbels. Another observer is said to have remarked that his readi=
ng of<em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;border:none wi=
ndowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in"> </span></em>=E2=80=9C<em><span style=3D"fo=
nt-family:"inherit",serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in=
">Todesfuge</span></em>=E2=80=9D sounded like singing in a synagogue=E2=80=94=
not that anyone there had any idea of what went on in synagogues (the one Je=
wish member of the group, Marcel Reich-Ranicki, did not join until 1958).<o:=
p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:=
baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">=
Painful as the evening was, Celan soon had what he prized most: a publishing=
contract. His first collection of poetry, <em><span style=3D"font-fami=
ly:"inherit",serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Mohn u=
nd Ged=C3=A4chtnis</span></em> (Poppy and Memory) was published by Deut=
sche Verlags-Anstalt in Stuttgart in 1952. It is surely his most accessible t=
o readers, and it is here we find =E2=80=9C<em><span style=3D"font-family:&q=
uot;inherit",serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Todesfuge<=
/span></em>,=E2=80=9D<em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",seri=
f;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in"> </span></em>which he actua=
lly wrote in Romania in 1947, then published for the first time in German in=
1948.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertic=
al-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;colo=
r:black">And while that evening in Niendorf must have shaken him badly, much=
worse was to come.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#=
F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit&quo=
t;,serif;color:black">A few years earlier, Celan met the Alsatian poet Yvon G=
oll along with his wife, Claire. Goll, who lay dying in a hospital in Neuill=
y, asked Celan to translate some of his poetry from French into German, whic=
h Celan did. After Goll died in 1950, Claire Goll (who, like her husband, ha=
d been born Jewish) began saying that Celan had stolen from her husband. She=
accused him of plagiarism and the German-speaking world, where antisemites g=
leefully attacked any Jewish target they could light upon, often sided with G=
oll.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical=
-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:=
black">It was later established that Celan=E2=80=99s poetry had been publish=
ed before he had even met the Golls, but he was devastated by the fact that p=
eople he counted on as friends only offered what he considered a weak defens=
e on his behalf. Worse, Celan=E2=80=99s exculpation only made Claire Goll an=
grier and she pursued the poet to such a degree that he suffered one breakdo=
wn after another. His paranoia and depression worsened and Celan was institu=
tionalized for a while in 1965. In 1967, he stabbed himself. Celan=E2=80=99s=
wife, fearing for her own life, then took their son Eric and moved away. Al=
though Celan would kill himself three years later, Claire Goll continued her=
attacks on Celan right up until her own death in 1977.<o:p></o:p></span></p=
></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span st=
yle=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">It took the German=
literary historian Barbara Wiedemann to pursue the story to a granular leve=
l, and in 2000, she published a highly regarded 928-page investigation of th=
e =E2=80=9CGoll affair,=E2=80=9D which comes out firmly on the side of Celan=
.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-al=
ign:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:bla=
ck">Celan has had several translators in English over the years, and three o=
f the most respected are Michael Hamburger, who had been born in Berlin and f=
led to England; American academic John Felstiner; and French-born Pierre Jor=
is. All three offer invaluable insights.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p s=
tyle=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-fami=
ly:"inherit",serif;color:black">Simply put, while Celan=E2=80=99s e=
arly work is accessible to most of us, as the years passed, he stripped away=
all sense of the rhythm that made =E2=80=9C<em><span style=3D"font-family:&=
quot;inherit",serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Todesfuge=
</span></em>=E2=80=9D and other earlier poems so compelling, even musical, a=
nd began using pared down words and phrases that few of us can understand=E2=
=80=94unless we were reading the books that he had been reading, traveling t=
o he places he went, and understood his relationship with Judaism.<o:p></o:p=
></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baselin=
e"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">One wel=
l known example is that after a public reading in Freiburg in July 1967, Cel=
an visited the philosopher Martin Heidegger in his cabin in the Black Forest=
. Heidegger never recanted his support for the Nazis, but Celan and he had b=
een in touch earlier by post. Celan entitled the poem about that visit =E2=80=
=9C<em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;border:none wind=
owtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Todtnauberg</span></em>,=E2=80=9D which is where H=
eidegger lived. The poem begins with the words =E2=80=9CArnica=E2=80=9D and =E2=
=80=9CEyebright=E2=80=9D (in German: Arnica, Augentrost), which are two herb=
s used for treating wounds. Of which Celan had more than a few. Besides, the=
translation of =E2=80=9C<em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",=
serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Todtnauberg</span></em>=E2=80=
=9D itself is the mountain of death. That is by far one of the less obtuse r=
eferences.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;ve=
rtical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;=
color:black">Harvard German scholar Peter Gordon wisely compares Celan to Ja=
mes Joyce=E2=80=99s novel <em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit&=
quot;,serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Ulysses</span></em>. =E2=
=80=9CBut where Joyce makes each sentence into joyful abundance, with Celan t=
he density of reference only plunges his lines further into darkness, and no=
explanations can undo the enigma of his language.=E2=80=9D Still, there is n=
o doubt that =E2=80=9C<em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",ser=
if;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Todesfuge</span></em>=E2=80=9D<=
em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;border:none windowte=
xt 1.0pt;padding:0in"> is</span></em> one of the most powerful poe=
ms of the second half of the 20th century. In German, nothing approaches it.=
<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-ali=
gn:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:blac=
k">One of the most insightful remarks I have read came from Pierre Joris and=
his first exposure to the poem, when a lecturer came to read it in his high=
school class in Luxembourg. This is how he described that first hearing to D=
avid Brazil in <em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif=
;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">The Los Angeles Review of Books</=
span></em> in 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"backgro=
und:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inheri=
t",serif;color:black">=E2=80=9CI had maybe the only epiphany of my life=
=E2=80=94my hair stood up on the back of my neck, my breath stopped. It was t=
hat absolute an experience. Thinking on it, I realized that what I had exper=
ienced was another way of using language=E2=80=94not how we use it everyday a=
t home or on the street. But it was not =E2=80=98literature=E2=80=99 either.=
This was something else. This was a level of involvement where language cou=
ld get you to that was totally unique=E2=80=94only poetry was able to reach i=
t.=E2=80=9D<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;v=
ertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif=
;color:black">But as the poem=E2=80=99s fame grew and Celan was asked to rec=
ite it at one event after another, he began to refuse permission to reprint i=
t. Yet he continued to visit Germany for public readings, where as many as a=
thousand people would crowd in to listen to him read this and other poems.<=
o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><div><p class=3D"MsoNormal" style=3D"backgro=
und:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"Times N=
ew Roman",serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p s=
tyle=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-fami=
ly:"inherit",serif;color:black;text-transform:uppercase;border:non=
e windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">EDWARD SEROTTA<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></=
div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=
=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">And one cannot have a=
conversation about =E2=80=9C<em><span style=3D"font-family:"inher=
it",serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Todesfuge</span></e=
m>=E2=80=9D<em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;border:n=
one windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in"> </span></em>or the rest of Celan=E2=80=
=99s work without bringing up German Jewish philosopher Theodor Adorno=E2=80=
=99s quote from 1949, =E2=80=9Cto write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric.=E2=
=80=9D Of course, Adorno never said that philosophy was barbaric after he sp=
ent the war years in the ritzy Los Angeles suburb of Brentwood while Celan w=
as digging ditches in a forced labor camp surrounded by men who were sick an=
d dying, all while trying to cope with the news about his mother being shot t=
o death.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vert=
ical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;co=
lor:black">One thing we can all agree on: Celan is still not terribly well k=
nown in the English-speaking world. To better understand the matter, I turn t=
o Michael Hofmann, the critic and translator of Joseph Roth, Hans Fallada, T=
homas Bernhard, Franz Kafka, Alexander D=C3=B6blin, and other German writers=
.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-al=
ign:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:bla=
ck">In his review for <em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit"=
;,serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">The London Review of Books=
</span></em> in 1996, Hofmann tells us that =E2=80=9CFelstiner=E2=80=99=
s book is unique because he tackles for us the impossible task of translatin=
g what is, for the most part, untranslatable =E2=80=A6=E2=80=9D<o:p></o:p></=
span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline">=
<span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">That is wh=
y when Felstiner presents us his translation of =E2=80=9C<em><span style=3D"=
font-family:"inherit",serif;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0=
in">Todesfuge</span></em>,=E2=80=9D we read:<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div=
><blockquote style=3D"margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt"><p class=3D"MsoN=
ormal" style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><em><span style=3D=
"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.=
0pt;padding:0in">a man lives in the house your goldenes Haar Margarete</span=
></em><span style=3D"font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:bla=
ck"><br></span><em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;colo=
r:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">he looses his hounds on us=
grants us a grave in the air</span></em><span style=3D"font-family:"Ti=
mes New Roman",serif;color:black"><br></span><em><span style=3D"font-fa=
mily:"inherit",serif;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padd=
ing:0in">he plays with his vipers and daydreams der Tod</span></em><span sty=
le=3D"font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black"><br></span>=
<em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black;border:=
none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">ist ein Meister aus Deutschland</span></e=
m><span style=3D"font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black">=
<o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote></div><div><blockquote style=3D"margin-to=
p:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt"><p class=3D"MsoNormal" style=3D"background:#F7F6=
F2;vertical-align:baseline"><em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit&quo=
t;,serif;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">dein goldenes=
Haar Margarete</span></em><span style=3D"font-family:"Times New Roman&=
quot;,serif;color:black"><br></span><em><span style=3D"font-family:"inh=
erit",serif;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">dein a=
chenes Haar Sulamith</span></em><span style=3D"font-family:"Times New R=
oman",serif;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote></div><div>=
<p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-=
family:"inherit",serif;color:black">Hofmann then goes on to say wh=
at makes a great deal of sense: =E2=80=9CI=E2=80=99m not sure how important C=
elan is to poetry in English =E2=80=A6 But I don=E2=80=99t understand how pe=
ople with a basically uncomplicated relationship to their own blameless lang=
uage can think they are learning from Celan.=E2=80=9D<o:p></o:p></span></p><=
/div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span styl=
e=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">Which brings us back=
to that day in Auschwitz more than three decades ago and the blameless youn=
g German photographer.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"backgroun=
d:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit&=
quot;,serif;color:black">I recounted that story about Auschwitz over a beer w=
ith another photographer. We were in Kyiv in September 2021, sitting in the b=
ar of the Hyatt Hotel and were there for the 75th anniversary of the massacr=
e at Babyn Yar. The photographer=E2=80=99s name was Maks Levin and he had be=
en shooting at seminars and in schools for my institute since 2016.<o:p></o:=
p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseli=
ne"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">Maks h=
ad recently bought a drone and used it to shoot a short documentary on Jewis=
h Chernivtsi for my institute. I had also asked Maks to use a steadycam and w=
alk along the main avenue of tombstones in the Jewish cemetery and send me a=
four-minute tracking shot. I told Maks it would be set to someone reading t=
he poem I had first heard about in Auschwitz and I repeated a few lines of =E2=
=80=9C<em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;border:none w=
indowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Todesfuge</span></em>.=E2=80=9D<o:p></o:p></spa=
n></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><sp=
an style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">A few weeks l=
ater Maks sent the video footage, and I was just starting to look for Ukrain=
ian, German, and English actors to read the poem. But by then the Russians h=
ad invaded Ukraine and Levin charged off to the front. He and I stayed in to=
uch; my institute made two bank transfers to him as he rushed to provide ima=
ges to Reuters, <em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",seri=
f;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Der Spiegel</span></em> and=
others.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vert=
ical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;co=
lor:black">On March 12, his drone went down near the Hostemel military airpo=
rt and on the 13th Maks went to recover it. That was the last time I heard f=
rom him.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vert=
ical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;co=
lor:black">On April 1, as Ukrainian troops retook the area, they found Maks=E2=
=80=99 body and that of a friend. They had been caught by Russian soldiers o=
n March 13, tortured, and shot at close range.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><d=
iv><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"fo=
nt-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">I still have Maks=E2=80=99 f=
ootage and I know the poem I need to set it to. But I can=E2=80=99t.<o:p></o=
:p></span></p></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:basel=
ine"><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">On my=
last day in Chernivtsi, I found the apartment house where Celan was born an=
d grew up. He, his father, Leo, and mother, Fritzi, would have entered and l=
eft through that front door hundreds upon hundreds of times. There=E2=80=99s=
a plaque in Ukrainian and German next to the entrance.<o:p></o:p></span></p=
></div><div><p style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span st=
yle=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black">I could only think=
of his poem =E2=80=9CThe Aspen Tree,=E2=80=9D which was one of his early po=
ems. To read it on my phone in front of his house meant the world to me.<o:p=
></o:p></span></p></div><div><blockquote style=3D"margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bo=
ttom:5.0pt"><p class=3D"MsoNormal" style=3D"background:#F7F6F2;vertical-alig=
n:baseline"><em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:b=
lack;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Aspen tree, your leaves gaze w=
hite into the dark.</span></em><span style=3D"font-family:"Times New Ro=
man",serif;color:black"><br></span><em><span style=3D"font-family:"=
;inherit",serif;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">M=
y mother=E2=80=99s hair ne=E2=80=99er turned white.</span></em><i><span styl=
e=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black;border:none windowtex=
t 1.0pt;padding:0in"><br><br><em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit&qu=
ot;,serif">Dandelion, so green is the Ukraine.</span></em></span></i><span s=
tyle=3D"font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black"><br></spa=
n><em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black;borde=
r:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">My fair-haired mother did not come home=
.</span></em><i><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:b=
lack;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in"><br><br><em><span style=3D"fo=
nt-family:"inherit",serif">Rain cloud, do you dally by the well?</=
span></em></span></i><span style=3D"font-family:"Times New Roman",=
serif;color:black"><br></span><em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit&q=
uot;,serif;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">My quiet mo=
ther weeps for all.</span></em><i><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit&q=
uot;,serif;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in"><br><br><em=
><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif">Round star, you coil t=
he golden loop.</span></em></span></i><span style=3D"font-family:"Times=
New Roman",serif;color:black"><br></span><em><span style=3D"font-famil=
y:"inherit",serif;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding=
:0in">My mother=E2=80=99s heart was seared by lead.</span></em><i><span styl=
e=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:black;border:none windowtex=
t 1.0pt;padding:0in"><br><br><em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit&qu=
ot;,serif">Oaken door, who ripped you off your hinges?</span></em></span></i=
><span style=3D"font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black"><=
br></span><em><span style=3D"font-family:"inherit",serif;color:bla=
ck;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">My gentle mother cannot return.=
</span></em><span style=3D"font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;col=
or:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote></div></div><div><div><p style=3D=
"margin:0in;background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-=
size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><a href=3D=
"https://www.1989.centropa.org/";><span style=3D"border:none windowtext 1.0pt=
;padding:0in;text-decoration:none">Edward Serotta</span></a> is a journ=
alist, photographer and filmmaker specializing in Jewish life in Central and=
Eastern Europe. He is the head of the Vienna-based institute Centropa.<o:p>=
</o:p></span></p></div></div><div><p class=3D"MsoNormal" style=3D"margin-bot=
tom:13.5pt;background:#F7F6F2;vertical-align:baseline"><span style=3D"font-s=
ize:13.5pt;font-family:"Times",serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p=
></span></p></div></div><pre>-- <o:p></o:p></pre><pre>=C2=BBWenn ein unorden=
tlicher Schreibtisch einen unordentlichen Geist repr=C3=A4sentiert, was sagt=
dann ein leerer Schreibtisch =C3=BCber den Menschen aus, der ihn benutzt.=C2=
=AB<o:p></o:p></pre><pre><o:p> </o:p></pre><pre>--Albert Einstein<o:p><=
/o:p></pre><div class=3D"MsoNormal" align=3D"center" style=3D"text-align:cen=
ter"><hr size=3D"2" width=3D"100%" align=3D"center"></div><div class=3D"MsoN=
ormal" align=3D"center" style=3D"text-align:center"><hr size=3D"2" width=3D"=
100%" align=3D"center"></div><p><span style=3D"font-size:13.5pt;font-family:=
"Georgia",serif">This moderated discussion group is for informatio=
n exchange on the subject of <br> Czernowitz and Sadagora Jewish H=
istory and Genealogy. The opinions expressed<br> in these posts are the=
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This moderated discussion group is for information exchange on the subject of
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