Czernowitzers... A new edition of "Die Stimme", the monthly newspaper for the Bukovinians, was published on 01-AUG-1958. Let's take a journey into the past together to comprehend what moved our ancestors, their relatives and friends back then!
Before addressing “THE ISSUE OF ‘GERMAN INITIATIVE’ IN FRONT OF THE FEDERAL COURT OF JUSTICE” in its August 1958 issue, "Die Stimme" examines the role played by Fritz Schellhorn, the former German consul in Romania. Whether Schellhorn actually contributed to the rescue of Jews during his years in Czernowitz (1940–1943) is a matter of debate among historians. What is beyond doubt, however, is that his testimony in court had a disastrous effect on the legitimate compensation claims of many Bukovinian Jews. Fritz Schellhorn died in 1982 at the age of 93. A friend of the Jews who, fifteen years after the end of the war, categorically denies German responsibility and ensures that the—few remaining—survivors leave empty-handed? Dr. Hartwig Cremers, a lawyer, retired university chancellor, and—through marriage—a relative of Schellhorn, has been trying to convince us of this since 2011. I admit that I, too, allowed myself to be maneuvered to some extent, but today I view Fritz Schellhorn’s role during the Holocaust—and especially in the long years that followed—in a completely different light. With her study "A Nazi Rescuer? Fritz Schellhorn and the Contested Memory of the Holocaust in Romania," Gaëlle Fisher has, in my opinion, made by far the best contribution to this topic. "Die Stimme" predicted this quite accurately as early as 1958, and you can practically taste the journalist’s bewilderment. With her study "A Nazi Rescuer? "A statement on the ruling of the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe regarding the appeal filed by the Free State of Bavaria in the case of Hochmann, a victim of Nazi persecution, must be postponed for the time being, as the court’s reasoning for the decision has yet to be made available. Below, we present a report received from a reliable source regarding the proceedings of the June 27 hearing before the Federal Court of Justice, from which our readers will be able to see what arguments the representative of the Free State of Bavaria advanced to deny the historically proven German instigation of the persecution of Jews in Romania during World War II. The representative of the Free State of Bavaria relied, among other things, on the testimony of the former German Consul General Schellhorn in Czernowitz, who stated that the German Wehrmacht had lodged a complaint with the Romanian authorities against the deportation of the Jews. To this day, it remains unknown whether Mr. Schellhorn had proven himself in his role as consul—but if there were a contest for demonstrating the ability to completely distort the truth, he would undoubtedly deserve first prize. According to the account of the illustrious Mr. Schellhorn—a most peculiar character—the Nazi rulers in Berlin were not only uninvolved in the persecution of Jews in Romania; these innocent angels of Dachau, Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, and Mogilev, who sent children alive into the gas chambers, even—hear, hear! —even lodged a complaint against the deportation of the Bukovina Jews to Transnistria. Of course, this masterpiece of factual distortion cannot erase the reality proven by the documents. But this detail from the Hochmann v. Free State of Bavaria trial—against the backdrop of which the tragedy of Bukovina’s Jewish community stands out starkly—should not be withheld from the public." https://academic.oup.com/hgs/article-abstract/36/2/209/6639691 https://czernowitz.blogspot.com/2011/12/dr-dr-fritz-gebhard-schellhorn.html 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]>. To remove your address from this e-list follow these directions. https://it.cornell.edu/simplelists/manage-subscriptions To receive assistance for this e-list send an e-mail message to: [email protected]
