The Academic Association,
“Jewish Culture” in Czernowitz
by
Abraham Dupler (Rishon le Zion)
Translated by Jerome Silverbush
The Jewish
language [Yiddish] whose origin can be found in the ghettos of the
German cities became the language of the masses in Eastern Europe.
With the rise of Zionist ideas began the fight against the
disappearance of Yiddish as Jews started to use the local
languages. In Czernowitz, Dr. Nathan Birnbaum fought for the
recognition of Yiddish as the “mother tongue” and initiated the
Jewish Language Conference (1908) which was stimulating and
fruitful.
Inspired by the
Jewish academic association, Culture in Vienna, in 1910 several
students in Czernowitz also tried to form an association which would
serve to preserve the Jewish language in Bukovina and especially in
Czernowitz. In the contemporary intellectual and comfortable middle
class Jewish circles of Bukovina, the use of the “Jewish street
language” or “jargon” as Yiddish was called was looked upon with
contempt and one was ashamed of this language and so it took much
courage to defend the language. The founders of this novel academic
association displayed this courage. There were eight students:
Abraham Reiner, Pinkas Schorr, Simche Klier, Abraham Arie, Schaje
Blasenstein, Michel Gast, Abraham Dupler and Edmund Melzer. These
students had various political orientations, but were bound together
by the Yiddish language and their goal. At first, this novel
academic association was looked at askance by some of the existing
Jewish student organizations in Czernowitz and it was boycotted, but
gradually they became used to it, and as the respect and the
influence of the Association and the Yiddish language rose, slowly,
slowly, Yiddish gained entrance to the previously closed social
circles.
The academic
association, Jewish Culture wasn't a student association in the
pre-war sense. Above all, the association was the first Jewish
academic association to break with the outmoded Germanic customs and
usages. It had completely discarded the barbaric custom of the saber
duel from the Middle Ages, the uniforms which already at that time
appeared comical, the various outmoded student customs and in this
manner stripped off the foreign national student character. As a
sign of membership, they wore a sash with their colors,
blue-white-red. The lyrics of the association's song written by
members Wolf Schärf and Abraham Dupler were set to music by Jewish
actors.
The first officers
of the organization were: Abraham Reiner as chairman, A. Arie as
deputy chairman, and Abraham Dupler as secretary and librarian.
Later, as original members Moses Dickstein, Leon Czeikel, Fritz
Herzan, Samuel Fuhrmann, Abraham Brender, A. Zimring, Moses Schärf,
Wolf Schärf, Niliu Thaler and A. Rosenthal joined the group. During
the semester, the group was enlarged by the addition of the
following members: Elias Felder, Chaim Lecker, S. Mosner, Fischler,
Mayer, Terner, Schnarch, Baltuch, Weidenfeld, Halpern, Altheim and
Hochstädt. After the war Isiu Brettschneider, Lachser, Finder,
Lutwak, Laufer, Chaim Weidenfeld, Sch. A. Soifer, and David Schlomo
Bickel. There was a larger group of students under the leadership of
Wolfgang Fokschaner (from the Jewish national academic association
Zephirah and many others. Also, several gentlemen joined the
association as A.H., among them Dr. Berl Friedmann and Dr. Jakob
Pisstiner. The first honorary member of the Association was the
elderly author Mendele Mocher Sforim whose note of appreciation in
his graceful handwriting hung for many years in the association's
meeting hall.
The goal and
purpose of the association were to spread Yiddish and make it
“socially acceptable.” So to speak, one had to give this language
“backbone.” It must be spoken by the Jewish intellectuals and upper
class in order to become the legitimate “national language” of the
Jews of Bukovina, since the Jewish masses already spoke Yiddish.
Only then when this language had found acceptance in all strata of
Jewish society, could one speak of a national identity with a
national language. The fight was for complete national recognition,
for their own school system, and for the use of the language in
public life.
In order to achieve
this “holy” goal the primary task for the association was to create
a library which would serve to spread the Yiddish language and
literature. Books and newspapers in the Yiddish language were
collected. The members of the association demonstrated their
sympathy by contributing books and money. The money was used to buy
books that would help achieve their goal. In a short time the
association had a goodly number of books at their disposal which
were read in and lent out from the association's meeting hall.
Courses were introduced to teach the Yiddish language and
participants were brought in. Further, lectures were held in the
city and state to explain the goals of the association and they were
always well attended and received with enthusiasm. A Yiddish amateur
theater group was formed which performed pieces by prominent Jewish
dramatists in Czernowitz and the provinces. Often, with the help of
well known Jewish actors evenings of great style were presented.
Often at such evenings, Jewish authors read from their own works (Wewjurks,
Imber, Steinberg, etc.). Similarly, entertainment was provided for
young and old. Garden parties, home socials, academic evenings with
a dance following served this purpose. Jewish Culture could be
thanked for the fact that the Jewish singing club Hasamir preserved
Jewish folksongs in Czernowitz. The association was represented in
Hasamir by its members Michel Gast and Abaham Dupler.
A small success
that Jewish Culture achieved together with other student groups
before the outbreak of the First World War should be pointed out. In
the report of the year before last of Franz Josef University in
Czernowitz (1912/1913), the number of students who report themselves
as Jews was noted. However, this gesture of the university had one
little blemish: the “mother tongue” was still listed as the German
language.
With the outbreak
of World War I, the association had to interrupt its activities
since most of the members had to devote their services to the
Austrian fatherland, but it was reactivated at the end of 1918 with
the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Since, however, the
Jews in the newly created Greater Romania were far from having equal
rights, the situation of the Academic Association Jewish Culture got
worse and the fight for their own national identity and language had
to start again from the beginning, or in some cases, just be
continued. The Romanian authorities however were a thorn in their
eye and they reacted completely differently than the authorities of
the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. At the beginning of the twenties, the
association was dissolved on so-called political grounds. The
association's treasury as well as the well-stocked library were
given to the Jewish School Association which was founded in 1919.
The majority of the
original members are no longer among the living. The members Lt.
Schaje Blasenstein, Simche Klier and Pinkas Schorr lost their lives
in the war. During the Second World War many members fell victim to
the Nazis, among them Lawyer Dr. Edmund Melzer, who was shot by the
Nazis in Czernowitz, as well as the Lawyer Dr. Moses Schärf who the
Nazis murdered in Paris.
Professor Dr.
Dickstein and Prof. Czeikel died in Russia, Lawyer Dr. S. Mosner and
the Jewish journalist Sch. A. Soifer died in Czernowitz while Lawyer
Dr. Altheim died in Bucharest. R.A. Dr. Miliu Thaler, Issiu
Brettschneider, the athletes Chaim Weidenfeld and Finder died in
Israel.
Abroad, to our
knowledge, still are living today the following former members: In
Romania, Lawyer Dr. Fritz Herzan, the doctors Dr. Mayer and Dr.
Terner and the banker Zimring; in Czernowtiz Prof. Chaim Lecker who
in 1919 published a Yiddish text for the schools and Lawyer Dr.
Fischler; in Argentina Prof. Dr. Samuel Fuhrmann and in New York
Lawyer Dr. Schlomo Bickel. In Israel presently live the former
lawyers Dr. Arie, Dr. Elias Felder and Dr. Laschser in Tel-Aviv, the
former lawyer Dr. Wolf Schärf in Jerusalem and the former Regional
Post Director Abraham Dupler in Rishon le Zion.
Nothing is known
about the fate of the older members Michel Gast, Dr. Abraham Brender,
Rosenthal, Baltuch, Laufer, Dr. Lutwak as well as the other members.
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