Czernowitz was the capital of the Austrian crownland of Bukowina from 1849 to 1918, during which time the Habsburg monarchy constructed its eastern most outpost, creating a little version of Vienna, in which German was the language spoken by the majority of the population who was Jewish. As native speakers of Yiddish, the Jewish inhabitants of Czernowitz easily transitioned to German as they simultaneously assimilated to Western European culture, and in fact had a leading role in constructing "Little Vienna." Paul Celan and Rose Ausländer and the singer Joseph Schmidt were born in Czernowitz and German-speaking Viennese culture remained in Czernowitz, even after 1918 when Czernowitz became the Romanian city of Cernauti. When the Soviets invaded in 1940, they tried to no avail to convert Czernowitz German-speakers to being Yiddish speakers, but the return of the Romanian and German Nazis in 1941 spelled the end of German-speaking Czernowitz, as a result of the Holocaust. The Soviets returned in 1944, and Czernowitz became the Russian Chernovtsi and was closed to foreign visitors until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, when Czernowitz became the Ukrainian Chernovtsi, slowly renovating its many old Austrian buildings in the hope of attracting tourists.

Being located in a remote part of Western Ukraine, Czernowitz is not easily accessible today, but on Saturday, September 24, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Czernowitz for the first time, as part of a conference organised by Prof. Andrei Corbea-Hoisie and Prof. Ion Lihaciu from the Alexandru Ion Cuza University in Iasi, Romania.

The roundtrip from Iasi, Romania to Czernowitz (Chernivtsi), Ukraine took 21 hours, but it was well worth it. Our group included more than 40 German professors from Germany, Austria, Poland, Italy, Hungary, Romania, and the United States.
Our first stop was at the border to Ukraine, where we had to wait for 2 hours to cross, though no visas are required of American or EU citizens.






Ukrainian border sign and entry stamp in my passport.

Czernowitz University

Our first stop in Czernowitz included the university, which was founded in 1875 as the Franz Josephs Universität Czernowitz. Center of the university consists of the former Residence of the Bukovinian and Dalmatian Metropolitans and is designed in the style of a Greek Orthodox monastery.

Czernowitz University

Following lunch, we explored Czernowiz on foot. The once prominent main synagogue in town has been a movie theater since the Soviet era.

Former main synagogue Czernowitz

At the entrance to the former synagogue, one can read кінотеатр Чернівці "Movie theater Chernivtsi-Czernowitz" in Cyrillic. Czernwitz, before the Holocaust a town with a significant Jewish population, hosted the 1908 Yiddish conference organized by Nathan Birnbaum. At this conference, Yiddish was discussed as a possible national language for Jews, which was already in competition with Modern Hebrew. The conference was hosted in the Jewish nationality house in Czernowitz, pictured below.

Jewish Nationality House Czernowitz

The Jewish Nationality house is right next to the former Landestheater, which was designed by the architect studio Fellner & Helmer, which built numerous theaters across Central and Eastern Europe, spreading a distinct Viennese architectural design.

Selfie in front of the Landestheater

Landestheater Czernowitz

To the left of the theater, you can see Friedrich Schiller Straße, which still bears his name.

The great poet of Weimar Classicism still has a bust on the facade of the theater facing Schiller Str. alongside Mozart, though their plaques are now in Cyrillic.

Friedrich Schiller

Mozart

Just a short walk from the Landestheater, we saw Karl Emil Franzos's school. Franzos is very famous for his travel writings of the East of the former Austria-Hungary, most prominently his "Aus Halb-Asien: Culturbilder aus Galizien, der Bukowina, Südrussland und Rumänien" (1876). 

A plaque commemorating Karl Emil Franzos in Ukrainian and German.

The school building to this day looks just like any Austrian Gründerzeit school in its Habsburg yellow.

Karl Emil Franzos' school

The at the former Rathausplatz, we encounter the first official example of Habsburg nostalgia in contemporary Czernowitz with a replica of a K.u.K Trafik, which serves as a gift shop today.

K,u.K. Trafik Czernowitz

The Trafik is housed in the building of the former Postsparkasse that features a Viennese Jugendstil mosaic on the facade.

Former Postsparkasse

The former Sparkasse is located right next to the Rathaus that is currently featuring a "Viribus Unitis" (With united forces) sign the former Austro-Hungarian slogan.

Viribus Unitis on the Czernowitz Rathaus, September 2016

From the Rathausplatz, we turned onto the former Herrengasse (the main shopping street in any Austro-Hungarian town). It is a pedestrian zone today featuring beautifully restored buildings from the Austro-Hungarian period, including a Wiener Café.

Herrengasse Czernowitz

Wiener Café Czernowitz

On the Herrengasse, there is a Paul Celan Literaturzentrum today, where visitors may peruse books by and on Celan while enjoying a cup of coffee or tea.

Just a short walk turning off from Herrengasse will take you to Paul Celan's birth home, but there is a twist to this story.

Paul Celan's official birth home

Selfie in front of Celan's offical birth home

While the city of Czernowitz officially dedicated a plaque on Celan's birth home and renovated the building to promote tourists visiting the sight, unfortunately, they picked the incorrect house. The real house is right next door. The door numbers had changed in the mid-twentieth century, which caused this confusion.

Celan's real birth home in Czernowitz

The front door has not changed since Celan was born. The building is not in optimal shape.

Staircase in Celan's real birth home

The ground floor windows in the courtyard of Celan's real birthhome lead to his childhood apartment

 Of course, no visit to Czernowitz would be complete without a visit to Rose Ausländer's birth home located in the lower part of town that was once primarily settled by the town's Jewish population.

Rose Ausländer's birth home

Words cannot describe how excited I was to visit Czernowitz--a town that I have wanted to visit for 27 years. It is unbelievable how much of this former capital of the Austrian crownland of Bukowina is still structurally in good shape, almost as if nothing had changed. But most of its original population was killed in the Holocaust.

What little that I noticed of current Ukraine was somewhat concerning. Policemen and border guards wore military camouflage and it is clear that the country is at war in the east of the country, and even though that may be more than 1.000 km east of Czernowitz it is still something that concerned everyone on this trip.

Czernowitz policemen wearing camouflage

Poster celebrating Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the war in the East.

I am very grateful to Prof. Andrei Corbea-Hoisie and Prof. Ion Lihaciu from the Alexandru Ion Cuza University in Iasi, Romania for having organized the conference and excursion to Czernowitz, as well as for having secured funding from the DAAD that generously supported all participants' expenses for this wonderful experience. Also, many thanks go to Prof. Peter Rychlo from the University of Czernowitz who led our group through his home town.