Studies in European Culture and History edited by Eric D. Weitz and Jack Zipes University of Minnesota Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism, the very meaning of Europe has opened up and is in the process of being redefined. European states and societies are wrestling with the expansion of NATO and the European Union and with new streams of immigration, while a renewed and reinvigorated cultural engagement has emerged between East and West. But the fast-paced transformations of the last fifteen years also have deeper historical roots. The reconfiguring of contemporary Europe is entwined with the cataclysmic events of the twentieth century, two world wars and the Holocaust, and with the processes of modernity that, since the eighteenth century, have shaped Europe and its engagement with the rest of the world. Studies in European Culture and History is dedicated to publishing books that explore major issues in Europe’s past and present from a wide variety of disciplinary perspectives. The works in the series are interdisciplinary; they focus on culture and society and deal with significant developments in Western and Eastern Europe from the eighteenth century to the present within a social historical context. With its broad span of topics, geography, and chronology, the series aims to publish the most interesting and innovative work on modern Europe. Published by Palgrave Macmillan: Fascism and Neofascism: Critical Writings on the Radical Right in Europe by Eric Weitz Fictive Theories: Towards a Deconstructive and Utopian Political Imagination by Susan McManus German-Jewish Literature in the Wake of the Holocaust: Grete Weil, Ruth Klüger, and the Politics of Address by Pascale Bos Turkish Turn in Contemporary German Literature: Toward a New Critical Grammar of Migration by Leslie Adelson Terror and the Sublime in Art and Critical Theory: From Auschwitz to Hiroshima to September 11 by Gene Ray Transformations of the New Germany edited by Ruth Starkman Caught by Politics: Hitler Exiles and American Visual Culture edited by Sabine Eckmann and Lutz Koepnick Legacies of Modernism: Art and Politics in Northern Europe, 1890–1950 edited by Patrizia C. McBride, Richard W. McCormick, and Monika Zagar Police Forces: A Cultural History of an Institution edited by Klaus Mladek Richard Wagner for the New Millennium: Essays in Music and Culture edited by Matthew Bribitzer-Stull, Alex Lubet, and Gottfried Wagner Representing Masculinity: Male Citizenship in Modern Western Culture edited by Stefan Dudink, Anna Clark, and Karen Hagemann Remembering the Occupation in French Film: National Identity in Postwar Europe by Leah D. Hewitt “Gypsies” in European Literature and Culture edited by Valentina Glajar and Domnica Radulescu Choreographing the Global in European Cinema and Theater by Katrin Sieg Converting a Nation: A Modern Inquisition and the Unification of Italy by Ariella Lang German Postwar Films: Life and Love in the Ruins edited by Wilfried Wilms and William Rasch Germans, Poland, and Colonial Expansion to the East edited by Robert L. Nelson Cinema after Fascism: The Shattered Screen by Siobhan S. Craig Weimar Culture Revisited edited by John Alexander Williams Local History, Transnational Memory in the Romanian Holocaust edited by Valentina Glajar and Jeanine Teodorescu Local History, Transnational Memory in the Romanian Holocaust Edited by Valentina Glajar and Jeanine Teodorescu LOCAL HISTORY, TRANSNATIONAL MEMORY IN THE ROMANIAN HOLOCAUST Copyright © Valentina Glajar and Jeanine Teodorescu, 2011. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011 978-0-230-11254-4 All rights reserved. First published in 2011 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-29451-0 ISBN 978-0-230-11841-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230118416 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Local history, transnational memory in the Romanian Holocaust / e d ited by Valentina Glajar and Jeanine Teodorescu. p. cm.—(Studies in European culture and history) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945)—Romania—Influence. 2. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945)—Romania—Historiography. 3. Jews—Romania—History—20th century. 4. Jews—Romania— History—21st century. 5. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945), in literature. 6. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945), in motion pictures. 7. Romania— Ethnic relations. I. Glajar, Valentina. II. Teodorescu, Jeanine, 1958– DS135.R7L63 2011 940.53(cid:2)1809498—dc22 2010035728 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: March 2011 For Irineu and Sergio (VG) To my dear friends Francisca, Eliav, and Saul; my parents, Venera and Basile; Anca and my husband, William (JT) Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 Valentina Glajar Part I Local History, Bearing Witness One The Perception of the Holocaust in Historiography and in the Romanian Media 19 Alexandru Florian Two The Iai Pogrom in Curzio Malaparte’s Kaputt: Between History and Fiction 47 Mihai Dinu Gheorghiu Three The Cernăuţi Ghetto, the Deportations, and the Decent Mayor 57 Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer Four “Bottles in the Sea”: Letters of Deported Jews in Moghilev (Transnistria), November–December 1941 77 Florence Heymann Five Survival and Memory: Arnold Daghani’s Verbal and Visual Diaries 91 Deborah Schultz Six Mihail Sebastian and Mircea Eliade: Chronicle of a Broken Friendship 119 Andrei Oişteanu Part II Transnational Memory in Literature and Film Seven Paul Celan’s Aesthetics of Transnational Remembrance 137 Iulia-K arin Patrut viii / contents Eight Homescapes of Childhood: Aharon Appelfeld’s Life Stories of Czernowitz 157 Emily Miller Budick Nine Norman Manea: “I am not a Writer of the Holocaust” 175 Jeanine Teodorescu Ten Elie Wiesel’s Night: The Death of Hope and Romania’s Problematic Moral Stand in Relation to the Holocaust 195 Domnica Radulescu Eleven “The People of Israel Lives!” Performing the Shoah on Post- War Bucharest’s Yiddish Stages 209 Corina L. Petrescu Twelve Framing the Silence: The Romanian Jewish and Romani Holocaust in Filmic Representations 225 Valentina Glajar Selected Bibliography 251 List of Contributors 259 Index 263 Illustrations 3.1 Temple Burned by the Nazis, 1941 59 3.2 Map of 1941 Cernăuţi Ghetto 63 3.3 Traian Popovici 65 5.1 Arnold Daghani, On the way to work on the road (1974) in 1942 1943 And Thereafter (Sproadic records till 1977) (1942–1977) 93 5.2 Arnold Daghani, New Year flowers for Nanino (1943) in 1942 1943 And Thereafter (Sporadic records till 1977) (1942–1977) 95 5.3 Arnold Daghani, Untitled (woman with baskets and diary entry) (1963) in What a Nice World (1943–1977) 103 5.4 Arnold Daghani, What a Nice World (1943–1977) 104 5.5 Arnold Daghani, Camp interior (1943) in 1942 1943 And Thereafter (Sporadic records till 1977) (1942–1977) 109 5.6 Arnold Daghani, Sunday morning (1972) in 1942 1943 And Thereafter (Sporadic records till 1977) (1942–1977) 110 5.7 Arnold Daghani, Nanino at the window (1942) in 1942 1943 And Thereafter (Sporadic records till 1977) (1942–1977) 111 5.8 Arnold Daghani, Images after the encounter with a world of phantoms keep rushing on . . . (1973) in What a Nice World (1943–1977) 115 6.1 Mihail Sebastian, Mircea Eliade, and their group of friends during a summer vacation in the Bucegi Mountains (July 1932) 120 6.2 Mihail Sebastian and Mircea Eliade 121 Acknowledgments We would like to express our appreciation to the following for their con- tribution: Radu Ioanid (U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum) and Raphael Vago (Tel Aviv University) for their invaluable comments and excellent sug- gestions; William Ford (University of Illinois at Chicago) for his detailed editorial assistance and Elizabeth Welch (Texas State University—San Marcos) for her meticulous proofreading; Randolph Braham, Alexandru Florian, Robert Fischer, Marianne Hirsch, Leo Spitzer, and Carmen Marino for their support and enthusiasm; Brigitte Shull for believing in this project; our families and friends for their unlimited patience and love. Earlier versions of chapters 2, 5, and 6 have been previously pub- lished and we would like to thank Routledge (Taylor and Francis Books), Polirom Iai, and the journal Studia Hebraica for allowing the authors to revise and reprint their work. We would also like to thank the University of Sussex and the Arnold Daghani Trust for allowing us to reproduce several of Daghani’s drawings; and the National Museum of Romanian Literature for the permission to reproduce two photographs of Mircea Eliade and Mihail Sebastian. .