RTVNY - Romanian Television of New York's video: Evocations in NY of the Jewish deportation from Bucovina to Transnistria 1941

(Aired 02/12/2023) Channel NYCTV-life (WNYE) - (RTVNY). “Once upon a time in Bukovina”. The documentary photography exhibition organized by the Romanian Cultural Institute in NY on January 27, 2023, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, features photography that documents aspects of the history of the Jewish population in Suceava, Romania, before and after their deportation to Transnistria in 1941 and builds on the homonymous book of memories “Once upon a time in Suceava – Bukovina,” a project coordinated by Lily Pauker, herself a descendent of a family of Jewish deportees. The black and white images and the history chapter documented in the book come to life through the participation in this commemorative event of the children of several survivors of the deportation to Transnistria. The force of remembrance and story-telling give nuance and insight to this less known chapter of the Romanian history. Cornel Feruta, the Romanian Ambassador at the UN, participated in the exhibition opening and the round table discussion and was followed by Diana Dumitru, Ion Ratiu Visiting Professor in Romanian Studies at Georgetown University, with a research interest in the Holocaust in Eastern Europe, Marius Cazan, researcher at the “Elie Wiesel” National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust, Romania, and Dorian Branea, the director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in NY, who hosted the event and moderated the conversation. Lily Pauker, Harry Bolner, Paul Leinburd and Eugen Weitmann, all children of Jewish deportees to Transnistria, recalled and evoked personal and intimate experiences related to this dramatic chapter of history and about their return, years later, to their native and beloved Bucovina. A red thread connects all these separate stories and destinies: the love and tenderness the survivors’ children expressed towards the beautiful Bucovina. Cristi Boghian, Editor & Producer Contributors: Doina Boghian, Nicolae Burghelea Romanian TV of NY (RTVNY)