Bukovina – Jewish Perspectives. An oral history project

Since 2018, around 140 interviews have been conducted as part of a large-scale interview project run by the Bukovina Institute. As existing networks, particularly that of the ‘Landsmannschaft der Buchenlanddeutschen’, were used to identify interviewees, only a few accounts from Jewish Bukovinians have been recorded so far – even though Jews were mentioned in almost every interview. At the same time, immediately after the end of the war – much like in the Federal Republic of Germany – former Bukovinians also organised themselves in Israel, where they founded their own associations. The Bukovina Institute’s most recent project therefore focuses on their stories, thereby adding a key dimension to the perspective(s) on multi-ethnic coexistence in Bukovina.

With funding from the Haus des Deutschen Ostens (HdO) in Munich, 34 interviews have been conducted to date – in Germany and Austria, but also (digitally) in Israel and the USA. The Bukowina Institute’s archive offers the opportunity to preserve cultural artefacts, photographs, official documents and other sources for future generations. Some interviewees handed over to the Institute their personal documents, which they had inherited from their grandparents and parents, and made them available to the Institute. These documents and the recordings of the interviews, which lasted several hours, were filed in the Bukowina Institute’s archive. Each interview was then extensively processed, with memory notes, index cards and full transcripts being produced. Even now that the project funding has ended, we would be delighted to hear from further interviewees. If you are interested, please contact: