Historical Glimpse

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A Historical Glimpse on Czernowitz (Ukraine)

Czernowitz was the eastern-most German-speaking city of the Habsburg monarchy. The little town in the Bukowina region was an ethnical, linguistic and religious melting pot. Minorities lived happily together. Around 1890, architecture and life style was copied from the then fashionable cities of Vienna and Budapest, with "Gründerzeit" buildings and coffee shops, the famous "Kaffeehäuser". The mixing of languages - until World War I mainly Romanian, German, Ruthenian and Yiddish, later Russian, now Ukrainian - led to a unique phenomenon: hardly any other small provincial town gave birth to so many poets and writers, amongst the most famous the German-speaking Paul Celan and Rose Ausländer (but also Gregor von Rezzori, and various Romanian speaking authors).

Café Habsburg, approx. 1910

The Fischer children' hospital1910

In 1908 the foundation of the children's hospital was laid, financed by the rich and philanthropic Dr. Hermann Fischer, of Czernowitz origin. He donated the hospital on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the accession to the throne of Emperor Franz-Joseph, and named it in honour of his parents, Moses and Chana Sara Fischer.
The hospital is still housed in its original building, but renamed "Children's hospital No. 1". Only the letterhead features the original name in German letters among Cyrillic addresses.
Articles about the aid projects (Available in German Only): Apotheker-Zeitung Sept. 03 und Mai 04

Those who wish to see the pictures of the hospital in Czernowitz, should visit the Picture Gallery