Melanie (Mindele) Mehler

The team greets Mehler in front of her house and chats with her, in Romanian and Yiddish, about her origin in Iași and whether other Yiddish speakers live in Vatra Dornei. She gives them an address to visit, on the street Podul Verde. She says her father was a professor and was killed in the Iași pogrom; the date is unclear in the transcript.

adds the address she gives for other Yiddish speakers

Mehler talks about her life in Iași and about the few people who still know Yiddish or German. She recalls seeing Yiddish theater as a child, says Yiddish was not spoken at home, and says the Jewish community office is closed on weekends. Kerler explains the project; she mentions an American connection (Connecticut?).

Mehler and the team enter the Vatra Dornei synagogue; the camera then films while she talks about contemporary religious life. The congregation is small and old, with holidays such as Shavuot kept with dairy food; Passover seder cannot be held. She speaks about the gendarmes and the guarding of the synagogue, and about relations with non-Jews, and mentions visits by communal officials and a Hanukkah event.

adds the guarding of the synagogue and the visit of communal officials

Mehler says she lived in Iași until 1955 and briefly recalls the war years, including the bombardment and wearing the yellow star. She names the contemporary Iași community and a doctor who works there as a volunteer. She also recalls an excursion with a young group from the community.

adds the doctor and the people she knows in the Iași community

Mehler addresses her childhood schooling. She attended a Romanian school for two years, was then moved to a Jewish school and later a Jewish lyceum held in synagogues, and went to a state school after 1944. She says she lived in a Romanian neighborhood of Iași and describes the Jewish quarter, where Christians also spoke Yiddish. She also mentions a stay in Cernăuți.

Mehler speaks about the Jews of Vatra Dornei and the surrounding area. The big synagogue was once full, with men below and women above. She says there were three synagogues in town and others in villages along the road toward Cluj, none of which remain. Lemster asks about Jews along that road and the mountain route.

The camera briefly films the synagogue; Mehler then speaks about contemporary Jewish life, with a place name (Vatra Dornei) heard. The passage is badly garbled and little can be said with confidence.

Mehler speaks about her family: a grandfather, named Mendel Weinstock, and a grandmother who lit Sabbath candles and said blessings. She remembers the grandfather as a rich cattle dealer with a big farmyard and exporting animals, and recalls his funeral. She also says she does not speak Hebrew.

In her house Mehler shows photographs to the team, mostly in Romanian with some Yiddish. She identifies her daughter, her grandchildren in America, her parents and her husband, and her father's last photograph. He was killed in the Iaşi pogrom, and her husband died suddenly. The interviewers ask about her wedding and the wedding documents; her husband had been deported to Transnistria.

Her father was killed in the Iaşi pogrom and her husband had been in Transnistria; the wedding and its documents are discussed.

Mehler speaks about her mother, who came from Iaşi but went to school in Dorohoi, and about summers there. Jews sat outside their gates on Sabbath and spoke Yiddish. She names her mother's Romanian name as Clara. The talk turns to her daughter's marriage, her husband from Siret, and the German-like Yiddish of the Suceava area and Mihăileni.

Also covers her mother's language, her daughter's marriage, and the dialect of the Suceava border area.

Mehler describes Jewish life after her arrival in Vatra Dornei, mostly in Romanian. The Jews of the Bukovina region were deported to Transnistria in 1941. The rich sometimes bought themselves out, and one family avoided deportation by faking illness. After the war many returned to find nothing and emigrated in a mass departure, up to about 1961. She also talks about prewar Jewish trades and the good relations before Antonescu, and about the Romanian Jewish leadership. The passage ends on Ştefăneşti.

Includes the Transnistria deportation, buying out of deportation, trades, and the communal leadership.

Mehler describes the Ştefăneşti rebbe as a holy man and miracle worker. She also mentions the Paşcani rebbe and compares them with present-day rebbes. She mentions a more recent rabbi, Rose, and her own work as accountant and secretary of the community, with the keys. The team thanks her and ends the formal interview, discussing how a German journalist's interview of her was published.

Also covers the community's present-day rabbis and the interviews she has given.

Winding down after the interview, Mehler and the team talk about a woman born locally who is a ritual slaughterer's daughter in a village, and about phone numbers and an address. Mehler phones a visitor, giving directions, in Romanian. Her daughter is 40 years old; the visitors are described as professors from several countries.