The second edition of the "Avram Goldfaden" International Yiddish Theater Festival in Iasi will also be financed by the European Union, according to several newspapers in Bucharest. This decision was reached in Brussels as a result of the success enjoyed last year by the first edition and at the request of the "Vasile Alecsandri" National Theater, organizer of the festival, of the French Cultural Center in Iasi and of other cultural institutions in Germany and Poland. The EU will grant the non-refundable amount of 30,000 euros to the festival. Iasi City Council and the Ministry for Culture and Cults also promised financial support (10,000 euros for the former, and 1.8 billion lei for the latter).

The second "Avram Goldfaden" International Yiddish Theater Festival (October 23-30, 2003) will take place under the headline "The first Yiddish theater in the world and the Jewish communities in Central and Eastern Europe". The participants will be artists, performers and music groups from France, Great Britain, Israel, Poland, Hungary, the Republic of Moldavia and Romania.

We have recently received the volume "Turda - the town who will not die", a monograph written by journalist Daniela Deac - who was born in Turda and who has been an editor for the "Aries Monitor" for ten years. The book includes essays published between August 2002 and May 2003 in the column that also gave the title of the book and which brings interesting journalistic contributions to the history of the bi-millenary town.

Some of the essays are dedicated to the local Jewish community. This one is also evoked by Radu Cerghizan, born in Turda and now teaching at the Bayreuth University, Germany: "…I send you a part of my memories about the customs of the Turda Jews, amidst whom I grew up and whose customs, holidays and mentality I knew well. People who deserve all our respect, for never in my life have I seen a Jew wandering through pubs, being drunk, cursing, using foul language, or yelling in the middle of the street. But I have seen many Jews playing various musical instruments, speaking in foreign languages, reading difficult books. For many decades, my best friend was a Jew. I think this says a lot…"

The volume also comprises memories of the poet Andrei Fischof, with whom Dana Deac got in touch through the Internet. Here are a few excerpts from the poet's notes on visiting his native town, two years ago: "…I went to the Jewish cemetery in Turda Noua, behind the hospital, in a place that is only partially asphalted now. I remembered that, during my previous visit here, back in 1960, for my grandfather's funeral, the mud was up to one's ankle in a rainy October. I found deep sadness: graves unattended, drowned by the weeds, although the guard was paid good money to take care of them. I had a hard time finding the double grave of my paternal grandparents. I cleaned what I could. Beyond time and space, we talked for a few moments (the two friends that were accompanying me discretely withdrew). I told them a few things about us, about our living in the country they never got to live in, Israel, then I told them the names of their great-great-grandsons, who were all born there. On departure, I laid a stone on each grave, not just on theirs, but also on those of the people I had known, of my friends, of my parents… Our tradition has us lay a stone on each grave we visit, so that this may be a sign that someone passed by that grave and that the dead are not abandoned on the other side of time… For a moment, I stopped before the gate where my first teenage love used to live. I opened it for a second. I did not want to enter; I believe her mother still lives there (if she is still alive), and this would have got far too emotional for the both of us. I saw the big door that I used to pass when entering her house, I even felt her smile for a moment, more than three decades after I last saw her…"

The author also quotes another Israeli born in Turda, Erwin Rosenberg, who told her in detail about the history of the Jews in Turda. Their existence was first recorded in 1775. Until 1916, their situation was good. The Jews were an important factor in the development of the economic and commercial life, and of the banking activities. A relatively large number of Jews owned land, mills, factories. Many of the Mosaic believers participated in the political, administrative and cultural life of the town and of the whole county. Some of the Jews in Turda were tradesmen, others - not few of them - were workers in factories and workshops. There were also Jewish intellectuals with academic titles…

After the Vienna Diktat and the intensification of the pro-fascist activity in the whole country, the Jews in Turda faced persecution, ill-treatment and confiscations; some of them were deported to forced labor camps. There were many kind-hearted people in Turda who helped the Jews, from physicians to common, humane folk. Not once did the local authorities intervene at the Government in favor of the Jewish citizens, succeeding in altering some harmful decisions. An illegal organization operated in Turda (a frontier town) during the war; its aim was to save the Jews in the territory temporarily occupied by Hungary, whom the Nazis had begun to sent to the extermination camps. The organization managed to save over 1,000 Jews, bringing them in Romania, in Turda. Among the members of this illegal organization was Raoul Serban, who was declared a Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem Institute - a title which is awarded to the non-Jews who, risking their own life, saved Jews during the Holocaust.

Today, Turda only counts a few old Jews who are not enough to make a miniam…

For those who wish to buy the book or to get in touch with the author, this is Dana Deac's e-mail address: danadeac@hotmail.com.