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The town of Suceava in southern Bucovina, a region of Romania, lies in the valley through which the Suceava River flows. It is an ancient town. The first document in which its name is mentioned dates from 1388, when Petru Mushat was the ruler of Moldova (1375–1391). Moldova existed as an independent entity from the 14^th century, and the town of Suceava was its capital until 1564. Afterwards the capital was moved to Jassy (Iashi).

The name Bucovina first appeared in 1392. The origin of the word is Slavic. Buk means beech tree, thus the land of beech trees. In Austria it was also called Buchenland.

In 1241, after the Tatar invasion, the region came under Tatar rule, until the Hungarian King Louis I (1342–1382) drove back the Tatars and southern Bucovina was annexed to Hungary. The founder of Moldova, Bogdan I (1359–1365) conquered Bucovina from Hungary and until 1774 it belonged to Moldova and shared its fate. From 1387 up to 1497 Moldova was ruled by Poland and from 1514 it was under the rule of the Turks, remaining part of the Ottoman Empire until 1774. After the Russo–Turkish War (1768–1774) under the Constantinople Treaty, Austria annexed Bucovina, which served as a bridge between Galicia and Transylvania. The Austrian Habsburg dynasty controlled Bucovina for 144 years (1774–1918).

During the first years of Austrian rule in Bucovina (1774–1848) the economic condition of the Jews was difficult. Joining with Galicia in 1787 did not improve the condition of the Jews of Bucovina. The revolution of 1848 opened the Jews the era of Emancipation and thus began the “Golden Era” which characterized the rule of Kaiser Franz Josef (1848–1916).

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The Kaiser treated the Jewish minority with sympathy and respect. The Jews received many privileges which had been denied to them until then. When Austria declared war against Serbia and Russia in August 1914, many Jewish youths volunteered to fight for the Kaiser. There were Jewish soldiers among the dead. Brothers Leib and Zusia Weitman from Suceava fought in that war and were wounded. Between 1848 and 1890, many Jews acquired German higher educations. Most Jews studied in secular German language government schools. Only a small minority continued to study in the Cheder (one room Jewish schools}. Many Jews enrolled in the university which opened in Czernowitz in 1875. In 1890 there were 65 Jewish students who constituted 24% of the total, and in 1910, there were 264 Jews, 41% of the student body.

The German language press was mostly owned and edited by Jews. The following periodicals were published: Morgenblatt, Allgemeine Zeitung, Ostjuedische Zeitung, and Bukowina Volkszeitung. Between 1919–1938 there were published the Zionist weekly Neue Juedische Rundschau, the Vorwaerts of the Bucovina Social Democrats, and in Yiddish: Di Naye Zeitung and the Arbeiter Zeitung. There were Jews in the municipal councils and in the regional parliament, as well as in the parliament in Vienna.

At the end of 1918, after World War One and 144 years of Austro–Hungarian rule, Bucovina was returned to be part of Greater Romania. At the Versailles Congress of 1919, Romania was obliged to grant equal rights to all the residents of the country, as a condition of the recognition by the Allies of its annexation of Bucovina, Bessarabia, and Transylvania. Nevertheless, the government of Romania continued to violate its clear obligation to grant equal rights to Jews, even though the principle of equal rights for Jews had been written into the new Romanian constitution which was ratified on March 28, 1923.

At the beginning of the 15^th century, Alexandru cel Bun (1400–1432) invited Jews from Galicia and Hungary to contribute to the development of economy and trade. Another ruler, Stefan cel Mare (1457–1504) was under the care of a Jewish physician, Shmil, and sympathized with the Jews. The ruler Aron Voda (1591–1595) was of Jewish descent. Stefan Razvan, who ruled in Suceava (1595) also invited Jewish merchants to help develop trade and economy.

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At the beginning of the 17^th century, Jews fled from Russia, after the tyrant Chmielnicki and his bandits destroyed hundreds of communities and killed tens of thousands of Jews. Some refugees reached Suceava and brought with them the Hassidic movement and the Yiddish language. There was an organized community by the beginning of the 18^th century, headed by a rabbi in charge of matters of law, finances, and the status of citizens. Antioh Cantermir, the ruler of Moldova (1705–1707) granted the Jews the right to live in Suceava. Merchandise from Galicia or Hungary passed through Suceava on the way to the ports of the Danube River and the Black Sea.

When Bucovina was conquered by Austria in 1774, there were 50 Jewish families in Suceava (203 people, 108 men and 95 women). In 1771 the synagogue burned down and it was only in 1781 that permission was granted to build a new synagogue. In 1782, General Enzenberg ordered to expel all those Jews who had infiltrated Bucovina since 1769 without paying the annual tax of four gulden. As a result, 31 families, 90 people altogether, were expelled.

From real estate transactions records of the city of Suceava it appears that the majority of the houses in the city center belonged to Jews. One of the main streets was surnamed Judengasse and the name continued to be used unofficially until the expulsion of the Jews in October, 1941.

Representatives of the Suceava community, Leiser Yoel, David Shimshon and Efrayim Moshe actively participated in all the meetings with the representatives of all of the thirteen regions in the country. The meetings took place in the city of Czernowitz and a petition was submitted in the name of the entire Jewish population to make it possible to obtain kosher food and to confirm the leases of lands and the opening of businesses. A committee of three members of the community headed it and they were elected every three years by the members of the community in the presence of a representative of the ruler. In 1786 an attempt was made to compel the Jews to work in agriculture. The community was requested to provide five “volunteers.” These families included 12 men, seven women, 10 sons, and nine daughters and they received, besides land, five houses, five barns and storehouses, five sets of tools, 10 horses, 10 oxen and 13 cows.

In 1790 a Jewish–German secular school was founded and the first teacher was Enoch Goldenthal, who, according to the community report of June 17, 1791, fell into disgrace after having made offensive remarks towards the Jewish religion, and was replaced in 1792 by a teacher named Bally. Private Jewish one room schools (Cheiders) were supported by the community. In 1808 there were 73 Jewish families in Suceava, a number large enough to organize a community and to elect leaders who would receive the blessings of the local authorities.

The main pursuit of the Jews of Suceava was the manufacture and sale of liquor, beer, and alcohol. The owners of the beer brewery were Avraham Schaechter, Aron Barber, and Bauer. It competed with breweries belonging to Christians in Czernowitz and Suceava. They complained to the regional authority and to the organization of beer brewers, arguing that the Jewish firm did not have the necessary license for apprenticeship. Thus, in 1802, the Jewish brewery was shut down. It was also ruled that Jews could only open a buffet in Suceava and they were heavily taxed, as were all the Jews in the country. In 1817 there were 272 Jewish families in Suceava and environs and because of the heavy taxation they were often in arrears.

At the beginning of the 19^th century, the members of the elected board were Hersh Barber, Feivish Hatner, Solomon Rohrlich, Yuda Kraemer and Yosl Bandel. The religion teacher, Natan Goldstein, was supposed to stay until the end of October 1810, but he stayed on until 1821. On September 21, 1821, he received a license from the regional authority to grant divorces to Jewish couples if one of the pair had converted to Christianity.

The Jewish population of Suceava continued to grow after 1841 and by the end of 1880, out of 10,104 residents, 3,750 (37.1%) were Jews. The number of Jewish pupils also grew proportionately. In the district of Suceava in 1871 there were 28 Jewish boys (3.3%) and 39 girls (12.5%). In 1875 there were 34 boys (3.5%) and 40 girls (9.4%) and in 1889 there were 75 boys (7.2%) and 282 girls (24.6%). In the private schools there were only 10 girls in 1871, and in 1880, one boy and one girl. Suceava was always a center for intellectuals and before Bucovina was annexed by Romania, there were many merchants and few artisans. The Jewish populace was very active and played a significant role in public life.

In 1901 there were 6,787 Jews in Suceava, and another 1,500 Jews in the entire district. In 1914 there were already 8,000 Jews but only 900 of them paid taxes to the Jewish community. The Chairman of the Board of the community at that time was Attorney Dr. Adolf Finkler, and his Vice Chairman was Samuel Hellmann. The members of the Board were Carl Scherzer, Attorney Dr. Leo Bogen, Dr Ya'akov Kraemer, the city doctor, and Ben–Zion Fraenkel. Dr. Avraham Levi officiated as rabbi and Leo Moscovici as religious court judge. The secretary of the community was Solomon Gottesman. Religion teacher was Bernhard Fraenkel, the Cantor was Avraham Hitman, and the teachers in the Talmud Torah were A.M. Rosenstrauch and S.M. Kupferberg. The community budget was 100,000 Kronen. In 1930 there were 3,522 Jews in Suceava, comprising 20.7% of the population.

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The Zionist movement in Suceava was founded at the end of the 19^th century. It was very influential in the lives of the Jews in the city. It sent Max Ellenbogen and Yishayahu Langer as delegates to the First Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897. In 1908 there was a conference in Suceava of all the Zionist organizations in Bucovina. In 1906 “Po'alei Zion” was founded. One of its leaders was Dr. Meir Teich. In addition to organizations such as “Hovevei Zion” and “Theodor Herzl”, “Tikva” and “Mada” were active in academic institutions. There were also active branches of Keren Kayemet Le–Yisrael and Keren Hayesod.

Among the founders of “Hatikva” were Dr. Yosef Ellenbogen (died in London in 1905), Dr. Simon Holdengraeber, Dr. Adolf Gabor (died in Shargorod in 1941), Dr. Meir Teich, Dr. Erich Lupul, Dr. Wilhelm Lupul, Alfonse Kraemer, Dr. Adolf Wagner, Eng. Heinrich Gruenseid, Dr. Phavus Tuttenauer, Hayim Gudvald, Dr. Max Schwarz, Dr. Heinrich Marcovici, Shaya Becker, Dr. Yosef Halperin, Prof. Jancu Gabor, Prof. Natan Dalfen, Dr. Perez Strominger, Dr. Solomon Wagner, and Dr. M. Berger.

Other members were Fritz Gruenseid, Prof. Philip Rohrlich, Prof. Brauner, Prof. Isidor Klueger, Dr. Shaul Klueger, Dr. Kalman Tarter, Adv. S. Menkes, Shlomo Bari, Prof. Waldman, Lucian Solomovici, Adv. Erich Lesner, Jean Hammer, Att. Leib, Dr. Walter Horowitz–Rohrlich, Vice Mayor (ret.) Dr. Josef Rohrlich, Att. Natan Strominger, Dentist Dr. Fuhrer, Dentist Dr. Zwilling, Judge Dr. Goldschlag, Ya'akov Katz, Att. Mark Haber, Dentist Dr. Leon Itzik, Att. Dr. B. Wagner, Att. Oslwald Weber, Ervin Weber, Dr. Heinrich Marcovici, Dr. M. Berger, Dr. Koerner, Dr. Wolf Schaerf.

The academic organiztion “Hamada” was founded by Bruno Hart, the Schiller brothers, Engineer Natan Gabor, N. Kupferberg, and others. There was as well an academic organization of the secondary school, “Zioniah” which was founded by Att. Natan Strominger, Richard Ludwig, Att. Siegfried Barber, Ya'akov oldberg, Rabbi Dr. M. Nussbaum, Shlomo Weissbrod, Erich Lesner, Gustav Schaechter, Poldi Schaechter, and Att. Lucian Salomovici.

From 1903 there was active women's Zionist movement –“Ruth.” There were also women organizations such as WIZO, under the leadership of: Dr. Teich, Sabina Gottesman, Jetty Fuchs (later Koerner), and Blanca Isolis, and the OSE^[1], that concerned itself with the health of poor children, with the support of the community, and Hadassah, under the leadership of Ernestina Albrecht. All these individuals served on a voluntary basis.

Communal workers of the Keren Kayemet le–Yisrael in Suceava Standing, right to left: Dunyu Dickmann, ???, Dr. Gabor, Dr. Leib Schapira, Loebel, Dr. Meir Teich, Hersch Fuchs, Leon Glueckmann Seated: Riegler, Sabina Hausvater, Anna Teich, ???, Jetty Fuchs, Sabina Gottesman

As was mentioned, among the Zionist organizations was the “Po'alei Zion” among whose founders were Dr. Meir Teich, Josef Beiner, Zwilling, Moshe and Max Gruenseid, Fishl Tulpan, Leiser Gottlieb, Hersh Vogel and Benyamin Tennenhaus.

The drama circle of the “Po'alei Zion” presented theatrical performances to Jewish audiences. The actors were the talented Leon Altkopf, Miriam Tennenhaus, Dora Fuchs, Schwarz–Fuhrer, Spiegelschulz, Frenkel–Bercovici, Alter Becker, and others. They performed plays by Sholem Aleichem, Y.L. Peretz, An–sky, and others. The ”Ze'irei Zion” was founded by Hersh Kahn, Jeannette Rudich, David Dieckmann, Norbert Deutsch, Zunyo Kamfer and Ethel Koenig–Deutsch. They had a theatrical troupe and a library named for Gordon. In “Ha–Shomer ha–Za'ir” the Chairman was M. Schapira who succeeded Leiser Grossman. The other members were Eng. Neumann, Dr. David Loebel, Muliu Reif, Heinrich Zwilling, Josef Kahn, Dr. Phoebus Kahn, Mrs. Sally Oberwaeger–Auerbach, Mrs. Zibner Pistiner, Mrs. Spiegel–Schapira, Eng. Wilhelm Storfer, Eng. Makitra, and Louis Kahn. There was also the “Mizrachi” with Y. Tarter, H.L. Rosenblatt, P. Wagner, and Schwarz. There were General Zionists with Dr. A. Gabor, Dr. Fuhrer and Dr. H. Kupferberg.

The Ihud Committee, Tishrei 2, [5]708 [September 16, 1947] Leaders of the Ihud Party

1. OSE stands for Oevre de Secours aux Enfants. It was founded in St. Petersburg in 1912 to help needy Jews.

One of the consequences of the harsh policy of British Mandatory power after the 1920 San-Remo Conference, which severely restricted immigration, was the strengthening and intensification of the

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Revisionist movement, whose flag proclaimed uncompromising struggle against this perverse policy. This was reflected in the rise of the number of young people, most of them from Beitar, who already in 1932, served as the spearhead [for illegal emigration?].

In 1928, the Revisionist Zionist Movement of Romania held its first conference in Czernowitz. Although there were no cohesive organizations in Eretz [Israel], there were groups of proponents of this movement in Bucovina who supported Ze'ev Jabotinsky's views. Suceava's representative to the conference was Rica Barber-Vizhnitzer, and elected National Chairman, Avraham Feller, who met Jabotinsky at the Congress held in Vienna in August 1925.

In 1930, Beitar of Suceava was founded with a representative of the Hebronia Student Organization from Czernowitz, Tsino Weisbrod and two representatives on behalf of Beitar of Rădăuţi. The nucleus [group] included Israel Blackman-Abush, Dov Bogen, Friedel Bogen, Ḥaim Fischler, Jacob Fischler and others. That year, Bouma Blei, Adolf Weitmann and others joined. Bouma Blei became the first ken [branch] commander of Beitar Suceava. The ken [branch] began activity in private apartments and later moved to the Jewish Community House.

Hundreds of boys and girls were members of Beitar over the years. They were divided into “Bundles.” So, for example, a Bundle of girls was called “Sarah Chizick,” and the boys: “Tel-Ḥai.” So was the movement's gesture in memory of the place where Trumpeldor fell on 11 Adar, 5680 (March 1, 1920). Extensive activities in each Bundle included learning the Hebrew language, the history of the Jewish People, Zionist ideology and knowledge of Eretz [Israel]. The Revisionist Zionist Alliance and Beitar organized meetings in Suceava and public trials. Among adult devotees of Jabotinsky's Revisionist teachings, we should note the Chairman, Dr. N. Wijnipolski, S. Goldberg, Adv. Z. Barber and his wife Rica Barber-Vizhnitzer, who both drowned in the “Struma” disaster. Dr. Wijnipolski was returned at the last minute before boarding, thus saving his life.

In Vienna in the early 1930s, the book, Untergang des Judentums (The Decline of Judaism) by Otto Heller appeared. In it the author refers to the idea that the Jewish autonomous region of Birobidzhan in eastern Siberia on the shores of the Amur River, will solve the Jewish Problem. The Beitar Movement in Suceava organized two public trials on this topic. Supporters of the Communist idea (A. Rachmut and others) confronted Revisionist Zionists from Czernowitz who attacked and ruled out the book's thesis (A. Weitmann, Dr. B. Sternberg).

Activists from abroad and from Eretz [Israel], such as Wolfgang von Weisel and Naomi von Weisel, Dr. Benzion Sternberg, also one of the signatories to the Declaration of Independence, the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel on 5 Iyar 5708 (May 14, 1948); Dr. Severin Lazarovitz (who drowned in Struma), Moritz

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Geiger, and Aryeh Disenchik, one of the founders of the Beitar movement and a journalist. In 1932, Nathan Bistritzky later visited Agmon, a playwright, journalist and writer who engaged in Zionist propaganda and also raised money for the Tel-Ḥai Fund. The money collected was transferred to the foundation's representative, Yosef Tartar.

After the first commander of Beitar immigrated to Eretz Israel, Friedel Bogen, Adolf Weitmann, Ḥaim Fischler, Benjamin Weiner and others joined the movement's management one by one. Ḥaim Fischler, who came to Czernowitz, became commander of Beitar after the Red Army entered the city. He was deported by the Soviets to Siberia. The Beitar management in Bucovina district also appointed Adolf Weitmann as Suceava's representative.

The leader of Beitar's High Command organized training for several members in the Civita Vecchia Naval School. In 1934, Beitar member Zeidel Gruenberg participated. Several members trained as pioneers in immigration training centers, including A. Augenstein, A. Shaechter and others. In Beitar's 1933 Summer Colony Camp, held in Vyzhenka near Wiśnica, there were also two youths from Suceava.

In 1935, the training farm was opened in Iţcani Scheia under the leadership of Shmuel Gabor. In 1938, Beitar in Romania established a school for nurses that, after graduation, were supposed to emigrate, two of whom were from Suceava.

When Ze'ev Jabotinsky left the World Zionist Organization and founded the new Zionist organization, the Beitar movement was discriminated against and did not receive certificates for Aliyah.

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