His life covered an extraordinary span of history -- encapsulating a vanished world - which started in Bukovina with the first world war in the dying embers of the Austro-Hungarian empire. He was born in Bukovina in Raduatz village.
Between the Wars, Erich's life was for a time promising. As a young man he trained as a lawyer in Czernovitz . By 1939 waves of anti-semitism began. At first it was only Zionists and leaders of local Jewsih communities who were persecuted But in 1941 Romania recovered Bukovina with the Nazis and between 1941-42 were the cruellest times Jews. They were rounded up and put in ghettos. In October 1941, Erich and his family were sent to a camp in Transnistria. In the freezing winters of minus 40 degrees that followed , 200,000 Jews died of typhus or hypothermia In camps.
After Second World War ended, and Erich's release from Transnistria he and family came to southern Transylvania - to Sighisoara. Southern Transylvania had been far safer for Jews during the War -- in the north Jews had believed Hungary to be a safe haven but once there - they were packed off in a train to Auschswitz - and almost all wiped out.
But Erich's troubles were not over - The "liberation" of Romania by the Russian army was a cruel deception. Romanian Communist party took power and remained in power for 40 years. During the Stalinists years, on trumped up charges, he was sentenced for 3 years and imprisoned in the Jhilava Prison near Bucharest. Terrible times continued under Ceausescu - even after his release life became harder and harder.
The Synagogue which Erich tended in Sighiosara for over 5o years became incredibly important to him - through this synagogue that I came to know him.
· This history of the Jews who lived in Transylvania must not be forgotten. This is where we as a Trust come in - and why our restoration work is so important - because buildings are the living embdiement of a society - and when that society is destroyed, the buildings are what survive and keep the memories alive. Although founded about 25 years ago during Ceausescu's darkest years, to help persecuted academics, the MET came immersed in Romania's extraordinary rich culture. Ten years ago - we began what is known as The Whole Village Project -- and now in 2010, we have saved farmhouses, school buildings, medical centres, bridges, barns in 25 villages and towns --as well as places of worship of all denominations Orthodox, Catholics and Jews and Lutherans.
Not until the end of his days did Erich find a semblance of peace. The more I knew of and about Erich, the more he became, to me -- the epitomy of the tragedy that afflicted Mittle European Jewry in the 21st Century. Erich liked to be thought an ordinary man but ordinariness was denied him. Instead he was the living embodiment of the devasted but incredibly brave Jewish world of Central European -- where survival is the greatest triumph and remembrance is the greatest duty. Inspired by Erich, we now badly want to restore Erich's sister synagogue nearby in Medias. A truly beautiful place
