Ruth Gruber has told me, last March in Bratislava ,about a " Swiss diplomat, working currently with the Swiss Embassy in Bucharest, who is writing a book on Jewish Cemeteries of Bucovina," and I must say I was not only very interested in his work , but in all frankness I was also a bit intrigued of the unusual coming together of all the above, Then  I met Simon, who explained  extremely modestly and convincingly, that during his visit in the region saw the cemeteries , was amazed by their calm and beauty and decided to write a"'little tourist guide"-a " booklet", as if ...anyone else who would have seen what he saw, naturally will do the same. Few hours before the launching I saw, to my amazement not "a little tourist guide" but a superb album, an exquisite art book that tells the story and the history of one of most flourishing Jewish Communities (now almost extinct... ) of Eastern Europe. The Jews of Bucovina, their lives,their tradition, their disappearance as victims of the Holocaust, the isolation and desolation, and a level-headed call against forgeting all these, the book says it all.

We should praise besides the author, the publisher "Media Noi Print" for the wonderful end result of this project.

We at Fedrom did support this project, anyway we could. At the book launching, in front of a relative large audience , a third of which were Fedrom people, Dr. Vainer (Fedrom President) gave the classic Vainersque_witty_charming_speech, that touched equally all the aspects of the intellectual discourse and all hearts. He said "we  are grateful to Simon Gessbuhler for this book, the value and importance of which are far greater than the superb images and texts", and "his work is an invitation to Jews and non-Jews to preserve the  Jewish Heritage as part of National Heritage, to preserve the  memory of Jewish lives and tradition. and by doing so, the author renders himself as our esteemed friend and soul mate"

Lucia Apostol