The space of the oblivion- Sadagora as a forgotten text

In my article I'm trying to describe a present distrtict of Chernivtsi - Sadagora. I'm showing its historical context and analysing its contemporary state, which I based on the theory of palimpsest. In particular I'm focusing on the manor house in Sadagora as one of not numerous marks of its rich history.

Before World War II Sadagora was the centre of Hassidic life. Tzadiks of the famous dynasty, which was derived from Izrael Friedman from Rozyn in XIX century, had their residence here. They were famous for their supernatural abilities, but also for their outstanding richness. The manor house full of splendour and decoration was the evidence of that. During the war Jews from Sadagora were murdered or placed at camps of Transnistria in Romania. Those who had survived never have returned to the town. In the Soviet Union's times the manor house was transformed into a tractor factory. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the factory was closed and the building started to decline.

My reflections concern textuality of the tzadik's manor house. It is a text for me, which I read anew taking under consideration its contemporary state and the forgetfulness of its inhabitants as well. I understand its new meaning by my own sensual experience, but also by public interpretation or maybe by the lack of it. This building becomes a symbolic fact, which I try to decode. As Heidegger says: „ the landscape seen by human eyes is not given, but is assigned, it means open on interpretation, non-closed in its identity". The main category becomes a palimpsest as a multistratified construction, in which texts written in various times overlap. There are lacks and emptiness in this weird form. The space after non-presents takes much place. The manor house is a palimpsest literally and metaphorically for me. Its walls are a parchment with inscriptions from the past. And the whole building is a mark on the present, original meaning of the manor house (sacrum) is the first word, on which ruin and damage was engraved. But whole phenomen falls into oblivion, despite intensity of being.

Anna Kulikowska