Until 1775, what became Bukovina was part of the Ottoman Empire. From 1775 to 1918, Bukovina was the easternmost crown land of the Austrian Empire. Bukovina, which means “Land of Beech Trees” was known for its forests, rivers and hills, was bounded to the east by Moldavia (Romania) and Bessarabia (Russia), to the south by Romania, to the west by Transylvania and Hungary, and to the north by Galicia. It covered an area of around 10,000 km², which is about twice the size of Prince Edward Island. In 1918 Bukovina was taken over by Romania, and after 1945, was divided between the USSR and Romania.

Unlike its neighbouring provinces, such as the Romanian provinces of Walachia and Moldavia, and Russian Bessarabia, Bukovina developed in a very modern, Western fashion. Bukovina (in the 19th century) never suffered from the extreme oppression and anti-Semitism that the Romanian and Russian provinces had suffered under. Once Bukovina (and Transylvania) came under Romania occupation, they too were now subjected to these oppressive measures.

In 1900 the population of Bukovina was 40% Ruthenian (Ukrainian), 35 % Romanian, 13% were Jews, and the remainder was composed of Germans, Poles, Hungarians, Russians and Armenians. The official language of the administration, of the law-courts, and of instruction in schools was German. Religiously, about 70% of the population belonged to the Greek Orthodox Church. The province was known for its greatly mixed ethnic population, and how peacefully they coexisted.

The Jewish population of Bukovina expanded greatly from only 7,726 Jews out of a total population of 371,000 (3%) in 1830. By 1880 there were 67,418 Jews in Bukovina out of a total population of 571,000 (12%). By the time Max left in 1910, there were 102,900 Jews (13%) in Bukovina, the highest figure for any Austrian crown land. The Jews of Bukovina were second in number only to the Greek Orthodox religious community. In Czernowitz, the Jews comprised a third of the population and were the largest religious group in the city.

This increase in Jewish population in Bukovina is attributed to the immigration of Jews from Galicia, Russia (Basarabia), and Romania (Moldova). This was due to the economic success of the Jewish community, their almost complete emancipation and their high cultural level. In contrast to the first half of the 19th century when there were great restrictions on where Jews could live, in the second half of the century, the Jewish demographic was greatly changed with increased freedom of movement.

Max said his father was born in Bukovina, but his family had originally come from Russia. As Russia then (see 1900 map of Europe) was only a few kilometres away from Oprischeny, it is entirely possible that his family originated very close to the area, and moved across the border to Austria in the mid 1800s when Jews were granted rights there. For example, a list of taxpayers in Gorodenka, Ukraine in 1780 shows many men with the last name Zuckerman(n). Gorodenka is 30 miles north-west of Czernowitz, in Galicia, close to Russian Bessarabia.

Of the Jewish population of Austria, about 75% lived in Galicia, and about 5% in Bukovina. In 1880, there were only 11 villages in Bukovina that had no Jewish inhabitants. In the villages, Jewish farmers gradually disappeared as they took up professions in the cities. There was only one Jewish village, Terescheny (near Oprischeny), where there were 50 Jewish farm families.

Scattered throughout Bukovina there were Jewish landowners who worked farms of 1 to 2 acres. Bukovina was very rural and had only around a dozen towns with a population over 1,000, and only six villages with over 1,000 Jews. Around 1880, Czernowitz had 45, 000 people (15,000 Jews), (by 1910 this had increased to 30,000 Jews, and in 1940 to 43,000), Sereth had 7, 000 people (3, 000 Jews), and Styrojenitz had 5,000 people (1,600 Jews). In 1948, (after WWII) there were 5,112 Jews in the Sereth region.

Because of the Jews, the region that was really Romanian and Ruthenian (Ukranian), became “Germanized,” because they used German as well as Yiddish in their everyday speech. The Jews also cooperated politically with the German speaking government, who in these decades were still liberally oriented. There was a very high level of assimilation among Bukovinian Jews, especially in the larger towns.