Monthly Archives: May 2013

It’s all gone, it’s still there

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

Galicia and Bukovina are covered with partially or totally destroyed Jewish cemeteries. The grave stones were abused as building material during the German occupation and the years of Soviet rule. However, history does not just disappear. During construction works fragments of Jewish grave stones come to light. These stones raise questions – first of all the question of how we want to deal with the past.

Lviv – fragments of Jewish grave stones, April 2013
Lviv – fragments of Jewish grave stones, April 2013
Lviv – fragments of Jewish grave stones, April 2013
Lviv – fragments of Jewish grave stones, October 2012
Lviv – fragments of Jewish grave stones, October 2012
Lviv – fragments of Jewish grave stones, misused as cobblestones, October 2012
Lviv – fragments of Jewish grave stones, misused as cobblestones, October 2012
Ivano-Frankivsk – fragments of Jewish grave stones, May 2013
Ivano-Frankivsk – fragments of Jewish grave stones, May 2013
Rohatyn – fragments of Jewish grave stones, April 2013
Ivano-Frankivsk – fragments of Jewish grave stones, May 2013
Rohatyn – fragments of Jewish grave stones, April 2013
Rohatyn – fragments of Jewish grave stones, April 2013
Rohatyn – fragments of Jewish grave stones, April 2013

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Galicia and Bukovina in Black and White (2)

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Northern Bukovina, Synagogues

Here it is, the second half of the selection of black and white photos from the trip through Galicia and Bukovina in April and May 2013. The journey finally comes to an end and something new starts.

Ivano-Frankivsk – Jewish cemetery
Ivano-Frankivsk – Jewish cemetery
Ivano-Frankivsk – Jewish cemetery
Ivano-Frankivsk – Jewish cemetery
Kalush – Jewish cemetery
Kalush – Jewish cemetery
Kuty – Jewish cemetery
Lysynychi – mass grave site
Lysynychi – mass grave site
Nadvirna – Jewish cemetery
Pidhaitsi – synagogue
Pidhaitsi – synagogue
Pidhaitsi – Jewish cemetery
Pidhaitsi – Jewish cemetery
Pidhaitsi – Jewish cemetery
Pidhaitsi – Jewish cemetery
Rohatyn – old Jewish cemetery
Rohatyn – old Jewish cemetery
Rohatyn – new Jewish cemetery

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Galicia and Bukovina in Black and White (1)

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Northern Bukovina, Synagogues

Analog photography is not for the impatient. Through digital cameras we are used to check a picture directly. Images on film are different. Two weeks after the trip through Galicia and Bukovina I got the developed black and white films and the scans of the negatives. A first impression and a first selection.

Busk – Jewish cemetery
Busk – Jewish cemetery
Busk – Jewish cemetery
Busk – Jewish cemetery
Busk – Jewish cemetery
Brody – Jewish cemetery
Brody – Jewish cemetery
Brody – Jewish cemetery
Brody – Jewish cemetery
Bolekhiv – Jewish cemetery
Bolekhiv – Jewish cemetery
Bolekhiv – synagogue
Berezhani – Jewish cemetery
Berezhani – Jewish cemetery
Berezhani – synagogue

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Journey through Galicia and Bukovina in May and April 2013 – Some Thoughts

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Northern Bukovina, Synagogues

Two weeks I traveled with my friends Petra and Achim through Eastern Galicia and Northern Bukovina. It was a very intense and emotional journey to the heritage of a vanished Jewish world. We  visited 27 towns and villages, many spots made a deep impression. With some distance I would like to summarize some experiences and reflect them. What did we see? Who commemorates what and how? And I want to thank all those people who enabled the journey in many different ways and observed it with passion.

Conservation problems at the well maintained cemetery of Busk
Conservation works in Brody
Destructions in Rohatyn
Destructions in Berezhani
Remains of the residence of the Sadagora Rebbe
Well maintained cemetery in Vyzhnytsia
Destructions and renewal works in Kuty
Destructions in Ivano-Frankivsk
Well maintained cemetery in Kalush
Remains of the synagogue in Bolekhiv

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Closing the Circle: From Stryi to Lviv via Drohobych

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia, Synagogues

May 4. A last day on the streets of Galicia. We visit the old synagogue of Stryi. But above all, we are in the footsteps of Polish-Jewish writer Bruno Schulz in Drohobych. Then we return to Lviv. Our trip is close to its end.

Stryi – Great Synagogue
Stryi – Great Synagogue
Drohobych
Drohobych – plaque for Bruno Schulz
Drohobych – Bruno Schulz’ house
Drohobych – Villa Landau
Drohobych – ghetto memorial
Drohobych – Great Synagogue
Drohobych – Great Synagogue
Drohobych – synagogue
Drohobych – Austro-Hungarian canalization

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From Ivano-Frankivsk to Stryi

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

May 3. From Ivano-Frankivsk our travel route continues north. Halych, Kalush and Bolekhiv are on our way. No place will leave us untouched.

Ivano-Frankivsk – Temple Synagogue and Jewish hotel
Ivano-Frankivsk – Temple Synagogue
Ivano-Frankivsk – Temple Synagogue
Ivano-Frankivsk – Jewish cemetery
Ivano-Frankivsk – Jewish cemetery
Ivano-Frankivsk – Jewish cemetery
Ivano-Frankivsk – Jewish cemetery
Halych – Karaite cemetery
Halych – Karaite cemetery
Halych – Karaite cemetery
Kalush – Jewish cemetery
Kalush – Jewish cemetery
Kalush – Jewish cemetery
Bolechiv – synagogue
Bolechiv – Jewish cemetery
Bolechiv – Jewish cemetery
Bolechiv – Jewish cemetery
Bolechiv – Jewish cemetery
Bolechiv – Jewish cemetery
Bolechiv – Jewish cemetery

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From Kolomiya to Ivano-Frankivsk

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

May 2. We drive from Kolomiya to Ivano-Frankivsk (Stanisławów, Stanislau), the largest city between Chernivtsi (Czernowitz) and Lviv (Lwow, Lemberg). On the way we plan to stop in Nadvirna, Solotvyn and Lysech. It will be an eventful day with changing emotions, pleasant and unpleasant experiences.

Nadvirna – Jewish cemetery
Nadvirna – Jewish cemetery
Nadvirna – Jewish cemetery
Nadvirna – Jewish cemetery
Solotvyn – former Polish church
Solotvyn – former Polish church
Solotvyn – former German church
Solotvyn – Holocaust memorial
Solotvyn – former Synagogue
Solotvyn – Jewish cemetery
Solotvyn – Jewish cemetery
Solotvyn – Jewish cemetery
Solotvyn – Jewish cemetery

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South of Kolomiya

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries

May 1. Kolomiya turns out to be a pretty and lively town. We decide to stay a day longer than we originally planned, and to take a trip from here to southern Galicia. Yabloniv, Kosiv and Kuty are our destinations.

Kolomiya – synagogue
Kolomiya – market
Kolomiya – market
Yabloniv – Jewish cemetery
Yabloniv – Jewish cemetery
Yabloniv – Jewish cemetery
Yabloniv – Jewish cemetery
Yabloniv – Jewish cemetery
Kosiv – Jewish cemetery
Kosiv – Jewish cemetery
Kuty – Jewish cemetery
Kuty – Jewish cemetery
Kuty – Jewish cemetery
Kuty – Jewish cemetery
Kuty – Jewish cemetery

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From Chernivtsi to Kolomiya via Zabolotiv

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries

April 30. Our time in Chernivtsi (Czernowitz) comes to an end. We have to say Goodbye to the city and to dear friends. The second part of our journey begins. On the way back through Galicia are Zabolotiv (Zablotow) and Kolomiya our first stops.

Galician roads
Zabolotiv – town’s center
Zabolotiv – Jewish cemetery
Zabolotiv – Jewish cemetery
Zabolotiv – Jewish cemetery
Zabolotiv – Jewish cemetery
Zabolotiv – monument for Manes Sperber
Zabolotiv – Polish cemetery

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