From Lviv to Buchach

I leave Lviv (Lwow, Lemberg) later than I intended. It is already 2 o’clock when the bus departs from the bus station and the trip takes longer than I thought. After 4 hours we reach Buchach. I change my plans and decide to stay overnight.

Buchach is a pretty little town. Large church towers dominate the townscape. From one of the towers sounds a chime.

Buchach not a blank page in the Jewish atlas of Galicia. The Israeli Nobel Laureate Samuel Agnon originates from Buchach and the mother of Sigmund Freud was born here. The traces of the Jewish community, however, are difficult to find. The Jewish house of study Agnon wrote about, was demolished by the Soviets. What remained is the Jewish cemetery.

The cemetery is located in the outskirts. This sounds simple, but it is not. Buchach is located in a long loop of river Strypa, which irritates my orientation. Finally, I find the cemetery. The first thing I notice are a few fragments of grave stones on the roadside. They have been found during construction works and were brought here. Then I see the first grave stones in the forest, they are densely overgrown.

The cemetery extends along the road. It is difficult to estimate how big it is. The vegetation is so dense that one can hardly get through. At the very end of the cemetery is another pile of grave stone fragments. Also they come from a construction site. The image is disturbing. No one will ever put this puzzle together.

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