The last two days of our trip through western Ukraine: A long bus ride to Lviv, a meeting with Edgar Hauster and a last walk. Farewell Ukraine, I will return!
Sylvia and I were exhausted after our trip to Transnistria. In Czernowitz (Chernivtsi) – Sylvia’s native city – we took our chance to relax. We strolled through the streets, met friends, enjoyed the atmosphere of the city.
Chernivtsi exists twice in Ukraine: in Podolia and Bukovina. There is the mundane Bukovinian provincial capital and the traditional Podolian town. Both are worth to visit.
Transnistria was a Romanian deportation zone for Jews and Gypsies during the war. Thousands died of typhus, inhuman working conditions, of hunger or were shot. My fellow traveler Sylvia was here more than 70 years ago when she was a little girl. Today we explored some places in Transnistria – now part of Podolia in Ukraine.
Vasyl, our great driver, brought Sylvia and me to Vinnytsia in Podolia today. On the way we have taken a look on the Jewish cemetery of Ternopil and have visited Medzhybizh – the place where the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism, was buried. A magic place.
A last day in Lviv for Sylvia and me before heading to Podolia/Transnistria. Sylvia gave an impressive speech at a conference. At noon we walked to the site of former concentration camp at Janowska Road. In the evening there was another opportunity to meet old and new friends.
Sylvia, Katharina, our wonderful driver Vasyl and I have just returned from Trochenbrod (Trachimbrod). It was a long day trip to a place that has completely disappeared. An all-Jewish town which was wiped out in the Holocaust and resurrected as literature in the novel “Everything Is Illuminated” by Jonathan Safran Foer.
Today Sylvia and I started to explore Lviv together. The city is a familiar place for me, a new one for Sylvia. It was also a chance to meet friends. It was a day of talks.
A long day comes to an end. Sylvia and I got up at around 3 o’clock in the morning – she in Amsterdam, I in Cologne. Finally, we met at the airport of Vienna and flew to Lviv together. Here we are now – at the very beginning of a new journey.
Vanished World 