Drohobych revisited

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

I have been to Drohobych before. But Tanya Firman, who guided my friends Marla, Jay and me, made the visit special today. The Galician town had its golden age when oil was found there in the 19th and early 20th century. Much is still visible from that time – but also from the tragic end of Drohobych’s Jews.

Drohobych – Great Synagogue

Drohobych – synagogue

Drohobych – old Jewish cemetery

Drohobych – new Jewish cemetery

Drohobych

Drohobych – home of Bruno Schulz

Drohobych – Jewish orphanage

Bronytsya forest mass graves

Bronytsya forest memorial

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A long Way back to Lviv

Posted on April 15, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

If you travel in Galicia, you are crossing a continent. The region is a compaction of European history. Leaving Chortkiv in the morning, Marla, Jay, Alex, Vasyl and I have been to Buchach, Monastyryska, Pidhaitsi and Peremyshliany today. A day of discoveries – pleasant and painful ones.

Pidhaitsi synagogue

Pidhaitsi – trace of a mezuzah

Pidhaitsi

Pidhaitsi Jewish cemetery

Buchach market

Buchach – birth place of Siemon Wiesenthal

Buchach – bus station with Jewish cemetery in the background

Buchach Jewish cemetery

Monastyryska synagogue

collective farm built of Jewish tombstones

Peremyshliany – remains of Jewish tombstones

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In and around Chortkiv

Posted on April 14, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

Marla, Jay, Alex, Vasyl and I continued our journry through Galicia. Starting from Chortkiv, we have been to Kopychyntsi, Budaniv, Korolivka and Tovste. Also today, we saw a lot of partly or fully destroyed Jewish heritage sites. But we also saw some rays of light.

Chortkiv synagogue

Chortkiv – New Synagogue

Chortkiv – former Jewish cemetery

Kopychyntsi synagogue

Kopychyntsi Jewish community building

Budaniv synagogue

Korolivka Jewish cemetery

Tovste Jewish cemetery

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A World of Stones

Posted on April 13, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Ukraine, Jewish Cemeteries, Podolia, Synagogues

Our little group continued its trip through Galicia today. We have been to Hrymailiv, Sataniv, Husiatyn, Chabarivka and Probizhna. A long day on the road. Many things we experienced are connected to the destruction of Jewish life in the region – the Holocaust and the post-war erasure of remaining testimonies of Jewish presence. If stones could speak…

Hrymailiv synagogue

Hrymailiv – former Jewish cemetery

Sataniv

Sataniv synagogue

Sataniv Jewish cemetery

Husiatyn synagogue

Husiatyn – former Jewish cemetery

Chabarivka – former collective farm “Communist”

Probizhna synagogue

Probizhna Jewish cemetery

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Between Lviv and Ternopil

Posted on April 12, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

Today was the first day of a new trip through Galicia with my friends Marla, Jay, Alex and Vasyl. On our way to Ternopil we stopped in the towns of Bibrka, Rohatyn, Berezhany and Kosova to visit its Jewish heritage sites. As different as those towns are, as different is what is preserved there.