From the Flatlands to the Mountains

Posted on March 31, 2018 by Christian Herrmann under Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues, Transcarpathia

Our route lead us along the Romanian border today. We found Jewish heritage sites in Vynohradiv, Sasovo, Khust, Tiachiv, Teresva and Solotvyno – and beyond this the traces of literally collapsed industries and profitable smuggling activities.

Vynohradiv – synagogue

Vynohradiv – beit midrash

Vynohradiv – Jewish cemetery

Sasovo – Jewish cemetery

Khust – synagogue

Khust – Jewish cemetery

Tiachiv – Jewish cemetery

Tiachiv – synagogue

Teresva – Jewish cemetery

Solotvyno – synagogue

Solotvyno – old Jewish cemetery

Solotvyno – collapsed salt mine

Solotvyno – new Jewish cemetery

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In the Borderlands to Hungary and Romania

Posted on March 30, 2018 by Christian Herrmann under Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues, Transcarpathia

Our Transcarpathia trip goes on. South of Mukachevo are towns and villages with traces of a rich Jewish heritage. Berehove is known for it, but we also found traces in Irshava, Velyki Komiaty, Khmilnyk, Siltse and Kamyanske – cemeteries and synagogues, and in Velyki Komiaty even the remains of a wooden synagogue.

Berehove – active synagogue

Berehove – former Great Synagogue

Berehove – Jewish cemetery

Khmilnyk – Jewish cemetery

Slitse – Jewish cemetery

Irshava – former synagogue

Irshava – Jewish cemetery

Velyki Komiaty – former synagogue

Velyki Komiaty – Jewish cemetery

Kamyanske – Jewish cemetery

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In Uzhhorod and Mukachevo

Posted on March 29, 2018 by Christian Herrmann under Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues, Transcarpathia

The damages to Jewish life are visible in the Transcarpathian towns of Uzhhorod and Mukachevo: synagogues used for other purposes than worship, a destroyed cemetery and the missing Jewish presence in public life due to mass deportation and extermination under Hungarian and German rule and later Sovietization. Nevertheless, there are rays of hope. In both towns we found functioning synagogues, active communities and well maintained cemeteries.

Uzhhorod – former Orthodox synagogue

Uzhhorod – former yeshiva

Uzhhorod – former Neolog synagogue

Uzhhorod – former Hasidic synagogue

Uzhhorod – active synagogue

Uzhhorod – Pesach preparations in the active synagogue

Uzhhorod – Radvanka synagogue

Mukachevo – Spinker Rebbe Kloyz

Mukachevo – Munkach Rebbe Kloyz, its former function unrecognizable today

Mukachevo – Munkach Rebbe Kloyz, present active synagogue

Mukachevo – old Jewish cemetery

Mukachevo – new Jewish cemetery

Uzhhorod – old Jewish cemetery

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A long Way through the Carpathians

Posted on March 28, 2018 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Synagogues, Transcarpathia

The first day of our new trip. Marla, Jay, Vasyl and I left Lviv in the morning. We had a first stop in Drohobych, continued via Boryslav and Skhidnytsia, and finally arrived in Uzhhorod shortly before sundown. We found a beautiful church, two beit midrash (Jewish study houses) and one of the last surviving wooden synagogues of Ukraine.

Church of St. George in Drohobych

Beit midrash in Boryslav

Oil pumps in Boryslav

Beit midrash in Boryslav

Former synagogue in Skhidnytsia

In the Carpathians

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Just a Forest

Posted on March 27, 2018 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia

A new journey through Ukraine has begun. From tomorrow on Marla, Jay, Vasyl and I will be on the road to and through Transcarpathia. Today we had a first excursion from Lviv to the neighboring village of Lysynychi, one of the biggest mass killing sites in Ukraine and one of the most unknown. Estimated 90,000 people have been murdered here during the German occupation in World War 2 – mainly Jews but also Ukrainians, Poles and thousands of Italian soldiers. Except of a little memorial there are no visible traces of the crime. To visitors with no background information Lysynychi forest looks just like an ordinary forest.