Next week, I will fly to Warsaw to be there when my new book will be printed. The book is the essence of years of travelling in Eastern Europe and of trying to find and document what is still visible of the Jewish heritage.

Cover “In Fading Light”

The book is not the end of my search, but it’s an important step in making public what I’ve found.

The blurb reads:

Landscapes such as Galicia, Bessarabia, Podolia or Bukovina are no longer found on any map. There, in Eastern Europe, in a belt between the Baltic and Black Seas, lived the majority of European Jews. During the Second World War, almost all of them were murdered by the German occupiers and their collaborators. What remains are traces of Jewish life: destroyed or misappropriated synagogues, overgrown cemeteries, tombstones in the street paving, and traces of home blessings on door jambs.

The Cologne-based photographer and blogger Christian Herrmann has travelled Eastern Europe for years to document such traces. As a photographer, he is above all interested in the places that have not yet been transformed by a “culture of remembrance” and which immediately reveal the devastating power of the dictatorships of the 20th century.

The title “In Fading Light” may sound pessimistic. But the book is also a tribute to those who are committed to preserve Eastern Europe’s Jewish heritage today.

On 180 pages, the book presents 110 photos of Jewish heritage sites in 57 cities, towns and villages in Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Poland, Hungary and Romania:

Bălţi, Berdychiv, Berehove, Berezhany, Bibrka, Boryslav, Botoșani, Bratslav, Budapest, Busk, Câmpulung Moldovenesc, Chabarivka, Chernivtsi, Chișinău, Chortkiv, Dorohoi, Făleşti, Gura Humorului, Horodenka, Kalush, Karczew, Khyriv, Klevan, Kolomyia, Komarno, Kopychyntsi, Kraków, Lutsk, Lviv, Mizoch, Mykolaiv, Novoselytsia, Orhei, Pidhaitsi, Probizhna, Radekhiv, Ralivka, Raşcov, Rezina, Rohatyn, Rozdil, Sambir, Siret, Slavuta, Soroca, Staryi Sambir, Stryi, Suceava, Tirgul Vertiujeni, Trochenbrod, Turka, Vadul-Raşcov, Volochysk, Warsaw, Zbarazh, Zgurița, Zhovkva.

I owe the publication of this book to some people whom I like to mention and to thank. Ania Nałęcka-Milach brought order into hundreds of photos and managed the whole production process. Adam Kerpel-Fronius contributed a foreword. Klaus-Dieter L. Ehmke generously supported the production, and Frank Böttcher stepped in as a publisher when publication seemed already hopeless. Karin Walker edited the English translations. I would also to thank my dear friends and fellow travellers Joachim Steinigeweg, Petra Lutz, Vasyl Yuzyshyn, Marla Raucher Osborn, Jay Osborn and all those who have accompanied my travels virtually and who have helped with words and deeds. You all know who you are.

Christian Herrmann
In schwindendem Licht | In Fading Light
Jüdische Spuren im Osten Europas | Jewish Traces in the East of Europe
Lukas Verlag
180 pages, 110 full colour photos
Text in German and English
230 x 220 mm
Hardcover
Foreword by Adam Kerpel-Fronius
To be released in September 2018
ISBN 978-3-86732-301-7
30,– €

By ISBN 978-3-86732-301-7 you can order via any bookstore world wide. You may also order via the website of the publisher and Amazon Germany, Book Depository or other online services. Alternatively you may order via e-mail from the publisher (lukas.verlag@t-online.de).