The volunteers of SVIT Ukraine, who clear the Jewish cemetery in Chernivtsi (Czernowitz), were out for a day trip today. On the itinerary was among others the Galician town of Kosiv – famous for its local crafts market – and its Jewish cemetery. In the densely overgrown cemetery we met an old man who was mowing grass with a scythe. He had a story to tell.
Sylvia, Marla, Jay and I went for an excursion today, which lead us to Zastavna, Balamutivka and Vikno – all north of Chernivtsi (Czernowitz) – as well as to Sniatyn in the west. All of those towns and villages – except Vikno – had Jewish cemeteries, but they are not preserved at every place.
The volunteers of SVIT Ukraine continued their work in the Jewish cemetery in Chernivtsi (Czernowitz) today. It is hard physical work and after a five hours work-day all were exhausted. But the work-camp is not only about work; it is also about experiencing the multi-ethnic past and present of Bukovina. Today we went to Sadagora – once an important Hasidic court.
The annual work-camp by SVIT Ukraine to clean the Jewish cemetery of Chernivtsi (Czernowitz) of rampant vegetation has begun today. It is already the 9th work-camp since 2008. Young people from all over Europe and from Japan (!) came together to work during the next two weeks together. It was my pleasure to meet them today.
A new journey has begun. Over the next two weeks I will be traveling with my friend Sylvia de Swaan – a great photographer. The first week of our trip through Galicia, Bukovina and Bessarabia we will share with our friends and researchers Marla Raucher Osborn and Jay Osborn. Today we were in Zhovkva, about 30 kilometers north from Lviv.
The work of the past few weeks has come to a temporary end. Here are the last of the analog black and white photos of the trip to Bessarabia/Moldova in March and April. Among them are images of Jewish cemeteries in Briceni, Lipcani and Vadul-Raşcov (Vadul Rashkov). While it is the quality of stone carvings that is impressing in Lipcani, it is the unique combination of the cemetery and the environment at river Dniester in Vadul-Raşcov.
Now I have to decide which images I want to rework and print for future exhibitions. Not an easy decision. What are your favorites?
Here is the next selection of analog black and white photos from the trip to Bessarabia/Moldova in spring 2016. I’m glad to have time to work on the images, without interruptions by further journeys. This set contains pictures of Jewish heritage sites in Alexandreni, Bălţi (Beltsy), Lipcani, Orhei, Otaci (Ataki), Rybnitsa and Vadul-Raşcov (Vadul Rashkov). As many Moldovan towns and cities have been fully destroyed in World War II, the cemeteries are often the last voices of the Jewish history.
I continued to work on the analog black and white images of the trip to Bessarabia/Moldova in March/April. Here is the result, including photos of Jewish heritage sites in Orhei, Otaci (Ataki), Prodănești (Prodaneshty), Raşcov (Rashkov), Rezina, Soroca and Zguriţa (Zguritsa). More is coming.
About two weeks ago I received the scans of the films I shot during the trip to Bessarabia/Moldova in March and April. Since then I spend most of my evenings with going through the images, select those of which I think they are worth to work on, and to correct them. A quite time consuming but also satisfying work. Here is now a very first selection of images from Chişinău, Făleşti, Tirgul Vertiujeni, Mărculeşti, Călăraşi in Moldova and Mohyliv-Podilskyi in Ukraine. More is going to come during the next weeks.
Finally I found time to work on the analog black and white images of the trip to Riga in February. Here are some of them: the remains of the Choral Synagogue, the Altneie Shul, the former Jewish craftsmen school and the Seilen Shul. All synagogues represented in the photos were burned down in July 1941 – often with people burned alive – and serve different purposes today.
Vanished World 