Author Archives: Christian Herrmann

How history vanishes

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia, Synagogues

The witnesses of Galicia’s multiethnic past are still there. But piece by piece they vanish. Many already don’t know about their meaning any more. When I was in Hrymailiv in February to change from one bus to another, I asked a few people for the location of the local synagogue. No one of them had ever heard of a synagogue in town. Today I was there.

Hrymailiv synagogue
Hrymailiv synagogue
Hrymailiv synagogue
Hrymailiv synagogue
Hrymailiv synagogue
Hrymailiv synagogue

Continue reading →

From Lviv to Buchach

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries

I leave Lviv (Lwow, Lemberg) later than I intended. It is already 2 o’clock when the bus departs from the bus station and the trip takes longer than I thought. After 4 hours we reach Buchach. I change my plans and decide to stay overnight.

Buchach
Buchach – Strypa river
Buchach – Jewish cemetery
Buchach – Jewish cemetery
Buchach – Jewish cemetery
Buchach – Jewish cemetery
Buchach – Jewish cemetery
Buchach – Jewish cemetery
Buchach – Jewish cemetery
Buchach – Jewish cemetery
Buchach – Jewish cemetery

Continue reading →

In the Borderland

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia, Synagogues

My destination today is called Uhniv, with just about 2,000 inhabitants, the smallest town with the status of a city in Ukraine. From Lviv (Lemberg, Lwow), there are rarely direct buses to Uhniv. I decide to go first to Rava Ruska and to change the bus there.

Uhniv – church ruin
Uhniv – church ruin
Uhniv – local museum
Uhniv – synagogue and Beit Midrash
Uhniv – synagogue and Beit Midrash
Uhniv
Uhniv – synagogue

Continue reading →

At The Beginning Of A New Journey

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia

I’m traveling in Ukraine again. Lviv (Lemberg, Lwow), some excursions and the work-camp to clear the Jewish cemetery in Chernivtsi (Czernowitz) are on my itinerary. It feels good to be back!

Old men playing chess at Svoboda Boulevard – a free pleasure
Next to Opera House
Opera House
A poster commemorates citizens of Lviv killed during Maidan protests
Street musicians in front of the town hall

Continue reading →

Starzawa – one of the many forgotten Holocaust sites

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia

Prof. Józef Lipman is one of the few Holocaust survivors from Boryslaw, Galicia. Together with Klaus Hasbron-Blume and other volunteers of Action Reconciliation Service for Peace (ASF), he returned to Boryslaw in the fall of 2013 for the first time since the war. In Starzawa he met Stefania, his former nanny. Klaus and the volunteers of ASF visited Stefania again this year. Klaus has documented this visit in a short note that deeply moved me, and I therefore reproduce it here.

Prof. Lipman and Stefania
Stefania’s list
Stefania and her family

Continue reading →

Belz and Burshtyn in Black and White

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

It was a short trip in early June to Galicia – only three days. But enough to explore Belz and Burshtyn and to take pictures. Today I received the scanned black-and-white films and made ​​a first selection. Here are the results. I have not yet decided which shots I will add to the two photo exhibitions in September. What are your favorites?

Belz, Jewish cemetery
Belz, Jewish cemetery
Belz, Jewish cemetery
Belz, Jewish cemetery
Burshtyn, Jewish cemetery
Burshtyn, Jewish cemetery
Belz synagogues
Belz synagogues
Belz synagogues
Belz synagogues

Behind the Flowered Hills

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

The ride from Lviv (Lemberg, Lwow) to Burshtyn is wonderful. On the Galician hills poppy florishes blood red, our marshrutka (mini bus) passes horse-drawn carts, cows stroll on the road and over all storks are circling – writing enigmatic signs in the sky. Burshtyn, that is in Yiddish and Ukrainian amber. Two synagogues and a Jewish cemetery are preserved.

Burshtyn – synagogue
Burshtyn – synagogue
Burshtyn – synagogue
Burshtyn – synagogue
Burshtyn – synagogue
Burshtyn – Jewish cemetery
Burshtyn – Jewish cemetery
Burshtyn – Jewish cemetery

Continue reading →

A Galician Microcosm

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries

Today I was in Belz. The usual bumpy roads and courageous marshrutka (mini bus) drivers. That alone does not make a story. But Belz turnes out to be unusually beautiful and interesting. Although the town is so small that one can walk through it in no time, it offers many traces of the rich heritage of Galicia. Ukrainian, Polish and Jewish traces.

Belz
Belz – a strange building from the Soviet periode
Belz
Belz
Belz – Christian Cemetery
Belz – Christian Cemetery
Belz – Jewish Cemetery
Belz – Jewish Cemetery
Belz – Jewish Cemetery
Belz – Jewish Cemetery
Belz – old Jewish Cemetery
Belz – old Jewish Cemetery

Continue reading →

Lviv today

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia

Since I was in Ukraine in February incredibly much happened. I witnessed the revolution. When I was back home, everything changed quickly. Russia annexed Crimea, Russian fighters are terrorizing the east of the country now. Ukrainians elected a new President. Now I’m back for a short trip of four days. My first impression: In Lviv, people desire nothing more than a piece of normality. And they celebrate this normality.

Welcome home
George Hotel
Opera house
Dancing at the market square
Chocolate Putin

Continue reading →

Ukraine between Past and Future – A Travel Report

Posted on by under Eastern Galicia, Northern Bukovina

Ukraine between Past and Future - A travel reportZurich Lab, a Swiss based institute that wants “psychoanalysis to meet the streets”, has published an essay of mine about my Ukraine trip in February. I am aware that some of the theses in the essay are controversial for some readers. However, I believe there are necessary discussions about history, remembrance and identity. Without it there is no self-confident future – just conspiracy theories.

>> Download full article as PDF