In Zhovkva you can learn about Diversity

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Synagogues

During my visit in October 2012, Zhovkva turns out to be an extraordinary beautiful place. As the nearby Lviv (Lwow, Lemberg), the town’s streets tell about the multiethnic past of Galicia – in a smaller scale than the imposing Lviv. The town has a touristic future. Jewish, Ukrainian and Polish heritage would be part of it. Including one of the most beautiful synagogues in Galicia.

Zhovkva synagogue

Zhovkva synagogue and market

Zhovkva synagogue – Aron Hakodesh

Zhovkva synagogue

Zhovkva – traces of a mezuzah

Zhovkva – market square

Zhovkva – Ukrainian wooden square

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The Lost Synagogues of Czernowitz

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Christian Herrmann under Northern Bukovina, Synagogues

The Chabad community of Czernowitz (today’s Chernivtsi) has compiled an impressive list of Jewish related sites in the city and published it. Using this list, I was strolling through the streets of the city in August 2012. Often these traces can only be suspected, but sometimes they are also obvious. From the former 60 synagogues and prayer houses many are still there.

Beyt Meir Synagogue

Aaron and Frida Goldfrucht Synagogue

Synagogue in Klara Zetkin Street

Synagogue of the Sadagora Rabbi

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We owe it to our history to take active responsibility

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia

Marla Raucher Osborn’s family originates from Rohatyn, a small town in Eastern Galicia. Since years she researches her family’s history. Is there something we can learn from it? Yes, says Marla, there is a bigger picture and a responsibility for remembrance and preservation. Marla has an audience for this message – in Ukraine, at Facebook, in the world. An interview with an impressive activist.

Marla Raucher Osborn after an interview with a eye witness © Marla Raucher Osborn

Rohatyn mass grave memorial © Marla Raucher Osborn

Fragments of Jewish headstones found in Rohatyn © Marla Raucher Osborn

Fragments of Jewish headstones found in Rohatyn

Marla Raucher Osborn speaks to students in Rohatyn © Marla Raucher Osborn

Marla Raucher Osborn giving an interview to Ukrainian TV © Marla Raucher Osborn

Mass grave site next to Rohatyn © Marla Raucher Osborn

Remains of the Jewish cemetery in Rohatyn © Marla Raucher Osborn

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Jews have never lived in Brody

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia

Brody was once one of the most Jewish cities of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The writer Joseph Roth, the most famous native son of the city, described with melancholy the decay of the monarchy. The ruins of a synagogue and an impressive cemetery still recall Jewish Brody. But in the local museum, the reinterpretation of history is already completed: Jews have never lived in Brody.

Brody, Great Synagogue

Brody, Jewish cemetery

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How a Synagogue became a Synagogue again

Posted on March 2, 2013 by Christian Herrmann under Northern Bukovina, Synagogues

In 2006 I was for the first time in Chernivtsi, former Czernowitz. Looking for the traces of Jewish life I tried to locate former synagogues. One of them is the Korn Shil – 2006 still abused for an electric transformer of the power company. Today the Korn Shil is a synagogue again.

Korn Shil 2006

Korn Shil 2008

Korn Shil 2009

Korn Shil 2010

Korn Shil 2011

Korn Shil 2012

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The Kosiv Coincidence

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries

In October 2012, I visited Kosiv with a friend, a former shtetl in Galicia – a popular craft market had lured us there. We found no Ukrainian kilim, but we discovered the Jewish cemetery. Back in Germany, Kosiv crosses my way unexpectedly again. Locations can follow you.

Kosiv – Jewish cemetery

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Willing to Know the Truth

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Ukraine

Mariia Ginzburg is the founder of the “404 – Unknown Pages” project, a group of mostly young people in Kharkiv who explore hidden sites of Ukrainian history. By asking survivors they investigate an unknown chapter of the Holocaust: Jews who fled Ukraine when the German army was advancing. Mariia’s team consists of people of different age, nationality and profession. The future has begun. An interview.

404 – Unknown Pages meeting in Kharkiv. © 404 – Unknown Pages

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When walls talk

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia

On Lviv’s facades strange characters can be read in languages that only a handful still speak in the city: Polish, Yiddish and German. This are the old store advertisings, which come to light when a house is being renovated or the plaster falls of the walls.

Lviv: old store advertising

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Work-camp by SVIT Ukraine to clear the Jewish cemetery of Chernivtsi announced

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Christian Herrmann under Jewish Cemeteries, Northern Bukovina

We can complain or we can take action. SVIT Ukraine helps since 5 years to rescue one of the most important spots of Jewish heritage in Eastern Europe: The Jewish cemetery of Chernivtsi – former Czernowitz. You can be part of it!

Work-camp in Chernivtsi 2008

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Messages from the Underground

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Christian Herrmann under Northern Bukovina

The houses and the streets of Chernivtsi have not changed much since the pre-war period. The population, however, has almost completely been replaced. Anyone walking on the streets of Chernivtsi, when looking at the pavement can see on manhole covers which might say “Czernowitz”, “Cernăuţi”, and of course the current name of the city – “Chernivtsi”. The traces of the past are still there.