I was in Ukraine between 10 and 20 February. The Russian aggression has been going on for two years and it was my third trip in this period. Anna and I mainly wanted to meet friends, but we also used the time for a tour from Ternopil to Skala-Podilska – with stops in Skalat, Hrymailiv, Husiatyn, Probizhna and Chortkiv.
Is it possible to travel to Ukraine under the conditions of the Russian war of aggression? Whatever, at some point in autumn I decided to go. From 20 to 30 December 2022 I was in Lviv, Ternopil and the surrounding area. I wanted to know how my friends were doing – my long-time travelling companions and the activists who care for the Jewish heritage in Galicia. And also Anna, who fled the war and has been living with me since March, wanted to see her boyfriend and her mother again. But beyond that, there was also a very simple reason for this trip: I was homesick for Lviv.
The last part of my journey with the German TV team began on 30 August in Mohyliv-Podilskyi, took us on to Chernivtsi – finally a reunion with one of my favourite places! – and back to Lviv. On the way back, we made short stops in Halych and Burshtyn.
On the morning of 27 August, the TV crew and I left Ternopil for the south-east. The journey of the next two days would take us to Skalat, Hrymailiv, Husiatyn, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Shatava and Dunaivtsi. Some of these places were unfamiliar terrain even for me.
On 25 August, the TV crew and I left Lviv. It was the beginning of a 10-day journey that would take us in a wide loop through Galicia, Podolia and Bukovina. Brody, Pochaiv and Zbarazh were on the agenda for the first two days.
It seems like an eternity since I was last time in Ukraine. The pandemic simply made it impossible. And it’s been almost two years now since Susanne Brahms and Rainer Krause from Blind Cat Documentary in Bremen asked me if I would support them in a TV documentary about the shtetl. Now that the whole team has been vaccinated and the infection figures in Ukraine are relatively low, this has finally become a reality. From 20 August to 5 September I was on the road in Galicia, Podolia and Bukovina. In the coming days and weeks I will report on the trip. At the beginning there is Lviv.
Finding the trace of a mezuzah – a Jewish home blessing – is always a touching moment. The trace is a direct link to the former residents. The people are gone and with them the mezuzah. But the traces remain.
Galicia, Kyiv, Greece and some exhibitions. There is still a lot to tell about the past year. The forced break caused by the corona virus gives me the opportunity to do it.
My friends and I continued our trip through Galicia in Ukraine on February 23. We started our day in Kolomyia and headed east to Horodenka and then towards Zolotyi Potik. Jewish heritage sites in Hvizdets, Chernelytsia, Zabolotiv and Obertyn were along the way.
Last weekend my friends and I traveled through Galicia in Ukraine again – this time south of Lviv. The first day of the trip took us to Kolomyia. Along the way were Jewish cemeteries in Mykulychyn, Lanchyn, Pechenizhyn, Yabluniv and Zabolotiv.
Vanished World 