From Lviv to Rivne

Posted on November 20, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues, Volhynia (Volyn)

Marla, Jay, Vasyl and I are on the road again – the beginning of a four days trip to Jewish heritage sites, mainly in Volhynia. Today, we have been to Radekhiv, Lutsk, Klevan and Rivne.

Saved Jewish tombstones at Radekhiv Christian cemetery

Soviet memorial at Radekhiv Christian cemetery

Tetyana talking with Marla

Radekhiv – territory of the old Jewish cemetery

Radekhiv – old people remember

Radekhiv market

Trace of a mezuzah at Radekhiv market square

Radekhiv synagogue

Lutsk – Great Synagogue

Lutsk – Talmud Torah

Lutsk – remains of Beit Midrash of Olyka Hasidim with adjacent bus station

Klevan Jewish cemetery

Klevan – Great Synagogue

Rivne – Holocaust memorial

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Mapping the Unknown

Posted on November 19, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia

A new journey has begun. During the next days, I will travel with my friends Marla, Jay and Vasyl in Ukraine again. A journey that will bring us to places widely unknown to many. How complete is our “inner map”? And how complete is our map of murderous actions in the 20th century? One of the missing spots is the site of Janowska concentration camp in a suburb of Lviv.

Janowska concentration camp site – gate to “the sands”

Janowska concentration camp site – memorial

Janowska concentration camp site

Janowska concentration camp site – building from the Soviet era

Janowska concentration camp site

Klepariv train station – station building with plaque for deportad Jews

Klepariv train station

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East of Lviv through Galicia

Posted on July 19, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

On Monday, it was the last opportunity to travel during my recent trip to Ukraine. My friends Marla, Jay, Vasyl and I decided for a route eastwards to the towns and villages of Holohory, Zolochiv, Sasiv, Pidhirtsi and Brody with its Jewish heritage sites. Back in Lviv we had a look at Jewish tombstones recently discovered during construction works. Summed up, it was a kaleidoscopic view of beauty and horror.

Holohory Jewish cemetery

View from Holohory Jewish cemetery

Holohory – ‘Turkish Tower’

Zolochiv Jewish cemetery

Talking with representatives of Zolochiv at the Jewish cemetery

Mass grave site between Zolochiv and Sasiv

Sasiv Jewish cemetery

Church of Pidhirtsi castle

Storks next to the church of Pidhirtsi castle

Brody synagogue

Butterfly at Brody Jewish cemetery

Brody Jewish cemetery

Jewish tombstones from a construction ground in Lviv

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En Route with the Volunteers of SVIT Ukraine

Posted on July 16, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Northern Bukovina

A cemetery clean-up is not only about work. Volunteers who joined SVIT Ukraine’s annual ‘workcamp’ to clean the Jewish cemetery of Chernivtsi (Czernowitz) also have the opportunity to learn about the multi-ethnic past and present of western Ukraine, make friends and have fun. Yesterday, we went for an excursion to Jewish heritage sites in Kosiv, Kuty and Vyzhnytsia – and had a pick-nick next to the scenic village of Sheshory.

Kosiv crafts market

In the jungle of Kosiv Jewish cemetery

Kosiv Jewish cemetery

Pick-nick in Sheshory

Pick-nick in Sheshory – old farm house

Pick-nick in Sheshory

Kuty Jewish cemetery

Vyzhnytsia Jewish cemetery

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An Unresolved Riddle in Sniatyn

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries

I have been to Sniatyn last year with friends to find the old and new Jewish cemetery of this Galician town. We believed to have found the new Jewish cemetery. According to old maps the old cemetery should be located directly next to the new one. Today I returned – but again I couldn’t find more traces. Who knows more?

Chernivtsi (Czernowitz) – waiting for the bus to leave

Sniatyn Jewish cemetery

Sniatyn Christian cemetery

Sniatyn – Jewish homes

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Zalishchyky’s Imposing Synagogue

Posted on July 13, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Synagogues

Zalishchyky – picturesquely situated at a turn of Dniester River – had a glorious past as a resort. Some remains of a spa are still visible close to the river. Another reminder of the past is Zalishchyky’s synagogue – in the Soviet era transformed into a factory. Today, I took the opportunity to have a look on it.

Dniester River from the bus window

Zalishchyky synagogue

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Time Traveling between Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi

Posted on July 11, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Northern Bukovina, Synagogues

Last Sunday, my friends and I continued our trip to Chernivtsi (Czernowitz). We had stops in Lysets, Bohorodchany, Nadvirna, Deliatyn, Kolomyia, Kosiv, Kuty and Vyzhnytsia to visit Jewish cemeteries, former synagogues, Hasidic courts and mass grave sites.

Lysets Jewish cemetery

Bohorodchany Jewish cemetery

Nadvirna Jewish cemetery

Deliatyn mass grave memorial

Deliatyn Jewish cemetery

Kolomyia – Old Jewish Cemetery

Kolomyia – trace of a mezuzah

Kolomyia – former synagogue at Orenstein Street

Kuty Jewish cemetery

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On Galician Roads again

Posted on July 8, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

A new Jewish heritage trip to Galicia and Bukovina has begun. It was a long day for my friends Marla, Jay, Vasyl, my cousin Nana and me when we went from Lviv to Ivano-Frankivsk. In between were the towns of Zhydachiv, Stryi, Bolekhiv, Dolyna and Kalush with its synagogues and Jewish cemeteries. Some of them are beautifully preserved, others are fully gone.

Zhydachiv Jewish cemetery

Stryi Jewish cemetery

Stryi synagogue

Stryi – former Jewish quarter

Stryi – trace of a mezuzah in the former Jewish quarter

Stryi Jewish cemetery

Stryi – mass grave site

Bolekhiv synagogue

Bolekhiv Jewish cemetery

Dolyna synagogue – now a church

Dolyna Jewish cemetery

Kalush Jewish cemetery

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Five Days in Galicia in Black and White

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

It was a short trip of only five days in April when my friends Marla, Jay, Vasyl, Alex and I traveled in Lviv and Ternopil region in Galicia, Ukraine. An intense trip to explore what is left of the Jewish heritage. As always I had two cameras with me – a digital one for colour photographs and an analogue one for black and white. Analogue photography is a slow business, but finally here is now a selection of what I got: synagogues and Jewish cemeteries in the towns of Berezhany, Budaniv, Drohobych, Husiatyn, Korolivka, Monastyryska, Pidhaitsi and Sataniv.

Berezhany Jewish cemetery

Budaniv synagogue

Drohobych synagogue – recently renovated

Husiatyn synagogue

Korolivka Jewish cemetery

Monastyryska synagogue

Pidhaitsi synagogue

Pidhaitsi Jewish cemetery

Sataniv Jewish cemetery

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Galician Diptychs

Posted on May 15, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia

Images may create stories in one’s head – especially when they are arranged to pairs. Thanks to the rich photo material I was able to collect during the trip to Ukraine in April, I arranged some diptychs. They reflect the fate of the local Jewish communities, a genocide and the wipe out of history. But something is always left and speaks to us.

Former Jewish neighborhood of Pidhaitsi

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Vanished World

"The traces were still there. But time would slowly blur them and nothing would be left." – Edgar Hilsenrath

Category Archives: Eastern Galicia

From Lviv to Rivne

Mapping the Unknown

East of Lviv through Galicia

En Route with the Volunteers of SVIT Ukraine

An Unresolved Riddle in Sniatyn

Zalishchyky’s Imposing Synagogue

Time Traveling between Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi

On Galician Roads again

Five Days in Galicia in Black and White

Galician Diptychs