Between Berlin and Rozdil

Posted on May 3, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Central Europe, Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Mazovia, Synagogues

I traveled in Ukraine in December, visited Berlin’s Weißensee Jewish cemetery in January, have been to Warsaw and its neighbouring towns of Karczew and Otwock in February. Finally, I had time to edit some of the analogue black and whites from these trips. Here they are…

Berlin Weißensee, Jewish cemetery

Bródno Jewish cemetery, Warsaw

Karczew Jewish cemetery, south of Warsaw

Otwock Jewish cemetery, south of Warsaw

Rozdil synagogue, Galicia, Ukraine

Rozdil Jewish cemetery, Galicia, Ukraine

Shchyrets Jewish cemetery, Galicia, Ukraine

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Drohobych revisited

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

I have been to Drohobych before. But Tanya Firman, who guided my friends Marla, Jay and me, made the visit special today. The Galician town had its golden age when oil was found there in the 19th and early 20th century. Much is still visible from that time – but also from the tragic end of Drohobych’s Jews.

Drohobych – Great Synagogue

Drohobych – synagogue

Drohobych – old Jewish cemetery

Drohobych – new Jewish cemetery

Drohobych

Drohobych – home of Bruno Schulz

Drohobych – Jewish orphanage

Bronytsya forest mass graves

Bronytsya forest memorial

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A long Way back to Lviv

Posted on April 15, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

If you travel in Galicia, you are crossing a continent. The region is a compaction of European history. Leaving Chortkiv in the morning, Marla, Jay, Alex, Vasyl and I have been to Buchach, Monastyryska, Pidhaitsi and Peremyshliany today. A day of discoveries – pleasant and painful ones.

Pidhaitsi synagogue

Pidhaitsi – trace of a mezuzah

Pidhaitsi

Pidhaitsi Jewish cemetery

Buchach market

Buchach – birth place of Siemon Wiesenthal

Buchach – bus station with Jewish cemetery in the background

Buchach Jewish cemetery

Monastyryska synagogue

collective farm built of Jewish tombstones

Peremyshliany – remains of Jewish tombstones

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In and around Chortkiv

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

Marla, Jay, Alex, Vasyl and I continued our journry through Galicia. Starting from Chortkiv, we have been to Kopychyntsi, Budaniv, Korolivka and Tovste. Also today, we saw a lot of partly or fully destroyed Jewish heritage sites. But we also saw some rays of light.

Chortkiv synagogue

Chortkiv – New Synagogue

Chortkiv – former Jewish cemetery

Kopychyntsi synagogue

Kopychyntsi Jewish community building

Budaniv synagogue

Korolivka Jewish cemetery

Tovste Jewish cemetery

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Between Lviv and Ternopil

Posted on April 12, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

Today was the first day of a new trip through Galicia with my friends Marla, Jay, Alex and Vasyl. On our way to Ternopil we stopped in the towns of Bibrka, Rohatyn, Berezhany and Kosova to visit its Jewish heritage sites. As different as those towns are, as different is what is preserved there.

Bibrka synagogue

Rohatyn – mass grave site

Rohatyn – old Jewish cemetery

Berezhany synagogue

Berezhany – Armenian church

Berezhany – building in the old town

Berezhany Jewish cemetery

Kosova synagogue

Kosova Jewish cemetery

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Snow covered Cemeteries

Posted on December 8, 2016 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

Winterly Galicia looks beautiful. But iced roads can be dangerous and a cold wind was blowing today, when I was out with friend and driver Vasyl to visit the Jewish cemeteries in Shchyrets, Rozdil and Mykolaiv. We discovered some real masterpieces of stone carving.

Shchyrets Jewish cemetery

Rozdil Jewish cemetery

Rozdil synagogue

Mykolaiv – mass shooting site

Mykolaiv Jewish cemetery

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Inside Jakob Glanzer Shul

Posted on December 7, 2016 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Synagogues

Jakob Glanzer Shul is one of the last remaining synagogues in Lviv. The building is in bad condition; an adjuncting wall already collapsed. Since years a young man fights for the preservation of the synagogue. I met him today.

Jakob Glanzer Shul

Inside Jakob Glanzer Shul

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Old Lviv

Posted on December 6, 2016 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia

Many visitors think, the old town is Lviv’s oldest part. It is not. Duke Danilo built his settlement and castle on a hill north of the present old town and named it after his son Lev. Today it is a quarter around the Old Market, where once Lviv’s reform synagogue stood – blown up during the German occupation.

Old Market – once Lviv’s reform synagogue stood here

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Some Summer Black and Whites

Posted on November 23, 2016 by Christian Herrmann under Bessarabia, Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

After working a lot on my colour photos I finally found time to return to the analogue black and whites. Here is a selection of images I took in August during the trip to Ukraine and Moldova. Represented are Jewish cemeteries in Chişinău (Kishinev), Orhei and Vadul-Raşcov (Vadul Rashkov) in Bessarabia/Moldova, cemeteries in Rîbniţa (Rybnitsa) and Raşcov (Rashkov) in the break away “state” of Transnistria, as well as the former synagogue of Sniatyn in Galicia, Ukraine.

Chişinău Jewish cemetery

Orhei Jewish cemetery

Rîbniţa Jewish cemetery

Orhei Jewish cemetery

Raşcov Jewish cemetery

Vadul-Raşcov Jewish cemetery

Sniatyn synagogue

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A last Galician excursion

Posted on August 27, 2016 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

Since today I’m back home, but I have still to report on our last excursion, which led us into the Ukrainian borderlands with Poland, to Velyki Mosty, Belz and Uhniv.