Brodno Cemetery in Black and White

Posted on January 31, 2016 by Christian Herrmann under Jewish Cemeteries, Mazovia

To visit the Jewish cemetery in the district of Brodno was one of the most impressive experiences during my trip to Warsaw in December. Some days ago I received the scans of the film negatives. Here is a first selection of the black and white photos.

Brodno Jewish cemetery

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A Time Of Gifts: Calendar For Free Download

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Media, Northern Bukovina, Podolia, Synagogues, Volhynia (Volyn)

Hanukkah and Christmas are coming closer – a time of gifts in which I would like to give a present to all who accompanied my trips to Eastern Europe’s Jewish past and present via Facebook and my Vanished World blog: a calendar for 2016, which can be downloaded for free and be produced on your own printer or at an on-line print shop.

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A Summer in Black and White

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Northern Bukovina, Podolia, Synagogues

I was traveling twice to Ukraine during this year’s summer – once in June with my friend Sylvia de Swaan, once in July to support the volunteers of SVIT Ukraine in their work in the Jewish cemetery of Chernivtsi (Czernowitz). It took an unusually long time to develop the black and white films of these two months, to scan them, make a selection and finally work them over. Now this has been completed, and here is a first selection.

Zolotyi Potik (Galicia) – Jewish cemetery

Lviv (Lwow, Lemberg) – Jakob Glanzer Shul, former Hasidic synagogue

Kuty (Galicia) – Jewish cemetery

Chernivtsi (Czernowitz) – former synagogue

Chernivtsi in Podolia – Jewish cemetery

Mohyliv-Podilskyi (Podolia) – Jewish cemetery

Chernivtsi in Podolia – abandoned Jewish home

Cariera de Piatra – former territory of Romanian and Soviet concentration camp

Zolotyi Potik (Galicia) – Jewish cemetery

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Bukovina in Black and White

Posted on August 25, 2015 by Christian Herrmann under Jewish Cemeteries, Northern Bukovina, Southern Bukovina, Synagogues

So far 2015 was a busy year, four times I have been to Ukraine, once to Romania. For the first time in my life, I feel like I have traveled too much. For months I was not able to edit the black and white photos of my journeys properly. Now I’m happy to be home and finally have time to work on the photos. Here is a selection of black and white images of the journey through Bukovina in April.

Carlibaba Jewish cemetery

Arbore Jewish cemetery

Rădăuţi (Radautz) – synagogue

Siret – New Jewish Cemetery

Solca Jewish cemetery

Vatra Dornei synagogue

Chernivtsi (Czernowitz) Jewish cemetery

Chernivtsi (Czernowitz) – Temple Synagogue, now a movie theatre

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Through Bukovina and Galicia with the Volunteers

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Northern Bukovina

Meanwhile, I’m back home and still have to report the latest events of the recent journey. On Friday – our last day in Chernivtsi (Czernowitz) – Arthur and I have been on a day trip through Bukovina and Galicia with the volunteers of SVIT Ukraine. Vashkivtsi, Vyzhnytsia (Wischnitz), Kuty and Kosiv were the places we went to.

Vyzhnytsia (Wischnitz)

Vyzhnytsia (Wischnitz) – talking about what we saw

Kuty Jewish cemetery

Kosiv Jewish cemetery

Cooling down

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Hard-working volunteers, sleepy cats

Posted on July 22, 2015 by Christian Herrmann under Jewish Cemeteries, Northern Bukovina

It’s hot in Chernivtsi (Czernowitz), every day over 30 degrees Celsius. The volunteers of SVIT Ukraine and Action Reconciliation start working in the Jewish cemetery early in the morning to escape the heat. Today they were lucky, in the morning it was cloudy, even some rain came down.

Volunteers of Action Reconciliation clearing the Jewish cemetery of Czernowitz

Volunteers of SVIT Ukraine clearing the Jewish cemetery of Czernowitz

Czernowitz – old Jewish quarter

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A missing Center at the Golden Creek

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

It was the wish of my friend Arthur to go to Horodenka and Zolotyi Potik (Golden Creek) – small towns in Galicia, from which his ancestors came to Chernivtsi (Czernowitz). Today we have been there; a long day trip through the beauty of the Galician summer. An ocean of flowers over which the storks circle. With us was Maxym, a local photographer and journalist, who maneuvered his car bravely around the potholes.

Horodenka Synagogue

Horodenka Jewish Cemetery

Zolotyi Potik – Potocki Castle

Zolotyi Potik Jewish cemetery

Zolotyi Potik – former Jewish quarter, now a park

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Voices from the past

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Christian Herrmann under Jewish Cemeteries, Northern Bukovina

Yesterday, my friend Silke drew my attention to a sound installation that was designed by students of Chernivtsi University in the former Synagogengasse (Synagogue Alley, now Anri Barbyusa Street) of Chernivtsi (Czernowitz). It brought voices of the past into the present of the city. Today, the volunteers of Action Reconciliation and SVIT Ukraine have begun their work in the Jewish cemetery.

Sound installation in Anri Barbyusa Street

The volunteers of SVIT Ukraine and Action Reconciliation

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From Chernivtsi to Chernivtsi

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Christian Herrmann under Jewish Cemeteries, Podolia

Chernivtsi exists twice in Ukraine: in Podolia and Bukovina. There is the mundane Bukovinian provincial capital and the traditional Podolian town. Both are worth to visit.

Mohyliv-Podilskyi – synagogue

Mohyliv-Podilskyi – market

Mohyliv-Podilskyi – Jewish cemetery

Sylvia de Swaan

Mohyliv-Podilskyi – Jewish cemetery

Chernivtsi (Podolia) – Jewish cemetery

Chernivtsi (Podolia) – abandoned house

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In Transnistria

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Christian Herrmann under Jewish Cemeteries, Podolia, Synagogues

Transnistria was a Romanian deportation zone for Jews and Gypsies during the war. Thousands died of typhus, inhuman working conditions, of hunger or were shot. My fellow traveler Sylvia was here more than 70 years ago when she was a little girl. Today we explored some places in Transnistria – now part of Podolia in Ukraine.