From Lviv to Buchach

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries

I leave Lviv (Lwow, Lemberg) later than I intended. It is already 2 o’clock when the bus departs from the bus station and the trip takes longer than I thought. After 4 hours we reach Buchach. I change my plans and decide to stay overnight.

Buchach

Buchach – Strypa river

Buchach – Jewish cemetery

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Belz and Burshtyn in Black and White

Posted on June 28, 2014 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

It was a short trip in early June to Galicia – only three days. But enough to explore Belz and Burshtyn and to take pictures. Today I received the scanned black-and-white films and made a first selection. Here are the results. I have not yet decided which shots I will add to the two photo exhibitions in September. What are your favorites?

Belz, Jewish cemetery

Burshtyn, Jewish cemetery

Belz synagogues

Behind the Flowered Hills

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

The ride from Lviv (Lemberg, Lwow) to Burshtyn is wonderful. On the Galician hills poppy florishes blood red, our marshrutka (mini bus) passes horse-drawn carts, cows stroll on the road and over all storks are circling – writing enigmatic signs in the sky. Burshtyn, that is in Yiddish and Ukrainian amber. Two synagogues and a Jewish cemetery are preserved.

Burshtyn – synagogue

Burshtyn – Jewish cemetery

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A Galician Microcosm

Posted on June 8, 2014 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries

Today I was in Belz. The usual bumpy roads and courageous marshrutka (mini bus) drivers. That alone does not make a story. But Belz turnes out to be unusually beautiful and interesting. Although the town is so small that one can walk through it in no time, it offers many traces of the rich heritage of Galicia. Ukrainian, Polish and Jewish traces.

Belz

Belz – a strange building from the Soviet periode

Belz

Belz – Christian Cemetery

Belz – Jewish Cemetery

Belz – Jewish Cemetery

Belz – old Jewish Cemetery

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A Journey in Black and White

Posted on March 23, 2014 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Northern Bukovina, Podolia, Synagogues

My journey in February through Western Ukraine – through Galicia, Bukovina and Podolia – was another opportunity to take more photos for two exhibitions in autumn. Here is a first selection, including images from Lviv (Lemberg, Lwow), Sokal, Velyki Mosty, Zhovkva, Staryi Sambir, Ternopil, Sataniv and Chernivtsi (Czernowitz). What are your favorites?

Sokal, synagogue

Velyki Mosty, synagogue

Sokal, remains of the Jewish cemetery

Staryi Sambir, Jewish cemetery

Staryi Sambir, synagogue

Zhovkva, trace of a mezuzah

Lviv (Lemberg, Lwow), remains of the Jewish cemetery

Ternopil (Tarnopol), Jewish cemetery

Sataniv, Jewish cemetery

Chernivtsi (Czernowitz), Jewish cemetery

A first trip to Podolia

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Christian Herrmann under Jewish Cemeteries, Podolia, Synagogues

Writing is difficult for me today. More than 20 people have been killed in Kiev yesterday, the special police forces continue to besiege Maidan, the center of protests. It is impossible to ignore. Unfortunately I can not do more than express my solidarity with the brave Ukrainians, who are fighting against a corrupt and criminal government, and to report on what I see and experience. That’s why I hold on to my travel plans. Today I was in Sataniv.

My marshrutka to Sataniv

Sataniv – synagogue

Sataniv – Jewish cemetery

Ternopil – local Maidan

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In Ternopil

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries

From Lviv (Lemberg, Lwow) I continue to Ternopil, have a look at the town and buy me a ticket to go to Sataniv tomorrow. After I returne from the Jewish cemetery, I learn what happened in Kyiv today. Again, people have been shot to death.

Ternopil – people fishing at the frozen lake

Ternopil – territory of former synagogue

Ternopil – Jewish cemetery

Ternopil – local Euromaidan

Ternopil – architecture from Stalin era

Ternopil – architecture from Habsburg era

Ternopil

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At the foot of the Carpathian Mountains

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries

Another long day trip through Galicia. My friend Jürgen and I are up early to make our way to the train station and take the next marshrutka to Staryi Sambir – a place 90 km southwest of Lviv (Lemberg, Lwow).

Staryi Sambir – Jewish cemetery

Staryi Sambir synagogue

Lviv (Lemberg, Lwow), Euromaidan

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A Gate between the Worlds

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Christian Herrmann under Central Europe, Jewish Cemeteries

Should Austria’s capital Vienna be part of a blog that deals with the Jewish heritage of Eastern Europe? Necessarily, because Vienna was not only the gateway from Central Europe to the eastern provinces of the Habsburg Empire, it was also the gateway to the West for many Jewish immigrants in search of a better future. A travel report.

Rossau Cemetery

Central Cemetery

Plaque in Leopoldstadt

Palais Ephrussi

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One has to imagine Sisyphus as a happy man

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Christian Herrmann under Jewish Cemeteries, Northern Bukovina

Since six years volunteers from all over the world work in the Jewish cemetery of Chernivtsi (Czernowitz). What do they experience and what is the progress in cleaning the cemetery from rampant vegetation?