Three days in Riga

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Christian Herrmann under Livonia (Livland), Synagogues

Latvia’s capital Riga looks back on a rich Jewish heritage from the middle ages up to the present. Riga ghetto was the last destination for many Latvian Jews as well as for those who were deported from the Reich. Today there are remembrance sites as well as a functioning Jewish community. A long weekend gave me the opportunity to have a look on it.

Remains of Choral Synagogue

Holocaust memorial

Former synagogue in Moscow suburb

Flea market at Moscow suburb

Former “Yiddishe Handwerker Shul” – an educational institution to qualify craftsmen

Moscow suburb

A Soviet style tower dominates Moscow suburb

Ghetto Museum

Jewish museum in the former Jewish theatre

Former synagogue in Stabu Street

A plaque marks a building where Jews were hidden by Latvians

Medieval city center

Peitavas Synagogue

Detail from a building designed by Mikhail Eisenstein

At the banks of Daugava river

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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.

Kuty (Galicia) – Jewish cemetery

Zolotyi Potik (Galicia) – Jewish cemetery

Mohyliv-Podilskyi (Podolia) – Jewish cemetery

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

Chernivtsi (Czernowitz) – former synagogue

Chernivtsi in Podolia – abandoned Jewish home

Zolotyi Potik (Galicia) – Jewish cemetery

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

Chernivtsi in Podolia – 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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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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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.

Nemiriv – mass grave

Bratslav synagogue

Bratslav Jewish cemetery

Tulchyn Jewish cemetery

Tulchyn – former ghetto

Cariera de Piatra

Mykhailivka – site of former concentration camp

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Further East

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Christian Herrmann under Jewish Cemeteries, Moldavia, Synagogues

On the way back to Suceava, we took another excursion to the east into the Bukovina adjoining Botoșani county. Botoșani and Bucecea and the traces of Jewish heritage in both places were our destinations.

Botoșani – New Jewish Cemetery

Botoșani – Old Jewish Cemetery

Botoșani – synagogue

Bucecea – Jewish cemetery

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North of Radautz

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Christian Herrmann under Jewish Cemeteries, Moldavia, Southern Bukovina, Synagogues

Siret is a small town north of Radautz; from there we went on to Mihaileni and Dorohoi. Both places are no longer in Bukovina, but already in the neighboring Botoșani county. The traces of Jewish life are easy to find in all three places.

Radautz – synagogue

Siret – Old Jewish Cemetery

Siret – New Jewish Cemetery

Siret – Middle Jewish Cemetery

Siret – New Jewish Cemetery

Mihaileni – Jewish cemetery

Dorohoi – New Jewish Cemetery

Dorohoi – synagogue

Dorohoi – Old Jewish Cemetery

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Radautz and Surroundings

Posted on April 11, 2015 by Christian Herrmann under Jewish Cemeteries, Southern Bukovina, Synagogues

The Jewish cemetery of Rădăuţi (Radautz) was one of the highlights of our trip so far – one of the most impressive cemeteries I’ve ever seen. South of Radautz are Solca and Arbore. In both villages are Jewish cemeteries. We visited them today.

Radautz – former synagogue, now a shop

Radautz – Temple Synagogue

Radautz

Radautz – Jewish cemetery

Solca – Jewish cemetery

Arbore – stork

Arbore – Jewish cemetery

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Glamour and Simplicity

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Christian Herrmann under Jewish Cemeteries, Southern Bukovina, Synagogues

Vatra Dornei is an old spa in the middle of the Carpathians. The traces of its glamourous past are still visible. This includes a magnificent synagogue. A colorful contrast is the surrounding countryside with its wild mountains. In Cârlibaba we visited a particularly poignant small Jewish cemetery.