Meeting the volunteers

Posted on August 7, 2014 by Christian Herrmann under Northern Bukovina

Today I have met the volunteers of SVIT Ukraine who work in the Jewish cemetery of Chernivtsi (Czernowitz), to clear it of rampant vegetation. It is a miracle that this workcamp takes place. Many people are afraid to come to Ukraine because of the war in the east of the country. And SVIT faced big challenges. The organization has its headquarters in Artemovsk, which was temporarily occupied by “separatists”. The infrastructure had to be moved to Kharkiv, bank accounts registered in Artemovsk were temporarily closed. The by Russia stirred up war has an impact on Ukrainian civil society and on the opportunities of young people for international exchange.

Arthur Rindner with his girlfriend Rina in front of the house where he was born

At the market

With the volunteers in Sadagora

Synagogue of the Sadagora rabbi

The volunteers with Edgar Hauster

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Greetings from Czernowitz

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Christian Herrmann under Northern Bukovina

It is always nice to meet Czernowitzers in Czernowitz (Chernivtsi) – old and young! Stories are exchanged, old stories, new stories, wishes and hopes for the future.

From left to right: Janne, volunteer of Action Reconciliation Service for Peace, Mykola Kushnir, Director of the Jewish Museum, Arthur Rindner and his girlfriend Rina, Edgar Hauster and I.

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How history vanishes

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Synagogues

The witnesses of Galicia’s multiethnic past are still there. But piece by piece they vanish. Many already don’t know about their meaning any more. When I was in Hrymailiv in February to change from one bus to another, I asked a few people for the location of the local synagogue. No one of them had ever heard of a synagogue in town. Today I was there.

Hrymailiv synagogue

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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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In the Borderland

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Synagogues

My destination today is called Uhniv, with just about 2,000 inhabitants, the smallest town with the status of a city in Ukraine. From Lviv (Lemberg, Lwow), there are rarely direct buses to Uhniv. I decide to go first to Rava Ruska and to change the bus there.

Uhniv – church ruin

Uhniv – local museum

Uhniv – synagogue and Beit Midrash

Uhniv

Uhniv – synagogue

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At The Beginning Of A New Journey

Posted on August 2, 2014 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia

I’m traveling in Ukraine again. Lviv (Lemberg, Lwow), some excursions and the work-camp to clear the Jewish cemetery in Chernivtsi (Czernowitz) are on my itinerary. It feels good to be back!

Old men playing chess at Svoboda Boulevard – a free pleasure

Next to Opera House

Opera House

A poster commemorates citizens of Lviv killed during Maidan protests

Street musicians in front of the town hall

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Starzawa – one of the many forgotten Holocaust sites

Posted on July 13, 2014 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia

Prof. Józef Lipman is one of the few Holocaust survivors from Boryslaw, Galicia. Together with Klaus Hasbron-Blume and other volunteers of Action Reconciliation Service for Peace (ASF), he returned to Boryslaw in the fall of 2013 for the first time since the war. In Starzawa he met Stefania, his former nanny. Klaus and the volunteers of ASF visited Stefania again this year. Klaus has documented this visit in a short note that deeply moved me, and I therefore reproduce it here.

Prof. Lipman and Stefania

Stefania’s list

Stefania and her family

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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.