From Medzhybizh back to Lviv

Posted on November 23, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues, Volhynia (Volyn)

My friends and I had a long ride from east to west today. Starting from the Hasidic hot-spot of Medzhybizh, we returned to Lviv with stops in Volochysk, Zbarazh and Zaliztsi. Join us on the last day of our four days Jewish heritage trip through Volhynia, Podolia and Galicia in Ukraine!

Medzhybizh - Jewish cemetery - tomb of the Baal Shen Tov

Medzhybizh – Jewish cemetery – tomb of the Baal Shem Tov

Medzhybizh – Jewish cemetery

Medzhybizh – reconstructed Beit Midrash

Medzhybizh – synagogue

Southern Bug near Medzhybizh

Medzhybizh castle

Volochysk – Jewish cemetery

Zbarazh – territory of the old Jewish cemetery

Zbarazh – Great Synagogue

Zbarazh – former Jewish houses

Zbarazh – new Jewish cemetery

Zaliztsi – Jewish cemetery

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From Zhytomyr to Berdychiv

Posted on November 22, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Jewish Cemeteries, Podolia, Synagogues, Volhynia (Volyn)

To travel to Berdychiv was my desire since a long time. Today my friends and I went from Zhytomyr to Berdychiv – having a look on the Jewish heritage sites of both cities. Berdychiv’s Jewish cemetery is one of the most spectacular sites I’ve ever seen.

Zhytomyr – Jewish cemetery

Zhytomyr – renewed prayer house of peddlers

Zhytomyr – prayer house of water carriers

Zhytomyr – Holcaust memorial at a mass killing site

Berdychiv – Jewish cemetery

Berdychiv – Great Synagogue

Berdychiv – Old Jewish Cemetery, now a park

Berdychiv – Holocaust memorial at a mass killing site

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Further East

Posted on November 21, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues, Volhynia (Volyn)

My friends Marla, Jay, Vasyl and I continued our journey through Volhynia. Today, Jewish heritage sites in Rivne, Ostroh, Slavuta and Shepetivka were on our itinerary. It also was a day with exceptional people we met.

Rivne – Great Synagogue

Rivne – Old Kloyz

Rivne – Herzberg’s Beit Midrash

Rivne – Talmud Torah

Rivne – former Mikvah

Ostroh – Jewish cemetery

Ostroh – Great Synagogue

Ostroh – memorial at mass killing site

Slavuta – synagogue

Slavuta – memorial for 300 murdered Jewish children

Slavuta – Jewish cemetery

Slavuta – mass killing site

Slavuta – Großlazaret 301

Shepetivka – Great Synagogue

Shepetivka – Jewish cemetery

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From Lviv to Rivne

Posted on November 20, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues, Volhynia (Volyn)

Marla, Jay, Vasyl and I are on the road again – the beginning of a four days trip to Jewish heritage sites, mainly in Volhynia. Today, we have been to Radekhiv, Lutsk, Klevan and Rivne.

Saved Jewish tombstones at Radekhiv Christian cemetery

Soviet memorial at Radekhiv Christian cemetery

Tetyana talking with Marla

Radekhiv – territory of the old Jewish cemetery

Radekhiv – old people remember

Radekhiv market

Trace of a mezuzah at Radekhiv market square

Radekhiv synagogue

Lutsk – Great Synagogue

Lutsk – Talmud Torah

Lutsk – remains of Beit Midrash of Olyka Hasidim with adjacent bus station

Klevan Jewish cemetery

Klevan – Great Synagogue

Rivne – Holocaust memorial

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East of Lviv through Galicia

Posted on July 19, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

On Monday, it was the last opportunity to travel during my recent trip to Ukraine. My friends Marla, Jay, Vasyl and I decided for a route eastwards to the towns and villages of Holohory, Zolochiv, Sasiv, Pidhirtsi and Brody with its Jewish heritage sites. Back in Lviv we had a look at Jewish tombstones recently discovered during construction works. Summed up, it was a kaleidoscopic view of beauty and horror.

Holohory Jewish cemetery

View from Holohory Jewish cemetery

Holohory – ‘Turkish Tower’

Zolochiv Jewish cemetery

Talking with representatives of Zolochiv at the Jewish cemetery

Mass grave site between Zolochiv and Sasiv

Sasiv Jewish cemetery

Church of Pidhirtsi castle

Storks next to the church of Pidhirtsi castle

Brody synagogue

Butterfly at Brody Jewish cemetery

Brody Jewish cemetery

Jewish tombstones from a construction ground in Lviv

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En Route with the Volunteers of SVIT Ukraine

Posted on July 16, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Northern Bukovina

A cemetery clean-up is not only about work. Volunteers who joined SVIT Ukraine’s annual ‘workcamp’ to clean the Jewish cemetery of Chernivtsi (Czernowitz) also have the opportunity to learn about the multi-ethnic past and present of western Ukraine, make friends and have fun. Yesterday, we went for an excursion to Jewish heritage sites in Kosiv, Kuty and Vyzhnytsia – and had a pick-nick next to the scenic village of Sheshory.

Kosiv crafts market

In the jungle of Kosiv Jewish cemetery

Kosiv Jewish cemetery

Pick-nick in Sheshory

Pick-nick in Sheshory – old farm house

Pick-nick in Sheshory

Kuty Jewish cemetery

Vyzhnytsia Jewish cemetery

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An Unresolved Riddle in Sniatyn

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

I have been to Sniatyn last year with friends to find the old and new Jewish cemetery of this Galician town. We believed to have found the new Jewish cemetery. According to old maps the old cemetery should be located directly next to the new one. Today I returned – but again I couldn’t find more traces. Who knows more?

Chernivtsi (Czernowitz) – waiting for the bus to leave

Sniatyn Jewish cemetery

Sniatyn Christian cemetery

Sniatyn – Jewish homes

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Time Traveling between Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi

Posted on July 11, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Northern Bukovina, Synagogues

Last Sunday, my friends and I continued our trip to Chernivtsi (Czernowitz). We had stops in Lysets, Bohorodchany, Nadvirna, Deliatyn, Kolomyia, Kosiv, Kuty and Vyzhnytsia to visit Jewish cemeteries, former synagogues, Hasidic courts and mass grave sites.

Lysets Jewish cemetery

Bohorodchany Jewish cemetery

Nadvirna Jewish cemetery

Deliatyn mass grave memorial

Deliatyn Jewish cemetery

Kolomyia – Old Jewish Cemetery

Kolomyia – trace of a mezuzah

Kolomyia – former synagogue at Orenstein Street

Kuty Jewish cemetery

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On Galician Roads again

Posted on July 8, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

A new Jewish heritage trip to Galicia and Bukovina has begun. It was a long day for my friends Marla, Jay, Vasyl, my cousin Nana and me when we went from Lviv to Ivano-Frankivsk. In between were the towns of Zhydachiv, Stryi, Bolekhiv, Dolyna and Kalush with its synagogues and Jewish cemeteries. Some of them are beautifully preserved, others are fully gone.

Zhydachiv Jewish cemetery

Stryi Jewish cemetery

Stryi synagogue

Stryi – former Jewish quarter

Stryi – trace of a mezuzah in the former Jewish quarter

Stryi Jewish cemetery

Stryi – mass grave site

Bolekhiv synagogue

Bolekhiv Jewish cemetery

Dolyna synagogue – now a church

Dolyna Jewish cemetery

Kalush Jewish cemetery

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Five Days in Galicia in Black and White

Posted on June 29, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues

It was a short trip of only five days in April when my friends Marla, Jay, Vasyl, Alex and I traveled in Lviv and Ternopil region in Galicia, Ukraine. An intense trip to explore what is left of the Jewish heritage. As always I had two cameras with me – a digital one for colour photographs and an analogue one for black and white. Analogue photography is a slow business, but finally here is now a selection of what I got: synagogues and Jewish cemeteries in the towns of Berezhany, Budaniv, Drohobych, Husiatyn, Korolivka, Monastyryska, Pidhaitsi and Sataniv.