10 days in Ukraine

Posted on February 9, 2023 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia

Is it possible to travel to Ukraine under the conditions of the Russian war of aggression? Whatever, at some point in autumn I decided to go. From 20 to 30 December 2022 I was in Lviv, Ternopil and the surrounding area. I wanted to know how my friends were doing – my long-time travelling companions and the activists who care for the Jewish heritage in Galicia. And also Anna, who fled the war and has been living with me since March, wanted to see her boyfriend and her mother again. But beyond that, there was also a very simple reason for this trip: I was homesick for Lviv.

Ternopil - Sandbags in front of a public building

Lviv - View from the balcony of the Hotel George

Ternopil - Ruin at the grounds of the Great Synagogue

Zbarazh - House of the Regenbogen Family

Velyki Mosty - Ruins of the Great Synagogue

Uhniv - Beit Midrash and Great Synagogue

Rava Ruska - Monument to the destroyed Jewish cemetery

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To Chernivtsi and back to Lviv

Posted on September 14, 2021 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Jewish Cemeteries, Northern Bukovina, Podolia, Synagogues

The last part of my journey with the German TV team began on 30 August in Mohyliv-Podilskyi, took us on to Chernivtsi – finally a reunion with one of my favourite places! – and back to Lviv. On the way back, we made short stops in Halych and Burshtyn.

Burshtyn - synagogue and dempolished beit midrash

Lviv - fragment of a Jewish tombstone in the street paving

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A New Experience

Posted on September 6, 2021 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia

It seems like an eternity since I was last time in Ukraine. The pandemic simply made it impossible. And it’s been almost two years now since Susanne Brahms and Rainer Krause from Blind Cat Documentary in Bremen asked me if I would support them in a TV documentary about the shtetl. Now that the whole team has been vaccinated and the infection figures in Ukraine are relatively low, this has finally become a reality. From 20 August to 5 September I was on the road in Galicia, Podolia and Bukovina. In the coming days and weeks I will report on the trip. At the beginning there is Lviv.

Lviv - Fragments of a Soviet monument at the Territory of Terror memorial site

Lviv - Synagogue model in the Jakub Glanzer Shul

Lviv - Tombstone fragments at the Jewish cemetery

Lviv - Tombstone fragment at the Jewish cemetery

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There is still a lot to tell

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Christian Herrmann under Central Ukraine, Eastern Galicia, Exhibition, Jewish Cemeteries

Galicia, Kyiv, Greece and some exhibitions. There is still a lot to tell about the past year. The forced break caused by the corona virus gives me the opportunity to do it.

Lviv – Tikvat Zion synagogue

Lviv – Yiddish shop sign

Lviv – trace of a mezuzah

Brody – mezuzah

Brody – trace of a mezuzah

Pomoriany – destroyed Jewish cemetery

Pomoriany – cold storage made from Jewish tombstones

Pomoriany – former collective farm

Vienna airport – traveling Hasidim

Kyiv – exhibition opening at Triptych: Global Arts Workshop – © Triptych: Global Arts Workshop

Kyiv – German Embassy – © Myroslava Hartmond

Kyiv – House with Chimaeras

Kyiv – Podil Synagogue and Community Centre

Ioannina – house decoration

Cologne – exhibition opening at Lew Kopelew Forum

Cologne – exhibition opening at Lew Kopelew Forum – © Lew Kopelew Forum

Cologne – exhibition flyer

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A last Tale to tell

Posted on March 12, 2019 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Synagogues

During the last days I have reported on the recent trip to Jewish heritages sites in Ukraine and Moldova from February 28 to March 6. As it is somehow unconnected to the rest of the journey, I did so far not write about the day of my arrival, February 27, when my dear friend Katharina and I explored the remains of Zichron Josef Synagogue in Lviv.

Zichron Josef synagogue, Lviv

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Just a Forest

Posted on March 27, 2018 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia

A new journey through Ukraine has begun. From tomorrow on Marla, Jay, Vasyl and I will be on the road to and through Transcarpathia. Today we had a first excursion from Lviv to the neighboring village of Lysynychi, one of the biggest mass killing sites in Ukraine and one of the most unknown. Estimated 90,000 people have been murdered here during the German occupation in World War 2 – mainly Jews but also Ukrainians, Poles and thousands of Italian soldiers. Except of a little memorial there are no visible traces of the crime. To visitors with no background information Lysynychi forest looks just like an ordinary forest.

Lysynychi forest

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The End of Silence

Posted on November 24, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia

Thousands of Jewish tombstones were used as construction material in the Ukrainian city of Lviv – first by the German occupants during World War II, later by the Soviets. Sometimes they appear, and sometimes there are people who save them. Today, tombstones from a courtyard in downtown Lviv were returned to the Jewish cemetery by Sasha Nazar and his friends from Lviv Volunteer Center.

Saving Jewish tombstones at Halytska Square 15 in Lviv

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Mapping the Unknown

Posted on November 19, 2017 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia

A new journey has begun. During the next days, I will travel with my friends Marla, Jay and Vasyl in Ukraine again. A journey that will bring us to places widely unknown to many. How complete is our “inner map”? And how complete is our map of murderous actions in the 20th century? One of the missing spots is the site of Janowska concentration camp in a suburb of Lviv.

Janowska concentration camp site – gate to “the sands”

Janowska concentration camp site – memorial

Janowska concentration camp site

Janowska concentration camp site – building from the Soviet era

Janowska concentration camp site

Klepariv train station – station building with plaque for deportad Jews

Klepariv train station

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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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Inside Jakob Glanzer Shul

Posted on December 7, 2016 by Christian Herrmann under Eastern Galicia, Synagogues

Jakob Glanzer Shul is one of the last remaining synagogues in Lviv. The building is in bad condition; an adjuncting wall already collapsed. Since years a young man fights for the preservation of the synagogue. I met him today.