The results of my 2019-2020 Fulbright project are now online and available to the public on a new website: “A Guide to Jewish Cemetery Preservation in Western Ukraine”. Though initially more narrowly defined as a demonstration project for Jewish cemetery preservation in the region using Rohatyn’s “old” Jewish cemetery as example, it became clear once the Fulbright research got underway…
Due to the worldwide pandemic, Jay and I were unable this year to physically stand beside the memorial at the “vodokanal” Jewish mass grave site in Rohatyn to recite a prayer of remembrance for the more than 3,000 Jewish victims of the final liquidation of Rohatyn’s wartime Jewish ghetto on the anniversary. Instead, sheltering in place in northern California, we…
Earlier this month, a Rohatyn resident uncovered more than half a dozen Jewish headstone fragments during a DIY home repair project. As he pulled building stones and rubble from the walls of an old cellar, Oleh Yefimovych was startled to turn over seven of the removed building-block-sized pieces to see Hebrew lettering and ornamental markings typical of Jewish headstones. His…
Although the planned public gathering at the south mass grave in Rohatyn was canceled due to the worldwide virus pandemic, yesterday Jay and I traveled to Rohatyn and intimately observed a sad anniversary: 78 years since more than 3,000 Jews of Rohatyn were executed en masse in the first and deadliest Nazi aktion of the war. Half of the victims…
Jay and I joined five volunteers from the Lviv Volunteer Center (LVC) working in a steady rain this week to recover more than 50 Jewish headstone fragments from a crumbling residential retaining wall in Lviv; the wall had been partially built from Jewish headstones, apparently during the post-war Soviet period. A single headstone visible in the wall after part of…
This is a descriptive annual report for Rohatyn Jewish Heritage (RJH) covering the calendar year 2019 – in essence a year-in-review summary of our project progress and events, with an outline of our finances as well. To compare our progress in 2019 to our forecast of a year ago, see also our report for 2018. Most elements of this review…
This week Marla and I led a small volunteer event in Rohatyn, continuing the vegetation clearing and conditioning work in the old Jewish cemetery following several larger volunteer events earlier this year. As usual we were joined by friends and colleagues, but only a few this time so we could focus on a small number of specific tasks which did…
This morning we recovered seven Jewish headstone fragments from a residential construction site on vul. Petra Mohyla in Rohatyn, and returned them to the old Jewish cemetery in town, where we are working this week again to tame wild vegetation. The headstone fragments were discovered last week in the structure of a post-war house which is currently being dismantled. The…
This week Marla and I joined friends and colleagues in another large 3-day volunteer event to clear and clean the Jewish cemeteries in Rohatyn, conducted by our NGO Rohatyn Jewish Heritage. Building on past efforts and powered by the muscle and minds of many wonderful American and Ukrainian volunteers, together we accomplished more than we had hoped at the start,…
I am proud and excited to report that Marla has been selected to receive a Fulbright scholarship grant for the 2019-2020 academic year, to support a heritage project at the old Jewish cemetery in Rohatyn. The grant will enable research and planning for rehabilitation and commemoration at the cemetery site, networking and educational exchanges with academic and cultural institutions in…