Category: News

Cemetery Clearing Season Ends for 2021

Temperatures are dropping fast in western Ukraine now, and Marla and I have concluded that the season for working to clear wild vegetation at the Jewish burial sites in Rohatyn has reached an end. We still expect more rain before the snows begin and plant life goes dormant, but the chill should slow wild growth significantly so that we can…

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Dozens of Jewish Headstone Fragments Recovered Today

For the second time so far in 2021, Rohatyn Jewish Heritage team member Vasyl Yuzyshyn was alerted to Jewish headstone fragments discovered outside the Jewish cemetery. Ця стаття також доступна українською. This week a local homeowner, Zinoviy Pavlyuk, reported the fragments to the Opillya local history museum in Rohatyn. Mr. Pavlyuk’s family bought a home on vul. Drahomanova (also called…

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Connecting Memory – Project Start in Rohatyn

Marla and I would like to inform you about the beginnings of a new project which we hope will ultimately provide enhanced, sustainable protection and commemoration of the Jewish mass graves in Rohatyn, and also help to develop and distribute Holocaust-related educational materials for teachers and students in Rohatyn and Ukraine. This is a formal three-year collaborative project involving dozens…

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78 Years Ago – Not Forgotten

Jay and I were unable to stand in person again this year before the memorial at the “vodokanal” north mass grave in Rohatyn to remember the more than 3,000 Jewish victims of the final liquidation of Rohatyn’s wartime Jewish ghetto in June 1943. In our stead and on behalf of Jewish descendants today was Rohatyn Jewish Heritage team member and…

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Passing of Mykhailo Vorobets

It is with tremendous sadness that we report on the passing today in Rohatyn of Mykhailo Vorobets, retired teacher, author, local historian, and carrier of memory of the city’s prewar Jewish families and their history. Having contracted COVID-19 last November, Mr. Vorobets was confined to bed for most of winter. In late April, our friend Vasyl Yuzyshyn was in Rohatyn…

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New Heritage Signage in Rohatyn

New bilingual directional signs and maps were installed this month at key locations in Rohatyn which highlight more than a dozen landmarks, cultural sites, and tourist attractions, including three of Rohatyn’s Jewish heritage sites. Attractive signs now point toward the “old” Jewish cemetery in Rohatyn (one is also installed at its entrance), and there are directional signs now indicating routes…

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RJH Annual Report 2020

This is a descriptive annual report for Rohatyn Jewish Heritage (RJH) covering the calendar year 2020 – 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 2020 to our forecast of a year ago, see also our report for 2019. Most elements of this review…

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