early April, at the new Jewish cemetery at the north end of town |
Marla with Alex D. at the cemetery memorial erected long after the war |
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few gravestones are still standing like this one |
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many pieces of headstones cover one corner of the cemetery |
at the old cemetery, near the town center |
which also has a recent memorial |
things look similar to 2008 |
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broken, but still cared for |
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at the northern Shoah memorial, for victims of the 1943 ghetto liquidation |
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the memorial is behind a construction materials site |
at the southern memorial, for Rohatyn victims of the 1942 aktion |
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a passing resident... |
...recalls what he saw and heard as a child in the war |
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at the library to meet Ihor, a great friend and guide in town... |
...and Mr. Vorobets, town historian and a key resource for links to Rohatyn's Jewish past |
in the library's computer room... |
...and on the streets with Mr. Vorobets |
a garden which Mr. Vorobets has identified as having buried Jewish gravestones |
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on a street south of Roxelana square... |
in an area where Marla's Horn relatives once lived |
walking the old path between the houses |
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the town museum, which has a small historical display |
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walking by the former Judenrat building with Ihor and the museum docent... |
...past a site of the former city wall... |
...to the Holy Spirit church, a 16th c. wooden church in excellent condition |
on the bank of the river |
walking around town; one of the former synagogues, now a private building |
a lovely old house in the "new town" area southwest of the main square |
on Halytska street, an important block for Marla's Horn relatives and other friends' families |
the former Sokol building |
returning mid-May with Alex F., and meeting Rohatyn's mayor |
reviewing a set of Jewish gravestones outside the cemeteries, found by Mr. Vorobets and Ihor |
others are discovered as we walk the streets; this man alerted us to one in his garden |
behind the state adminsitration building, two stones found by city workers when doing street work |
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west of the river, this woman has a link to the pre-war Jewish past |
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and she knows about other gravestones stolen by Nazis for paving during the war |
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there are half a dozen here by the riverside |
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and while working on these stones, a neighbor tells about another |
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the next day, back on Valova street near the main square... |
...where there were once four synagogues |
Marla's family lived in two houses on this street, one for several generations |
current residents want to help, but we struggle with the language |
sometimes a combination of gestures and language fragments is enough |
back in the old cemetery, documenting the existing stones |
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we return a few days later with Mitchell and Dori |
Alex F. and Marla are interviewed by Rohatyn TV news! |
out west of the river again, meeting more residents |
getting additional details of the pre-war and wartime history |
then out on the roads again, to review gravestones found since our last visit |
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again the residents want to help |
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just walking back to the van, Alex F. finds another gravestone in a yard |
and another resident points us to this one, far from the bridge |
this stone is small enough we can lift it into the van |
with Mr. Vorobets at the southern memorial |
two mass graves are side by side under this field |
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in town again, the Alexes compare notes on street names and former Jewish community buildings |
Marla and Dori discussing Mitchell's family history |
we stop to pick up the stones behind the state admin building |
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now these few stones join others at the new cemetery |
things are much overgrown now compared to April |
a late dinner in town to discuss the day's events |
and a final look over the old cemetery as night falls |
we are back in June with Renaud from AFP |
Ihor introduces us to the area's head priest, who will help get the word out about the gravestone project |
meeting at the library with Mr. Vorobets again |
the director of a local school shows us papers found in the former Jewish community buildings on the school site |
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a Liebling business form; Marla is a relative! |
in the former synagogue on this site |
and in the mikveh |
heading into the cellar of the former Judenrat building |
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and now across town in the cellar of a building on Halytska |
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with Renaud at the southern memorial |
Mr. Vorobets has been maintaining the site, with new flowers and paint |
at the old Jewish cemetery, after a light rain |
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the next day, we visit the northern memorial again; it, too, has been maintained by volunteer effort |
now at the new cemetery, to see the gravestones from around town moved here |
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we also separated and turned some others moved earlier... |
...so we can photograph them for our research group |
wild strawberries are in season |
we tour the sites where stones were found... |
...and see that nearly all are moved now |
but a few new ones are discovered |
one is too large to move by hand... |
...but we take the rest to join the others at the new cemetery |
we are back for our sixth (!) visit this year, in October |
starting with another review of the WWII-era papers found at the Internat |
then a meeting with Abe, Alex, and the city's Deputy Mayor |
...who helps us gain access into the former synagogue near Valova street |
the building, a ruin after WWII, was converted to a bakery but now is in disuse |
there are some faint marks on an interior wall |
Mr. Vorobets leads us all on a tour of headstones yet to be moved to the new cemetery |
two sets of stones were recently found on Yuri Rohatynsiv street |
Mr. Vorobets and the Deputy Mayor guess there may be more under the road surface |
more road work is expected in 2012; more stones may surface |
now in the courtyard of the former Gestapo office |
this retaining wall has been of interest to us for months |
some of the stones look just like cut headstones... |
...and in fact are |
we take what we can to the cemetery, but more work is needed here |
we tour the local high schools with Mr. Vorobets |
this building dates from 1912; Marla has two relatives who studied here |
here's the famous and historic 'Red School'... |
...where Mr. Vorobets still teaches two days a week |
we continue the group's building image project... |
...this time on north Halytska street |
we visit the new cemetery to transfer stones... |
...and review the status again |
a quick visit to the souther memorial; things look good here |
the old cemetery is also in good condition.... |
but we are surprised to see a newly-built ohel here |
we'll need to learn more about this soon |
finally, we pay a quick visit to the village of Perenivka, just north of Rohatyn, before heading home to Lviv |