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| nuthatch | profile | all galleries >> Ukraine >> a day with Yahad - In Unum | tree view | thumbnails | slideshow |
 we join the study group early for a bus ride to the east side of Lviv... |
 ...to meet a witness to killings in the Lisinitchi fields |
 Adolf describes what he saw, as a 12-year-old in 1943 |
 the translator repeats in French |
 Adolf provided testimony for the Yahad work in the area during the past decade |
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 on the bus again, to the forest itself |
 the Yahad team and guests head off into the woods |
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 a military memorial; there are no memorials to the Jews |
 the group gathers |
 Father Desbois describes the extent of the mass graves... |
 ...and the process used by the Germans and their forced or willing collaborators |
 witnesses say these hills were treeless during the war |
 over 200,000 people were exterminated in the region during the occupation of Lviv, many in these ravines |
 for the rest of the study group, this day follows a long one at Belzec and Rava-Ruska... |
 ...preceded by another two days in the old Jewish quarter of Krakow, and the camps of Birkenau and Auschwitz |
 Yahad staff and guests are tired but attentive to the unique issues of this piece of world history |
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 Yahad staff mark the site of one of the grave pits where war prisoners and Jewish civilians were shot and buried |
 later, the pits were partially emptied and the bodies burned by the Germans and forced labor in Action 1005... |
 ...as the Soviet army advanced on the area... |
 ...but the work was incomplete; others continued to dig the gravesites for metals and anything valuable (and still do) |
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 heading up a hill to another of the many grave sites |
 the woods are a picnic and recreation area now, ignorant of the recent past |
 we pause for a discussion of the events, and the recent investigations to bring the crimes to light |
 Yahad has been gathering physical evidence and taking testimony from witnesses in Eastern Europe since 2004 |
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 the leaders of this trip pause at a memorial to Italian prisoners of war killed in the same actions |
 on the road again, further east... |
 ...to the town of Busk |
 the group exits the bus at an ancient Jewish cemetery |
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 a bucolic setting, overlooking a site of horrible history, until recently undocumented |
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 Father Desbois describes the area and the events which took place here |
 and we head down through the cemetery to the killing field |
 the group includes people from a dozen nations... |
 ...with many reasons to be here and learn |
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 the group assembles at the site |
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 from the killing field to the cemetery |
 Anton, a witness to the killings as a boy, arrives with his wife and a Yahad staffer |
 he describes what he saw from a grange above the river |
 the translator tells us in French |
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 the times are difficult for Anton and his wife to relate |
 a thousand Jews were killed here beside the cemetery (another several thousand nearby) |
 the bodies buried by forced labor |
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 a view up the ravine from where the events took place |
 a pause for reflection |
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 the history is difficult to absorb |
 gathering again, before the next leg of the journey |
 heading further eastward |
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 a change of transport, to handle the rougher roads |
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 into the forest near Olesko |
 Father Desbois waits for the group to assemble |
 this is a site with no markers or memorials... |
 ...where women and children were murdered and buried |
 it is a sacred place |
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 walking back to the cars and bus, a time to think about what we've seen today |
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 while the rest of the group heads back to Paris or other homes, we'll stay on in Lviv for another two months |