Ukraine Trip Post #1--Day 1 (September 1, 2016)

(To see everything from my Ukraine trip, see here--I'll be posting regularly.)

I'm just back from a spectacular trip to Ukraine, which was more successful than I could have imagined.  I'll be posting details of what I saw here, so stay tuned!

It took a long flight to get to Vienna from Washington, a layover in Vienna where I had time to walk around the city center, and then another flight to Lviv. Did I mention I can't sleep on planes?

Here I go!!

Since my plane to Vienna landed early, I had 5 hours until the next flight was due to depart, so I decided to explore Vienna. What a beautiful city!

On my Vienna stopover

And then off to Lviv!  Austria still uses its old Austria-Hungarian Empire-era name, Lemberg.

Bipolar city names

When I landed in Lviv, I was met at the airport by the extraordinary Alex Denisenko and his friend (and our driver) Vitaly.  We immediately set off towards Volhynia.

As we got into Volhynia, the land was very flat.  We passed through a few small towns and villages, but it was mostly farmland.  Then we got to Shklyn (more on Shklyn later!), and headed towards Berezhanka.  This is the village where my grandfather Paul Diamond was born--at the time it was called Biscupice.

Bumping our way through Shklyn to Berezhanka

The road from Skhlyn towards Berezhanka was very bumpy--an old 19th century road still in use today. Berezhanka was a turn off that road through fields.

Entrance to Berezhanka

As we entered the town, we saw 3 older women sitting on the side of the road, so we stopped to see if they remembered any Jews who had lived there. All were ethnic Ukrainians who had been resettled from Poland in the late 1940s, so they obviously didn't remember my family. But they told us there was an old man named Vladimir who may remember, and a woman named Sofia walked us to his house.

In Berezhanka

Vladimir came out, and Alex explained why we were there. Vladimir asked for names, and Diamond/Diamant didn't seem to resonate with him.  But when I started naming family members, his face lit up.  He said of course he remembered "Tzivia's family." Tzivia was my great grandmother!  And that he knew there were two girls and at least two boys (there were three) and one of the boys was killed by the Germans (Shlomo) and one named David was saved by a local family.

I asked Vladimir what my great grandparents looked like.  He said that Tzivia had dark hair and was about my height (5' 5"). Avraham was a stout larger man.

The Diamond family house is in this overgrown area behind the pumpkin patch

The villagers said that Jews from the town had reunions in Poland during Soviet times, since they weren't allowed back.  They also said there was no Jewish cemetery in the village, and they thought the Jews were buried in Senkevychivka or Skirtche.

Remnants of the Diamond Family Home

Vladimir said that the family was relatively poor and sold beer and vodka that they made at the crossroads just outside their home, on the riverbank. He bought liquor from them when he had extra money (and since he was born in 1931, he would have been a child/teenager).  The house since had a fire and is largely destroyed.

He remembers they kept a cow in the cellar as well as ice to keep the alcohol they sold cold.

Remnants of the Diamond Family Home

He then got in the van with us and directed us to the house. It is completely overgrown, and I couldn't get there, but Alex did and took photos for me.

Vladimir then directed me to another woman in the village. This woman's mother was the one who helped to hide my Uncle Dave!  The woman remembers coming to Maryland in 1988.

Vladimir on the left; the woman whose parents saved Uncle Dave on the right

When I posted on Facebook about meeting this woman, my cousin Berly gave additional information:

So a little FYI. After the war, Uncle Dave really wanted to find the family that saved his life. When he found them, the first thing he did was to write to them. The response from the man who saved him went something like this. He said that he had waited all these years to find his son and he finally did. He died after he sent the letter. His children were told to never ever say that Jews were being hidden in their home. These amazing kids, ages about 3 and 5 , never said a word. They used to hide Uncle Dave in the snow , when the Nazis would show up (for days). They would then bring him back in and nurse him back to health. Amazing people!

View of Berezhanka from the "road" leading to Myrne

My grandfather had said that there was no shul (synagogue) in Biscupice and that the family therefore walked to Bludow (pronounced "Bludiff").  Using an old map, I was able to determine that nearby Myrne was formerly Bludow.  Vladimir stayed in our van and directed us over some horrible roads to Myrne. The road there is essentially some ruts through the fields.

Vladimir navigated us to the home of a 92-year-old man who initially said there was no synagogue in the town, but then said that all of the Jews gathered in "Chaim's house."  Chaim was a rich man who had a large home, so he hosted services for the community. Chaim's house has burned down, with only a doorframe remaining. The adjacent barn still stands and is nicer than most of the homes in the village.

Doorway to "Chaim's House," aka the shul of Bludow/Myrne

By this point, it was beginning to get dark (and I was exhausted--but exhilarated), so we drove back to Shklyn, where we checked into a rather cute little hotel.

Shklyn Hotel Room

So, where are we talking geographically?

Overview of Day 1 Locations

And here's a closeup of the small towns:

Towns & villages mentioned in this post

Stay tuned; more Ukraine trip posts will be coming!

Note:  I'm on Twitter.  Follow me (@larasgenealogy).

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