Day two - the black hills (in German) 11/14/2011
Editors note: the post below in German is by guest blogger, Andrej Umansky, who has been a member of Yahad's team since 2004. In today's post, the team is in the village of Kosubivka, Ukraine, where they find witnesses to more killings of the Jews of Odessa. The Jews were held in stables for two months before being killed. Local people brought them food. The killings were done by local Germans, or "Volksdeutsche" and Ukrainian policemen. The bodies of the victims were burned; many of those shot were still alive when they were thrown into the flames. The team finds an old school teacher who errected a memorial with pupils near the execution site, where artifacts are found by Yahad team member, Micha. The hills around the site are black having been burned by a local shephard. Is this how they looked 70 years ago? Die schwarzen HügelGestern arbeiteten wir nur einen halben Tag: das Team hatte nach über einer Woche ein wenig Ruhe verdient. Ich nutzte die Freizeit um Karten, Bücher und Archivmaterial zu sichten und die nächsten Tage sinnvoll zu planen. Woznessensk ist eine reine Industriestadt und hat nicht wirklich etwas interessantes zu bieten.  Woznessensk – 2 °C Dennoch konnten wir bis nachmittags erfolgreich arbeiten. Wir suchten den kleinen Ort Kosubiwka auf, in dessen Nähe nach sowjetischen Angaben mindestens 600 Juden aus Odessa in zwei Scheunen, im Winter 1941/1942 eingepfercht worden sind. Wie in Mostowoje finden wir mehrere ältere Damen, die uns darüber erzählen, wie die lokale Bevölkerung den Juden Essen brachte. Manche gaben ihnen Suppe und Backwaren ohne Gegenleistung zu verlangen, andere tauschten sie gegen Kleidungsstücke aus. Zwei Monate später wurden die Juden in einer natürlichen Senke namens Babjena Balka zwischen den Dörfern Kosubiwka und Kriworutschko von Volksdeutschen und ukrainischen Polizisten erschossen. Sofort danach wurden die Leichen mithilfe von Heu und Brennstoff (wahrscheinlich Kerosin) verbrannt. Eine Zeugenaussage von Maria Rozhko aus der Außerordentlichen Sowjetischen Kommission half mit vielen Details. Demnach wurden die Juden nachts erschossen und verbrannt, was sehr erstaunlich ist. Normalerweise finden Erschießungen tagsüber statt, da einerseits dies aus Tätersicht praktischer ist und andererseits die Fluchtmöglichkeiten nachts größer sind. Rozhko berichtet auch davon, dass die Opfer zum Teil noch lebten, als sie ins Feuer geworfen wurden. Menschenschreie waren aus weiter Entfernung zu hören. Einwohner von Kriworutschko sollen Rozhko nach, gezwungen worden sein das Heu zum Erschießungsort zu bringen. Leider fanden wir keine Zeitzeugen in Kosubiwka, die dies bestätigen konnten. In Kriworutschko selbst leben nur noch wenige Familien. Alle älteren Menschen sind entweder verstorben oder umgezogen. Ivan, ein Geschichtslehrer in Rente half uns aber den Erschießungsort zu finden. Mit Schülern seiner ehemaligen Schule hat er vor zwei Jahren einen Gedenkstein in der Nähe aufgestellt. Er ist der „Lokalhistoriker“: er sammelt Archivmaterial, Zeitungsausschnitte und vieles andere um die Geschichte des Dorfes zu erforschen. Menschen wie ihn gibt es in vielen anderen Dörfern in der Ukraine und oft sind es nützliche Ansprechpartner für unsere Suche.  Gedenkstein am Erschießungsort Babjena Balka 100 Meter neben dem Gedenkstein findet Mischa, unser Ballistikexeperte, eine deutsche Patronenhülse und einen Knopf aus Vorkriegszeit. Ein weiteres Indiz dafür, dass hier Menschen ermordet worden sind. Ein weiterer Ort ist nur einige Kilometer entfernt. In der nähe des ehemaligen Dorfes Slawa, suchen wir einen alten Brunnen auf. Hier sollen mehrere dutzend Juden hinuntergestoßen worden sein. Zeugen finden wir jedoch nicht. Auf der Rückfahrt, sehen wir noch einmal Babjena Balka aus der Ferne: die Hügel sind ganz schwarz, ein Hirte hatte diesen Abschnitt in Brand gesetzt. Sah der Ort auch so vor 70 Jahren aus? Add Comment Day one: the sad school (in German) 11/14/2011
Editors note: the post below in German is by guest blogger, Andrej Umansky, who has been a member of Yahad's team since 2004. In today's post, "A school with a sad history," Andrej talks about the composition and roles of a Yahad team and the story of the Jews who were shot in the town of Mostovoye, Ukraine, after being held in the building pictured below, today a school. Eine Schule mit einer traurigen Vergangenheit Seit einem Tag bin ich nun mit meinem Team rund um Woznessensk tätig. Der Start wurde mir durch zwei Dinge enorm erleichtert. Ein eingespieltes Team und alte Bekannte. Aber der Reihe nach. Mein Kollege Patrice hatte mit dem Team schon eine erfolgreiche Woche verbracht. Man merkt, dass jeder seine Aufgabe genau kennt. Wie ist aber eigentlich ein YIU-Team aufgestellt? Mit der Zeit hat sich eine ideale Zusammensetzung herauskristallisiert. Neben einem Teamleiter, der auch in der Regel die Interviews führt, finden sich ein Kameramann, ein Fotograf, zwei Übersetzer (ukrainisch-französisch), ein Tagebuchführer, ein Ballistikexperte, zwei Fahrer sowie mindestens einen „Ermittler“. Jeder davon ist unabdingbar für erfolgreiche Forschungsarbeit. Als Beispiel kann man die Ermittler nehmen: sie finden Zeitzeugen, indem sie systematisch durch die Straßen eines Dorfes gehen und nach älteren Menschen suchen, die zur Kriegszeit vor Ort lebten. Dies beschleunigt unsere Arbeit enorm. Während der andere Teil des Teams einen Zeitzeugen interviewt, finden die Ermittler weitere Gesprächspartner. Ebenfalls wichtig ist der Tagebuchführer, während dieser Reise Jessica. Jessica studiert Romanistik an der Universität Baltimore, USA.  Zeitzeuginnen in Mostowoje Sie ist das „Gedächtnis“ des Teams. Über jedes Interview wird akribisch Buch geführt, über jeden Erschießungsort, den wir aufsuchen. Sie notiert neben den Namen der Zeitzeugen auch die genauen GPS-Daten der Vernichtungsorte. Doch dazu später mehr. Das Ziel des ersten Tags ist die Gemeinde Mostowoje, mit rund 2.000 Einwohnern. Meine Kollegen hatten am Tag vor meiner Anreise schon mehrere Zeugen ausfindig gemacht, die sich für ein Interview bereiterklärten. Nach dem zusammengestellten Archivmaterial aus deutschen und sowjetischen Quellen wussten wir, dass in Mostowoje hunderte von Juden im Januar 1942 erschossen worden waren. Warum ausgerechnet hier? In Mostowoje selbst lebten nur ca. 50 jüdische Familien. Jedoch war Mostowoje ein Ort, wo Juden aus Odessa erschossen wurden. Tausende von Ihnen wurden über verschiedene Wege von Odessa aus nach Norden getrieben. In Mostowoje wurden sie laut Zeugen in ein altes zweistöckiges Gebäude gepfercht. Dieses war von einem französischen Grafen im 19. Jahrhundert erbaut worden und diente vor dem Krieg als Verwaltungsgebäude. Dort wurden auf beiden Etagen, aber auch im Keller ganze Familien untergebracht. Es gab kaum Platz, man konnte sich weder hinsetzten noch hinlegen. Zwei ältere Ukrainerinnen (insgesamt fanden wir vier Zeitzeugen), die wir befragten, waren damals noch Jugendliche und erinnern sich noch gut daran, wie Sie den Juden mehrmals Essen brachten. Trotz rumänischer Gendarmen und ukrainischer Hilfspolizei, konnten sie Suppe oder Backwaren den bedürftigen geben. Die Juden wurden wochenlang im Gebäude festgehalten. Währendessen pressten die rumänischen Gendarmen ihnen Wertsachen ab. Schließlich wurden die Juden in nahegelegenen Panzergräben von sog. Volksdeutschen und ukrainischen Polizisten erschossen. Dies konnte auch eine der Zeuginnen beobachten, aus nächster Nähe mit anderen Jugendlichen. „Was kümmerte es die Täter, dass wir Kinder zuschauten?“, sagte uns Anna, damals 14 Jahre alt... Das Gebäude in dem die Juden untergebracht waren, wurde 1952 restauriert und ist seitdem...eine Schule. New research trip reports...in German 11/12/2011
 Editors note: the post below in German is by guest blogger, Andrej Umanksy, who has been a member of Yahad's team since 2004. Andrej does a considerable amount of research for Yahad in the archives of the German war tribunals proceedings. He also frequently participates in Yahad seminars and other exchanges with historians and academics. This week, he returns to the field to lead a research team in the Odessa, Nikolayev and Vinnitsa regions of Ukraine and will be blogging in German. In his post below, he discusses his arrival to join a team already on the ground and one of the historical aspects of the area: the presence during the war of a large population of German settlers, a number of whom participated in the Holocaust. Non-German speakers can get an idea of the content of his posts by copying and pasting the text into a translating site such as Google Translate. Blog post by Andrej Umansky Ich heiße Andrej Umansky und arbeite seit Sommer 2004 für Yahad – In Unum (YIU). Neben der Übersetzung, habe ich viele Forschungsreisen mitvorbereitet und forsche dafür seit mehreren Jahren intensiv in verschiedenen deutschen Archiven. Nun durfte ich zum wiederholten Male die Führung eines Forschungsteams in der Ukraine übernehmen. Gestern stieß ich zu einem der Teams von YIU hinzu. Meine Kollegen sind schon seit einer Woche im Bezirk Odessa und suchen nach Zeitzeugen und Erschießungsorten der jüdischen Bevölkerung während der Kriegszeit. Sie befinden sich im nördlichen Teil der Region: im ehemaligen Transnistrien, heute in der Süd-Ukraine zwischen dem Dnjestr und dem südlichen Bug, in den Bezirken Odessa, Nikolajew und Winniza. Dieses Gebiet ist historisch besonders kompliziert und deswegen auch interessant, da dort neben Ukrainern und Juden auch deutsche Siedler lebten, die sich noch zu Zeiten der Zarin Katharina II, dort niederließen. Von den Nazis als "Volksdeutsche" bezeichnet, sollten sie dort eine entscheidende Rolle bei der Judenvernichtung spielen. Während Patrice Bensimon, Leiter des Dokumentationszentrums von Yahad mit dem Team wieder in den Dörfern unterwegs ist, hatte ich einen langen Weg vor mir. Während andere Kölner sich noch für den Karneval ausruhten, ging es früh los zum Flughafen. Von Köln flog ich nach Odessa über Wien. Von Odessa wiederum, stand noch eine mehrstündige Fahrt an, bevor ich das gemeinsame Hotel in Woznessensk erreiche. Die Unterkunft muss möglichst strategisch liegen, damit ein YIU-Team möglicht zeitsparend einen ganzen Abschnitt bereisen kann. Trotzdem werden während eines Forschungsaufenthaltes tausende Fahrtkilometer zurückgelegt. Auf unasphaltierten und schlecht befahrbaren Straßen, bei Kälte oder Hitze, Regen oder Schnee. Selbst in die entlegensten Dörfer sind die Täter gefahren, nur um eine einzige jüdische Familie zu vernichten. Von dieser Reise würde ich gern in kurzen, blog-ähnlichen Texten erzählen. Von der Suche nach den Zeitzeugen, dem Leben in den Dörfern, die wir besuchen, den Erinnerungen der alten Menschen, unserer akribischen Spurensuche nach den Massengräbern. NOVEMBER 11th REMEMBRANCE DAY & POST-UKRAINE REFLECTIONS by guest blogger, Geneviève Blouin 11/11/2011
Editor’s note – In July, Geneviève Blouin, who works for Yahad in Canada, accompanied an investigation team to Odessa, Ukraine, to research the surrounding area. Following are her observations after a few months of reflecting on the experience. To read earlier posts from her trip, click on “Odessa trip” in the right hand column of this page.  In Canada, November 11th is Remembrance Day and commemorates the sacrifices that Canadians made in armed conflicts, including World Wars I and II. While we must honour those who fought to serve and protect us, we must not forget the victims of war as well as those we lost long before protective forces were able to defend their lives. On this November 11th, I reserve a moment of silence for the Jewish and Roma victims I learned more about during my trip to the Ukraine with Yahad this last August. In the spirit of Remembrance, I find myself recalling memories of our last day in the Ukraine and wish to share with you a few reflections… On August 4, we were in the village of Sakharove, in the region of Odessa. We began that day by first interviewing a woman named Tamara. She spoke of the day the Germans brought Jews to their village. Most of the Jews were kept in a stable (that no longer exists today) for a few weeks and then were housed with villagers. This now very elderly woman talked about how a woman named “Ghenia” and her niece “Lida” stayed with her uncle next door. She recalled playing with Lida and how one day, she found herself walking in the column of Jews that were being marched off to their death. She came within an inch of death before being pulled out of the column by a guard who recognized her and pulled her away from the fate Lida and Ghenia were about to face. These names stay with me today. The existence of these women may have been lost forever to their relatives and others who would have been unable to trace them to this final resting place if the elderly woman’s fading memory had not been recorded as testimony by Yahad’s research team -- testimony that will eventually be made available online via Yahad’s and the USHMM’s websites.  The second witness we interviewed in Sakharove was a woman named Larissa. After recalling a similar scenario from the previous witness, Larissa talked about a time after the war when some of the perpetrators of these murderous crimes were hanged in town for all to see. While for some, the hanging of the perpetrators may have represented a form of “justice,” it doesn’t bring back the approximately 500 people that were killed in that village. As with many accounts, we heard how witnesses saw the column of Jews arrive to where they were held captive. We heard of how during the winter months, some villagers would bring the Jews hot water and others would barter with them for food which was scarce for everyone at the time, but more so for the Jews.  We heard of the day when all the Jews that were brought to the village were forced to form a column and were led off to be killed: they were shot next to a pit in line-ups of 2 to 6 people at a time, their bodies stacked (often only wounded and not dead), with a few villagers requisitioned by the Nazis to extract gold teeth from the victims before the bodies were burned the following day. Bodies would burn for three days; moans could be heard until the flames died out. Our previous interviewee, Tamara, had reported that a woman who was shot along with her two children was, in fact, only wounded and hid by the side of the execution pit until nightfall. She fled to a nearby house where she was hidden until the end of the war by Tamara’s aunt. There were too few of these survival stories but they provided at least fragments of relief from the much more numerous accounts of those less fortunate. I remarked to a Yahad research team member that the stories were often the same from village to village and they corrected me by reminding me of the details that made each village scenario or extermination site different. It is almost instinctive as a human to want to label such events as “one-in-the-same” in the hopes of processing the traumatic information more easily. But it is these specific details that must be noted and preserved as they represent the fates not of a people as a whole, but of individuals’ respective lives and how those came to an end. So many died anonymously, do we not at least owe them the respect of preserving as many details of these mass exterminations as possible? We cannot, as Father Desbois often remarks, let their ashes be swept under the rug of time and filed as “history,” from which the world should just move on. We owe the victims some form of acknowledgement. We need to speak for those who cannot, and on this Remembrance Day, I ask you to include a thought for Lida and Ghenia, and all those who’s names will never surface.  STILL LIFE, POST-UKRAINE REFLECTIONS CONTINUED… In an inadvertent homage to French photographer Eugène Atget, who for three decades documented doors, windows, interior courtyards and local residents of Paris in an effort to capture the decline of the Old Regime, I found myself taking many photos of the interiors and courtyards of our interviewees’ homes.  While many homes had electricity, they did not all have running water and they all still use outhouses. While we observe their traditional way of life and their continued agricultural practices, we understand that nothing has changed for them on the surface but every discussion reveals a change in their mentality.  These people were once silenced by the fear of accountability for sharing information when there was Communist rule. Now elderly, as many feel death approaching, Yahad’s work is their last opportunity to archive a testimony of their memories before this land forgets them too. Moment Magazine profile of Father Desbois 10/29/2011
Moment Magazine has just published an extensive profile of Father Desbois in its Nov-Dec 2011 issue. Among the quotes, by Hannah Rosenthal, Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism in the Obama administration: “He is a mensch,” she says. “Some people think the lamed vavnicks that are holding the world up have to be Jewish,” she says of the traditional 36 anonymous righteous men and women who are said to inhabit the world in every generation. “I don’t. Desbois is one of them.” The Pinchuk Foundation, one of the sponsors of the Holocaust by Bullets exhibit in Kiev, has posted a video of Father Desbois providing a guided tour of the exhibit. U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John F. Tefft has posted an article on the Embassy blog about the Holocaust by Bullets exhibition. The post includes a short, moving performance by Mark Ludwig a violinist with the Boston Symphony playing a piece written by a gifted young composer who perished in the Holocaust. Return to the scene of the crime 09/09/2011
First-ever Eastern European exhibition of the Holocaust by Bullets opens in Kiev.  The Khreschatyk, the broad main thoroughfare sweeping through the center of Kiev is lined with fashionable stores, restaurants and upscale hotels. Shoppers, strollers and street performers stream along the wide, terraced sidewalks, enjoying the mild autumn weather. Seventy years ago, the neighborhood around the Khreschatyk was in flames, ripped apart by mines left behind by the Red Army retreating in the face of the Nazi advance. The Nazis, already planning the mass execution of Kiev’s Jews, seized upon the mayhem as a pretext for posting notices on September 28 ordering all Jews to assemble at 8:00 a.m. the next day at an intersection near the Jewish and Orthodox cemeteries, bringing with them money, valuables and warm clothing.  Expecting deportation, thousands of Jews turned up and were marched to a large ravine called Babi Yar. There, more than 33,000 Jews were massacred in the largest single shooting on Soviet territory, part of the estimated 1.5 million Jews killed on the territory of present-day Ukraine in the Holocaust by Bullets.  The echoes of the past returned to the Khreschatyk this week with the opening of the “Shoah by Bullets: the Mass Shootings of Jews in Ukraine 1941-1944.” The exhibition, created by Paris’ Memorial de la Shoah, recounts the history of the genocide in Ukraine and details the work of Yahad – In Unum to document the evidence, educate the public and preserve a dignified remembrance of the victims. It wasn’t just any opening.  For Yahad, it was a return to its origins, the country where its investigations began, where Father Desbois’ grandfather was imprisoned during the war and the home of several Yahad team members, including Svetlana and Micha, both present for the ceremony.  For Ukrainians, the exhibition may represent something particularly powerful, a confrontation with a terrible chapter in human history that took place in their country, but also a necessary step in continuing to establish Ukraine’s European identity. Some spoke of the need to bring together what have historically been two separate chapters of the same tragedy; others, the need to educate the country’s younger generations; for some, it signals a somber, perhaps painful, recognition regarding some dark truths. The exhibition’s arrival appears to be churning some complicated emotions.  Victor Pinchuk, Father Desbois and Chief Rabbi of Dnepropetrovsk, Shmuel Kaminezki © Author, Courtesy PinchukArtCentre Photo by Sergey Illin An arrival made possible by the commitment of one of its most successful business leaders, Victor Pinchuk, whose philanthropic foundation co-organized the exhibition: “We are all united by one goal – to remember what happened and to understand how it happened, that this nightmare may never be repeated, and that courage, cooperation and tolerance will always prevail in the future.” The historical significance of the occasion was reflected by the presence at the opening of the Ambassadors of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Israel and the U.S. The UK Ambassador, who also met with Father Desbois during the week, featured the exhibition on his blog.  Ambassadors and other dignitaries at opening © Author, Courtesy PinchukArtCentre Photo by Sergey Illin An educational program created by the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, USA, and the Ukrainian Centre for Holocaust Studies also will be carried out around the exhibition to involve, inform and engage Ukrainian pupils and students in a dialogue on the subject.  The opening attracted considerable press coverage, including prominent coverage on Ukrainian television and in print, a widely-reported AP story and an article in the French daily, La Croix. Most stories included a photo of Father Desbois guiding a group of VIP’s who attended the opening, including former Ukrainian President Kuchma and Rabbi Kaminezki -- who will be helping to organize the exhibition’s display as it travels through Ukraine to his community. Said Father Patrick Desbois: “Our focus is identifying the mass gravesites of the genocide – we are not hunting for the killers or seeking to assign culpability. Instead, we are looking for the victims, too often cast aside and forgotten in the historical reconstruction of events. Our work is about education and increasing awareness and understanding of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. It is the greatest barrier we can build against future genocide.” The week also marked the release of the Ukrainian-language version of Father Desbois’ book, “The Holocaust by Bullets: A Priest's Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews.” Haunting words... It seems only right to leave the last word for this post to a Ukrainian. The following poem was written by Lena, a Ukrainian girl, in memory of her 8-year old sister, Dora, whose remains lie in a mass grave beneath the Crimean plain: Dora's poem There is some earth There is some earth, earth which doesn’t sleep… When the wind blows, Listen, it goes on screaming, These nightmare moments, There is some earth which doesn’t sleep… It doesn’t see the aurora, or the dawn Look, it still has the objects Belonging to its close ones with it My bed is softer than feathers… My bed is softer than feathers It gives me its benediction In my life nobody helped me as much With the touch of its warmth… My plume is soft, more solid than granite There is some earth which never sleeps. The poem was reprinted in full by a number of Ukrainian media.  Romania trip - last day 08/11/2011
 We’re in the car again, driving through the darkness of the Romanian countryside. It’s late, maybe 10:30, 11:00. We pass through the small towns, Vrata, Salcia, Cujimir…we pass young people walking along the road in small groups. Vali is driving and has put in a CD of Roma music – he knows what makes us happy. It’s the end of another trip with Yahad. It’s been less than a week, but seems much longer. It’s not just the length of the days or the hours spent bouncing along the rutted dirt roads or even the emotional intensity of some of the stories we hear; maybe it’s the sheer weight of the history of people struggling, suffering, dying and surviving at a time of war.   The deportation stories vary. Nomadic Roma driving their carts across the country, escorted village to village by police; sedentary Roma packed into rail cars that cross the country in two days, four days, two weeks…  Some were provided with food and water; some were given nothing; they lived in small houses, stables or in holes dug into the open fields where they were deposited; they were guarded by Ukranians, Romanians or no one; their neighbors were charitable, brutal or non-existent; death claimed grandparents, siblings, everyone or no one from their families.  Witness, third from left, in nomadic Roma family photo and today.
| Yahadblog author: ArchivesNovember 2011 LinksYahad - In Unum CategoriesAll |
RSS Feed