Ukraine -- Report on Cemetery Clean up and exhibit at Sniatyn

More on Ukraine -- Check Sam Gruber's blog for a long post and photographs about an "archeology of memory" project this past  summer organized by the Center for Urban History in L'viv to clean up the Jewish cemetery in Sniatyn, rescue tombstones that were used to pave a courtyard, and stage an exhibition.

The Center's web site reports:

The goal of the project was to return the attention of the inhabitants of Sniatyn to the multi-national and multi-religious heritage of their city with the help of the two week program of a volunteer camp made up of youth from Ukraine, Poland and Germany. The program included fixing up and recording the architectural cemetery ensembles of the city. Concurrently the camp become an opportunity for participants of the volunteer group to become acquainted with the heritage, as well as contemporary life of Sniatyn. The work of the volunteers focused on two cemeteries in Sniatyn - Jewish and Christian, which are found not far from one another. The Christian cemetery is still used as a place of ritual events. The Jewish cemetery is in a state of neglect and ruin, and gravestones are being destroyed by spreading tree roots. Both cemeteries are monuments to the culture and history of the city, witnesses of the life and death of Sniatyn’s past inhabitants.

 Nineteen young people took part in in the two week project at the end of July and beginning fo August.

The project was realized by the Centre for Urban History within the framework of the program "Memoria", which was initiated by the foundation "Memory, responsibility and future" and was led together with the Stefan Batory Foundation. The goal of the program is to inspire young people to look for traces of shared culture and history in the border territory. The geographical focus of the program is Central and Eastern Europe, where for centuries people from different cultures, religions and languages co-existed. The Second World War and the Holocaust, deportations and changing borders after 1945 almost completely destroyed the diversity of these territories.  That is why, within the framework of the "Memoria" program, events are organized with the participation of young volunteers from Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Russia, Belorus and Ukraine, which are aimed at the preservation of historical monuments, acquaintance with different aspects of border area history and culture and formation of contacts with the inhabitants of these populated points, where the camps take place. 

Ukraine -- New Report on Jewish Cemeteries in Kiev Region

Lo Tishkach, the international organization involved in documenting and preserving Jewish cemeteries, has just published a detailed report on the cemeteries and World War II Holocaust mass grave sites in the Kiev (Kyiv) region of Ukraine, which can be downloaded as a file.

This report on the Jewish burial grounds of Kyiv Region, or Oblast, is one of the results of a number of education and research projects undertaken by the Lo Tishkach Foundation in the spring and summer of 2009. It catalogues 52 Jewish cemeteries and 29 Holocaust-era mass graves. The publication, which can be downloaded HERE, also contains details of two mass graves dating from 1919, when many Ukrainian Jews were murdered in the wave of pogroms committed in the aftermath of the Russian revolution.

Thanks to the efforts of local partners and with the support of the Genesis Philanthropy Group, this material is now available for Kyiv Oblast, the area around Ukraine’s capital and its largest city. During the spring and summer months of 2009, 83 burial grounds in the Kyiv Region were located, visited, surveyed and photographed, creating a unique record of the region’s Jewish heritage.

The report gives the history of the cemetery and of the local Jewish community (in many cases destroyed in the Holocaust), as well as details of access, location and demarcation of the cemetery; graves, gravestones, memorial markers and structures; condition and threats.

Lo Tishkach surveys in the Kiev Oblast of Ukraine have shown that the following works are urgently required on the cemeteries listed below. 

Baryshivka Jewish Cemetery – Identification marker, fencing

Bohuslav Jewish Cemetery – Completion of fencing, vegetation clearance

Borodianka Jewish Cemetery – Fencing, reparation of broken monuments, vegetation clearance

Boryspil Jewish Cemetery – Identification marker

Brovary Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, identification marker

Byshiv Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, identification marker, restoration of remaining matzevot

Dymer Jewish Cemetery – Vegetation clearance, fencing, restoration of metal grave markers

Hermanivka Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, memorial plaque

Hnativka Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, fencing, identification marker

Hornostaypil Old Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, fencing, identification marker

Hornostaypil New Jewish Cemetery – Identification marker

Hostomel Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, fencing, identification marker

Hrebinky Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, identification marker

Kaharlyk Jewish Cemetery – Vegetation clearance, fencing

Kivshovata Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, fencing, identification marker

Kodra Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, fencing, identification marker

Kozyn Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, fencing, identification marker

Kyiv (Zvirynetske) Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, identification marker

Makariv Jewish Cemetery – Identification marker

Medvyn Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, fencing, vegetation clearance, identification marker

Obukhiv Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, identification marker

Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi Jewish Cemetery – Fencing

Piatyhory Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, fencing, identification marker, restoration of gravestones

Poliske Jewish Cemetery – Completion and restoration of fence, vegetation clearance

Rokytne Jewish Cemetery – Completion of cemetery wall

Rozhiv Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, fencing, identification marker

Rzhyschiv Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, fencing, identification marker

Skvyra Old Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, identification marker

Tetiiv Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, fencing, identification marker

Trypillia Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, identification marker

Vasylkiv Old Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, identification marker

Volodarka Old Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, identification marker

Volodarka New Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, identification marker

Voronkiv Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, fencing, identification marker

Yahotyn Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, fencing, identification marker, gravestone restoration

Yasnohorodka Jewish Cemetery – Delineation of cemetery boundaries, fencing, identification marker

Dinner at Jonker Street, Malacca 2009

After a long walking tour at Malacca Butterfly and Reptile Sanctuary, we continue to Jonker Street - Malacca (Melaka) for dinner.

This is the first time having my dinner over here. I heard there are many Good Nyonya Foods around the area. So we decided to stop at the small lane which connect Jalan Tokong and Jonker Street (Jalan Hang Jebat) (N2°11.862' E102°14.744'), you can refer from the map at the end of this post.

My intention here was to search for the Nyonya Laksa. While walking pass this shop (below), I remember I saw it somewhere from the internet, so we decided to take our dinner here...

And placed our order immediately at the hawker stall beside...

To avoid long queue from the stall, my wife bought some Sushi from the stall next to our table...

The Sushi stall, half of the customers were Caucasian.

The order :-
* Nyonya Curry Laksa
* Nyonya Assam Laksa
* Melaka Cendol

Nyonya Curry Laksa

Nyonya Assam Laksa

Melaka Cendol

By looking at the pictures above, I think you might know how was the food taste...
The Curry & Assam Laksa were just A NORMAL without any Specialty from Nyonya Taste!! The Cendol was just NORMAL like the stall along Johor Bahru street! Honestly, nothing Special about it! The meal cost as normal as other street food.

I confirmed we hit the wrong stall! Haha! Too bad, have to wait till next visit again...
You can try it if happen in this area, but don't expect any special on it...

We had a walk later on the Jonker Street after the disappointed dinner...Spotted the public toilet just at the corner...MYR0.20 per entry

Public Toilet at Jonker Street

Passed this unique handicraft shop at Jonker Street

Then I notice...This Is the Shop we were searching for! Marked down in my GPS, will be back soon! :)

Found this Unique Cafe - Limau Limau Cafe at Jalan Hang Lekiu which is opposite the Kampung Kling Mosque. The word 'Limau' (in Malay) mean Lemon. The special of it was...the cafe is not selling Any Alcohol and this is A Non-Smoking Cafe. The second Non-Smoking Cafe I found along Jonker Street...

Limau Limau Cafe at Jalan Hang Lekiu - Malacca

Related post about Jonker Street :
* Jonker Walk Night Market, Malacca (Melaka)-(CNY 2008 Trips)
* Stalls at Jonker Street Night Market, Malacca (Melaka)

The location of our Dinner at Jonker Street

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Greece -- Full Report on the Destructive Arson Fire at the Etz Hayyim Synagogue in Hania

 

 Destroyed library of synagogue. All Photos courtesty Etz Hayyim web site

Sam Gruber posts pictures and a full description of the destructive arson attack Tuesday night on the beautiful Etz Hayyim synagogue in Hania, Crete.

The fire severely damaged the recently restored ezrat nashim (former women's section) of the historic synagogue, and entirely destroyed the library and computer stations. Additional damage from soot and water to the rest of the structure and furnishing can be repaired, but at a considerable cost.

Sam posts the description presented on the synagogue's web site by our old friend Nikos Stavrolakis, the director of the synagogue complex, who personally raised money for and oversaw the restoration of the building in the late 1990s.  I vividly remember visiting the synagogue with Nikos in 1996, when it was still pretty much a ruin, and listening to his hopes and plans for it.

In his description, Nikos reflected about the significance of the synagogue and the attempt to destroy it --noting that the perpetrators had thrown and bar of soap against the burning building -- a reference to a "common anti-semitic quip in Greek [that] runs…’I'll make you into a bar of soap!’" and that local people apparently did not react.

What was quite notable was the lack of ‘locals’ despite the quite incredible noise of the synagogue alarm system and sirens from the two fire engines screeching through the neighborhood. What was even more disturbing and an obvious sign of a lack of civic responsibility was the apparent lack of sensitivity to the fact that had the synagogue been engulfed in flames at least half of the old city of Hania would have gone up in flames as the narrow streets and inaccessible quarters would have prevented access by the fire brigades.

We must be angry over what has happened to our synagogue. If we were not it would be an indication that we were either indifferent or morally numb. But exactly against what is our anger directed? The urban context in which Etz Hayyim figures at this moment must be considered carefully and any indifference on the part of the citizens to the material fabric of this city and its collective ‘psyche’ is tantamount to abetting to a degree the desecration of monuments, of homes and sites of common meeting.

What we must be angry about is the ignorance that determines racism, discrimination or badly examined lives. We have tried at Etz Hayyim to be a small presence in the midst of what is at times almost aggressive ignorance. We have done this to such a degree that our doors are open from early in the morning until late in the day so that the Synagogue assumes its role as a place of prayer, recollection and reconciliation. In many ways we have been successful through this quiet presence – perhaps our ‘silent presence’ wears not too well on some and is even a source of annoyance to others.

Often I have pointed out that we are perhaps the only synagogue of significance in Greece, possibly Europe, where there is little if any overt sign of protective security. Hand-bags are not checked, ID cards and passports are not examined, and one is not obliged to sign in. This character of the Synagogue must not change and the doors must remain open – or we have given in to the ignorance that has perpetrated this desecration. Our awareness of what ignorance can do to us will certainly determine how certain repairs are to be made – but at the same time we must be cautious about allowing ignorance to affect or determine the nature of our presence. We will have a heavy burden of funding the necessary renovations and we hope that you as either old friends or new ones will assist us. Any donations will be deeply appreciated and, of course, welcome.

The web site has a slide show of images showing the extent of the damage, which included the destruction of the valuable library and music collection.

At approximately 12:20-1:00 AM on the night of the 5^th January [,,,] one or two or even more individuals made their way into the south garden of the synagogue by climbing over the iron gate. Subsequent to this they set about making an improvised incendiary device by tearing open a large Ottoman cushion in the mikveh and then with the contents stuffed a canister that was filled with some flammable liquid which was then set afire under the wooden stair of the ezrat nashim. 

(The upper floor of the women’s section (ezrat nashim) serves as the office of the director as well as a library and reading room and contains valuable books in various languages on Ottoman, Byzantine and Jewish art and architecture as well as resource books on European and Near Eastern History from pre-historic times as well as a large section on Cretan history. A computer and CD player with over 150 CDs of Sephardic liturgical and secular music were also kept in the office.) Within probably minutes the assailants had taken off and the fire produced smoke that poured into the synagogue proper and then out into the street through the oculus in the facade of the synagogue.

Yannis Pietra, an Albanian emigrant living not far from the Synagogue, smelled the smoke and looking into the street saw it belching out of the facade and called the police, fire-station and then set off to find the director who arrived not long after along with Besnik Seitas the handyman of the Synagogue. At roughly the same time a young Moroccan, Nasr Alassoud, also traced the smoke that was coming down the street to the harbor. He proved to be a much needed hand by the director. By 1:45 AM the fire brigade had extinguished the fire and the police had begun their work. But the residual damage was only going to be apparent the next day.

Make donatation to efforts to repair the synagogue and rebuild the library to:

ALPHA BANK (Hania, Crete)
Account name: Friends of Etz Hayyim
Account # 776-002101-087154
IBAN:  GR74 0140 6600 7760 0210 1087 154
Nicholas Hannan-Stavroulakis / Director Etz Hayyim Synagogue/ Hania

Malacca Butterfly And Reptile Sanctuary (Part 2)

After the Alligators, the path will lead us to the KOIs Pond. There were many hungry KOIs, they splash the water on us when the kids feed them! :)

And the KOI pond area was beautiful and relaxing...

Following by the Tortoise Territory...some of them were really BIG...


Asian Tortoise
Description : This tortoise is the largest inhabiting in Asia, and the forth largest in the world.
The forelimbs have five large claws and are covered on the front with large, heavy, overlapping scales. By contrast, the hindlimbs end in four pointed claws and bare a conspicuous cluster of very large tubercular scales on the thigh either side of the tail. These are so large that the species is sometimes referred to as six-footed tortoise.
Geographic range : Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo.

Suddenly we attracted by some weird sound in front of us...then we realized the sound came from the bunch of Hornbill.

The family of Hornbill

But I was attracted by the White Peacock which stand quitely in the cage...

White Peafowl, Peacock
Description : Beside the India Blue, whites are the most well known peafowl type to non-enthusiasts. Contrary to popular belief, whites are non albinos, because their eyes are blue, not pink. The white is the colour mutation and although it can carry other genes, such as the blackshoulder and white-eyed, they are not visible because of its completely white colour.
Geographic range : Southern India, Sri Lanka.

Many types of Crocodiles appeared after the Peacock cage...they were fighting each other but too bad I'm slow to catch the scene...
I think they are hungry!



The Python area...



If you bites by the Yellow Python above, you left 10 minutes life if you are not seek for help immediately!!

The King Cobra - My favorite

The above Iguana was friend of King Cobra nearby the area...

Then the path lead us to a indoor room with Full of Spider!
I heard some kids asked their parents : "Daddy, where is the Spiderman?"

Big Spider - it was a sample

Once we exited the room, I thought the tour has finish...but...there were another outdoor area in front of us! That was the Apes!



White-Handed Gibbon
Description : The White-Handed Gibbon, like the gorilla, chimpanzee and orangutan, is an ape, not a monkey. The chief characteristic distinguishing apes from are the absence of a tail, their more or less upright posture and the High development of their brain. The White-Handed Gibbon (also known as Lar Gibbon) has a black to pale brown or yellowish-gray fur body, with white hair framing a black naked face.
Geographic range : Southeast Asia and Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand.

They are many small lizard family around that area too...





I just wondering...will they attack human? It looks like a small dinosaur to me...haha!
And the Malacca Butterfly and Reptile Sanctuary tour end here...


Related post :-
* Malacca Butterfly And Reptile Sanctuary (Part 1)

Location map of Malacca Butterfly & Reptile Sanctuary

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MY TRIPS - Home

Poland -- Moment Magazine publishes my article on Krakow

Me in the Ariel cafe, Krakow, 2006.

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

Moment Magazine has published an article by me looking back over 20 years of watching the evolution (and shaping) of Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter of Krakow.

Scenes from a Krakow cafe

By Ruth Ellen Gruber, Jan/Feb 2010
 

It's a sunny morning in early July, and I'm having breakfast at an outdoor cafe table in Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter of Krakow. I have been sitting at cafes in and around Szeroka Street, the main square of Kazimierz, for nearly 20 years, watching the paradoxical Jewish components of post-communist Poland unfold, and Kazimierz itself evolve from a deserted district of decrepit buildings—some with grooves on their doorposts from missing mezuzahs—into one of Europe's premier Jewish tourist attractions, a fashionable boom town of Jewish-style cafes, trendy pubs, kitschy souvenirs and nostalgic shtetl chic.

As Poland's historic royal capital, Krakow is one of central Europe's most beautiful cities and was one of the few major Polish metropolises to escape wholesale destruction in World War II. Once Kazimierz was a center of Jewish life and learning, but after the Holocaust only its architectural skeleton remained: Krakow's 64,000 Jews (among three million of pre-war Poland's 3.5 million Jews) perished, but seven synagogues and a score of former prayer houses, stores, homes and cemeteries survived. After the war, under the communists, Kazimierz slid into ruin, and only in the early 1990s did the neighborhood begin to take on new life. Even before Steven Spielberg came here to shoot his 1993 film Schindler's List, set in the wartime Krakow Ghetto and the city's concentration camp, Plaszow, Kazimierz was beginning to rediscover its Jewish soul.

Although Krakow is now home to just a few hundred Jews at most (Poland itself has maybe 5,000 to 15,000 out of a population of 40 million), the streets beyond my cafe are crowded with people here for the annual nine-day extravaganza known as the Festival of Jewish Culture. There are Jews from within Poland and from outside: Rabbis, tourists, earnest seekers of family history, writers, filmmakers, bureaucrats, philanthropists, academics, musicians and artists wander the square and surrounding cobbled streets. The vast majority of visitors, however, are non-Jewish Poles who have come to celebrate both the Polish Jewish life that once was and the contemporary Jewish culture that is still very much alive around the world. Some of them have helped bring about the renaissance of Kazimierz and a revival of public interest in Jewish culture throughout the country. Newcomers and regulars, Jews and non-Jews, come together at the cafes that line Szeroka and other streets and squares, turning Kazimierz into a moveable feast of drink, food and conversation that migrates from cafe table to cafe table.

Read Full Story HERE

Poland -- A New Warning on Jewish Heritage

Abandoned synagogue, Nowy Korczyn, Poland, 2006. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

The New Year brings a new warning that Polands Jewish hertitage sites are in danger. Scarcely new news, but important to stress.

Monika Krawczyk, CEO of FODZ, the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland,  makes the point in the Jerusalem Post.

"There are about 1,200 Jewish cemeteries and nearly 200 synagogues in Poland that survived the war," said Monika Krawczyk, president of the Warsaw-based Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland, which oversees the sites on behalf of the Jewish community. "But now, many are in a terrible state of disrepair and are literally falling apart," she told The Jerusalem Post in an interview during a visit to Jerusalem, adding that, "if we don't act now to save these sites, in another 10 or 20 years there will be nothing left to see."

Read Full Story HERE