Footprints on Cobblestone: Guest post

Today was my last full day in Ukraine, so Ricky has invited me to write a guest post on his blog. As you know, this trip was conceived by Ricky as part of his research into his grandparents' histories. Ricky's heritage is unusual in many ways. Being the grandson of four survivors of the Holocaust, and having as much information as he has about each of their stories is a gift. His heritage is one of strength, courage, perseverance, loyalty, humanity and faith.

We began our day entering an church on the main square in Ternopil in order to view archives which are kept there. Certain records for my mother's town of Zborow are stored in that region's archives. We went hoping to view voting records for several years in the 1920s, as well as Jewish Community organization logs for the 1930s. My mother told me that when she was younger, her mother was very active in society groups, and attended meetings in the evenings on a regular basis. Viewing these records would give us a chance to see our grandparents' and great grandparents' names in writing; to see that they were active members of their community.

Our guide wasn't hopeful that we would find any meaningful information. He told us that records are often mislabeled, that records of organizations are just minutes of meetings and don't list members, and that it would be very time consuming to go through all the papers which are written in Polish. Despite, that, we asked to see the records, and thanks to our guide's good relationship with the archivist, we got the records in an hour, rather than having to request them days in advance. Our guide handed us a thick file of voting records for 1927 and 1928. Ricky and I took deep breaths before beginning our search. And then we turned the page, and right there on the first page was a listing of my great-grandparents, and my great uncles on my mother's side. I had never known my great- grandmother's name, nor any of the great uncles' names or ages. It was so exciting to see their listing! A few minutes later, our guide jumped up across the room, and came over to us holding another thick folder of yellowed papers. He said "look- I found something! Your great-grandfather was a treasurer of Agudath Israel! And your great uncle was the vice-president!" We saw the minutes of the meetings, along with my relatives' signatures at the bottom of the pages. That must have been why my grandmother was also involved in organizations. It was what the family did.

This afternoon we left Ternopil to travel to Lviv where I am to depart from, where Joe (Ricky's dad) is to arrive, and where more archives are located. The archives in Lviv hold information about the residents of Zborow and Kolomyja dating back to the 18th century. I will not be here when Ricky receives the records he requested, but I'm hopeful that he will be successful in tying together more loose ends in his quest for information.

In the meantime, we spent our afternoon here walking the streets of Lviv. What a different atmosphere from the smaller cities, towns and villages we have visited in the last few days. It was refreshing to see a wide variety of people, age groups, clothing and big buildings. At one point on the main square, we witnessed Ukraine's official Day of Mourning marked by an assembly and show of flags. It was a time to remember all the Ukranians lost during World War II. It was strange, that just like in America, mostly older people were there to memorialize those victims. The young people on the periphery of the square walked by in their jeans and high heels (how do they walk in those things on cobblestones?) not showing any evidence that the War had any effect on them.

Ricky is now giving me a look that says "you're writing too much", so I'm going to say goodbye for now.