Roots Trip 2017

The 2017 Roots Journey took place from June 21-28, 2017.

The 2017 Roots Journey was an “international” trip.

Joining our group from Israel (Milik Wachtel, Clara and Yossi Meir, Or Avigdor, Irit Aharonson, Helen Gildener, and Varda Givaoli) were second and third-generation members living around the world: Gisele Gildener from the USA, Tzila Lee from Canada, and Sabina Harpak and her son Artur (third generation) from Walbrzych, Poland.

All the participants had deep personal and group experiences. The journey was enriched by Milik Wachtel, who was able to connect the sites we visited with his personal experiences before and during the Holocaust. The Gildener sisters frequently shared their impressions from the first roots journey they participated in with their mother.

We were privileged to visit the gymnasium in Boryslav and were moved to sit on benches that our parents may have once sat on.

We visited the Great Synagogue in Drohobych in its final stages of restoration, guided by the head of the community, Mr. Karpin.

The visit to the Belzec extermination camp made the magnitude of the concept of the “Holocaust” real for us.

In addition, the participants took part in memorial and remembrance ceremonies:

  1. The unveiling of a memorial plaque in Drohobych in memory of the Righteous Among the Nations, Donata and Eberhard Helmrich, in the presence of the Mayor of Drohobych, members of the Jewish community, guests, and a representative from Germany who read a touching letter from Mrs. Cornelia Schmelz-Jakobson, the daughter of the Helmrich couple.

  2. We were supposed to participate in the placement of a memorial plaque on the former synagogue building in Skhodnitsa. Unfortunately, the current “owners” of the place, the Baptist church, did not permit it. The plaque remains and is awaiting official approval to be placed elsewhere.

  3. The inauguration of the exhibition, “Stories of Loss and Survival in the Oil Districts of Galicia – On the Holocaust of the Jews of Drohobych, Boryslav, and the Surrounding Area,” at the Honorary Consulate of Israel in Lviv. The event took place in the presence of the Jewish community of Lviv.