Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio

In the last episode of Ukrainian Jewish Heritage, we spoke with Marla Raucher Osborn, who discovered her Jewish roots a few years ago in the western Ukrainian city of Rohatyn. Shortly thereafter, she and her husband left their home in California and relocated to Lviv, in western Ukraine, where they now run an NGO called Rohatyn Jewish Heritage. This NGO, or non-government organization, is dedicated to restoring Rohatyn’s centuries-old Jewish heritage, which was almost completely obliterated by the Nazis during the Holocaust. In the last episode of Ukrainian Jewish Heritage, Marla shared with us the reasons behind her driving passion for this work, a bit about the centuries-old history of Rohatyn’s Jewish community, and some of the different projects she and her organization are tackling. She also introduced us to one of the people who plays a key role in her organization.

In this episode, part 2 of our interview with Marla Raucher Osborn, we ‘ll find out more about this man so critical to her work. Marla will also provide a bit more detail about the challenges her Rohatyn restoration project faces, in particular Jewish cemeteries, and locating headstones—or what is left of the countless headstones that had been desecrated and vandalized by the Nazis and later the Soviet authorities.



Pawlina: Marla, tell us about Mykhailo—you mentioned, the people of Rohatyn working with you and with Jewish heritage community outside of Ukraine. Tell us about Mykhailo Vorobets.

Marla: A very special person. He is 83 years old. In fact we spoke about the Jewish descendants coming in 1998, working with the city to erect memorials. He was part of that, he was there. He was in touch with several of the descendants that worked on the creation of these memorials, and he continues to be there. At this point he is a retired school teacher, which is a very common characteristic I have found in towns; oftentimes the person who is the carrier of memory (for lack of a better word) is a former school teacher. He has written a number of books. He continues to lecture to students about the multi ethnic pre-war population of Rohatyn with the Jewish component very prevalent. Even last week he lectured to some students about this. He has been for the last six years since we created Rohatyn Jewish heritage he has been our key contact in the city. He doesn’t speak English which is another reason we always bring an interpreter with us. It was Mykhailo Vorobets that Renata met with at least once if not more times during her visits. I would like to add that, on his own for over 25 years at this point, he has been planting flowers at the mass grave sites, caring for the cemeteries in conjunction with the city, bringing Jewish headstones back to the cemetery if they have been found in town, and he continues to be our liaison with the city and the residents when Jewish headstones are uncovered in town for coordinating their return to the Jewish cemetery.



Pawlina: So tell us about the headstones, that is your main project, right?

Marla: Yeah. What to say about it? I am not a practicing religious Jew; but the first time I saw a Jewish headstone on the banks of the river in Rohatyn, it changed me. To see a Jewish headstone with Hebrew writing on it in a place other than a Jewish cemetery is a changing experience. It speaks volumes. The headstones were our first encounter when we returned for that second visit to Rohatyn in 2011. Mr Vorobets showed us headstones that had been pulled out of a road that had been opened for maintenance work. Headstones get pulled out of private gardens, or as we walk the streets of Rohatyn with him, because everyone knows him, and feels comfortable speaking with him; it is very common on trips for people to come out of their houses, and motion for us to come into the backyard,