The Heavens Are Empty: Discovering the Lost Town of Trochenbrod (24 page)

TOP:
Stylized sketch of Trochenbrod adapted from the back cover of the book, Hailan V’shoreshav (
The Tree and Its Roots: The History of T.L., Sofiyovka-Ignatovka
), the Trochenbrod-Lozisht memorial book. The image appears here courtesy of the Israeli Bet-Tal organization, an organization formally established in the 1950s to preserve the memory of the people of Trochenbrod and Lozisht.
BOTTOM LEFT:
Glass production remnant recovered by the author from the site of the glass factory in Trochenbrod. A principal product of the factory was medicine bottles, which accounts for the green tint.
BOTTOM RIGHT:
Candlestick from Trochenbrod, likely from well before World War I. Probably part of a pair for a Friday evening ritual used to welcome the Sabbath day. Presented as a gift to the author by Ivan Podziubanchuk.

TOP:
Matzah cover for the Passover
seder
[ritual meal], made in Trochenbrod in 1913 by Elke Antwarg as part of her wedding trousseau. Provided by granddaughter Miriam Antwarg Ciocler.
BOTTOM LEFT:
Wall clock crafted in Trochenbrod in 1914 by Michael Antwarg. The clockwork came from Switzerland. Several generations of Antwargs were carpenters and woodworkers.
Photo by granddaughter Miriam Antwarg Ciocler
.
BOTTOM RIGHT:
Bullet from World War I that was embedded in a tree near Trochenbrod. Presented as a gift to the author by Ivan Podziubanchuk.

TOP:
Engagement photo of Elke and Michael Antwarg, Trochenbrod, 1913. The photo was probably made in a studio in Lutsk. The couple and their children immigrated to Brazil in 1933.
Photo provided by granddaughter Miriam Antwarg Ciocler
.
BOTTOM:
Late 1800s portrait of a Trochenbrod couple, family name Cohen. Appears to be a retouched studio photograph.
Photo provided by great-great-granddaughter Laura Beeler
.

Portrait photograph of Idah-Sarah and Isaac Weiner and two of their daughters in Trochenbrod in the late 1800s or early twentieth century. Backdrop appears to be set up in someone’s house or a public building. Their son immigrated to the United States in 1906; the rest of the family remained in Trochenbrod.
Photo provided by great-granddaughter Miriam Weiner Bernhardt
.

Sofiyovka birth records, l918. Left side in Polish, right side in Hebrew. Signed by B. Rojtenberg (Duv Ber Rojtenberg), who was the Cazone Rabbi—the official government-appointed rabbi who kept certain civil records. This book was found in the State Archive of Volyn Region, in Lutsk.
Photo by the author
.

Polish map, 1933. Lutsk is just off the lower left corner of the map. The road from Lutsk to Kolki runs northeast through Kivertzy (Kiwerce), crosses the railroad tracks at Kivertzy station, passes by the village of Jezioro (Ozero) built around a lake (notice symbols for both a church and synagogue there), and here is shown continuing on as far as a village of houses lining a horizontal street in the top center of the map. The village, name not shown, is Trostjanets, located about halfway between Kivertzy station and Kolki. Normally, coming to Trochenbrod from Lutsk, Kivertzy, or the train station, you’d turn right just beyond Jezioro, on the road that passes through Przebrodz (Przebradze), and continue east to the southern end of Trochenbrod. Coming from Kolki southward, you’d turn left at Trostjanets and pass through Yaromel (Jaromla) or Domashiv (Domaszow) and approach Trochenbrod from the northern end. The Domashiv route would bring you through Trochenbrod’s sister “colony” of Ignatovka (Kol. Ignatowka), also called Lozisht (Lozyszcze). Note Trochenbrod’s size relative to other settlements in the region.

ABOVE:
Polish map, 1933. Larger-scale view of Trochenbrod and the surrounding settlements, including Horodiche (Horodysze), at the lower right. Notice the symbol for a church, Radziwill’s church, a bit east of the triangular intersection at the northern end of Trochenbrod. Villagers from Klubochin (Klobuczyn), at the upper right, worked closely with Trochenbrod partisans during World War II.
OPPOSITE TOP:
Trochenbroders photographed in 1930 by Ruchel Abrams, while on a visit from Cleveland, Ohio.
Photo provided by Burton and Ellen Singerman
.
OPPOSITE BOTTOM:
Rabbi Moshe Hirsch Roitenberg, a widely recognized scholar and something of a Trochenbrod celebrity. Photo dated in the mid 1930s. It was copied from the book,
Hailan V’shoreshav
(
The Tree and Its Roots: The History of T.L., Sofiyovka-Ignatovka
), the Trochenbrod-Lozisht memorial book, and appears here courtesy of the Israeli Bet-Tal organization.