6 | MARCH 31 • 2022 essay Europe’s ‘Bloodlands’ W illiam Brawer, my maternal great-grandfather, was born in a village just outside the Galician town of Rohatyn. An acquaintance has devoted herself to pre- serving the history of that shtetl — erect- ing a memorial, creating a vast digital archive, retrieving matzevot (sacred pillars) unearthed during construction projects. She and her husband, both from California, even relocated to the nearby city of Lviv, and my wife has regularly lobbied for a visit to Rohatyn. “We’ll be so close,” she said a few months ago about my upcoming work in Poland. “You really need to go back to Ukraine.” Like millions of American Jews with Ashkenazi roots, I can link my family to the troubled lands that now fill our newsfeeds each morning, though the complex borders of Eastern and Central Europe can frustrate those seeking ancestral connections. For many years, I accept- ed what the Ellis Island and census records said: that my great-grandfather was from Austria, and even imagined him waltzing in Vienna. In fact, over his 84 years, Pomonieta changed hands five times: surrendered from the Austrian empire to Poland after the First World War, overrun by the Soviets as part of its 1939 non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany, con- quered by Hitler’s forces in 1941, and then “liberated” by Stalin’s army in 1944 — a bru- tal shotgun marriage endured for five decades. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, that small village an hour from Lviv at last became part of an independent Ukraine. At the time of this writing in mid- March, Pomonieta, about 100 miles from the Polish border, remains under Ukrainian control, though missiles have rained down near Lviv. Each day I read news of the conflict. And each day I remember my visit to Kyiv in 2016. That trip across Eastern Europe, sponsored by the Holocaust Education Foundation, attracted me for two reasons: we would work in neglected Jewish cemeter- ies, and we would visit the Rob Franciosi Grand Valley State University The Babyn Yar Memorial in Ukraine PURELY COMMENTARY 1942 - 2022 Covering and Connecting Jewish Detroit Every Week To make a donation to the DETROIT JEWISH NEWS FOUNDATION go to the website www.djnfoundation.org The Detroit Jewish News (USPS 275-520) is published every Thursday at 32255 Northwestern Highway, #205, Farmington Hills, Michigan. Periodical postage paid at Southfield, Michigan, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: send changes to: Detroit Jewish News, 32255 Northwestern Highway, #205, Farmington Hills, Michigan 48334 MISSION STATEMENT The Detroit Jewish News will be of service to the Jewish community. The Detroit Jewish News will inform and educate the Jewish and general community to preserve, protect and sustain the Jewish people of greater Detroit and beyond, and the State of Israel. VISION STATEMENT The Detroit Jewish News will operate to appeal to the broadest segments of the greater Detroit Jewish community, reflecting the diverse views and interests of the Jewish community while advancing the morale and spirit of the community and advocating Jewish unity, identity and continuity. DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 32255 Northwestern Hwy. Suite 205, Farmington Hills, MI 48334 248-354-6060 thejewishnews.com Publisher The Detroit Jewish News Foundation | Board of Directors: Chair: Gary Torgow Vice President: David Kramer Secretary: Robin Axelrod Treasurer: Max Berlin Board members: Larry Jackier, Jeffrey Schlussel, Mark Zausmer Senior Advisor to the Board: Mark Davidoff Alene and Graham Landau Archivist Chair: Mike Smith Founding President & Publisher Emeritus: Arthur Horwitz Founding Publisher Philip Slomovitz, of blessed memory | Editorial DIrector of Editorial: Jackie Headapohl jheadapohl@thejewishnews.com Associate Editor: Rachel Sweet rsweet@thejewishnews.com Associate Editor: David Sachs dsachs@thejewishnews.com Social Media and Digital Producer: Nathan Vicar nvicar@thejewishnews.com Staff Reporter: Danny Schwartz dschwartz@thejewishnews.com Editorial Assistant: Sy Manello smanello@thejewishnews.com Contributing Writers: Nate Bloom, Rochel Burstyn, Suzanne Chessler, Annabel Cohen, Keri Guten Cohen, Shari S. Cohen, Shelli Liebman Dorfman, Louis Finkelman, Stacy Gittleman, Esther Allweiss Ingber, Barbara Lewis, Jennifer Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller, Alan Muskovitz, Robin Schwartz, Mike Smith, Steve Stein, Julie Smith Yolles, Ashley Zlatopolsky | Advertising Sales Director of Advertising: Keith Farber kfarber@thejewishnews.com Senior Account Executive: Kathy Harvey-Mitton kmitton@thejewishnews.com | Business Office Director of Operations: Amy Gill agill@thejewishnews.com Operations Manager: Andrea Gusho agusho@thejewishnews.com Operations Assistant: Ashlee Szabo Circulation: Danielle Smith Billing Coordinator: Pamela Turner | Production By Farago & Associates Manager: Scott Drzewiecki Designers: Kelly Kosek, Kaitlyn Schoen, Deborah Schultz, Michelle Sheridan