The town of Buczacz is located about 55 kilometers south of Ternopil, and about 130 kilometers east of Lvov. The town lies on the western bank of the Strypa River, at an economically and militarily strategic point. We know of Jews living in Buczacz already in 1500, when it was still just a feudal estate. In 1552 there were 14 Jewish families residing in Buczacz, the members of whom were involved in trade between Turkey and Poland. The Jewish community existed in the city continuously from the 16th century until the Holocaust, in early 20th century it numbered about 7,000 people, slightly more than half of the city's general population. For many generations Buczacz was known as an important Jewish intellectual center, combined rabbinic knowledge, Hasidism and Jewish Enlightenment. Key figures in Jewish culture of Eastern Europe lived in or grew up in Buczacz. One of the most prominent Hebrew authors, the Nobel laureate in literature Shmuel Yosef Agnon was born and raised in the city. Stories of Buczacz and its Jewish community, in their splendor and fall, are reflected in many of Agnon's works
Preparing to the expedition to Buczacz
מפגשי הכנה
27.03, Herzog College - The first meeting: Galicia in its historical context
8.05, Herzog College - Meeting with the Ad Hena Institute researchers
13.07 (forthcomming), Agnon House - Museum tour and the last preparations to the expedition