Category Archives: Ukraine

Ukraine Independence Day

Today is the 25th anniversary of the Independence of modern day Ukraine. The “original” so-called independence of the Soviet controlled Ukrainian’s People Republic was celebrated as January 22, 1918, but when the Soviet Union broke up in the late 1900’s, … Continue reading

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St. Stanislaus RC Church in Tarnoruda, Ukraine

When I visited my cousins in Ukraine, we were fortunate to visit the church where my great-grandfather and his parents would have attended, St. Stanislaus in Tarnoruda. After World War II most of the Poles in the area (including some … Continue reading

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Roman Catholic Church in Łuka Mała

When I visited the home of my ancestors in 2011 in what is now Ukraine, we briefly visited the town of Łuka Mała, also called Mała Łuka. Our goal was to see the Greek-Catholic Church where my great-grandmother had been … Continue reading

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Life in Faschivka–where our Cousins Live

In 2011 my cousin Alicja and I (along with her husband and son, Wojtek and Filip) visited the town that was home to my great-grandfather, Aleksandr Cymbał and my great-grandmother, Katarzyna Kucharska, before they emigrated to the US in the … Continue reading

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The Home of Jan Cymbał

Jan Cymbał is my great-great grandfather. He was born somewhere in the mid 1800’s in Tarnoruda in what was once Poland, but at that time was in the Austrian province of Galacia. At some time, he moved to the nearby … Continue reading

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Tarnoruda – St. Stanislaus Church

Today I am writing about a place that has a very special place in my heart: St. Stanislaus Polish Roman Catholic Church in Tarnoruda, Ukraine, called Kościół p.w. św. Stanisława B. M. Tarnoruda is a small town in the Khmelnytskyi … Continue reading

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Zhovkva

Zhovkva (or Żółkiew in Polish) is a historically Polish town that is in western Ukraine, not far from the Polish border. We arrived in Zhovkva late in the afternoon and stayed overnight, planning on getting up very early in the … Continue reading

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Kamieniec Podolski Castle-Fortress

The city of Kameniec Podolski is situated on an interesting “bulge” in the Smotrycz River in Ukraine. Think of a cartoon baloon above the head of a cartoon character. The bulge or “baloon” is the city of Kamieniec Podolski. And … Continue reading

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Kamieniec Podolski

Kamieniec Podolski is a town of about 100,000 people not to far north of Chernivtsi. It is a historic area of Ukraine and Poland. The first mention of Kamieniec Podolski is in 1025 as a part of the Kievan Rus … Continue reading

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Zolochiv Castle

Zolochiv Castle is one of the the main attractions in Zolochiv (Złoczów in Polish), a town about 20 km south of Podhorce in western Ukraine. It was built in the early 17th century by Jakub Sobieski, the father of King … Continue reading

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