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Jewish Kiev (Kyiv)

A tailored city-break or mini-break organised by Olyanna Travel is a great introduction to the rich and tragic history of the Jewish community in this wonderful city.

One of the more colourful associations of Jewish culture with Kiev is through the writer Sholom Aleichem who was born a short distance from Kiev - a nom de plume derived from the Hebrew greeting "peace be with you". The smash hit broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof which opened in 1964 ran to over 3000 performances was based on his story Tevye the Milkman. The Israeli actor Chaim Topol played the role of Tevye.

The story encapsulates the uncertain and frightening existence of the Jews in Russia during the run up to the Revolution when pogroms were provoked by the Czar and enacted by barbaric mobs with cruel regularity. The threat of violence was a part of everyday life in the schtetl testing the resolve and faith of everyone in the community. The tragedy of Tevye and his family is that anti-Semitism is not the only force that threatens the Jewish traditions; there are internal forces too - like the freedom to love who you want!

The story of Fiddler on the Roof, set in village of Anatevka tells of how Tevye's three elder daughters' search for a partner turns his world up side down. Tzeitel has been matched with the wealthy butcher Lazar but she wants to marry Motel the poor tailor- and does so. Hodel falls in love with the young Kievan revolutionary Perchik and when he is arrested and exiled to Siberia she follows him there. And Chava falls for a young Russian Christian and elopes with him.

The story ends with the villagers expelled from Anatevka and Tevye making his way to America.

You can see Shalom Aleichem's monument on Rognedinskaya street.

On the outskirts of Kiev hemmed in by the city is a wooded ravine - Babiy Yar. It was here that 8 days after the Nazis occupied Kiev that the city's Jews were massacred - 33,771 in two days.

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