Music: “The Children of Trochenbrod” is an original song that folksinger Joe Jencks composed by when he heard Trochenbrod’s story. The song can be heard in the film, “Lost Town.” A recording of “The Children of Trochenbrod” can be obtained by contacting joe@joejencks.com, 206-619-4104.
Joe’s website is joejencks.com.
Where to buy the book:
Amazon (audiobook also available here) See the reviews on this website
Barnes & Noble See the reviews on this website
Powell’s Books See the reviews on this website
All other online bookstores
All brick-and-mortar bookstores
The Heavens Are Empty is also available in Polish. The Polish publisher, Świat Książki, is part of the Weltbild company. Polish editiions can be ordered through the Weltbild website: Weltbild.pl.
The Heavens Are Empty is also available in Italian, from the Italian publisher Ugo Guanda.
Website of Bet Tal: Bet Tal is the community of natives and descendants of Trochenbrod and Lozisht in Israel. Bet Tal’s website is in both Hebrew and English: www.Bet-Tal.com.
Travel: In 2012 a group of American descendants visited the site of Trochenbrod, its mass graves, and surrounding villages. They talked to elderly Ukrainians who who spent time in Trochenbrod as children; they learned about partisan fighters from Trochenbrod when they visited the nearby partisan museum; they left a “We Remember” marker at the site of Trochenbrod (first photo, left); they said kaddish at the site of the Trochenbrod’s mass graves (second photo, left); and much more. I organized this trip with the help of a local Ukrainian friend, Sergiy Omelchuk.
If you would like to visit the site of Trochenbrod, English-speaking Sergiy would be your perfect arranger, driver, and guide. To discuss a possible trip and the costs with him: shamanik@gmail.com.
For other or wider-ranging Jewish roots trips in Ukraine, or for archival research there, I recommend historian/
researcher/arranger/
guide/driver Alexander Dunai. I depended on Alex to help me during the first ten years of my visits to Trochenbrod:
TheLostTownBook.com is the website for a new, completely restructured, rewritten, re-edited, and redesigned book aimed at young readers, ages 12–17. THE LOST TOWN; Bringing Back Trochednbrod was published August 18, 2015. It tellsTrochenbrod’s story in a way that is accessible, enjoyable, and memorable for young readers--but it accomplishes much more than that.
The movie: Lost Town, is a documentary film by Jeremy Goldscheider and Richard Goldgewicht that uses documentary footage, still photos, animation, and original music to tell the story of Trochenbrod and my efforts to bring its story to light. Lost Town premiered at the Cleveland International Film Festival on April 7, 2013. Learn more about the movie and watch the trailer at LostTownMovie.com.
Lost Town is available for screening or as a home DVD from 7th Art Releasing: 7thart.com/films/Lost-Town.
Interview of the Lost Town team at the Cleveland International Film Festival: youtube.com/watch?v=DAsi5YoHME0.
Review of Lost Town in The Cleveland Plain Dealer: cleveland.com/moviebuff/index.ssf/2013/04/cleveland_international_film_f_46.html.
Review of Lost Town in The Cleveland Jewish News: http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/features/leisure/arts/article_c6ec6e1e-9d2f-11e2-bcb1-001a4bcf887a.html.
