Out and About in Kharkov, Adventure 1: AVEK gallery

In Kharkov? Got a couple of free hours?

There's a small gallery/museum hidden away near Independence Square. Take the metro to Independence Square, then walk in the direction away from the giant Lenin statue. When you hit the street, turn left. Look for this pro-Ukraine clothing shop...it's hard to miss.

If you hadn't guessed, the colors of the Ukrainian flag are blue and yellow.

Even the shoes. Love it!

Turn into the alley by the blue & yellow clothes store. You'll notice this beautiful (and very large!) globe.

This is a map of Kharkov.

Here's the alley....look closely and you'll see the clothing shop in the alley and a hulking dark globe. You might even see a bride and groom like I did : ) I think they were going into the jewelry shop.

 There's a little art exhibit at the end of the alley. Check it out-

The building on the left is the gallery.

 "The AVEK gallery: artistic exhibitions."

Exhibits change periodically at the gallery. The current exhibit is:

The Holocaust

I didn't know very much about the suffering of Jewish people in Ukraine during WWII, except a little about Babi Yar (a pit near Kiev where 30,000 people were killed in 2 days). The exhibits in this place were in both Ukrainian and English, but I didn't read much because we had a Russian-speaking escort/guide. When Natalie told him we wanted a tour in 15 minutes, he looked shocked. We ended up spending a lot more than 15 minutes in there, though. I am not a huge fan of museums but this was so raw and real.

Women, some holding their babies, about to be killed.

This woman- Regina, born in 1934, a witness to these events- was interviewed in 2005.
Interviewer: Did the people know they were going to die?
Regina: Yes.
Interviewer: How did they react?
Regina: They just walked, that's all. If someone couldn't walk, they told him to lie on the ground and shot him in the back of the neck.

The Holocaust exhibition will be on display until mid-December.