Buried under the rubble of time, forgotten by the vicissitudes of history, lie two small towns, both shtetls that until recently have been lost to memory, especially to the memory of families who ended up in the English-speaking world. They were sister towns, no more than a mile apart, and their economies, cultures, institutions, and families were so intertwined with one another that some residents later hyphenated the town names, as if they were one place. In the end, residents of the two towns were liquidated together in an area along the road between them.

The larger of the two towns, Mlynov (also spelled “Mlinov” among other variations), still exists on maps today as “Mlyniv,” in what is now western Ukraine, close to Dubno. There was a small Jewish community residing there not long after the area became part of Tzarist Russia in 1793. The smaller of the two towns, called Mervits (“Muravica,” “Muravista,” among other variations), no longer appears on maps today and its prior location is just outside the existing border of its larger and still existing neighbor.

This new translation of the memorial volume opens a window into life as once lived in these two thriving, interconnected shtetls in the period from 1900 until 1942. Partly a collection of childhood recollections, folklore and stories, combined with the horrifying accounts of these towns' bitter end, these essays are a gift to those in the next generation who are seeking to understand where their ancestors came from and to honor their memories.

Mlyniv: Mlyniv [Ukr], Mlinov [Rus, Yid], Młynów [Pol], Mlinuv
Muravica: Muravytsi [Ukr], Murawica [Pol], Marvits [Yid], Muravitsa [Rus], Mervits, Marvitz, Merovits

Near Mlyniv		Near Muravytsi
Muravytsi 1 mile NNW		Mlyniv 1 mile SSE
Dubno 9 miles SE		Torhovytsia 8 miles WNW
Torhovytsia 9 miles WNW		Dubno 10 miles SE
Krasne 11 miles W		Krasne 10 miles W
Ostrozhets 12 miles N		Ostrozhets 10 miles N
Demydivka 13 miles WSW		Demydivka 13 miles WSW
Verba 15 miles S		Verba 16 miles S
Varkovychi 16 miles E		Olyka 17 miles NE
Kozin 17 miles SSW		Baremel 17 miles WSW
Olyka 18 miles NNE		Varkovychi 17 miles E
Baremel 18 miles W		Kozin 18 miles SSW
Ozeryany 19 miles E		Lutsk 19 miles NW
Lutsk 21 miles NW		Ozeryany 20 miles E
Berestechko 24 miles WSW		Kivertsy 22 miles NNW
Kivertsy 24 miles NNW		Berestechko 24 miles WSW
Klevan 24 miles NE		Klevan 24 miles NE