Journey from Brest to Volchin by car We had hired a driver for our 2 day stay in Brest from Top-Tour a local travel agency and requested that they speak a little English. After we were collected from the Brest Train Station we checked into the Hotel Vesta (which is close to the Brest Archives).We were now eager to head off to Volchin - it was about 1pm. However, our driver had other ideas and took us to her office in town where we were to meet her boss and have a welcome drink...an hour later we were finally on our way! Ann (Hannah) Williams, a Volchiner we had met in England and who had returned twice to Volchin in 1993 and 1996, informed us that it would be 45 minutes by car NW from Brest. (Please see also Ann's A Journey to My Birthplace, on this web site.) We had Ann’s cousin Shmuel Englender’s 1930’s Map of Volchin village (courtesy of Andrea Simon) and Ann had gone over this with us pointing out where the Jewish Memorial Monument was at the end of town on the main road to Vysokoye. Here we would place our Zelcer Family Memorial Plaque, light a Memorial candle and Terry would recite the Kaddish. Before we could do this though, a stop first at the Volchin Town Council Office was needed. We had a letter translated into Russian explaining our wish to place our Zelcer family plaque at the Jewish Memorial Monument where the horrendous massacre of the Jewish families of Volchin took place on September 22nd 1942.
The car journey seemed to take forever and our driver pulled over at one stage to check her map. I offered to help as we had our own detailed map Euro Cart Polen 2 showing roads to Volchin from Brest but was abruptly told she knew the way - we hoped so. Next Terry noticed from the back seat that the petrol gauge was on empty and I started to get a little concerned. Anyway, a few more miles and we were just so excited to see the road sign for Volchin in Cyrillic writing (looks like BOY4bIH) as Andrea Simon said from her visit in 1997 and as shown on our map. We asked to stop to take a photo...this was it Grandfather Lejb Zelcer’s home town!
Entering Volchin
We entered Volchin from the south of town across the river Pulva (tributary of the Bug River). Just before the river on your left was a large building an old mill that Ann Williams had told us about.
The Old Mill beside the river Pulva, Volchin
Our driver drove through the village to the town centre and we stopped outside the Volchin Town Council Office.
