The Russian invasion put Diana Bukman back in touch with her ex-husband in Israel. It also sent her former colleague across the world to Richmond, Va.
By: Mike Wagenheim – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org
The term “displaced persons” doesn’t always capture adequately how much of a geographical impact wars have. Diana Bukman, who is now half a world away from a colleague in Ukraine and reconnected in Israel with her ex-husband, knows that all too well.
Moving to Israel was what made her first marriage fall apart. Her then-husband insisted on making aliyah, while she wanted to stay in Ukraine, where she directed a volunteer center in Odessa.
“It was not in my dreams to live in Israel,” she told JNS.
A year ago this month, when Russia invaded, Bukman wanted to stay in Ukraine to help, but her mother insisted that she pack her bags and flee the country with her two children. Her intended destination was Germany, where she could easily find work in her field. But a Jewish Agency bus brought her and her children to Bucharest, Romania.
cont’d…