Ukrainian Jewish life has been so diverse in this region, reflecting the many towns and villages and landscapes, but also the many massacres from the beginning of the 20th century to the Shoah. A fortress city like Belgorod, or a place of openness like Odessa, a crossroads of cultures, political movements and night-time festivities, forever inspiring so many artists. These are cities from which emerged personalities who left their mark on Jewish history in very different and complementary ways. From a religious point of view, with Nikolaev, the birthplace of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the ongoing pilgrimages to Uman and Berdichev, a major centre of Hasidism. On the literary front, the inevitable Pereyaslav, where Scholem Aleikhem was born. And of course, the capital, Kiev, with its sublime choral synagogue, the birthplace of Golda Meir. Ukrainian history, culture and worship, or simply at the legendary Savoy hotel in Vinnytsa.