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Tomorrow, on November 9th, 1938, everywhere in Germany synagogues are burning, a pogrom later infamously known as Kristallnacht.

Spurensuche (German for "searching for traces") is a photographic journey through the Munsterland, a region in northwestern Germany, in search for traces of Jewish life. Although a relatively small geographical area of a little more than 3,500 square miles, nearly all of the 66 towns of the Munsterland today were once home to Jewish communities. These Jews were the so-called Landjuden, Jewish farmers that lived for a century in this area of Germany and were a natural part of the identity of the Munsterland. This identity was destroyed in the Holocaust and only fragments of a once rich culture remain.

With the destruction of Jewish buildings by the Nazis, the memory of Jewish culture in Germany was meant to be eradicated. Nearly 70 years after the Kristallnacht Julian Voloj returned to document the last traces of a once rich culture. For Voloj, born in Muenster, the capital of the Munsterland, this project is a homecoming and new exploring of his own heritage, as a Jew and as a German.

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Julian Voloj was born in Muenster, Germany, and grew up in a Jewish community of just 80 members. His grandparents, Holocaust survivors, had emigrated to Colombia but returned to Germany. His personal background inspired him to explore issues of identity and heritage in his work as a photographer and writer. Voloj emigrated to the United States in 2003. The same year he was awarded with the Second Prize at the Washington Post Annual Photography Contest. In 2006, the Forward commissioned Voloj to photograph prominent New Yorkers such as Ed Koch, Edgar Bronfman and Abe Foxman for its anniversary book (to be released in 2007). Voloj was also commissioned for the exhibition "Germany, Land of Ideas" at the Deutsch-Historisches Museum in Berlin, one of Germany's most prestigious museums. His photographs appeared in the New York Post, the Jewish Week and other publications. Julian Voloj lives and works in New York City. To learn more about his projects, visit the website at www.julianvoloj.com.