A contribution by Nell29
For at least seven hundred years, the massive oak tree in what is now Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, gave its shade to countless people and has stood as a lasting symbol and meeting place for generations of Cossacks.
My Mennonite ancestors who lived nearby for about two centuries knew it as the Chortitza oak. Seedlings taken from its acorns grow in many places in our diaspora, including my hometown. Even though the beloved old tree is now dry and dead, I hope one day to see it myself.