Nowogrod Jewish Cemetery Project Background and Announcement #poland #ciechanow
Jeff Miller
In anticipation of traveling to Warsaw, Poland, to attend the =
International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies 38th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy in August 2018, and of my desire to make = a roots trip to the sites of my heritage, I hired Ancestry Pro = Genealogists in October 2017 to research my Jewish ancestry in Poland [although I've = been researching my Jewish ancestry for 20 years, and have found many records = and connections with possible ties to my family ancestry, I had been able to confirm relatively few of my findings as being tied to my family tree]. In July, 2018, on month prior to the planned start of the IAJGS = Conference, I received the following message >from the Ancestry Pro Genealogist = Research Team Manager: Although we have not yet found records in Europe for your = great-grandmother, Perl, we have found some incredible information about the family - we = have the death records of Herszek Berkowicz Burzy=F1ski and Ma=B3ka Abramowna Cymerman, your 2x great-grandparents and their 1845 marriage records. = We know >from these records that Ma=B3ka was born in Drogoszewo, Miastkowo, = =A3om=BFa, Russian Empire and died in Nowogr=F3d, =A3om=BFa, =A3om=BFa, Russian = Empire [today, Gmina Nowogr=F3d is in County =A3om=BFa , Volvodeship Podlaskie, in = Country Poland] Herszek was born in W=B1sosz, Szczuczyn, =A3om=BFa, Russian = Empire and died in Rydzewo, Miastkowo, =A3om=BFa, Russian Empire. It took quite a bit of effort in a short timeframe to locate and engage = a travel firm in Poland that would take me on a roots trip to the specific locations of interest to my genealogy. I found TRAVPOL and guide Andrzej Puchacz who picked me up in Warsaw at my hotel on our agreed-upon time = and date. On our travel northeast >from Warsaw, Andrzej inquired of passersby (local citizens) about places of Jewish cemeteries for my 2x great grandparents Herszek Berkowicz Burzynski and Malka Cymerman. Andrzej = learned from querying a random person along the highway that the cemetery place =in the area is located in Nowogr=F3d. When we went to Nowogr=F3d, again = Andrzej queried local citizens and found out the location for the cemetery. It = was unmarked and inaccessible- but that didn't stop us. We climbed up a = steep incline through weeds and made our way to an area with 18 headstones. Inscriptions were often worn away or obscured by weeds, but we did our = best to clear away some weeds and each of us took digital photographs. These = may shed further light on my ancestry.=20 I have since learned that the Jewish population of Nowogr=F3d in 1765 = was 26 and the Jewish cemetery in Nowogr=F3d was created about 1778. Between = 1860 and 1908, nearly half of the general population of Nowogr=F3d was comprised = of Jews. The cemetery is located on a hill, at the end of Poleglych Street. As a result of the damage sustained after World War II and after the = liberation, the cemetery was devoid of tombstones. The Lauder Foundation in 2005 = brought one tombstone to the cemetery, and in 2007 more tombstones were brought = from the foundations of nearby buildings. Additional tombstones are kept in = the Open-Air Museum in Nowogr=F3d.=20 I have taken it upon myself to create a project for restoration of the Jewish cemetery in Nowogr=F3d, and made contacts with key players in = Poland and elsewhere to help me advance this initiative. FOD=AF (Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland) = Director Piotr Puchta and I have agreed on a list of items for prioritizing in = the fund-raising, and a target goal has been set for the costs of doing such work. YOUR HELP IS URGENTLY NEEDED FOR THIS MOST WORTHWHILE PROJECT. Dan Oren, President of Friends of Jewish Heritage in Poland, has set up = a fund-raising page for the Nowogr=F3d Jewish cemetery on the Friends of = Jewish Heritage in Poland website. The page has more details of the objectives = of the effort. Friends of Jewish Heritage in Poland is a tax-exempt, non-profit 501(c) = (3) organization. Contributions are used only for projects in Poland. To contribute, go to: https://jewishheritagepoland.org/nowogrod.html Warmest regards, Jeff Miller
|
|