JOWBR Breaks Through the 2 Million Record Mark!

JewishGen is proud to announce its 2013 pre-Conference update to the JOWBR
(JewishGen's Online Worldwide Burial Registry) database. The JOWBR database
can be accessed at http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Cemetery/ If you're a
new JOWBR user, we recommend that you take a look at the first two
explanatory screencasts at
http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Cemetery/Screencasts/

This update adds approximately 75,000 new records and 21,000 new photos.
The database is adding 220 new cemeteries along with updates or additions to
an additional 330 cemeteries. This update brings JOWBR's holdings to 2.03
million records >from almost 4,050 cemeteries / cemetery sections
representing 81 countries!

Once again, donors for this update include a mix of individuals, Jewish
genealogical societies, historical societies and museums. We appreciate all
our donor's submissions and the transliteration work done by a faithful
group of JewishGen volunteers.

I want to particularly thank Eric Feinstein who has been helping me to find
and gain permission to add many of the records >from under-represented
countries. In addition, without our volunteer transliterators, led by
Gilberto Jugend, we would not be able to add the information >from some very
difficult to read photos.

Of particular note in this update are the following additions:

-Germany. We are adding close to 140 new German cemeteries (20,000 records).
Significant contributions came from:
Dieter Peters submitted approximately 130 cemeteries with 11,000
records >from his collection. Additional cemetery records will be added in
future updates.
Gerold Helmts of the Jüdische Gemeinde, Hamburg, submitted 2 Hamburg
cemeteries with 4,300 records.
Gil Hüttenmeister submitted 4 cemeteries comprising 2,750 records.
Professor Dr. Manfred Brusten submitted 3 Wuppertal cemeteries of
1,600 records.
-Israel. Thanks to Gilda Kurtzman for her ongoing submissions >from Netanya,
Petach Tikvah and Savyon. This update includes 12,700 records and close to
1,000 photos.
-New Haven, Connecticut. Thanks to Rabbi Eliezer Greer, Research Director
of The New Haven Jewish Cemetery Association, for supplementing and
adjusting records we originally had >from Rabbi Ed Cohen. Rabbi Eliezer's
group is responsible for an additional 4,200 records.
-Norfolk & Portsmouth, Virginia. Our appreciation to Donna Bluemink for
coordinating the submission of approximately 3,600 records >from 3 cemeteries
in Norfolk and for 3 cemeteries in Portsmouth, Virginia originally compiled
by Samuel Werth.
-Bender, Moldova. Thanks to Yefim Kogan for adding 3,300 additional records
and photos for this cemetery in the Bessarabian region of Moldova.
-Czech Republic. We are adding close to 3,100 records >from 11 different
cemeteries thanks to Achab Haidler >from the Chewra organization in the Czech
Republic.
-Bahia Blanca, Argentina. Thanks to Claudia Nasberg Director (Gerente) of
the Asociación Israelita de Bahía Blanca for submitting source documents
that include 2,250 records.
-Slovakia. We are adding 6 cemeteries, 1,900 records and 300 photos thanks
to submission by Shaul Berger and Ludmila Pártosová.
-Israeli Kibbutzim. Our thanks to the Israel Genealogy Research Group for
submitting 1,700 records >from 6 Kibbutzim.
-South Carolina Cemeteries. Thanks to Ann Meddin Hellman for coordinating
the submission of 1,700 photos >from 4 South Carolinian cemeteries.
-Waterbury, Connecticut. Thanks to Ruben Poupko for submitting 1,650
records and photos for 8 Waterbury cemeteries. Some additional sections
will be added in future updates.
-Bern-Wankdorf, Switzerland. Thanks to Rubina Lerch of the Sekretariat of
the Jüdische Gemeinde Bern (JGB) for submitting 1,650 records >from this
Swiss cemetery.
-Passaic Junction Cemetery, Saddle Brook, NJ. Thanks to Mark Pollack who
has completed indexing this cemetery with the final 1,500 records.
-US Veteran Burials. We are adding 1,500 records that update our collection
of veteran burials in Federal and State veteran cemeteries around the
country.
-Guanabacoa, Cuba. Our thanks to Daniel Kazez for submitting 1,400 records

from this Cuban cemetery.

-Ontario, Canada. Thanks to Allen Halberstadt, coordinator of the Jewish
Genealogical Society of Canada, Toronto's Cemetery Project, for updating 240
cemetery sections resulting in 1,400 additional records >from various
cemeteries.
-Slubice, Poland. Thanks to Katja Wolgast for submitting 1,200 records from
Slubice, formerly known in German as Dammvorstadt, which was the historic
site of the Jewish Cemetery of Frankfurt (Oder).
-Randolph, Massachusetts. Thanks to Deborah Hatch for submitting 1,000
records and photos for 4 sections of the Lindwood Memorial Park in Randolph.
-Peabody, Massachusetts. Thanks to Mitch Hollander an Alan Gordon for
submitting 1,000 records and 900 photos >from the Temple Beth El Cemetery.
-Soroca, Moldova. Thanks to Brock Bierman for submitting 900 records and
photos >from the old cemetery in Moldova.
Woburn, Massachusetts. Thanks to Marjorie Duby for submitting 800 photos

from the Beth Joseph 3 Cemetery section in Woburn, Mass.

Whether your name or records are listed above, we appreciate all your
submissions! Thank you to all the donors that submitted information for
this update.

We appreciate all the work our donors have done and encourage you to make
additional submissions. Whether you work on a cemetery / cemetery section
individually or consider a group project for your local Society, temple or
other group, it's your submissions that help grow the JOWBR database and
make it possible for researchers and family members to find answers they
otherwise might not. Please also consider other organizations you may be
affiliated with that may already have done cemetery indexing that would
consider having their records included in the JOWBR database.

Nolan Altman
NAltman@...
JewishGen Acting VP for Data Acquisition
JOWBR - Coordinator
July 2013