An announcement!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/4017/lodz/boards.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An appeal to volunteers
================

Every time there was a funeral, the name of the deceased was added to
the board of the Purification House, with the surname, name, "Ulica"
(street) number, plot and section and the grave number.

In 1945, upon liberation, the Purification House and the boards still
existed, with the names of the dead who were buried in the "OLD JEWISH
CEMETERY". A Jew rescued the boards and smuggled them to Eretz Israel!

The boards were given by this Jew shortly before he died to Yehuda
Widawski, a Holocaust survivor >from Turek and Lodz, who has dedicated
his life to the cause of Shoah memory.

Widawski donated the lists, 36 in number, each one in the size of 70x70
cm, xeroxed >from the original boards, to the Landsmanschaften of Lodz
in Israel.

The Landsmanshaften than gave me another set of copies >from the copies,
as
I volunteered to transcribe the names and prepare the database of the
graves.
I dedicate the project to the memory of Widawski's beloved wife, Dobrish
(Dorka) Widawski, daughter of Avraham Wassercug z"l of Lodz who died
Tammuz 23, 5760 (July 26th 2000).

About 15,000 - 20,000 names are expected to be found in those authentic
and rare boards. Their main value is derived >from the fact that there
are the authentic burial reference, giving the exact location of the
grave in the premises of the old cemetery. Mr Widawski researched and
advised me that all the entries are >from the 19th century, but I myself
did not yet researched and compared to the cards
database, assembled in more than 20 volumes and which are also held by
the Landsmanschaften of Lodz with more than 100,000 records.

Morris Wirth volunteered to transcribe the names with me and I am very
grateful to him.

The data will be donated to JewishGen OWBR database and published in a
book.
Hopefully also JRI database will be enriched with this rare database.
A study is being conducted now to find out the period of the burials
recorded in those boards.

I shall be very thankful to anyone who will volunteer to help me in this
project.
I shall take care for sending him/her 2-5 boards.
It is my hope this work will contribute to the everlasting
commemoration efforts of the grand Jewish Community of Lodz!

Me and Morris Wirth already transcribed nearly 5000 entries. I give you
here A VERY PARTIAL LIST OF SURNAMES - with the hope people will get the
excitement I felt while first saw this document and will volunteer to
help in copying the names to the database in Excel.


Shalom Lodz!

Ada Holtzman
Web Site: http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/4017/