The Przemysl Identification Project: an update
Gesher Galicia SIG
This project, as announced earlier, aims to identify the town of
origin of 577 books of Jewish records held in the Przemysl State Archive. Nearly all are index books of vital records, with most of them presumed to be from Galician towns. In some cases, the type of book (of births, deaths, or marriages) is also not known. Earlier this year, Gesher Galicia discussed with the Polish State Archives and the Przemysl State Archive a possible project to identify these books over two to three years, with Gesher Galicia members making the identifications. An informal agreement was reached in October and the project began at the end of that month. The formal agreement was subsequently signed in Przemysl by Elzbieta Laska, director of the Przemysl archive, and Piotr Gumola, Gesher Galicia's representative in Poland. Under this agreement, the archive scanned all 577 unknown books, and gave Gesher Galicia the scans. The project, managed at the project secretariat in Warsaw by Piotr Gumola and Pawel Malinowski, involves Gesher Galicia members who have volunteered to be identifiers. To date, almost 30 members have offered or inquired about taking part, and about half of these have become regular identifiers. Another six people, including three Gesher Galicia Board members, as well as Suzan Wynne, who founded Gesher Galicia in 1993, act as verifiers, checking the evidence for the identifications. See: https://www.geshergalicia.org/projects/przemysl-id/ . In the almost two months the project has been running, the scans of 44 books, from 21 towns, have been identified by volunteer members, and around a third of these books have so far been verified. The 21 towns include four from western Galicia (present-day Poland), 15 from eastern Galicia, and two (Lublin and Biala Podlaska) from outside the borders of the former Galicia. The towns, including those whose identifications are still to be verified, are: Biala Podlaska, Boryslaw (2), Bursztyn, Drohobycz (7), Kopyczynce, Krakow (2), Lublin, Mikulince, Muszyna, Nadworna, Nowy Sacz (4), Olesko (2), Pruchnik, Rohatyn (2), Rudki, Skole (2), Stanislawow (2), Stryj (4), Tarnopol (5), Turka, and Zolkiew. In some cases, the identified index books correspond with known books of full records from the same period, so that - while it is useful to have the identification - these index books don't add much in the way of previously unavailable information. However, there are also instances where the full, original records are not known to exist, or, if they do exist, have not yet been made accessible by civil registration offices. In these cases, new genealogical information will be revealed. An example of this is from one of the books - yet to be officially verified - provisionally identified as the index book of Jewish marriages from Rohatyn, for the period 1914-1934. If verified, this will shed new light on marriages in Rohatyn, as the full marriage records from the town are available for only a few of the years in this period. Gesher Galicia will provide updates to members, on a regular basis and through the Members Portal, with details of the files identified. We will also, at intervals, send batches of the verified identifications to the Przemysl State Archive. Non-members who would like to serve as identifiers are welcome to join Gesher Galicia, at https://www.geshergalicia.org/membership/ . All existing members interested in helping are encouraged to write to project secretariat. For more information on the Przemysl ID Project, or to take part as an identifier (members only), please contact: przemysl-id@... . For general questions and information on Gesher Galicia, please write to: info@... . Piotr Gumola, Pawel Malinowski: Gesher Galicia Secretariat for the Przemysl Identification Project Tony Kahane: Research Coordinator, Gesher Galicia --- PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL ADDRESS. Send all inquiries to info@... ---
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