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From Gesher Galicia #austria-czech #poland #galicia #announcements

Steven Turner
 

Dear Friends,

As 5781 and 2021 come to a close, we at Gesher Galicia thank all our members for their support during what has been another challenging year. Despite those hurdles, we were able to accomplish quite a bit:
  • While the coronavirus pandemic continued to interrupt our onsite work in many archives in Austria, Poland, and Ukraine, we were able to continue work across a wide range of research projects including:
    • Our Przemyśl Identification Project that was launched at the end of 2019 and now has been completed;
    • Our Jewish Medical Students Project which now features 7,000 indexed records from several universities frequented by Galician Jews;
    • Our Josephine & Franciscan Surveys Project which includes more than 56,000 indexed records;
  • We produced educational webinars featuring experts on a variety of Galician topics including:
    • An interview with Rabbi Jeremy Borovitz, former Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine and current Director of Jewish Education for Base Berlin/Hillel Deutschland in Berlin;
    • A presentation on Ashkenazi Jewish DNA from genealogist and journalist Jennifer Mendelsohn;
  • We published quarterly issues of The Galitzianer, our long-running journal covering a variety of topics, past and present, on Galicia;
  • We held our second-ever virtual session for attendees of the 41th IAJGS international Conference on Jewish Genealogy.
As we enter 5782 and 2022, we look forward to continuing our work to add significantly to our databases, improve the website experience for members, strengthen our infrastructure security, and provide even more exclusive content for our members including:
  • Thought-provoking presenters for our popular webinars;
  • In-depth educational presentations run by our own Dr. Andrew Zalewski as well as other courses taught by Dr. Zalewski through the Gesher Galicia-Gratz College partnership;
  • A continuation of improvements to our membership platform for seamless and automated new membership applications and renewals;
  • A database imaging system to enable direct linkage to a scan of an original record;
  • An interactive cadastral map system that will facilitate the immediate on-screen display of vital records associated with a particular address;
  • A project on Jewish Students from Galicia in Vienna (1898-1938).
To be sure, all these programs and enhancements cost money. We would appreciate it for those able to during these days of the High Holidays to partake in the mitzvah of giving tzedakah to help us cover our costs, improve our IT and infrastructure security systems, provide our members with exclusive content, and keep our dues structure among the lowest in our field. To contribute, please go to our donate page at https://www.geshergalicia.org/donate/. You can allocate your donation to operations, general research, vital records or any of the other projects listed on the page.
 
With warm regards for a safe, healthy, and joyous new year.
 
The Board of Directors
Gesher Galicia, Inc.
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