Greetings >from Washington DC

A cousin recently emailed me a number of old letters >from a relative
in Medzhibozh, and I am seeking help in having them translated.

We believe the letters to be >from Sure Mordechai-Leibnova SCHNAIDER to
my great-grandmother Sarah (SANOFSKY) BRAND. An educated guess is that
Sure was a sister of Samuel BRAND, my great-grandfather. I guess this
because Samuel's father's name was Mordechai Leib.

The letters are in Yiddish. I am not sure of the order of the pages or
if they are different letters. The postcards are also in Yiddish. I am
seeking complete translation of all the documents, or as much of them
as possible as I realize the handwriting is difficult to make out.
Here are the links to ViewMate:

http://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/viewmateview.asp?key=18637
http://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/viewmateview.asp?key=18638
http://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/viewmateview.asp?key=18639
http://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/viewmateview.asp?key=18640
http://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/viewmateview.asp?key=18641
Many, many thanks in advance for your assistance.

At this point in my research, I am almost completely certain that my
paternal ancestors were >from Medzhibozh. I am trying to learn more
about the town, and have found very little online - is there a yizkor
book, profiles of the town, or other sources? I have checked of course
JewishGen, Yad Vashem and USHMM and many online sources and found some
but I would like to read more, and also learn if any vital records
exist >from the 1800s. I would also like to connect with any members
who have roots in Medzhibozh to learn what you have been able to
discover. I have checked Family Finder and have found no common names.

Many thanks in advance for the assistance with the translation - I
hope it provides some additional clues in my search. In an effort to
keep this message somewhat short, I have not included all the details
on my Medzhibozh relatives but would be happy to share.

Renee Ketcher Carl
Washington DC

SANOFSKY/SANOWSKY/SACHNOFSKY in NY and St. Louis, Missouri
SACHNOFSKY/CHACHENOVSKY/CHECHENOVSKY In Medzhibozh, Ukraine
BRAND in Medzhibozh, Ukraine and St. Louis, Missouri
KETCHER in the US, KATSHER in Dvinsk, Latvia and Vidzy, Belarus
BUDOVNITSH in Dvinsk, Lithuania, London and St. Louis, Missouri
POLINSKY/POLUNSKY in Ariogala, Lithuania and St. Louis, Missouri
CHALCOVITZ in Lithuania and US, CARL - Belarus?, LERNER - Belarus?

Greetings >from Washington DC

A cousin recently emailed me a number of old letters >from a relative
in Medzhibozh, and I am seeking help in having them translated.

We believe the letters to be >from Sure Mordechai-Leibnova SCHNAIDER to
my great-grandmother Sarah (SANOFSKY) BRAND. An educated guess is that
Sure was a sister of Samuel BRAND, my great-grandfather. I guess this
because Samuel's father's name was Mordechai Leib.

The letters are in Yiddish. I am not sure of the order of the pages or
if they are different letters. The postcards are also in Yiddish. I am
seeking complete translation of all the documents, or as much of them
as possible as I realize the handwriting is difficult to make out.
Here are the links to ViewMate:

http://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/viewmateview.asp?key=18637
http://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/viewmateview.asp?key=18638
http://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/viewmateview.asp?key=18639
http://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/viewmateview.asp?key=18640
http://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/viewmateview.asp?key=18641
Many, many thanks in advance for your assistance.

At this point in my research, I am almost completely certain that my
paternal ancestors were >from Medzhibozh. I am trying to learn more
about the town, and have found very little online - is there a yizkor
book, profiles of the town, or other sources? I have checked of course
JewishGen, Yad Vashem and USHMM and many online sources and found some
but I would like to read more, and also learn if any vital records
exist >from the 1800s. I would also like to connect with any members
who have roots in Medzhibozh to learn what you have been able to
discover. I have checked Family Finder and have found no common names.

Many thanks in advance for the assistance with the translation - I
hope it provides some additional clues in my search. In an effort to
keep this message somewhat short, I have not included all the details
on my Medzhibozh relatives but would be happy to share.

Renee Ketcher Carl
Washington DC

SANOFSKY/SANOWSKY/SACHNOFSKY in NY and St. Louis, Missouri
SACHNOFSKY/CHACHENOVSKY/CHECHENOVSKY In Medzhibozh, Ukraine
BRAND in Medzhibozh, Ukraine and St. Louis, Missouri
KETCHER in the US, KATSHER in Dvinsk, Latvia and Vidzy, Belarus
BUDOVNITSH in Dvinsk, Lithuania, London and St. Louis, Missouri
POLINSKY/POLUNSKY in Ariogala, Lithuania and St. Louis, Missouri
CHALCOVITZ in Lithuania and US, CARL - Belarus?, LERNER - Belarus?

Hello GerSig,
I just joined the group. I have been doing genealogy research for abour 6 years.
I consider myself to be a beginner in doing German Jewish Genealogy research.
I live in Federalsburg, Maryland, USA. My native language is English.
I consider myself intermediate in using a computer. My experience in using the
Internet is intermediate

I have identified the names and birth and death dates of my grandparents,
all of my great grandparents and a couple of my great great grandparents.

My primary research goals now are to find out if my family is indeed descended

from the Jewish faith. We only have suscpicions, no proof and I would love to

prove it.

My JGFF Researcher ID number is 280543. The family names and ancestral towns
that I have entered in the JGFF are FISCHBACH >from Prussia (1840s); APPEL

from Hesse/Darmstadt, Germany (1840s).

My great-grandfather was >from Baltimore, Maryland. His name was Henry FISCHBACH
and he was born in the 1860s. His father was Gottfried (various spellings)
FISCHBACH who (nearest I can find) was born in the 1840s and came to Maryland

from Prussia in the early 1860s.

My great-grandmother was >from Philadelphia, PA. Her name was Elizabeth APPEL
and she was born in 1869. Her parents were Jacob APPEL and Catherine
(unknown maiden name). I do not know if they were married in Germany
or in the US, but Jacob came >from Germany in the 1860s and was born in the
1840s. He is listed as being >from Hesse/Darmstadt.

It may seem strange, but I am searching because my brother feels that our
grandmother and pictures of her sisters and mother, have a strong Eastern
European/Jewish look. We have never know the family to be Jewish, but are
interested in figuring out if in fact we are or not.

I'm also wondering, if I determine that my family is of Jewish descent, was
there a particular reason why, in the mid 1800s, Jewish families would have
left Europe and/or may have renounced the religion, or chosen not to continue
practicing their Jewish heritage once coming to the US.

I'm also wondering about DNA testing. Is it possible to tell through DNA
testing if you are descended >from the Jewish line and if so, should it be a male
that does the testing, or can a female? Thanks for any help you can give.
[MODERATOR NOTE: Extensive information about DNA genealogy research is offered
free at: http://www.jewishgen.org/dna/genbygen.html Answers to this DNA
question should be very brief or sent off list.]

Kari Farnell kari21632@yahoo.com Federalsburg, Maryland

Hello GerSig,
I just joined the group. I have been doing genealogy research for abour 6 years.
I consider myself to be a beginner in doing German Jewish Genealogy research.
I live in Federalsburg, Maryland, USA. My native language is English.
I consider myself intermediate in using a computer. My experience in using the
Internet is intermediate

I have identified the names and birth and death dates of my grandparents,
all of my great grandparents and a couple of my great great grandparents.

My primary research goals now are to find out if my family is indeed descended

from the Jewish faith. We only have suscpicions, no proof and I would love to

prove it.

My JGFF Researcher ID number is 280543. The family names and ancestral towns
that I have entered in the JGFF are FISCHBACH >from Prussia (1840s); APPEL

from Hesse/Darmstadt, Germany (1840s).

My great-grandfather was >from Baltimore, Maryland. His name was Henry FISCHBACH
and he was born in the 1860s. His father was Gottfried (various spellings)
FISCHBACH who (nearest I can find) was born in the 1840s and came to Maryland

from Prussia in the early 1860s.

My great-grandmother was >from Philadelphia, PA. Her name was Elizabeth APPEL
and she was born in 1869. Her parents were Jacob APPEL and Catherine
(unknown maiden name). I do not know if they were married in Germany
or in the US, but Jacob came >from Germany in the 1860s and was born in the
1840s. He is listed as being >from Hesse/Darmstadt.

It may seem strange, but I am searching because my brother feels that our
grandmother and pictures of her sisters and mother, have a strong Eastern
European/Jewish look. We have never know the family to be Jewish, but are
interested in figuring out if in fact we are or not.

I'm also wondering, if I determine that my family is of Jewish descent, was
there a particular reason why, in the mid 1800s, Jewish families would have
left Europe and/or may have renounced the religion, or chosen not to continue
practicing their Jewish heritage once coming to the US.

I'm also wondering about DNA testing. Is it possible to tell through DNA
testing if you are descended >from the Jewish line and if so, should it be a male
that does the testing, or can a female? Thanks for any help you can give.
[MODERATOR NOTE: Extensive information about DNA genealogy research is offered
free at: http://www.jewishgen.org/dna/genbygen.html Answers to this DNA
question should be very brief or sent off list.]

Kari Farnell kari21632@yahoo.com Federalsburg, Maryland

Gerhard Buck (pronounced book) will be GerSIG's honored guest speaker and
research consultant during the IAJGS Conference on Jewish Genealogy in
Washington (DC 2011) in August.

GerSIG Directors and Conference Event Coordinators Jeanette Rosenberg
in England and Nancy Adelson in suburban Seattle have put
together a grand program for the August meeting. It is great in both
quality and quantity with more lecture sessions specific to research
in Germany than at any IAJGS Conference in my memory.

We expect the Conference organizers to have the complete program
posted and searchable at http://www.dc2011.org/ soon and will
announce the posting in this Forum.

At the moment I'm delighted to announce that the GerSIG program will
include a lecture, a lecture-workshop and research consultations with
Obermayer German Jewish History Awardee Gerhard Buck >from Idstein in
Hessen/Nassau (near Darmstadt, Mainz and Frankfurt in Germany.)
See http://www.obermayer.us/award/awardees/buck-eng.htm

Mr. Buck is a frequent and generous participant in this Forum. He's
given many GerSIG members enormous help with our research. His
remarkable language and archive research skills and the massive data
base he's created on Jewish families in Hessen/Nassau enable Mr. Buck
to reconstruct fascinating details of Jewish life there. For example,
Gerhard found that in 1768, my 3 G grandparents "celebrated their
marriage with musicians and dancing. For this day they had to pay a
fee of 6 Gulden."

Mr. Buck's illustrated lecture will show where and how such
information can be found in various German archives. His workshop will
offer hands-on instruction and practice in reading the handwritten
documents to be found there.

Gerhard Buck is just one of an unprecedented number of German Jewish
history scholars who will share their expertise during the August 14 -
19 Conference in Washington. News about the others will appear in our
Forum in the weeks ahead.

A prieview of Mr. Buck's presentations follows:

*** Old German Script, Especially of the 19th Century ***

Like our families, the characters used in West European writing
have a pedigree. They originated in ancient Rome, where they
had simple, clear forms. In the course of time, nations and individuals
created lots of variations.

In Germany, the most complicated lettering was reached in the 19th
century. After a short survey of the preceding times, this workshop
will concentrate on the 19th century German script. It was in this form
that the vast majority of surviving documents of interest for Jewish genealogy
were written.

The knowledge of this sort of script will help you to understand the
simpler writing of later old German script. It will also offer an access
to the writing of the preceding 18th century.
Learn the basics of reading this Old German Script in this hands-on
workshop.


*** Reconstructing Historical Jewish Communities in Nassau ***

In many German local history books, Jewish families and communities are
mentioned for only a short period of their long presence. In order to
honor this minority, Gerhard Buck has created a database in which
German Jewish families are reconstructed. Several different sources
provide genealogical information and also reveal all
aspects of Jewish social, legal & religious life.

This talk shows genealogists the wide variety of available archival
material and its importance for discovering details of the lives of
our German Jewish ancestors. These records show how our forbears
were as integral parts of local history.

Historian Gerhard Buck will provide examples of Nassau Jewish
communities and explain how local genealogical data sources can help
reconstruct their history. In this session, you will learn about historical
research techniques, about your family's rightful place in its local
history and learn more about Jewish history in Nassau.

Join us at the
31st IAJGS International Conference
on Jewish Genealogy
http://www.DC2011.org
August 14-19, 2011 Grand Hyatt Washington DC USA

I highly recommend seeing the documentary about the Jewish Brigade called:

"In Our Own Hands"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181594/

Moshe Steinberg,
Vancouver, Canada

Gerhard Buck (pronounced book) will be GerSIG's honored guest speaker and
research consultant during the IAJGS Conference on Jewish Genealogy in
Washington (DC 2011) in August.

GerSIG Directors and Conference Event Coordinators Jeanette Rosenberg
in England and Nancy Adelson in suburban Seattle have put
together a grand program for the August meeting. It is great in both
quality and quantity with more lecture sessions specific to research
in Germany than at any IAJGS Conference in my memory.

We expect the Conference organizers to have the complete program
posted and searchable at http://www.dc2011.org/ soon and will
announce the posting in this Forum.

At the moment I'm delighted to announce that the GerSIG program will
include a lecture, a lecture-workshop and research consultations with
Obermayer German Jewish History Awardee Gerhard Buck >from Idstein in
Hessen/Nassau (near Darmstadt, Mainz and Frankfurt in Germany.)
See http://www.obermayer.us/award/awardees/buck-eng.htm

Mr. Buck is a frequent and generous participant in this Forum. He's
given many GerSIG members enormous help with our research. His
remarkable language and archive research skills and the massive data
base he's created on Jewish families in Hessen/Nassau enable Mr. Buck
to reconstruct fascinating details of Jewish life there. For example,
Gerhard found that in 1768, my 3 G grandparents "celebrated their
marriage with musicians and dancing. For this day they had to pay a
fee of 6 Gulden."

Mr. Buck's illustrated lecture will show where and how such
information can be found in various German archives. His workshop will
offer hands-on instruction and practice in reading the handwritten
documents to be found there.

Gerhard Buck is just one of an unprecedented number of German Jewish
history scholars who will share their expertise during the August 14 -
19 Conference in Washington. News about the others will appear in our
Forum in the weeks ahead.

A prieview of Mr. Buck's presentations follows:

*** Old German Script, Especially of the 19th Century ***

Like our families, the characters used in West European writing
have a pedigree. They originated in ancient Rome, where they
had simple, clear forms. In the course of time, nations and individuals
created lots of variations.

In Germany, the most complicated lettering was reached in the 19th
century. After a short survey of the preceding times, this workshop
will concentrate on the 19th century German script. It was in this form
that the vast majority of surviving documents of interest for Jewish genealogy
were written.

The knowledge of this sort of script will help you to understand the
simpler writing of later old German script. It will also offer an access
to the writing of the preceding 18th century.
Learn the basics of reading this Old German Script in this hands-on
workshop.


*** Reconstructing Historical Jewish Communities in Nassau ***

In many German local history books, Jewish families and communities are
mentioned for only a short period of their long presence. In order to
honor this minority, Gerhard Buck has created a database in which
German Jewish families are reconstructed. Several different sources
provide genealogical information and also reveal all
aspects of Jewish social, legal & religious life.

This talk shows genealogists the wide variety of available archival
material and its importance for discovering details of the lives of
our German Jewish ancestors. These records show how our forbears
were as integral parts of local history.

Historian Gerhard Buck will provide examples of Nassau Jewish
communities and explain how local genealogical data sources can help
reconstruct their history. In this session, you will learn about historical
research techniques, about your family's rightful place in its local
history and learn more about Jewish history in Nassau.

Join us at the
31st IAJGS International Conference
on Jewish Genealogy
http://www.DC2011.org
August 14-19, 2011 Grand Hyatt Washington DC USA

I highly recommend seeing the documentary about the Jewish Brigade called:

"In Our Own Hands"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181594/

Moshe Steinberg,
Vancouver, Canada

see the following:

Morris Beckman The Jewish Brigade (Spellmount, London, 1998

Martin Sugarman, Hon. Archivist of AJEX, Association of Jewish
ex-servicemen and women has written on the Jewish Brigade
see http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/gallipoli.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/49/a7114349.shtml
therre si a fairly good Wikipedia paper at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Legion

Saul Issroff

see the following:

Morris Beckman The Jewish Brigade (Spellmount, London, 1998

Martin Sugarman, Hon. Archivist of AJEX, Association of Jewish
ex-servicemen and women has written on the Jewish Brigade
see http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/gallipoli.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/49/a7114349.shtml
therre si a fairly good Wikipedia paper at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Legion

Saul Issroff

Good afternoon,

As many of you already know, through the tireless work of Father
Patrick Desbois and his organization in Paris, YAHAD In Unum,
hundreds if not thousands of previously unknown and/or
undocumented mass graves sites have been - and continue to be -
documented across Eastern Europe, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and
Russia. These are in many cases previously unaccounted for and
uncounted dead in the statistics of Shoah deaths. Through ballistic
experts, historic aerial and ground maps, Soviet Extraordinary
Commission reports >from 1944-46, yizkor books, and other
written sources, as well as eyewitness accounts (many of which
have never been told before), the work of Father Desbois and
YAHAD provides an important missing piece of the Shoah: the
Nazi campaign of extermination by bullets.

Father Desbois, who was the keynote speaker at the annual IAJGS
conference in Philadelphia in 2009, wrote a book in 2007, La
Shoah Par Balles, subsequently translated into English as The
Holocaust By Bullets. The release of his book coincided with the
release of Daniel Mendelsohn's remarkable book, The Lost
(translated into French as Les Disparus). I had the pleasure of
hearing both Father Desbois and Mr. Mendelsohn in Paris at a
reading in 2007. I read the books and they became the impetus for
me to finally make a trip to Rohatyn, the shtetl of my paternal
grandmother, located today in Ukraine, about one hour's drive
south and east of the city of Lviv. Rohatyn is located near
Mendelsohn's family shtetl and both are located in the heart of
Father Desbois' investigations. In February 2008 I made my first
visit to Rohatyn.

Then, in 2009, I spent a few days at YAHAD's Paris office. There, I
listened to testimonies taken by Father Desbois and his research
team in the region of Rohatyn. A few of these elderly Ukrainian
(non-Jewish) witnesses had seen and/or heard the murder of the
Rohatyn Jewish community between 1942 and 1944. As is typical,
until their interviews by Father Patrick Desbois, these witnesses
had never before told anyone about what they saw - and, in some
cases, how they or their parents had participated in the Jews'
destruction. >from Ukrainian oral testimony to oral French
translation, I had the opportunity to access these videos and tapes
and make English transcriptions for sharing with the members of
my Rohatyn google research group.

On March 30, 2011, my husband and I had the privilege to join
Father Desbois' group for one day of a Poland-Ukraine study trip
that began three days earlier in Krakow. It was the last day of their
itinerary, which had included a visit to the Jewish sites of Krakow,
Schindler's factory, the nearby camps, as well Rava-Ruska and
Belzec. Their final day - now with us in tow - was to include a visit
to the Lisinitchi forest on the outskirts of Lviv where Lviv's Jews
and others were murdered by bullets and dumped into mass
graves, and sites further east including Busk and Olesko. The day
was compellingly summarized in the recent issue of the YAHAD
Newsletter (No. 15):

"The tour was led by Father Desbois and historian Marcello
Pezzetti, a member of Yahad's Scientific Committee and director
for the new Shoah Museum that will open in Rome in 2014. For
four days, a 30-member group, >from 12 countries, toured
concentration and extermination camps, visited museums and
walked the sites of mass shootings, in a program designed to
shed additional light on the history of the Holocaust in the East.
Beginning in Krakow, Poland, participants took a narrated walking
tour of the Krakow ghetto and the historic Jewish quarter and
visited the Krakow Historical Museum located in the former factory
of Oskar Schindler. During the week, the group met with the
museum directors at Auschwitz and the Belzec extermination
camp, visited execution sites in the Ukraine at Lvov, Busk and
Olesko and heard briefings on Nazi programs such as Operation
Reinhard and Operation 1005. The program included a visit to the
Ukrainian town of Rawa Ruska, the starting point of Yahad's
research program and the site of a concentration camp in which,
as Father Desbois recounted in his book, The Holocaust by Bullets,
his grandfather had been imprisoned and witnessed the fate of the
Jews. In Lvov, the group walked through the Lisinitchi forest, a
huge extermination site with 49 mass graves. The program offered
participants the opportunity to better understand Yahad's research
methodology that combines archival research with the testimony
provided by witnesses. The group also heard directly >from
witnesses interviewed by Yahad.

Planning is already underway for an English language tour in the
Spring of 2012."

For those interested in reading reports of each of the days' events
and speakers, along with photos, here are the direct links to the
daily blog written daily for YAHAD by William Mengebier, who was
on the trip:
27 March, Krakow:
http://yahadblog.weebly.com/1/post/2011/03/empty-chairs-the-vanished-jews-of-krakow.html
28 March: Birkenau and Auschwitz:
http://yahadblog.weebly.com/1/post/2011/03/a-town-called-owicim.html
29 March, Rava-Ruska and Belzec:
http://yahadblog.weebly.com/1/post/2011/03/roots-rawa-ruska.html

For the day we joined (30 March), the YAHAD blog relates our
experiences far better than we can:
http://yahadblog.weebly.com/1/post/2011/03/fading-memories.html
We posted some additional photos of our own here:
http://www.pbase.com/nuthatch/ua_a_day_with_yahad

And a moving account of the group's last day together and
departures for home (to France and many other countries):
http://yahadblog.weebly.com/1/post/2011/04/journeys-end1.html

Needless to say, our words are not adequate to convey the
emotions and learning of the day, or our gratitude to YAHAD for
allowing us to join them. As simply but poignantly noted in the
YAHAD blog, the victims of the holocaust by bullets are gone, but
through the work of YAHAD and Father Desbois, they are not
forgotten.

The direct weblink for YAHAD In Unum:
http://www.holocaustbybullets.com/
The link for YAHAD In Unum News is:
http://www.yahadinunum.org/en/about-yahad-in-unum/yahad-in-unum-news-no-15-avril-2011/
The link for the ongoing YAHAD blog is:
http://yahadblog.weebly.com/
For information on Father Desbois' book, "The Holocaust By Bullets",
see:
http://www.holocaustbybullets.com/en/about-patrick-desbois/publications-2/

Finally, I wish to add that Father Desbois and YAHAD are seeking
to get in contact with anyone who is a survivor of Busk or who can
point them to a survivor or eye witness of the atrocities
perpetrated there; these horrors remain largely undocumented and
still unacknowledged. To email YAHAD, contact Marina Durteste at
m.durteste@yahadinunum.org (French or Ukrainian language) or
Marco Gonzalez (English, French, or Spanish language) at
m.gonzalez@yahadinunum.org.

Warm regards,

Marla Raucher Osborn
Lviv, Ukraine through mid-June 2011
formerly in Buenos Aires, California, and Paris
osborn@nuthatch.org

Researching surnames HORN, FRUCHTER, LIEBLING >from Rohatyn
and TEICHMAN >from Chodorow (Galicia); SILBER >from Ulanow and
Sokolow Malapolski (Poland); BLECHER >from Soroka, Bessarabia
(Moldova); BRUNSHTEIN, SARFAS/CHARFAS, and FABER >from
Mohyliv Podilskyy and Kamyanets Podilskyy (today, Ukraine);
FRANKENBERG >from Vilnius (Lithuania); and RAUCHER/RAUSHCER
and KESTENBAUM/KOSTENBAUM /KASTENBAUM >from Przemysl
(Poland)

Good afternoon,

As many of you already know, through the tireless work of Father
Patrick Desbois and his organization in Paris, YAHAD In Unum,
hundreds if not thousands of previously unknown and/or
undocumented mass graves sites have been - and continue to be -
documented across Eastern Europe, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and
Russia. These are in many cases previously unaccounted for and
uncounted dead in the statistics of Shoah deaths. Through ballistic
experts, historic aerial and ground maps, Soviet Extraordinary
Commission reports >from 1944-46, yizkor books, and other
written sources, as well as eyewitness accounts (many of which
have never been told before), the work of Father Desbois and
YAHAD provides an important missing piece of the Shoah: the
Nazi campaign of extermination by bullets.

Father Desbois, who was the keynote speaker at the annual IAJGS
conference in Philadelphia in 2009, wrote a book in 2007, La
Shoah Par Balles, subsequently translated into English as The
Holocaust By Bullets. The release of his book coincided with the
release of Daniel Mendelsohn's remarkable book, The Lost
(translated into French as Les Disparus). I had the pleasure of
hearing both Father Desbois and Mr. Mendelsohn in Paris at a
reading in 2007. I read the books and they became the impetus for
me to finally make a trip to Rohatyn, the shtetl of my paternal
grandmother, located today in Ukraine, about one hour's drive
south and east of the city of Lviv. Rohatyn is located near
Mendelsohn's family shtetl and both are located in the heart of
Father Desbois' investigations. In February 2008 I made my first
visit to Rohatyn.

Then, in 2009, I spent a few days at YAHAD's Paris office. There, I
listened to testimonies taken by Father Desbois and his research
team in the region of Rohatyn. A few of these elderly Ukrainian
(non-Jewish) witnesses had seen and/or heard the murder of the
Rohatyn Jewish community between 1942 and 1944. As is typical,
until their interviews by Father Patrick Desbois, these witnesses
had never before told anyone about what they saw - and, in some
cases, how they or their parents had participated in the Jews'
destruction. >from Ukrainian oral testimony to oral French
translation, I had the opportunity to access these videos and tapes
and make English transcriptions for sharing with the members of
my Rohatyn google research group.

On March 30, 2011, my husband and I had the privilege to join
Father Desbois' group for one day of a Poland-Ukraine study trip
that began three days earlier in Krakow. It was the last day of their
itinerary, which had included a visit to the Jewish sites of Krakow,
Schindler's factory, the nearby camps, as well Rava-Ruska and
Belzec. Their final day - now with us in tow - was to include a visit
to the Lisinitchi forest on the outskirts of Lviv where Lviv's Jews
and others were murdered by bullets and dumped into mass
graves, and sites further east including Busk and Olesko. The day
was compellingly summarized in the recent issue of the YAHAD
Newsletter (No. 15):

"The tour was led by Father Desbois and historian Marcello
Pezzetti, a member of Yahad's Scientific Committee and director
for the new Shoah Museum that will open in Rome in 2014. For
four days, a 30-member group, >from 12 countries, toured
concentration and extermination camps, visited museums and
walked the sites of mass shootings, in a program designed to
shed additional light on the history of the Holocaust in the East.
Beginning in Krakow, Poland, participants took a narrated walking
tour of the Krakow ghetto and the historic Jewish quarter and
visited the Krakow Historical Museum located in the former factory
of Oskar Schindler. During the week, the group met with the
museum directors at Auschwitz and the Belzec extermination
camp, visited execution sites in the Ukraine at Lvov, Busk and
Olesko and heard briefings on Nazi programs such as Operation
Reinhard and Operation 1005. The program included a visit to the
Ukrainian town of Rawa Ruska, the starting point of Yahad's
research program and the site of a concentration camp in which,
as Father Desbois recounted in his book, The Holocaust by Bullets,
his grandfather had been imprisoned and witnessed the fate of the
Jews. In Lvov, the group walked through the Lisinitchi forest, a
huge extermination site with 49 mass graves. The program offered
participants the opportunity to better understand Yahad's research
methodology that combines archival research with the testimony
provided by witnesses. The group also heard directly >from
witnesses interviewed by Yahad.

Planning is already underway for an English language tour in the
Spring of 2012."

For those interested in reading reports of each of the days' events
and speakers, along with photos, here are the direct links to the
daily blog written daily for YAHAD by William Mengebier, who was
on the trip:
27 March, Krakow:
http://yahadblog.weebly.com/1/post/2011/03/empty-chairs-the-vanished-jews-of-krakow.html
28 March: Birkenau and Auschwitz:
http://yahadblog.weebly.com/1/post/2011/03/a-town-called-owicim.html
29 March, Rava-Ruska and Belzec:
http://yahadblog.weebly.com/1/post/2011/03/roots-rawa-ruska.html

For the day we joined (30 March), the YAHAD blog relates our
experiences far better than we can:
http://yahadblog.weebly.com/1/post/2011/03/fading-memories.html
We posted some additional photos of our own here:
http://www.pbase.com/nuthatch/ua_a_day_with_yahad

And a moving account of the group's last day together and
departures for home (to France and many other countries):
http://yahadblog.weebly.com/1/post/2011/04/journeys-end1.html

Needless to say, our words are not adequate to convey the
emotions and learning of the day, or our gratitude to YAHAD for
allowing us to join them. As simply but poignantly noted in the
YAHAD blog, the victims of the holocaust by bullets are gone, but
through the work of YAHAD and Father Desbois, they are not
forgotten.

The direct weblink for YAHAD In Unum:
http://www.holocaustbybullets.com/
The link for YAHAD In Unum News is:
http://www.yahadinunum.org/en/about-yahad-in-unum/yahad-in-unum-news-no-15-avril-2011/
The link for the ongoing YAHAD blog is:
http://yahadblog.weebly.com/
For information on Father Desbois' book, "The Holocaust By Bullets",
see:
http://www.holocaustbybullets.com/en/about-patrick-desbois/publications-2/

Finally, I wish to add that Father Desbois and YAHAD are seeking
to get in contact with anyone who is a survivor of Busk or who can
point them to a survivor or eye witness of the atrocities
perpetrated there; these horrors remain largely undocumented and
still unacknowledged. To email YAHAD, contact Marina Durteste at
m.durteste@yahadinunum.org (French or Ukrainian language) or
Marco Gonzalez (English, French, or Spanish language) at
m.gonzalez@yahadinunum.org.

Warm regards,

Marla Raucher Osborn
Lviv, Ukraine through mid-June 2011
formerly in Buenos Aires, California, and Paris
osborn@nuthatch.org

Researching surnames HORN, FRUCHTER, LIEBLING >from Rohatyn
and TEICHMAN >from Chodorow (Galicia); SILBER >from Ulanow and
Sokolow Malapolski (Poland); BLECHER >from Soroka, Bessarabia
(Moldova); BRUNSHTEIN, SARFAS/CHARFAS, and FABER >from
Mohyliv Podilskyy and Kamyanets Podilskyy (today, Ukraine);
FRANKENBERG >from Vilnius (Lithuania); and RAUCHER/RAUSHCER
and KESTENBAUM/KOSTENBAUM /KASTENBAUM >from Przemysl
(Poland)

Rabbi Dr. Norbert Weinberg asked: "During and after World War I,
thousands of Galician Jews fled to Austria and remained there
rather than return to what became Poland. What was the status of
these Jewish citizens of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire - were
they automatically granted Austrian citizenship? Were they
considered Polish citizens?"

J.C. Keiner answered, among others: "If my own family is anything
to go by, Jews >from Poland who were established residents of
either Austria or Germany were able to choose their nationality
after the war, presumably under the arrangements of the Treaty
of Versailles."

In fact, there were two separate and distincts Treaties, not to be
confounded. The Treaty of Peace with Austria is called the Treaty
of St Germain en Laye, signed on September 10, 1919 (full text
available at
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1920/3.html.).
The Treaty defines the new Borders of the Austrian Republic,
excluding Galicia, but as yet, does not attribute East Galicia to any
other State. It is crucial to remember that at the time of signature
of the Treaty of St Germain en Laye, the eastern borders of the
Second Republic of Poland were not yet defined or agreed upon,
these were defined only by the Conference of Ambassadors
(March 15, 1923).

Now, within the borders of the Austrian Republic, the Treaty of St
Germain en Lay stipulates the following:

General clauses:

Article 64: Austria admits and declares to be Austrian nationals
ipso facto and without the requirement of any formality all
persons possessing at the date of the coming into force of the
present Treaty rights of citizenship (pertinenza) within Austrian
territory who are not nationals of any other State.

Article 65: All persons born in Austrian territory who are not
born nationals of another State shall ipso facto become Austrian
nationals.

Section VI, Clauses Relating to Nationality.

Article 70: Every person possessing rights of citizenship
(pertinenza) in territory which formed part of the territories of the
former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy shall obtain ipso facto to the
exclusion of Austrian nationality the nationality of the State
exercising sovereignty over such territory. (exception refer, in
articles 71-77 to Italians, Serb-Croat-Slovene and Czecho-Slovak)

Article 78: Persons over 18 years of age losing their Austrian
nationality and obtaining ipso facto a new nationality under
Article 70 shall be entitled within a period of one year >from the
coming into force of the present Treaty to opt for the nationality
of the State in which they possessed rights of citizenship before
acquiring such rights in the territory transferred.

Option by a husband will cover his wife and option by parents will
cover their children under 18 years of age.

Persons who have exercised the above right to opt must within
the succeeding twelve months transfer their place of residence to
the State for which they have opted.

Meaning, so far as I can understand and without being a interwar
lawyer, that a Galician refugee who was already residing in Vienna
in 1919 (that is, who had fled East Galicia at the early years of the
war), for not being a citizen of another actual State (because East-
Galicia was not yet legally part of Poland), ipso facto became an
Austrian citizen.

Once the Conference of Ambassadors legally attributed East
Galicia to Poland, it also based it on the articles of the Treaty of
St Germain en Laye regarding nationality and citizenship (full text
available at
http://www.forost.ungarisches-institut.de/pdf/19230315-1.pdf).
This time, those who opted for Polish citizenship, because it was
possible, had, according to article 78, 12 months to move to
Poland.

The question is, how many of the former refugees actually
bothered to go through the paperwork in 1923, when for them,
the war was already over for 5 years in their new place of
residence and they have been living in Austria for already 4 years.
I do not have the answer for this and do not know where to look
for it but am positive that someone else can direct you to reliable
statistical sources concerning the exact numbers of Austrian
Jewish citizen and foreign Jewish residents and (their origins) in
Austria by 1938-1939.

"I found a photograph of my grandmother which is embossed with
the seal of the Polish consulate and I assume it is c 1938-39,
about the time they fled to Switzerland"

The Polish Consulate where ? In Switzerland ? And your
grand-mother fled to Switzerland >from Poland or >from Austria ?

Hope the above did provide some help,

Rivka

Rivka Schirman

Rabbi Dr. Norbert Weinberg asked: "During and after World War I,
thousands of Galician Jews fled to Austria and remained there
rather than return to what became Poland. What was the status of
these Jewish citizens of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire - were
they automatically granted Austrian citizenship? Were they
considered Polish citizens?"

J.C. Keiner answered, among others: "If my own family is anything
to go by, Jews >from Poland who were established residents of
either Austria or Germany were able to choose their nationality
after the war, presumably under the arrangements of the Treaty
of Versailles."

In fact, there were two separate and distincts Treaties, not to be
confounded. The Treaty of Peace with Austria is called the Treaty
of St Germain en Laye, signed on September 10, 1919 (full text
available at
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1920/3.html.).
The Treaty defines the new Borders of the Austrian Republic,
excluding Galicia, but as yet, does not attribute East Galicia to any
other State. It is crucial to remember that at the time of signature
of the Treaty of St Germain en Laye, the eastern borders of the
Second Republic of Poland were not yet defined or agreed upon,
these were defined only by the Conference of Ambassadors
(March 15, 1923).

Now, within the borders of the Austrian Republic, the Treaty of St
Germain en Lay stipulates the following:

General clauses:

Article 64: Austria admits and declares to be Austrian nationals
ipso facto and without the requirement of any formality all
persons possessing at the date of the coming into force of the
present Treaty rights of citizenship (pertinenza) within Austrian
territory who are not nationals of any other State.

Article 65: All persons born in Austrian territory who are not
born nationals of another State shall ipso facto become Austrian
nationals.

Section VI, Clauses Relating to Nationality.

Article 70: Every person possessing rights of citizenship
(pertinenza) in territory which formed part of the territories of the
former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy shall obtain ipso facto to the
exclusion of Austrian nationality the nationality of the State
exercising sovereignty over such territory. (exception refer, in
articles 71-77 to Italians, Serb-Croat-Slovene and Czecho-Slovak)

Article 78: Persons over 18 years of age losing their Austrian
nationality and obtaining ipso facto a new nationality under
Article 70 shall be entitled within a period of one year >from the
coming into force of the present Treaty to opt for the nationality
of the State in which they possessed rights of citizenship before
acquiring such rights in the territory transferred.

Option by a husband will cover his wife and option by parents will
cover their children under 18 years of age.

Persons who have exercised the above right to opt must within
the succeeding twelve months transfer their place of residence to
the State for which they have opted.

Meaning, so far as I can understand and without being a interwar
lawyer, that a Galician refugee who was already residing in Vienna
in 1919 (that is, who had fled East Galicia at the early years of the
war), for not being a citizen of another actual State (because East-
Galicia was not yet legally part of Poland), ipso facto became an
Austrian citizen.

Once the Conference of Ambassadors legally attributed East
Galicia to Poland, it also based it on the articles of the Treaty of
St Germain en Laye regarding nationality and citizenship (full text
available at
http://www.forost.ungarisches-institut.de/pdf/19230315-1.pdf).
This time, those who opted for Polish citizenship, because it was
possible, had, according to article 78, 12 months to move to
Poland.

The question is, how many of the former refugees actually
bothered to go through the paperwork in 1923, when for them,
the war was already over for 5 years in their new place of
residence and they have been living in Austria for already 4 years.
I do not have the answer for this and do not know where to look
for it but am positive that someone else can direct you to reliable
statistical sources concerning the exact numbers of Austrian
Jewish citizen and foreign Jewish residents and (their origins) in
Austria by 1938-1939.

"I found a photograph of my grandmother which is embossed with
the seal of the Polish consulate and I assume it is c 1938-39,
about the time they fled to Switzerland"

The Polish Consulate where ? In Switzerland ? And your
grand-mother fled to Switzerland >from Poland or >from Austria ?

Hope the above did provide some help,

Rivka

Rivka Schirman

Dawid and Rachel had a son named Israel who was born in Tarnopol
around 1850. Rachel died. Dawid remarried. His new wife was
another Rachel. Would Israel be reluctant to name his daughter
Rachel as long as his stepmother was alive? I do realize that any
answer will be speculative, still I would appreciate your opinion.

Jurek Hirschberg
Stockholm, Sweden
jurek.hirschberg@hirschberg.se

Tarnopol: HIRSCHBERG, GOLIGER, KITAJ, AWNER, OCHSENHORN, SAPHIR
Podwoloczyska: HIRSCHBERG
Zborow: GOLIGER
Skalat: BERNSTEIN, ROSENZWEIG, PODHORCER, PERLMUTTER

Dawid and Rachel had a son named Israel who was born in Tarnopol
around 1850. Rachel died. Dawid remarried. His new wife was
another Rachel. Would Israel be reluctant to name his daughter
Rachel as long as his stepmother was alive? I do realize that any
answer will be speculative, still I would appreciate your opinion.

Jurek Hirschberg
Stockholm, Sweden
jurek.hirschberg@hirschberg.se

Tarnopol: HIRSCHBERG, GOLIGER, KITAJ, AWNER, OCHSENHORN, SAPHIR
Podwoloczyska: HIRSCHBERG
Zborow: GOLIGER
Skalat: BERNSTEIN, ROSENZWEIG, PODHORCER, PERLMUTTER

Sorry for the late notice - a email reminder was sent out earlier to all
those on our local email list - you would like to be added to that,
please send an email to jsilverman@janette-silverman.com

On Sunday, April 10, 2011, the Phoenix JGS will have its monthly
get-together, which we refer to as an open house. The monthly open-house
provides an opportunity for new and experienced researchers (and everyone
in between) to get together to work on current research, discuss research
strategies and challenges and talk about what ever is of interest to the
group. We meet at Beth El Congregation, 1118 W Glendale Ave, Phoenix from
1-3 PM. Entrance is in the rear of the main building.

For details on our group, meetings and programs and membership please
visit our website: http://relativeity.com/ or call 602-944-3359 ext 123
or email jsilverman@bethelphoenix.com

Janette Silverman
President, Phoenix JGS

Sorry for the late notice - a email reminder was sent out earlier to all
those on our local email list - you would like to be added to that,
please send an email to jsilverman@janette-silverman.com

On Sunday, April 10, 2011, the Phoenix JGS will have its monthly
get-together, which we refer to as an open house. The monthly open-house
provides an opportunity for new and experienced researchers (and everyone
in between) to get together to work on current research, discuss research
strategies and challenges and talk about what ever is of interest to the
group. We meet at Beth El Congregation, 1118 W Glendale Ave, Phoenix from
1-3 PM. Entrance is in the rear of the main building.

For details on our group, meetings and programs and membership please
visit our website: http://relativeity.com/ or call 602-944-3359 ext 123
or email jsilverman@bethelphoenix.com

Janette Silverman
President, Phoenix JGS

Hello all-
in a few of my translations >from Polish and Russian some relatives
were referred to as turners -- i initialy thought of this as
someone who works on a lathe -- however it is only a guess --
does anyone have a clearer picture of what a turner is --

thanks in advance
Stanley Solomon

Hello all-
in a few of my translations >from Polish and Russian some relatives
were referred to as turners -- i initialy thought of this as
someone who works on a lathe -- however it is only a guess --
does anyone have a clearer picture of what a turner is --

thanks in advance
Stanley Solomon