JewishGen.org Discussion Group FAQs
What is the JewishGen.org Discussion Group?
The JewishGen.org Discussion Group unites thousands of Jewish genealogical researchers worldwide as they research their family history, search for relatives, and share information, ideas, methods, tips, techniques, and resources. The JewishGen.org Discussion Group makes it easy, quick, and fun, to connect with others around the world.
Is it Secure?
Yes. JewishGen is using a state of the art platform with the most contemporary security standards. JewishGen will never share member information with third parties.
How is the New JewishGen.org Discussion Group better than the old one?
Our old Discussion List platform was woefully antiquated. Among its many challenges: it was not secure, it required messages to be sent in Plain Text, did not support accented characters or languages other than English, could not display links or images, and had archives that were not mobile-friendly.
This new platform that JewishGen is using is a scalable, and sustainable solution, and allows us to engage with JewishGen members throughout the world. It offers a simple and intuitive interface for both members and moderators, more powerful tools, and more secure archives (which are easily accessible on mobile devices, and which also block out personal email addresses to the public).
I am a JewishGen member, why do I have to create a separate account for the Discussion Group?
As we continue to modernize our platform, we are trying to ensure that everything meets contemporary security standards. In the future, we plan hope to have one single sign-in page.
I like how the current lists work. Will I still be able to send/receive emails of posts (and/or digests)?
Yes. In terms of functionality, the group will operate the same for people who like to participate with email. People can still send a message to an email address (in this case, main@groups.JewishGen.org), and receive a daily digest of postings, or individual emails. In addition, Members can also receive a daily summary of topics, and then choose which topics they would like to read about it. However, in addition to email, there is the additional functionality of being able to read/post messages utilizing our online forum (https://groups.jewishgen.org).
Does this new system require plain-text?
No.
Can I post images, accented characters, different colors/font sizes, non-latin characters?
Yes.
Can I categorize a message? For example, if my message is related to Polish, or Ukraine research, can I indicate as such?
Yes! Our new platform allows members to use “Hashtags.” Messages can then be sorted, and searched, based upon how they are categorized. Another advantage is that members can “mute” any conversations they are not interested in, by simply indicating they are not interested in a particular “hashtag.”
Will all posts be archived?
Yes.
Can I still search though old messages?
Yes. All the messages are accessible and searchable going back to 1998.
What if I have questions or need assistance using the new Group?
Send your questions to: support@JewishGen.org
How do I access the Group’s webpage?
Follow this link: https://groups.jewishgen.org/g/main
So just to be sure - this new group will allow us to post from our mobile phones, includes images, accented characters, and non-latin characters, and does not require plain text?
Correct!
Will there be any ads or annoying pop-ups?
No.
Will the current guidelines change?
Yes. While posts will be moderated to ensure civility, and that there is nothing posted that is inappropriate (or completely unrelated to genealogy), we will be trying to create an online community of people who regulate themselves, much as they do (very successfully) on Jewish Genealogy Portal on Facebook.
What are the new guidelines?
There are just a few simple rules & guidelines to follow, which you can read here:https://groups.jewishgen.org/g/main/guidelines
Thank you in advance for contributing to this amazing online community!
If you have any questions, or suggestions, please email support@JewishGen.org.
Sincerely,
The JewishGen.org Team
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Re: New JewishGen Partnership with USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive®
#JewishGenUpdates
Barbara Podair
Thank you.my father.
Barbara Podair
From: main@... <main@...> on behalf of Avraham Groll <agroll@...>
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 10:45 PM To: main@... <main@...> Subject: [Special] [JewishGen.org] New JewishGen Partnership with USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive® #JewishGenUpdates Dear JewishGen Community, We are pleased to announce a partnership between JewishGen.org and USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive® (VHA) whereby an index of data from nearly 50,000 Jewish Holocaust survivor testimonies found in USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive will be accessible via JewishGen. The biographical data is discoverable via more than 250,000 possible names and aliases — which in turn contain information on more than 600,000 additional relatives identified in survivor questionnaires. Data provided in the interviews contains potentially valuable sources of genealogical and family information, with details that can include: Name, Place of Birth, Date of Birth, Relationship to Interviewee, If individual survived the Holocaust, Place of Death, and Date of Death. All individuals listed in the database link back to USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive portal. More than 4,000 of these interviews are viewable in video format via the internet, while the remaining links lead to biographical pages that may contain slideshows of photos, maps, or additional information essential to those searching for relatives, tracing their lineage, or studying the Holocaust. Thank you to E. Randol Schoenberg (Director of Austria-Czech Research) and Logan Kleinwaks (Director of Danzig Research) for all of their assistance in adding this data to our collection. Finally, thank you to everyone at the USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive® (VHA) who has worked so hard collecting the testimonies over many years, extracting the genealogical data, and for making this incredibly valuable information accessible to the thousands of JewishGen researchers who visit our site each day. This collection can be searched via the JewishGen Holocaust Database (https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/holocaust/) or via the JewishGen Unified Search (https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/all/). Wishing everyone much success in researching this meaningful collection. Avraham Groll Executive Director JewishGen.org
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Re: Using DNA matches to find Jewish ancestors
#dna
The mixing up of babies by institutions might not be all that rare. My mother had black hair and green eyes when I was born, and may have not looked particularly Jewish. In the same maternity ward, there was a Mrs. Johnson, was was not Jewish, but apparently looked more Jewish than my mother did. The Johnson baby and I were both temporarily removed from our mothers, and when the nurses returned us, I was given to Mrs. Johnson, whom the nurses though was Mrs. Nathanson, and the Johnson baby was given to my mother. Fortunately, our mothers realized that that had the wrong babies from the names on the identification bracelets.
Jack Nathanson
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One Thousand Years Ago and Genetic Defects?
#dna
David Goldman
Hi everyone. I don't fully understand how this is possible. But a senior physician I had to see told me that the defective gene for breast cancer was inherited by all Jews of eastern European descent from a SINGLE individual, and the cancer includes an extremely rare form that affects the nipple that is passed along the generations called Paget Disease, which is even more extremely rare in men (as about 10 men per year in the United States).
I don't understand this properly, but this is how it has been explained to me. Of course we know that people other than Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe suffer from breast cancer, so the only thing I could assume from this is that a single individual at that time had converted to Judaism and passed along the defect. In any event, he told me that Ashkenazi Jews should be aware of this situation, especially since 10% of ALL breast cancer in the world is among Ashkenazi Jews who are only a quarter of one percent of the world's total population. Does anyone have any references that discuss this subject in plain LAYMAN'S language, and who such a Jew might have been who was our collective ancestor from the 12th century? David Goldman NYC
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Re: New JewishGen Partnership with USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive(R)
#JewishGenUpdates
tzipporah batami
Nice. Gmar chaseema tova. Do u know who is succeeding Zvi at Yad Vashem? I was traumatized hearing his passing. Feigie
On Wed, Sep 23, 2020, 6:45 PM Avraham Groll <agroll@... wrote:
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ViewMate translation request - Russian
#translation
Debbie Terman
Hello all, I've posted a vital record in Russian for which I need a translation. It is on ViewMate at the following address ... https://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/viewmateview.asp?key=VM86567 Please respond via the form provided on the ViewMate image page. Thank you very much. Debbie Terman Newton MA USA
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Viewmate--Translation request--probably GERMAN
#translation
Joseph Walder
I've posted a Galician marriage record that is probably written in German for which I need a translation. It is on ViewMate at the following address:
Please respond via the form provided on the ViewMate image page. Please include in your response any information about the parents or godparents of the bride, and about pertinent dates.
Joseph Walder
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Re: Sliwkiewicz or Slivkevich, originally of Warta, Poland
#poland
John,
Did you check Yad Vashem records? plugging in SLIVKEVICH there are 98 records. Places in Poland are mostly Lodz; some unknown places in Poland. Possibly someone who created the page of testimony could prove to be a contact. Best, -- Madeleine Isenberg
madeleine.isenberg@...
Beverly Hills, CA
Researching: GOLDMAN, STEINER, LANGER, GLUECKSMAN, STOTTER in various parts of Galicia, Poland
(Nowy Targ, Nowy Sanz, Wachsmund, Dembno, Lapuszna, Krakow, Ochotnica) who migrated into Kezmarok or nearby towns in northern Slovakia and Czech Republic (i.e., those who lived/had businesses in Moravska Ostrava); GOLDSTEIN in Sena or Szina, Szkaros and Kosice, Slovakia; Tolcsva and Tokaj, Hungary.
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Need ideas for how to Interpret the relationship of 2 people to the head of household 1896 Hungarian census.
#hungary
#translation
Shana Millstein
I've posted a vital record in Hungarian for which I need an interpretation. It is on ViewMate at the following address ...
https://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/viewmateview.asp?key=VM86572 Please respond via the form provided on the ViewMate image page, and thanks for any ideas! Shana Millstein San Francisco area
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Jewish Advocate Announces Suspension of Print Publication
#announcements
#usa
Jan Meisels Allen
After 118 years, the Jewish Advocate announced they are ceasing their print publication on September 25th. The paper was founded by Theodore Hertzel in 1902. It has been published in the Greater Boston area.
Unfortunately, closure of Jewish newspapers is increasing. In the past months, Canada’s Jewish Weekly, the Canadian News of Toronto and Montreal, Britain’s primary Jewish weekly The Jewish Chronicle, the New York and New Jersey Jewish Week, and the Forward, week have either closed or ceased their print versions.
At the same time, the Jewish Advocate announced plans to launch a new digital edition focuses on advocacy to Advocate for Jews, the Jewish community and for the State of Israel. They plan to provide an independent forum for Greater Boston news bout the community and various organizations and discussion and debate of the issues.
The Jewish Advocate also reached an agreement with NewsBank (a subscription service) to include the complete archives of the Jewish Advocate in its library and make it accessible to the general public. NewsBank is currently digitizing the Jewish Advocate and it is anticipated having them online by next year.
The digital revolution accompanied by the decline of advertising revenues, exacerbated by the current pandemic, is the main reason for all the print closures. The Jewish Advocate also received a declining subsidy from the Jewish Federation which began to focus on major donors at the loss of smaller contributors to the umbrella philanthropy.
To read more see: https://www.thejewishadvocate.com/pageview/viewer/2020-09-25#page=0
Jan Meisels Allen Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee
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New JewishGen Partnership with USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive®
#JewishGenUpdates
Dear JewishGen Community, We are pleased to announce a partnership between JewishGen.org and USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive® (VHA) whereby an index of data from nearly 50,000 Jewish Holocaust survivor testimonies in the USC Archive will be accessible via JewishGen. The biographical data is discoverable via more than 250,000 possible names and aliases — which in turn contain information on more than 600,000 additional relatives identified in survivor questionnaires. Data provided in the interviews contains potentially valuable sources of genealogical and family information, with details that can include: Name, Place of Birth, Date of Birth, Relationship to Interviewee, If individual survived the Holocaust, Place of Death, and Date of Death. All individuals listed in the database link back to USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive portal. More than 4,000 of these interviews are viewable in video format via the internet, while the remaining links lead to biographical pages that may contain slideshows of photos, maps, or additional information essential to those searching for relatives, tracing their lineage, or studying the Holocaust. Thank you to E. Randol Schoenberg (Director of Austria-Czech Research) and Logan Kleinwaks (Director of Danzig Research) for all of their assistance in adding this data to our collection. Finally, thank you to everyone at the USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive® (VHA) who has worked so hard collecting the testimonies over many years, extracting the genealogical data, and for making this incredibly valuable information accessible to the thousands of JewishGen researchers who visit our site each day. This collection can be searched via the JewishGen Holocaust Database (https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/holocaust/) or via the JewishGen Unified Search (https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/all/). Wishing everyone much success in researching this meaningful collection. Avraham Groll Executive Director JewishGen.org
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ViewMate translation request - Polish/Russian?
#translation
Robert E. Ybanez
I've posted a vital record in Polish for which I need a translation. It is on ViewMate at the following address ... https://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/viewmateview.asp?key=VM86561 Please respond via the form provided on the ViewMate image page. Thank you very much. Robert E. Ybanez Kalinski
-- Robert E. Ybanez Kalinski
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Zev Cohen
Thank you very much Daniel and allow me to wish you Shana Tova. I am aware of the FamilySearch documents. In my particular case, I've hit a brick wall (almost from the start) with regard to my maternal ancestors from Czernowitz and the region. I'm hoping that someone professional like Alex Kohen will be able to dig deeper and break the brick wall. I will definitely contact Alex. I appreciate your help. Zev Cohen
On Wed, Sep 23, 2020 at 3:12 PM Daniel Horowitz <daniel@...> wrote:
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Re: Raymond Engelbreit Book on Forbach History/Families
#france
Jenny Schwartzberg
Dear Mr. Solomon,
I always recommend that people looking to purchased used or out of print books check Vialibri.net which combines a lot of book search engines. Several of Raymond Engelbreit’s books are listed on it: https://www.vialibri.net/searches/202009232114e3zjleLJkE Unfortunately this one is not. Another book that might be of interest has been recently reprinted, on the Jewish community of Forbach: https://www.cultura.com/la-communaute-juive-de-forbach-d-apres-les-actes-de-l-etat-civil-1790-a-1900-tea-9782307369851.html
Perhaps another member of this list might have contact information for Raymond Engelbreit himself. Authors often have extra copies of their books.
Libraries are also opening up so you might be able to check a library or email them and have them check their copy. WorldCat indicates that copies are at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, the National Library of France and the Bavarian State Library. You might be able to email the Salt Lake City Library and request that someone check their copy. Here’s the copy information: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/1006077?availability=Family%20History%20Library
Good luck in your research!
Yours, Jenny Schwartzberg Chicago, IL
From: main@... <main@...> On Behalf Of SOL2516171 via groups.jewishgen.org
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 2:23 PM To: main@... Subject: [JewishGen.org] Raymond Engelbreit Book on Forbach History/Families #france
Does anyone know where I can buy Raymond Engelbreit's book "Les registres de l'etat civil restituent l'histoire des families de Forbach de 1789 a 1870"? Also, does anyone have a copy who would be willing to check a couple of things for me?
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Re: A new "names" database?
#names
Sally Bruckheimer <sallybruc@...>
"It used to be that family names in capitalization were a required part
of our signatures." This was never true. Surnames were required to be capitalized, and you were allowed to include 6 lines of surnames (and places) to your signature. Sally Bruckheimer Princeton, NJ
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dmjacobs@...
I have hit a brick wall on tracing the origins of my 2nd great grandfather, Charles (probably AKA Carl) Schiff, at least on this side of the Atlantic. I’m looking for suggestions on resources that might be available in Germany, or people who can help. The information I do have is summarized below. No luck finding a manifest.
Diane M. Jacobs
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Request translation of extract from family register
#germany
#translation
dmjacobs@...
The attached is a comment in the listing of the Metzger family in the Mainz family register which was made on the line for my 2nd great grandmother Judith Metzger (2.) The only words I recognize are Carl Schiff (my 2nd greatgrandfather), New York (where I first encountered them as a married couple, and where they lived and died), and 1846 - which is the purported birthday of their oldest son, Adolf (No birth record for him in NY as records were kept only after 1847.)
A translation of everything else - or a good guess - might help break down a brick wall! I have no manifest information on either, and I don't know where they met and married. Diane M. Jacobs
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Need translation of postcard German
#translation
tzipporah batami
Need translation of postcard written by Arthur Hellinger of Michalovce from Lukow Ghetto Transit Camp june 1942. Thank you
Feigie Teichman
Moderator Note: Please reply privately
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Daniel Horowitz
Hi Zev, Although Corona may have limited access to the archives I will definitely will recommend you Alex Kohen <tourleader.alex@...> Not sure if you know but some documents (mostly scanned by FamilySearch) are indexed and searchable on https://czernowitz.geneasearch.net/ Best regards
Daniel Horowitz Daniel@... Researcher/genealogist recommendation in Chernivtsi area
#romania
#ukraine
From: Zev Cohen Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2020 13:31:42 EDT I would appreciate a recommendation for a reliable researcher/genealogist in the Chernivtsi area to look for records and documentation regarding the maternal side of my family.
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Re: A new "names" database?
#names
rich.meyersburg@...
I have observed that the "old timers" mostly listed their family names and towns in the Family Finder, but that people joining JewishGen more recently rarely do. For example look at any fairly common name and you will find lots of entries with numbers under 100,000 and a smaller group of numbers between 100,000 and the approximately 800,000+ currently listed, even though the latter grouping contains about 8 times as many numbers. I don't know the reason why, but I would guess that part of the reason is that more researchers now have their databases online and don't see the need to list their research needs in the Family Finder.
I wish they would. However, it also has been my observation that about half of the people I have attempted to correspond with about their family listings in the past year, do not reply, and I rarely try to reach anyone who has not been on JewishGen in the past 4 years. Rich Meyersburg Laurel, MD
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Re: Does anyone know that Shtetl or town in Latvia where Israel and Sora Michla (Margolis) Katz lived?
#latvia
Barbara Levy
Dear Corinne,
Thanks for your info. Unfortunately, I have searched - with very little luck - for their passages. I have Morris' Marriage certificate, but it only says he was from Riga. Same with the naturalization. They lived first in Nashua, NH and then in Worcester, MA. I haven't found anything in the newspapers. I have pictures of his grave, but all it says in the name of his father (Israel). Barbara Levy
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