You will do well to contract Yuri Dorn who is excellent. He knows his way around the archives there and is able to speak English well. I have used him as have many others and I recommend him totally.

--
NTalbot
Brooklyn, NY
ninaitalbot@...

NEGER, SPINRAD (Dynow, Poland)
TOLPEN (Suchostaw, Poland/Sukhostav, Ukraine)
DISTENFELD, ADLER, WILDER (Kamionka Strumilowa, Poland/Kamianka-Buzka, Ukraine)

We have all poured over those ship manifests recording the arrival of our ancestors on these shores.  However, I have always wondered about ships that may have been lost at sea and along with them, their hopeful passengers.  Can anyone shed any light on this?
--
Bob Silverstein
bobsilverstein@...
Elk Grove Village, IL

Researching Kaplan (Krynki, Poland) Tzipershteyn (Logishin, Pinsk, Belarus), Friedson/Fridzon (Motol, Cuba, Massachusetts), Israel and Goodman (Mishnitz, Warsaw, Manchester).

Sacurov is a village in the district of Vranov, east Slovakia
my grandfather named Rabbi Shimon Keller resided there and was also the Shochet
my father and his family also lived there for a while 
are their in this forum any descendants of families that lived there and have pictures or any more history of the Jewish community that resided pre WW2
would be very interested to know more
also if someone may know of photographs of any Kellers or Kauftheils would be very interested - as we have no photographs at all!
thanks
Joseph Kauftheil
k5709999@...

If you upload them to jewishgen, somebody will help you (if they are readable and short), there are many yiddish speakers here including myself.
Menachem Schreiber

The NYC property tax office took photos of every building and house in all five boroughs in 1940, and again in 1980. Did the city of Philadelphia have a similar program to photograph buildings? My great-grandfather, Louis WOLDOWSKY, owned two butcher shops during the 1920s-1940s. The addresses were 5865 Rodman Street, and 6162 Webster Street. I would love to see images of those stores.

Thank you,
Ben Zitomer
ben.zitomer@...

My mother's cousin is 81 and a Holocaust survivor, living in Southern California. She was born in Debrecen Hungary and her father was taken into the Labor Battalion (6th Battalion) in 1942 or 43, when she was 3 or 4 years old. He did not come back. We are hoping to learn more specifics about his fate or what happened when and where to his unit. I know we may not find definitive documentation, but perhaps we can get a bit more of a glimpse.

 

Here is what we know:

 

• He was born ROSENFELD László (he Magyarized his surname to RÉTI, and appears in some indexes under either name). He was born 4 Aug 1905 in Debrecen, and married Jolán REINER in 1938.
• He was a lawyer
• What she and her mother were told in the aftermath is that the men in that battalion were being prepped to be shipped to Ukraine (or at least so they were told), but then they were taken in small groups into the forest, and shot. Supposedly, one of the men escaped and shared the story, and some 900 were killed in this manner. Some records give his unit as “106/9 TMSZ”.
• The Klarsfeld Nevek project has his name, indexed both at https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=5297719&ind=1 and https://www.ushmm.org/online/hsv/person_view.php?PersonId=5856994

 

I would be grateful if anyone has any details, resources, or suggestions.

 

 

--
Peter Cherna, Exton PA (peter@...)
Researching CSERNA (Budapest, Székesfehérvár), GRUNFELD (Székesfehérvár), BRAUN, REINER (Budapest, Nyíregyháza, Máriapócs), EHRENFELD (Pozsony, Balassagyarmat) BRACK (Ipolykeszi)

I had several relatives that immigrated to the United States from Moscow in the late 1980s, I'm wondering if anyone else would they filled out immigration papers in Moscow or the United States more likely than not they flew into the United States to their destinations. thanks in advance for any help with where the search

David Syner
Los Angeles, CA
cell 310-801-2279

Dsyner@...

Family website
http://www.davidsyner.com/familytree/

Researching
SINER / ZINNER / ZINER New York, Bialystok

SCHMALTZ / SCHMALZ/SZMALZ New York, Luna, Grodno, Stoll, Rudman, Carbella ;Russia ( Grodno is now Hrodna, Belarus ) AVES, Russia  POUSNER / POSNER, New York, Russia BERLIN Detroit BELENKY / BIELINKA / BELLINSKY Libau, Latvia, Mohilew NEWMAN Detroit NEIMAN / NUONAW/ PENICA / PENITZ Krasosielc, Poland, Warshaw  MELTZER, Detroit, Katrinslove or Poltavia or Gatrinslove (sp), Russia, or Yekahnislaw or Ekaterinoslau (Ekaterinoslav is now Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) DEITCH, Russia  RACHATAN/RACHIDSON /RUSICHAU / RUSICHAN / Krasechan, Dwinsk,Russia ( Dwinsk is Daugavpils, Latvia) BELIAK/ BIELAK / BELAK Toronta, Canada, Breslaw, Slobotka,  Riga, Dwinsk, Israel SALOWEI / SALWAY / SOLOWEY London, Polotska YANKELOVNA, Janklow Markova, Poland, Warsaw, NAPOVISKA, Russia

Please post or send privately: recommendations for the names of researchers
who have accessed the Archives in Minsk, Belarus within the past two years.
Strong English skills and with references preferred.

Ellen Shindelman Kowitt
Erie, Colorado
solesearching@...
--
Ellen Shindelman Kowitt
Director, US Research Division
Colorado
ekowitt@...

The Hoffert branch of my family came from Kolbuszowa, Galicia (now Poland). It's not a common name, and given the size of Kolbuszowa, I received some scholarly agreement with my assertion that there is a high probability that all the Hofferts from Kolbuszowa likely came from one family who took on the name in 1787. I can go back to around 1815. I only found 3 occurrences in the Family Finder, so I thought I would post here. Given there are no surviving vital records for Kolbuszowa, I am hoping that those descendant Hofferts may have done DNA testing, as my results are on all the major sites. I look forward to hearing from more Hofferts, and finding connections. Thanks.
--
Carl Kaplan
MODERATOR NOTE: Please reply privately

KAPLAN Minsk, Belarus
EDELSON, EDINBURG Kovno, Lithuania
HOFFERT, BIENSTOCK< BIENENSTOCK Kolbuszowa, Galicia
STEINBERG, KLINGER, WEISSBERG, APPELBERG Bukaczowce, Galicia

r is recte 'correctly'; f is falshe 'falsely'. Usually on a birth record it says child's given name, father's surname r mother's surname or child's name, mother's surname f father's surname. In these patterns mother's surname is recte and father's surname is falshe, as the government considered the child illegitimate.

Sally Bruckheimer
Princeton, NJ

"This is the area where some birth records will say child's name surname = mother's maiden name r father's surname."

Christine,

You can try searching the surname DRAY at www.familysearch.org
Using Morocco as place of birth gets 109 hits.
Using Morroco as place of death gets two hits.

You can also search old digitized newspapers at The National Library of Israel.  They have several historical newspapers of Morocco.
https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/search

Regards,

Sherri Bobish

Hello all,

I am researching my family history. I am posting with the goal of identifying and hopefully connecting with cousins of mine living in the U.K. that got separated from my family at the beginning of the 20th century. My family, the Liebermans, were most likely from the town of Berezina (in Modern-day Belarus) and two twin Lieberman males and possibly a third older Lieberman brother moved to the U.K. sometime before 1903 (and possibly were married somewhere around that time as well) or maybe a few years earlier.

The two unknown Lieberman male twins and older brother were brothers of my great grandfather. An old family tree lists the eldest brother's Hebrew name as Dov Ber and the twins' names as Avraham Dovid and Yakov Nachum. My great-grandfathers' name is Henry Lieberman (also known as Hillel). They also had a sister named Zlata Bayla and Chana. I have no idea if they went by their Hebrew names or took on secular names and if they went by Lieberman (maybe it was shortened to Lee?). Only my g-grandfathers' brothers went to the U.K.. Zlata Bayla went to the U.S. and Chana we believe went to South Africa. My g-grandfather and his siblings' father's name was Zvulun Lieberman and their mother's name was Rochel (maiden name Frumkin), also known as Fruma Rochel. I am told that Zvulun Lieberman was originally born Zvulun Litman but was adopted by cousins named Lieberman (and changed his surname to Lieberman) to avoid forced conscription. 

The family story is that Henry/Hillel was forcibly conscripted into the Russian army and sent to the front lines in the Russo-Japanese war. Realizing that he faced almost certain death, Henry/Hillel deserted from Manchuria and ran away to Shanghai, eventually making his way to Bombay, India and then to the U.K. (somewhere along the way he may have passed through both/either South Africa and the Suez Canal). Henry/Hillel then lived with his twin brothers in the U.K. for a few months before making his way to America, his final destination. Henry/Hillel arrived in the U.S. through Ellis Island in December 1904.

I am very interested in tracking down what happened to my Lieberman family in the U.K. (Henry's twin brothers and eldest brother) and if any descendants are alive today. If anyone has any connections or recommendations, please let me know.

Thank you so much,
Jason Lieberman jliebe97@...

Stuart,

It seems that "Yelizabetgrad" was the Yiddish variant town name, and today it is called Kirovohrad, Ukraine. 
https://www.jewishgen.org/Communities/community.php?usbgn=-1041993

Here are some databases to search for your family, if you haven't already:
JewishGen Ukraine Database:
https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Ukraine/
I suggest doing a soundex search on the surname, as names get spelled various ways in the records.

This site has old digitized Eastern European city and business directories.  You can check if they have anything for the town you are searching.
https://genealogyindexer.org/directories

Hope this helps,

Sherri Bobish

Dear Christine,

DRAY is sometimes spelled DERHI or DERI. Worthwhile to check these spellings as well.

Jacob Rosen

Jerusalem

On Sun, Jan 17, 2021 at 01:10 PM, David Choukroun wrote:

Dear Christine, 

To my knowledge, Morocco was a French protectorat from 1881 to 1956.
There are some archives in France (Nantes, La Courneuve)
Dray being a quite common name -- I would suggest 
1/ To check janvier 2020 (diplomatie.gouv.fr)
2/ To write here : archives.cadn[@]diplomatie.gouv.fr  - with as much as possible all the information available (it will take time, but they will answer)
3/ To contact a french jewish genealogy organisation Cercle de Généalogie Juive | La première association française de généalogie juive (genealoj.org)
4/ To contact another one (GAMT Accueil bienvenue - GAMT Association Francaise de Généalogie - French Genealogy Association - Asociación Francesa Genealogia (genealogie-gamt.org)

Both of them 3/ and 4/ are very active and might help you in your research (but they would probably need more details)

Hope that helps, I am also interested in your findings as the Jewish community was following the less difficult status for the Jews between Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. A lot of moves here.

All the best, 

Regards,
David CHOUKROUN

david.choukroun@...
FRANCE

CHOUKROUN ATTALI ATLANI

The Sussman News was compiled and published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from March 1934 to December 1939 by three Sussman cousins, all descendants of Yisroel Zisman (1837-1902) and Hinda Rachel Levin (1834-1921).  (Yisroel Zisman’s parents, Dov Ber Zisman and Fruma Rivka, were born about 1800 in or near Ponedel (Pandėlys), Lithuania):

 

Dr. Samuel Sussman (1895-1967) son of Louis (Laibzig) Zisman and Emma Meltzer;

Hirsh Laib Sussman (1890-1955), son of Berko Bertzig Zisman and Tone Fehler; and

Israel R. Sussman (1915-2005), son of Louis Sussman and Mollie (Dweire) Derman.

 

These three cousins, who were living in Philadelphia, created the biweekly newsletter to keep Sussman relatives in the U.S., Lithuania, and South Africa informed of each other’s activities, but also to share their family history and memories of ancestors from the 19th C in the Ponedel region (NE Lithuania).

You may download a complete searchable copy (920 pp.) at my website: origenme.com.   A sample of the contents is attached here.
Please let me know if you find ancestors so that I can offer you access to my extended family tree and add your branch and/or make corrections.
Debbie Shaw Schwartz