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We hope you are enjoying the various updates that have taken place throughout the course of 2021, which include new search features, and the addition of hundreds of thousands of new records(many with links to images of original records).Here are some highlights:
Holocaust Database: With the addition of 30 new datasets, there are now 3.69+ million records in this collection. We are about to announce a new collection with 100k+ records, and look forward to sharing news about enhanced and centralized access to other Holocaust collections as well.
Burial Registry (JOWBR): More than 250k records have been added thus far, surpassing 4.1 million records in total. Stay tuned for a new update within the next couple of weeks, along with a major update in early 2022!
Sephardic Data: In partnership with Dr. Jeff Malka, we created the Jeff Malka Sephardic Collection, and added 146k+ records to our databases, which includes records of Sephardic and other Jews from: Algeria, Austria, Bulgaria, Balkan nations, Caribbean, Croatia, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Libya, Morocco, Spain, and Tunisia. There are also comprehensive records from Israel and the Holocaust.
New Country Database: We created a new country database for the Netherlands, and added more than 15,000 records to the collection.
General Geographic/Topical Databases: We added new data to many of our databases, including: Austria / Czech, Belarus, Bessarabia, Danzig, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Memorial Plaques, Netherlands, Poland, Romania / Moldova, Subcarpathia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and the United States. This is in addition to API's setup and maintained with various organizations so that you can centralize your research, and easily discover records from multiple sources directly within JewishGen. Stay tuned for an additional announcement in this regard shortly!
Genie Milgrom Crypto Jewish Collection: We continued to add data to this collection, which now has more than 16k records.
Search Features: You can now utilize Boolean search parameters of OR and AND (in addition to our other unique search features and options setup specifically for Jewish Genealogists).
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And updates from KehilaLinks, the Memorial Plaques Database, the JewishGen Family Finder, the increased utilization of ViewMate, and MUCH more!!
And of equal importance: While we remain ever committed to acquiring new records and material and placing them online as quickly as possible - -we are simultaneously planning for thecomplete modernization of JewishGen (the JewishGen 2.0 Plan announced last Tuesday). Actualization of our plans will usher in a new stage of growth and development with a focus on securing and supporting JewishGen for decades to come.
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Thank you in advance for your kind consideration and support of JewishGen's important work.
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I understand that Germany has its own customs. But do you know how many "Smith"s there are in the US who are Jewish? There is a complete intertwined Star of David on the second tombstone. Maybe the custom in Germany is due to pressure to conform, and that is why they use a six sided symbol for birth and a cross for death. I think there is too much conformity and unrealistic explanations in the writing above that states that a cross on the tombstone means they could not have been Jewish. Just read about the converses in any country. Life is difficult when you are pressured to conform. If this gentleman's family has a handed down tradition that they had been Jewish, it is most likely true! Respectfully,
What might be the real name of this shtetl and where it is? This is how it was spelled on the ship manifest. I tried every spelling I could think of on the JewishGen "Town Finder" without any success. Another spelling: Supowtz?
My spell check did an automatic “correction” and it changed Przemyśl to Proemial which I did not catch. My apologies and thanks to Renee Steinig for her excellent vision!
Jan Meisels Allen
Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee
Arthur Kurzweil first encountered amulets and dreidels excavated by treasure hunters during a trip to his father's hometown in Poland. Now he has collected thousands of them. (Photo by Shira Hanau/JTA; background courtesy Kurzweil)
Famed Jewish Genealogist and author of seminal genealogy book, From Generation to Generation, Arthur Kurzweil, has a collection of 4,000 dreidels.
He has exhaustively chronicled his efforts to trace his own family’s lineage, including along the many branches that were broken when family members were murdered in the Holocaust.
The dreidels, pulled from the earth across Eastern Europe, represent an extension of that work, Kurzweil told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency from amid the collection in his Long Island home.
Quietly and in collaboration with Eastern Europe’s sizable community of treasure hunters, he has amassed a sweeping collection of Jewish objects unearthed from throughout Eastern Europe. While Holocaust museums and concentration camps bring visitors face to face with the piles of shoes and eyeglasses worn by Jews who were about to be killed, Kurzweil lives with reminders of the lives they lived.
In addition to the tiny dreidels, made of pewter and lead and clearly intended for children, Kurzweil has also collected boxes of metal kosher seals, which would have been affixed to packages of food to attest to their kosher status; dozens of pins that would have been worn by members of Jewish youth and Zionist organizations; and coin-sized metal disks that synagogues would have handed out to people being called to the Torah.
John Ward, who heads the silver department at Sotheby’s noted that a collection like Kurzweil’s would tell an important story about Jewish communities that were destroyed during the Holocaust.
Kurzweil first purchased an unearthed amulet in the 1970s while on a trip to Przemyśl, Poland, a town where several members of his family had lived before World War II.
“When I saw my first amulet, my first pendant, I was just drawn to it. I was shocked that they still exist under the ground. I didn’t want them to disappear or to be thrown away,” Kurzweil said.
Arthur Kurzweil first encountered amulets and dreidels excavated by treasure hunters during a trip to his father's hometown in Poland. Now he has collected thousands of them. (Photo by Shira Hanau/JTA; background courtesy Kurzweil)
Famed Jewish Genealogist and author of seminal genealogy book, From Generation to Generation, Arthur Kurzweil, has a collection of 4,000 dreidels.
He has exhaustively chronicled his efforts to trace his own family’s lineage, including along the many branches that were broken when family members were murdered in the Holocaust.
The dreidels, pulled from the earth across Eastern Europe, represent an extension of that work, Kurzweil told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency from amid the collection in his Long Island home.
Quietly and in collaboration with Eastern Europe’s sizable community of treasure hunters, he has amassed a sweeping collection of Jewish objects unearthed from throughout Eastern Europe. While Holocaust museums and concentration camps bring visitors face to face with the piles of shoes and eyeglasses worn by Jews who were about to be killed, Kurzweil lives with reminders of the lives they lived.
In addition to the tiny dreidels, made of pewter and lead and clearly intended for children, Kurzweil has also collected boxes of metal kosher seals, which would have been affixed to packages of food to attest to their kosher status; dozens of pins that would have been worn by members of Jewish youth and Zionist organizations; and coin-sized metal disks that synagogues would have handed out to people being called to the Torah.
John Ward, who heads the silver department at Sotheby’s noted that a collection like Kurzweil’s would tell an important story about Jewish communities that were destroyed during the Holocaust.
Kurzweil first purchased an unearthed amulet in the 1970s while on a trip to Proemial, Poland, a town where several members of his family had lived before World War II.
“When I saw my first amulet, my first pendant, I was just drawn to it. I was shocked that they still exist under the ground. I didn’t want them to disappear or to be thrown away,” Kurzweil said.
If you know where Dora Goldstein grew up and where her parents lived at the time of her marriage, then that would be a big clue as to what county she married in. At that time, most women lived at home until they married, and her parents would have been the ones who hosted the wedding, so that would be the most likely place where the couple married. If you check on Newspapers.com, you may be able to find a wedding announcement in a local newspaper.
Alternatively - you can check with the NJ Dept. of Health, to see if it is absolutely critical that you fill in the county name. You could check to see if "Unknown" is acceptable.
When I have ordered death records from the NJ State Archives, the form asks for the name of parents for the deceased. Well, generally I don't know that information, but the state archivist told me to write in 'Not Known', so the computer thinks that the parent's name is Not Known.
Another avenue - you could check with the NJ State Archives, via their email contact address. They may not be able to provide you with the actual marriage certificate, but they may be able to provide you with the name of the county, since you already have the year of marriage.
Michele Lock
Lak/Lok/Liak/Lock and Kalon/Kolon in Zagare/Joniskis/Gruzdziai, Lithuania Lak/Lok/Liak/Lock in Plunge/Telsiai in Lithuania Rabinowitz in Papile, Lithuania and Riga, Latvia Trisinsky/Trushinsky/Sturisky and Leybman in Dotnuva, Lithuania Olitsky in Alytus, Suwalki, Poland/Lithuania Gutman/Goodman in Czestochowa, Poland Lavine/Lev/Lew in Trenton, New Jersey and Lida/Vilna gub., Belarus
Strategies for Navigating Ukraine Resources” The Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County on Wednesday January 12, 2022 at 1PM ET
#announcements#jgs-iajgs
"Strategies for Navigating Ukraine Resources”, a virtual presentation by Ellen Kowitt will be hosted by The Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County on Wednesday January 12, 2022 at 1PM ET
"Strategies for Navigating Ukraine Resources”, a virtual presentation by Ellen Kowitt will be hosted by JGSPBC on Wednesday January 12, 2022 at 1PM ET.
Ellen Kowitt is Director of JewishGen’s USA Research Division and National Vice Chair of the NSDAR Jewish Task Force. She is past president of Jewish Genealogical Societies in Colorado and Greater Washington, DC, and she served for three years on the IAJGS board of directors. Ellen publishes articles in Family Tree Magazine and Avotaynu: The International Journal on Jewish Genealogy. She has completed the ProGen Study Group, attends genealogy institute programs, and is a member of the Colorado Chapter Association of Professional Genealogists.Ellen publishes articles in Family Tree Magazine and Avotaynu
As a volunteer in the genealogy world for 25 years, Ellen has held numerous leadership roles, organized records acquisition, indexed, and managed translation projects in the United States and abroad.
To register, please go to jgspbc.org and click onRegister for January. You will receive an immediate acknowledgement and a link prior to the presentation on December 8. The meeting is free to JGSPBC member; guests are required to pay a $5 fee, applicable toward the $30.00 annual membership
Please could someone translate the Polish marriage certificate I've posted on Viewmate at https://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/viewmateview.asp?key=VM96343 I think it's my great great grandparents' marriage record. Please respond via the form provided on the Viewmate image page.
I read it as Nitopek, but it could also be Vitopek. The letter P was usually written with an open loop in the early 20th century. I was taught to write it that way in the 1950s. I was unable to find a town phonetically like either name in the JewishGen database. But I did find two possibilities using the Soundex for Vitopek.
This is a reminder that the ProQuest-Ancestry Library Edition that was made available remotely for almost two years ends on December 31, 2021. During the pandemic, Ancestry permitted ProQuest to offer the Ancestry Library Edition remotely in North America for those libraries that have Ancestry subscriptions. I have been advised that Ancestry notified ProQuest that the remote access ends on December 31, 2021 as more public libraries have reopened.
You need to check with your local library if they have a ProQuest Ancestry subscription that you can access remotely until December 31st. A library card for that library or library system will be required to access the remote Ancestry access until December 31st. After that date access will only be in the library on their computers.
Jan Meisels Allen
Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee
I appreciate the responses. However, many years of the New Jersey Marriage Index in Reclaim the Records & Ancestry.com which are copied from Reclaim the Records do not have any information in code or name on the location either county or municipality of marriage. Robert Avner
If you know the town, I suggest homelocator.com ( go to search city/state). An alternative is to google city name, state and the word county. -- Sarah L Meyer Georgetown TX ANK(I)ER, BIGOS, KARMELEK, PERLSTADT, STOKFISZ, SZPIL(T)BAUM, Poland BIRGARDOVSKY, EDELBERG, HITE (CHAIT), PERCHIK Russia (southern Ukraine) and some Latvia or Lithuania https://www.sarahsgenies.com
Just an idea, maybe the American Army had some rules that were similar to those of British services. If you did not send the person any money from your pay, they
had no pension if you died on service. At an early stage after enlistment, you completed a simple Will in your documents usually saying I leave everything
to Mother, Mrs XYZ. and witnessed by the next bloke sitting beside you.
These were both spelt out to me in 1951 on British National Service. About a year later I was in a fighting area, for which I later received a Campaign Medal,
From: main@... <main@...> on behalf of Shelley Mitchell <Shelley.Mitchell@...> Sent: 09 December 2021 14:35 To: main@... <main@...> Subject: Re: [JewishGen.org] Was Max GORDON (1913-1971) really married? #usa #general
Is it possible that he listed Rose so that she could, for whatever, receive his benefits in case of death while in the service? Just a thought.
We are looking for volunteers to help us with the scores of record collections we have acquired that need indexing! Below is a list of towns where we have acquired records that need indexing. If you are interested in helping with these Romanian, German, Hebrew or Yiddish handwritten records from the 19th and 20th centuries, then please fill out our volunteer form here: https://romania.jewishgen.org/contribute/volunteer.
Towns with Newly Acquired Records in Need of Transcription -- By Language:
German: Suceava BMD, Vatra Dornei BMD, Bucharest landsmanshaft list from NY from 1900-1925
Yiddish: First Roumanian American Congregation (NY) membership lists from the 1910s
Don't see your town? Or if you are not able to help transcribe but would like to contribute to any of our projects, you can donate here: https://www.jewishgen.org/jewishgen-erosity/v_projectslist.asp?project_cat=20. All help is of course appreciated!
Jay, many thanks for all your great work on this project and to Racheli Kreisberg of our Skala Research Group for her work on the Skala Podolskaya map.
In checking Ancestry's inventory of Alien Case files available via the U.S. National Archives (NARA) branch at Kansas City https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6927/ I noticed a new listing that may be my great grandmother. Ancestry lists this database as updated. I checked NARA, KC and, sure enough, they indicate that they added more than 1,700,000 records on 9 December 2021. I will soon be placing my order.
I would appreciate any help in finding ancestral information about my great-grandfather, Shimshon ZERSHTEIN. He married Sara RIFKIND and they lived in Grodno. She was the daughter of Rav Yeshayahu ha-sofer Rifkind (?-1915) and Leah, from Grodno.
The children of Shimshon and Sara were Feige-Tzirl ZERSHTEIN (died 1925), Hillel ZERSHTEIN, Tzvi ZERSHTEIN, Aryeh Leib ZERSHTEIN, and my grandmother, Zlata ZERSHTEIN HARKAVY(c. 1890-1959). Hillel, Tzvi, and Aryeh Leib unfortunately perished in the Holocaust.
Shimshon was a learned man and a wood carver by trade. He lost both his legs to diabetes and ended up living in the Jewish home for the elderly in Grodno, not far from Zlata’s home at 26 Mostove St. He was still alive in 1930.
I have tried various spellings and formulations for the name ZERSHTEIN, but to no avail.
Hi from Paris, After 1933 from Germany and 1938 from Austria, a lot of Jews but also of nazi's opponents could arrive in France. When WWII started on 1939 September 1st, they had to register and were sent to interment camps as citizens of an enemy country. Jews could be released if they agreed to enroll French Army in Foreign Legion regiments : men of my family were Austrian Galizianers and did it. Mostly after the large French round-ups of Jews during July and August 1942, a lot of Jews found a refuge by being smuggled through the Swiss border. "Being smuggled" because exactly in August 1942, Swiss government decided that being a Jew trying to save his life was not enough a reason to enter legally Swiss. In Geneva state by itself, nevertheless ca 9.000 did it. In this area of Geneva lake, relief isn't mountainous but only fields in a valley : I attach some pictures of the place where my mother (13's) crossed the border, as did ca. 200 Bundists of France (families or children alone). Today, just a border stone in middle of a field... But, but, but, in middle of this field, you had to cross two barbed wire lines and French / German patrols which shoot on sight. And when refugees were caught by Swiss border police, they could be returned immediately to French side, sometimes voluntarily in front of these patrols...
Concerning refugees crossing to Geneva state, state archives still detain a file for each person (even small children, I have copied 200 of them) as do Bern Federal archives. Most of other Swiss states (cantons) have destroyed these files after WWII... A lot of books and thesis (the last from Ruth Fivaz) analyze what has been Swiss policy concerning Jewish refugees during WWII. You have also a Swiss documentary "Memories of the border". Khavershaft Bernard Flam Archives & history of Medem Center - Arbeter Ring of France (Bund / Worker Circle)
Another spelling: Supowtz?
