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.
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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.”
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Yes.
Can I still search though old messages?
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Send your questions to: support@JewishGen.org
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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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German research resources
#germany
Hello,
I have written to this group before for help, with success, and am hoping to find some additional resources. My search for my biological paternal grandfather (name unknown at the time - found through DNA testing and genealogy) began several years ago. Little by little I made progress, first by narrowing down the branches of a cousin's family tree, then finding a name through records at Arolsen Archives, and now, finally, I have determined a date of death and location of death. But there are many more questions I would like to answer. Abram Zilberminc was born in Poland in 1924 (in later years all records reflect 1928). He survived several years in Auschwitz and it appears he was the only member of his family to survive. He lived in a displaced persons camp for a few years and eventually immigrated to the US in late 1949 and made his way to Minnesota. There he fathered a daughter who would be put up for adoption. It is unknown if he knew of this daughter since his name was not on her birth certificate. At some point in the next ten years he moved to Los Angeles. There he fathered my father. My grandmother had been living there for a short time and not long after she became pregnant she married the man I had always believed to be my grandfather (he died in 1969 so I never actually met him) and she moved to Michigan where my father was born. It is unknown if Abram ever knew of the pregnancy. Through records recently obtained from Germany regarding restitution payments that Abram received, I finally discovered that he died in 1989 and in Germany. I am not sure when (or why) he moved to Germany but I believe it was around the late 1960s to early 1970s. His death record (attached) reveals he was not married at death and doesn't reflect any children living or dead (though I am not sure if German death records would note this information). He was living at the Saul Eisenberg retirement home when he died. Despite a lot of searching, I have never located any testimonies or stories that he left behind. What I know of him relies on documents I have obtained. But I still very much wish to know his story. Now that I know he lived his final years in Germany, I wonder if there may be more to uncover in German records. If anyone has advice on the best way to navigate those records or the best websites to use, it would be greatly appreciated. Kind regards, Nikki Bossert North Potomac, MD
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Re: ViewMate gravestone help requested
#translation
Diane Jacobs
I can read his name as follows:
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
Yakov Zev son of Benjamin Beinish Hope this helps. Diane Jacobs
On Jan 17, 2022, at 12:27 AM, Sam Eneman <sam.eneman@...> wrote:
--
Diane Jacobs, Somerset, New Jersey
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Andreas Schwab
The MyHelritage records database has 2,414 records from Berlin, Seedorf, Segeberg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, among them 1768 for France, Naturalization. Berlin, Seedorf is a hamlet of 500 inhabitants, it is impossible that so many people from this place immigrated to France. This is evidently an error in the MyHeritage database, and the correct place name would be Berlin, Germany. Maybe somebody from MyHeritage could correct this.
-- Andreas Schwab, Montreal, Canada -- Andreas Schwab, Montreal, Canada
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Re: Webinar- Finding Your Polish Ancestors Online in the Polish State Archives
#announcements
#poland
Relly coleman
How do we watch it? It is set to private and requires sign in.
relly coleman
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Re: Who Betrayed Anne Frank and Her Family?
#holocaust
N. ARONSON
If, like me, you live in an area where you can't watch cbs.news.com, you can see it on YouTube
https://youtu.be/1pO_nERBqKo -- Nachum Aronson
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Diane Jacobs
I think Alexander could be Sender.
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
Diane Jacobs
On Jan 15, 2022, at 2:52 AM, Arthur Pronin <aspronin@...> wrote:
--
Diane Jacobs, Somerset, New Jersey
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Re: ViewMate translation request-Russian
#translation
ryabinkym@...
All this 5 documents is the same copy.
Michael Ryabinky, Boynton Beach, FL
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Who Betrayed Anne Frank and Her Family?
#holocaust
Jan Meisels Allen
60 Minutes the CBS newsmagazine aired on January 16 in North America an investigative report on “Who Betrayed Anne Frank and Her Family to the Nazis”. It can be seen at: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/anne-frank-betrayal-investigation-60-minutes-2022-01-16/
It runs about 28 minutes.
Jan Meisels Allen Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee
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This Sunday, January 23, 1:00 PM, JGSNY Presentation
#announcements
#jgs-iajgs
Lynn Diamond
Jewish Genealogical Society NY Meeting, via Zoom Sunday, January 23 at 1:00 PM Eastern Time
Letters to Jozef Tiso, President of the Slovak State 1939-1945 Speaker: Madeline Vadkerty In connection with International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27
followed at 2:30 by...
Speaker: Jeff Edelstein Jeff Edelstein will give a presentation on Czech Records in the JDC Archives Names Index following Madeline Vadkerty’s featured talk. He will discuss records of Czech Jews recently added to the JDC Archives Names Index. These include an index of Emigration Service Case Files from JDC’s Prague Office, 1945-1950; a set of index cards from JDC’s Vienna Office of Jews who fled Czechoslovakia during the period of the Prague Spring, 1967-1968; and an index of transmigrants from across Eastern Europe who received assistance from JDC in Vienna and Rome during the Cold War era, 1946-1988.
New York, NY
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View Mate Translation Request - Cyrillic
#poland
#translation
Tammy
I've posted a vital record in Cyrillic 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.
Thank you very much.
TammyWeingarten
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ViewMate gravestone help requested
#translation
Sam Eneman
Friends,
Please translate the Hebrew on my great grandfather's gravestone. It looks like a poem with the first letter of each line spelling his name in Hebrew at: https://www.jewishgen.org/viewmate/viewmateview.asp?key=VM96866 Please respond via the form provided on the ViewMate image page.
Thank you very much. Sam Eneman Charlotte NC USA
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View Mate Translation Request - Russian
#russia
#translation
Tammy
I've posted a portion of a Yad Vashem Page of Testimony in Russian 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.
Thank you very much,
Tammy Weingarten
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Identifying town name from WW1 and WW2 Draft Cards. Maybe in Bessarabia?
#bessarabia
#russia
lianne@...
I have the WW1 and WW2 Draft Cards for the same person - it's the only piece of data I have that lists his birthplace.
The WW1 Draft card line 5 has 3 words, I can't really decipher the middle word (but maybe it's shorthand for Bessarabia?), and the first word is very elusive. Each guess I make has zero results in google. The WW2 Draft card is much more legible, but still are those Us or Js or Vs? Still no result in Google, so I am asking for help from more experienced eyes and knowledge of places in Russia and/or Bessarabia. Is this town name familiar to anyone? --Lianne Yarvis MODERATOR NOTE: Please reply privately  
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MNJGS Jan 23 Virtual Meeting 1PM Central: Discussion of film "Mamaliga Blues" with producer/writer/director Cassio Tolpolar
#bessarabia
#announcements
#education
#events
casson123@...
Exploring Ancestral Towns: A Discussion of the film Mamaliga Blues
On Sunday, January 23, 2022, from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM Central Time, the Minnesota Jewish Genealogical Society (MNJGS) will host producer/writer/director Cassio Tolpolar for a discussion of his film Mamaliga Blues.
The film is approximately one hour and you can view it prior to the discussion on Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/76558085
In 1931, Abram Tolpolar and his wife Rachel emigrated from Moldova to southern Brazil. Seventy-seven years later, their only child, Mauro Tolpolar, makes the trip back. Accompanied by his two kids, who never knew their grandparents, Mauro visits his parents' birthplace and also finds clues to an unrevealed past. Having as a starting point only one remaining photograph of a lost grave, the Tolpolars drive through ancient villages, walk in the bushes of abandoned cemeteries, and meet locals, looking for what happened to their relatives who disappeared during the Holocaust. The search reveals the fragility of Moldova's memory, and how its Jewish past is vanishing.
The program will take place on-line via Zoom. For more information and to register go to
https://www.mnjgs.org/event
Questions can be emailed to MNJGS at
https://www.mnjgs.org/contact
Members are free, recommended donation of $5 from non-members
https://www.mnjgs.org/support-us Make sure to watch the film in advance!!! --Liba Casson-Nudell Minneapolis, MN Researching: NOTKIN from Minsk, Hlusk, Gomel, Zlynka and CASSON/CHAZANSKI from Nemencine, Vilnius
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Re: New Database: Altona (Hamburg), Germany Vital Records
#JewishGenUpdates
#germany
#announcements
#records
Jeff Marx
Kudos to Michael Moritz for his labor of love in translating and indexing the Altona records. I remember looking them up years ago and they were, in many places, almost impossible for me to decipher. He has done a phenomenal job and deserves all of our thanks.
-- Jeff Marx Researching ANSPACHER, AUGAPHEL, AUGENBLICK, BREAKSTONE, BREGSTEIN, CARLEBACH, HIEGENLICH, KUBELSKY, MARX
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Re: Town in Russia - Markus Family
#translation
Gavin Simms
Lena and Hannah Rachel father was called Harris. I have seen the Boston Harris Marcus and couldn't determine if they are the same family.
When Hannah married in 1896 she listed Harris as a builder on her marriage certificate. Lena listed him as a joiner in 1890 on her marriage certificate. Gavin Simms
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Translation Russian to English please Student Record
#translation
Christopher Kan
Hello and thank you in advance Requesting any help in translating relevant information for exploring family history from the below two images. A full translation is nice, but would be happy with any key points in the text. Please respond via the form provided on the ViewMate image page. Many thanks Chris Kan #translation
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Re: Now online: Center for Jewish History's genealogy webinar on New York City historical photos
#usa
pweinthal
For those of us will not use Facebook due to its notoriously aggressive tracking spyware, there is another way to access these videos. I received a private reply with this helpful link to the CJH YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/CenterforJewishHistoryNYC/featured Pat Weinthal, USA
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pweinthal
Is there some reason you haven't contacted the person who posted this name and supposed family information on Ancestry.com? Ask what evidence (sources) they have for this association. Are they related?
Currently, I am helping a cousin try to remove a non-existant brother from a pedigree on FamilySearch created by a 'helpful' volunteer. The volunteer, who has no relationship to the family, based this addition from faulty information in an extracted record online. It probably will be impossible to correct the online record. This phantom sibling will likely crop up again in other poorly researched online pedigrees. We don't yet know where along the line this incorrect information was introduced. Errors can be introduced any time a record is created, transcribed, extracted, copied, or indexed. An example of why it is vital for genealogist detectives to study how to source and evaluate evidence. Pat Weinthal USA
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ViewMate translation request-Russian
#translation
I would greatly appreciate any translation assistance that anyone can offer for some vital records in Russian. They are on ViewMate at the following addresses:
I believe that several are interrelated, siblings in the case of 96843 and 96844
And I believe grandfather-father-son in 96845 and 96847.
Please respond via the form on the ViewMate image page. Thank you very much!
Susan Weinberg
sgweinberg@...
-- Susan Weinberg Edina, Minnesota sgweinberg@... Radom, Poland- Rubensztajn, Bekierman, Wajnberg Kamenetz-Podolsk - Kishlansky, Schiecher, Wasserman Dunilovichi - Raichel, Sher, Gold
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