Regarding the history of the Czech scrolls cared for currently by the Memorial Scrolls Trust in London, UK, please see the definitive history by Magda Veselska (https://www.jewishmuseum.cz/en/e-shop-en/publications/19-ark-of-memory/). The JTA article is woefully inaccurate, and perpetuates unproven theories about why the scrolls came to Prague and the purpose behind their collection. 
AJ Friedlander
Modena

A reminder:  October 13 Zoom program by JGSPBC “How an Ashkenazi-Litvak traced his ancestry back 2,000 years.

Hello!

I have been researching my great-grandfather Isaac Louis Klegon, and his family.  He came from Poland (born in 1878) around 1902 or 1903 (give or take) to Ottawa, Canada, became a naturalized Canadian citizen and then the family moved to Detroit, MI in 1923.  His papers for application for US Citizen ship, it lists his place of birth as Dobrowice, Poland (or Russia-Poland, depending on the document).

So far I have been unable to find many records of his immigration from Poland to Canada, and am particularly interested in any information what what this town in Poland might be called today, or if there is a different spelling, and if any records might still exist today?

Would be interested if anyone is doing similar research on this town in Poland  from 19th century, and/or of the Jews of Ottawa, Canada in the early 20th century.

Thank you!
Rob Klegon

Here is the obit:
OSTROFF May II, 1991, BERTHA, sister of Mrs. Stanley (Miriam) Green, Mrs. Rose Vezeau, Mrs. Gokfie Stertz, George and Harry Ostroft; also survived by nieces and nephews. Services are on Tues. 1 PM precisely ROSENBERG'S RAPHAEL SACKS, 4720 N. Broad St. (455-0100) Int. Roosevelt Memorial Park. 

Shosh Eizenshtein, Toronto 

For what you are describing, you would use a layered citation, which is basically 2 citations stacked together.  First you do the citation to the database that you actually used.  Then you use a semicolon to bridge your citation to the next citation where you have the location of the original information in the archive, or where ever.  Here is a link to look at https://www.evidenceexplained.com/content/quicklesson-19-layered-citations-work-layered-clothing. And you can use regular words to describe some of the nuances of the record availability.

I hope that helps.

Marlise Gross
Cherry Hill, New Jersey

One of the recently translated chapters the Yizkor Book of Mizoch is titled The Judenrat in Mizoch
Had a High Moral Standard, But… 

 https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Mizoch/miz090.html  

In the words of the author:

The role of the Judenrat was not at all easy because on the one hand, they had to fulfill all of the Germans' wishes, and on the other hand, they did not want to harm the Jews. And this could not be done ... When the time came to fulfill the Germans' demands for various items, the Jews of course did not want to part from their property. It was necessary to create a Jewish police force in order to prevent the activation of the Ukrainian police, and that is how the Judenrat turned into the lowest kind of hell. The members of the Jewish police believed, like their masters the Judenrat, that for their faithful service to the Germans, they would be saved from extermination. I must again note that we did not blame the Judenrat for taking advantage of their positions for their own self-interests, and I could testify that everything that was done at their hands was done out of the necessity of the bitter reality and was inevitable. I blame them only for one thing -- for their criminally naive trust in the Germans. Seeing how they wiped out community after community, without leaving a trace behind, still believing the Germans that promised them that Mizoch would stay standing if German orders were fulfilled to the letter ...

The complete essay by survivor Yehuda Broinshtein can be read at the link above.

(Sincere thanks to Corey Feuer and Yonatan Altman-Shafer, Hebrew language students at George Washington University who translated this chapter under the guidance of their professor Orian Zakai.)
--
Larry (Itzik Leib) Broun
Washington, DC | USA
Project Coordinator
Yizkor Book of Mizoch
e-mail: Laurencebroun@...

I am looking for Harry Levine's family. Harry was born in 1884, probably in Lithuania and died on March 1946. He was Meir's son and his Hebrew name was Kehath.
Valentin Lupu
ISRAEL

Your best shot would be to request his service personnel record from the National Archives, as you stated. That would (potentially) include his entire military record, including postings, ships he served on, decorations and other useful administrative stuff. There was a fire in the archives in 1973 that destroyed many Army, Air Force and Marine veterans' records, but Navy veterans' records were not affected.  If the veteran applied for VA benefits, you may also request a copy of his VA file under the Freedom of Information Act, by calling the VA's call center at 1-800-827-1000.  If he applied for VA benefits, his VA records will most likely contain his service personnel records, as well as medical records and perhaps some personal statements made by him regarding medical issues that relate to his service. These statements may contain important service information, such as places, dates and event descriptions.

Dan Efrat
Cherry Hill, NJ, USA
Researching: Israelit/Israelite (from Novogrudok, Belarus and from Latvia), Rabinowitz (from Dyatlovo/Zhetl, Belarus), Pruss and Koifman/Kaufman (from Ukraine) and Godblat (from Belarus and Lithuania).

Hi,

My grandmother who was living in Danzig from ~1921 was a member of Ha-Bonim (the builders) that was a Zionist youth organization.

She went with them to camps to learn new skills.

I found the following that might assist you:

https://www.infocenters.co.il/gfh/notebook_ext.asp?book=42131&lang=eng&site=gfh
https://www.infocenters.co.il/gfh/notebook_ext.asp?book=38604&lang=eng&site=gfh
https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/pinkas_poland/pol6_00033.html
https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Betar
https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/catalog-of-catalogs-online/1939-danzig-1939-treasures-of-a-destroyed-community-CC0755?s.num=6
http://www.zionistarchives.org.il/en/tags/Pages/blau-weiss.aspx

Regards,
Tamar Amit
ISRAEL

https://elirab.me/polin-museum-orla-cemetery-marking/

Greetings, I have recently joined and would appreciate this being included in the Daily Summary.  With thanks.

A Family Mystery:  The connection between the TYKOCINSKIS of the Lomza area, Poland

I am trying to trace the link between my grandmother, Chaja Szejndla Samolski Grudzinski (k/a Sala Wolf), nee TYKOCINSKA, born about 1884 "near Lomza"  -  and Menucha Grudzinski, nee TYKOCINSKA, born Poland 1872.  From my research they appear to be from different families as my grandmother's father was Lejzor (b. Grajewo in 1856), the son of Beniamin Bejnus;  whereas Menucha's father was Rabbi Meir of Stavisk, who also had 2 sons, both rabbis -  Avraham Itzhak (b. Kolno 1861-1936) and Gedalyahu Hillel (b. ?Bialystok 1867).

For me, the question concerns the eldest son of Menucha, Wolf Majer (son of Rabbi Moshe GRUDZINSKI of Warsaw).  Wolf brought my grandmother, a widow, to Australia, the year after he emigrated in 1925.  They married in Melbourne in 1933 shortly before her son (and my father-to-be), Edward Samolski (25) joined them here.  I'm sure Wolf and his mother must have known Sala and her circumstances - such as being left with a son of 5 in Warsaw after the death of her husband, but I have found few details of her early life.

Wolf must have been close to his mother as he went to see her in Palestine after the War (in 1947).   The Grudzinskis had emigrated there about the same time my grandparents came to Australia.   I lived with Sala and Wolf when I was young and heard he took care of her for the many years they were together in Melbourne.

After Sala died in 1972 he returned to live in Tel Aviv and died there a few years later.

I would be grateful if anyone who knows of the families may have an idea about they are connected.

Elizabeth Suggit, Sydney, Australia

E:  eliza.s@...

Researching: TYKOCINSKI, GRUDZINSKI, SAMOLSKI

 

Daniella,
The spreadsheet of revoked citizenships comes from the book "Die Ausbürgerung deutscher Staatsangehöriger 1933-1945".
You can use worldcat.org to find a physical copy of the book, and perhaps view some snippets on Google books. However, the book was compiled from various issues of the "Reichsanzeiger", the official German government newspaper. These have been digitized and can be searched and viewed at https://digi.bib.uni-mannheim.de/periodika/reichsanzeiger/
However, the last time I tried, I found the search function to be a bit hit and miss - the OCR struggles with the gothic fonts.
You can find an English description of the Reichsanzeiger at:
https://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/history/2018/02/14/new-deutsche-reichsanzeiger-und-preusischer-staatsanzeiger-1819-1945/
I hope this helps,
Rodney Eisfelder
Melbourne, Australia

Dear Group

I'm interested to know the names of any Zionist organisations which existed in the Free City of Danzig in the 1930s. My father was a member of a Zionist organisation during the time he lived in Danzig from 1933 to 1938.

Best wishes,

Rose Raymen

Perth, Western Australia

 

You could contact the Baltimore County Genealogical Society, to find out what vital records are available for Baltimore city, and how to go about ordering them. You could also try emailing the Maryland State archives, to see what holdings they have for Baltimore; when I've emailed them, I've always gotten a reply in 2-3 days.

I do have a question for you - if you haven't been able to find any vital records for the 2nd great grandmother, how do you have the exact dates for her birth and death? Do you have some sort of record for these, or are they from family trees that others have put together.

In a related vein - if this woman had children born in the US in the 1850s and later, then there should be death certificates for those children, who I would assume died after 1900 or so. Those certificates should be obtainable, though you may have to order them for a fee from a state archive or other government agency. 
--
Michele Lock

Lak/Lok/Liak/Lock and Kalon/Kolon in Zagare/Joniskis/Gruzdziai, Lithuania
Lak/Lok/Liak/Lock in Plunge/Telsiai in Lithuania
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

Hi 'Genners,

This may be of interest, especially to those who have ancestors who farmed in NJ and elsewhere.

Rutgers University will present a free talk via Zoom on
Thursday, October 21, 2021 at 1pm Eastern Standard Time.

The topic is:  Jewish Agriculturalism in the Garden State.

According to the announcement, to be discussed is farming,  "not only in New Jersey, but also the Americas, Europe, and Israel."

Link to register:
https://bildnercenter.rutgers.edu/events/upcoming-events/icalrepeat.detail/2021/10/21/91/-/jewish-agriculturalism-in-the-garden-state

From the above site:
"Bildner Visiting Scholar Jonathan Dekel-Chen will introduce a new online exhibit that he developed at Rutgers about the history of Jewish farming--not only in New Jersey, but also the Americas, Europe, and Israel. The exhibition takes a deep dive into the amazing story of Jewish agriculture in New Jersey, where three generations of Jews planted roots in a new country, made New Jersey bloom, and pursued the American dream. It also tells the important and striking story of large-scale Jewish farming on four continents."

I have no affiliation with this program, and have no further information.

Regards,

Sherri Bobish

Searching: RATOWSKY / CHAIMSON (Ariogala / Ragola, Lith.)
WALTZMAN / WALZMAN (Ustrzyki Dolne / Istryker, Pol.)
LEVY (Tyrawa Woloska, Pol.)
LEFFENFELD / LEFENFELD / FINK, KALTER (Daliowa/ Posada Jasliska, Pol.)
BOJDA / BERGER (Tarnobrzeg, Pol.)
SOKALSKY / SOLON / SOLAN / FINGER(MAN) (Grodek, Bialystok, Pol.)
BOBISH / APPEL (Odessa?)

What is the proper way to cite sources used in family research, when the sources are databases and spreadsheets containing transcribed and/or translated records?  For example:

• Extracts of Latvian vital records of Lithuanian Jews, available to LitvakSIG contributors in Excel files 
• Extracts from the 1897 All-Russian Census in Dvinsk, also in Excel, although the original records were digitized by the Latvian State Historical Archives and translated by the late Christine Usdin  
• Records indexed in a JewishGen database - the originals are held by specific archives or listed as "not microfilmed"

Citing U.S. sources, like Census records and birth certificates, is relatively easy.  But when I'm not actually working from an original record, I'm not sure how to cite the source. 

Thanks.

Ellen Morosoff Pemrick 
Saratoga County, NY

Researching WEISSMAN/VAYSMAN (Ostropol, Ukraine); MOROZ and ESTRIN/ESTERKIN (Shklov & Bykhov, Belarus); LESSER/LESZEROVITZ, MAIMAN, and BARNETT/BEINHART/BERNHART (Lithuania/Latvia); and ROSENSWEIG/ROSENZWEIG, KIRSCHEN, and SCHWARTZ (Botosani, Romania)

Do you have any old photos taken of or by your relatives in Jaroslaw, Galicia/Poland? They are needed for the upcoming English edition of the Yizkor Book of Jaroslaw.

It is difficult to find good 1880-1940 photos online, and JewishGen cannot afford to license them from Getty Images, Alamy, USHMM, etc.

I am a volunteer graphic designer working with JewishGen. I am looking for photos that show:
1. The Jewish part of town, with Jewish buildings such as synagogues, study houses, the marketplace, shops, houses, schools, etc.
2. Groups of people, such as a class, Zionist group, professional group, or people at work or play.
3. Family groups (between 4 and 20 people).
4. Modern photos of the old Jewish area, if some old structures remain, such as synagogues, cemetery headstones, houses or other Jewish buildings. Or a panorama or aerial view of the town.

Although I cannot offer payment, for any pictures contributed, you will receive a prominent photo credit plus a free copy of the printed Yizkor book.

If you have old photos, please write to me at artstop@... for instructions on how to scan and send them. 

Many thanks for your kind help!

--
Nina Schwartz
artstop@...

70% of The Canton Hebrew Cemetery has been photographed at findagrave.com. You can go tohttps://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/41348/canton-hebrew-cemetery and look for you relative or you can request a photo. At the moment 13 requests are posted and as a volunteer we usually will try to do all of them at one time. Also I encourage anyone who finds their memorial on findagrave to inform them of other relationships (spouses, parents, children, sibs) even if buried at a different cemetery as this help all of us connect.