I have just started searching for information on my grandparents and have not found anything on the JewishGen site.  My grandmother Ida (Chaya) BACKRACK was probably born in Lokhvytsya, Poltava, Ukraine in 1889 or in 1892, depending upon which document is believed.   Her brother, Isidore (Eisel or Yossel) was also born there around 1891.  Their sister Celia (Tsipe or Cipe) was likely born in Pryuki, Ukraine around 1893.  Parents Louis (Leib) BACKRACK and Pearl (Perel) SMOLOWITZ (or more likely SAMOLOVICH) were born in 1855 and 1861, respectively, and lived in Pryluki. 

Ida probably got married in either of those 2 cities, or possibly where her husband Nathan (Nuchim or Noocham) Moskowitz lived, in Uzlyany, (near Minsk), Belarus, between 1905 and 1908.

I would be thrilled to find birth or marriage records.   No one in the family knows their marriage date.  How should I begin this search? 

Alan Moskowitz
New Jersey

Hi Alan
I was able to find my great grandparent's marriage records at the Grodno Archive in Belarus. They were married in Lida, Belarus.
Some information was on the Jewishgen site and then, with the help of a Russian friend, I contacted the archivist at Grodno who sent me documents (all in Russian).
Ukraine I don't know about - I am searching information about my other great grandfather Moses Cohen from Wladimeretz, Wohelin, Russia (now Ukraine) - so I will follow what other replies you get with interest

good luck

Nicholas Boyarsky

Years ago I ordered Pryluki records to find my grandfather, David Binstock, POLTAVA 1898 birth record.    I ordered from Utah LDS, familysearch.org  to a nearby Family History Center. There is one in Emerson, NJ.   They are probably still closed due to Covid, but the online search and research is available on their site.

Unfortunately, I did not find his record, but I kept the images in case anyone else could use Poltava records for 1898 https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B7UGADlHMio1RGVNVEdaWTM1bVk?usp=sharing

Good Luck,
Beverly Bienstock Margolies
New Jersey

Nicholas -  were your great grandparents from Grodno and that is why you looked there?  Or does Grodno have records from many cities in Belarus?  I have some relatives that were from near Minsk, a town known as Uzlyany, and I am wondering where to search.
Alan Moskowitz

I am also searching for records from the 1870's from Skidal, and Amdur near Grodno. Where can I find these records?
Walter Elias. 

Please contact an organisation based in London UK and Belarus called The Together Plan.  They are helping the remnants of the  Jewish communities in Belarus realise their potential of carrying out research into families who used to make up an important part of pre-20thC European Jewry.  The researchers have huge advantages:  they speak Russian, Belarussian and English;  they live in the area;  they are only too familiar with the bureaucratic ways of this totalitarian State;  they are trained and mentored by Western experts. The Directors can provide you with testimonials.  


Good hunting,
Margaret Levin (London UK)

My father's mother's parents came from Grodno and I trying to find any records about them. May you provide more in-depth about how you got the documents from what archivist in Grodno? What did you need to do, how long did it take, how much did it cost, etc?

David Dubin
606XX, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, United States of America, North America, Northern and Western Hemispheres, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy, Universe, Space