My grandfather left Minsk in 1913 for the United States, and had six siblings whose names are unknown. I had someone do research in the archives in Minsk. While they were very successful in tracing my family back to the 1740s, they were unable to find the names of the unnamed siblings.

My grandfather corresponded with some of his siblings until World War II, and then never heard from them again. I would like to find their names, and possibly the names of their children, to find out what happened to them. I am hopeful that some of them escaped, but would also like to know if they didn’t make it through the Holocaust. What other suggestions do people have for finding them? Since the last name was Kaplan, there would be quite a few victims of the Holocaust named Kaplan from Minsk, I think I need to find out what their given names too. Any help is much appreciated.

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Carl Kaplan

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

My grandfather's name was David Edelson.His father's name was Sruel. He was living in Minsk when he left around the age of 12 in 1910. From research I found he was born in Dukora- a shtetl outside of Minsk. I was told there were records dating the Edelson family back to early 1700's in Dukora. Original name was Idelzchik. Means son of Yehuda. Some Anglicized the name to Edelson- some to Adelson. My grandfather had a brother and 3  sisters who came to the United States. He left others in Minsk. His sister was married to someone named Kaplan. I believe her name was Chasha. I know he had a 1st cousin whose name was Sam Edelson.

Karen Rothaus Rosenthal
Edelson, Idelczik from Belarus

Hi Carl
I’m not able to help you with you search but my ancestors are from Minsk as well. Would you be able to share the name of the archivist who helped you go back to 1740! That’s amazing. I can’t get past my Great Grandparents sadly. Also if you could give me an idea of how much they charge. Thanks so much! Good luck with your search.
Best,
Kim Sherman
Lashinsky/Laschinsky/Leshinsky from Minsk, Belarus

Carl,

Checking the Yad Vashem archives/databases for surname and geographic location may provide leads/clues to your research.

Kind regards,
David Passman

PASSMAN - Novy Svierzhen & Minsk, Minsk, Belarus
SILVERMAN - Minsk, Minsk, Belarus
OBERMAN - Bilohirya (Lechowitz), Ukraine
HOFFMAN - Shepetovka, Uraine

Did you check the Yizkor book  https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/minsk/minsk.html
and Memories of the Minsk Ghetto? https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/weremember/weremember.html

I too would like information on family research in the Minsk region.

Jessica Schein
Chushansky/ Sushensky or similar from Minsk gubernya possibly towns of Petrikov and  Kopitkevich 

You haven't mentioned anything that  might help someone recognize the family. Your grandfather's parents' names, for instance, of his age. Do you know if he was born in Minsk or that's just "where he left from?" (Not to mention that Minsk may refer to the area, not the actual city.)

DNA might be helpful - both Y and autosomal.

There is a Kaplan page on Facebook which you might find useful.

Israel Pickholtz  .

Thank you for pointing that out. My family lived in the Iguman district of Minsk, and can be traced to the 1740s. My great-grandfather was Asher/Osher Kaplan. He was born in 1868, and died in 1928. The two children of Osher that we know were Joe, born in 1890, emigrated to the U.S. in 1907, and my grandfather Charles, who was born in 1896, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1913. There were 6 other siblings, including twins.
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Carl Kaplan

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

I use the "Central Database of Shoah Victims". If you find a likely match, click on that person's name and you'll probably find their spouse, possibly father, where they lived, and occupation. If you find Pages of Testimony, you may learn more.
Good luck,
Molly Staub

For the archivist, I went through the non-profit Together Plan out of the UK, that helps rebuild Jewish communities in Belarus. I hesitate to state their cost, because they tailored it for what I was looking for. In the end, for me, it was worth it, but obviously there is no guarantee on results. Their website is https://thetogetherplan.com/, and I believe the contact for their archivist is archive@...
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Carl Kaplan

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

Carl,

Minsk was both a city and a Province in the Russian Empire. When you say your relative left Minsk, which were you referring to?

Igumen was both a city and a district. It might help if you told us the actual locations in the Igumen district. 

Thanks,

Aaron Ginsburg
aaron.ginsburg@... jewishdokshitsy.org

My grandfather left Minsk in 1913 for Montreal. He was from Igumen/Dukora. Listed his name when he immigrated as Boruch Idelzchik. In Canada it became Bennie Adelson. He had a brother named Sruel, but presumably not the same one because his brother died as a teenager in about 1913. His other brother was named Max (Mische?) and came to Canada a bit later.  My understanding is that ultimately he brought most of his many aunts and uncles to Canada. I'm attaching what I know of the family tree and names from Minsk gubernia. 

Tema Frank