You have indicated an interest in receiving information about anything
that could benefit your research. This is just such a notice and is
coming from JewishGen because of the potential and interest in this
project.

A documentary film featuring a South-African / English family with
roots in Lithuania, Latvia and Belarus is being produced by
Wall-to-Wall Television for the British Broadcasting Corporation for
its series "Who Do You Think You Are?" and will be broadcast later
this Year.

We believe that most researchers would want to contribute to the
success of this documentary if they had the chance and so we are
writing to you on behalf of the producers.

Some of you may have already received an individual message from Alex
Lowe who is researching the SUCHEDOWITZ / SHOKHET family and related
families from Kretinga and elsewhere for this documentary. She would
like to hear from anyone who has additional information that could
contribute to telling this story.

The information known thus far is as follows:

Arnold JARCHY , born 4th June 1858 in Dunabourg, Russia (Dvinsk- now
Daugavpils in Latvia), son of Lippmann JARCHY and Mathilde TOUROFF ,
both parents living in Dunabourg in 1883. Arnold emigrated to Paris
at some point before this.

Amelie SOLOMON , born 15th Jan 1860 in Grodno, Russia (now Hrodna,
Belarus), daughter of Miles/Meyer SOLOMON (died 15th May 1867 in
Grodno) and Rebecca LEVINSCHTEIN, living in Grodno in 1883. Amelie
also moved to Paris at some point before this date, possibly with her
brother the Rabbi Moise SOLOMON (25th Aug 1852 in Grodno) who moved to
London in 1877 and then on to Paris in 1879.

The SUCHEDOWITZ family (originally named SHOKHET), including
first-names Isidor, Joseph, Benjamin, Hoda Feiga, Pera, Beila and
Jacob, sons born in Kretinga in the 1870s, and family living in Memel
(now Klaipeda, Lithuania) around the turn of the century. The family
were possibly from elsewhere in the surrounding area. They emigrated
in various groups to South Africa around the turn of the century.

The GELFER / HELFER family, living in Zidikai (or a village sounding
similar to "Zadik") near Klaipeda in the 1880s and 1890s.

The following individuals married into the SUCHEDOWITZ family, so
family groups with these names that occur near Kretinga and Klaipeda
are of interest too:

Abel KLUGMAN , born in Ratova in 1876.
Uriah HURWITZ

Ms. Lowe would also be interested in hearing from anyone who has
visited any of these towns in the last 10 years.

If you have any information you would like to contribute please
contact Alex at alex.lowe@walltowall.co.uk

Many thanks,

Susan

Susan E. King
Founder/President
JewishGen, Inc.

Greetings!
I am researching Abraham Rabinowitch (born around 1884) and and his
wife Sarah ( born around 1882) of Grodno Gubernia.
They had four children: Ellie, Sylvia (emmigrated to Palestine at some
point), Michael (a political prisoner killed during the II World War)
and Jay/Julius/Jacob (born 14 March 1904 emmigrated at age 17 to the US).
My question for my fellow researchers is if there are any marriage
records for that period of Abrahm and Sarah's likely union (around
1900) and if anyone has found any of these people in their research?

Thank you in advance for your help!
Jen Dragon
Chichester, New York

The Jewish Community Center: The Hesed Nachum Jewish Welfare/Community Center is located at Bogdanovich Street #6 in Grodno. I got a great feeling there. It is clean, friendly, and alive. When we visited, people were practicing songs. There was a full schedule of events posted. At the cemetery on Friday, Michael Kemerov invited us to join a youth group there on Friday evening.
Grisha Chosid is a very important person in the community . He is 74 years old, a retired physics teacher who escaped from the Nazis by jumping through a window in a boxcar headed for Treblinka in the middle of the winter. He later fought as a partisan during the war. He speaks English. He showed us the cemetery near Nowy Most the first time
Eric Adler
-- http://www.jewishgen.org/Belarus/grodno/GGGDec98.htm

I have found some interesting names: Nathan Funt ( a partisan whom I
met ), Zalman Toker (I have Toker family in Grodno, but no Zalman),
Kosowski (I am interested in Kosowski from KAMENKA, that's my parents'
shtetle, not too far from Grodno. Kosakowski is my father's surname
and Sidranski my mothers'), Eliashberg (of Ruth marcus from Luna with
whom I am in touch about our research since her ancestors are from
Kamenka)

ze'ev sharon <zeevsharon@013.ne->

The program can be heard @ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vc51h

Here begins an extraordinary journey to Lithuania and Belarus for
broadcaster and writer Michael Freedland and his son, Guardian
journalist and best-selling author, Jonathan.

These two countries once thronged with Jewish life, a life that was
all but extinguished by successive regimes- Russian Czarists, Soviets
and then the Nazis who, with the help of some Lithuanians, managed to
totally decimate many towns and villages, or shtetls. Knowing that
their forebears settled in the UK in the late 19th century they set
off to try to find any trace of the Freedlands who came from Baisogala
in Lithuania and the Mindels from Dunilovichy in Belarus. As the
journey progresses, it becomes a broader search- a search for Jewish
life. They are taken to Janova and Kedainiai, both once busy shtetls,
alive with Jewish businesses, shops and culture. Sadly in such places
where there was once a high proportion of Jews, few now remain and
synagogues have disappeared or fallen into disrepair.

In Kaunas, an interview with Professor Egidius Aleksandrovicius lays
out the entire history of Jewry in Lithuania. In Vilnius, the family
focus is re-established as they visit the National Archives where they
learn a lot about the Freedlands and the Mindels, discovering
crumbling nineteenth century archives that refer to what could be
Michael's ancestors. The trail now points clearly to Baisogala, what
was once a tiny shtetl in the Lithuanian countryside. Simon the guide
knows of a Jewish cemetery on the outskirts, but it's a cemetery he
hasn't seen for ten years, as it's been flooded for a reservoir, but
by an amazing stroke of luck, the team tries a wooded hillside
and...there it is, remnants of old and mostly illegible Jewish tombs,
where, no doubt, Michael and Jonathan's ancestors are buried."
(Producer: Neil Rosser //A Ladbroke Production for BBC Radio 4).

Stacye Mehard
Virginia

Studying the Families of
Alperovich of Kurenets; Ipp of Kaunas; Krokin / Krokinovsky /
Crockin of Crockin of Kaunas and Baltimore and Norfolk, Va;
Lewitan of Kobylnik, Dokshits-Dokkshytsy, Lithuania and Belarus;
Luloff / Lulow / Lulove of Dokshits-Dokkshytsy and Minsk;
Piastunovich of Kurenets & Dokshits-Dokkshytsy;
Rapoport of Kaunas; Rosenthal / Roszental of Dokshits-Dokkshytsy;
Sass / Zess of Lithuania and Poland; Smigelsky of Grodno and
Shenandoah, Pennsylvania

Over 22,000 names have been added to JewishGen's Belarus SIG database
in a data set named "Grodno and Volkovysk Uyezd Revision Lists."
Primarily, the records are of two types.
1. From the 1858 Revision Lists (census) for Grodno Uyezd (district)
towns: Indura (Amdur), Kaminka, Krynki, Lunna, Mosty, Ozery, Skidel,
Volpa (Wolp), Vola (Wola) and Berestovitsa, and over 8700 records from
the city of Grodno itself.

2. From 1853 alphabetical conscription lists of males from Volkovysk
Uyezd towns: Izabelin, Jalowka (Yalovka) Poland, Lopenitsky, Lyskovo,
Mstibava, Novy Dvor, Peski, Porozovo, Ros, Svislach, Volkovysk and
Zelva. These records are based on 1850 revision lists.

Other significant data included in this data set are:
- 1850 revision lists of the Galilee and Israel farming colonies
- Additional revision list from the City of Grodno with 400 entries
- about 1400 entries from the 1858 revision list for the town of Volkovysk.

After Grodno City (more than 9000 records), the largest collections
are for Krynki (1900 entries) and Amdur ("Indura") (1400 entries). The
most common surname appears to be LUBICH, with over 300 entries
(almost all form the city of Grodno).

Male heads of households have patronymics, so there are actually many
more individuals referenced in these records than the 22,148 records
themselves.

The explanatory information for the Belarus Revision lists has also
been updated so it now included information about the Belarus Revision
Lists dataset as well as this new dataset. It also now includes
information about searching for revision list records.

Thanks to Ruth Marcus, Linda Hugle, Jennifer Mohr Morse, Nancy Holden,
Jessica Schein, Ze'ev Sharon and many others. I coordinated the
project from start to finish, Ruth Silver guided the coordination, and
Irene Kudish did the translation.

Please direct all questions to me. If they are not answered in the
information page

http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Belarus/BelarusRevisionLists.htm

I will write a follow-up message.

Please consider making a donation to the Grodno Uyezd or Volkovysk
Uyezd projects on the Belarus SIG page on JewishGen-erosity.

You can thank me for the many hours I put into this project by posting
your success stories on JewishGen or contributing to the Indura Yizkor
Book project on JewishGen.

Happy hunting!

Jim Yarin
Acton, MA