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This site is dedicated to the memory of the Jewish population who perished during the Holocaust.

Hi,
Help me please find my grandmother's family BERMAN MARIA (1906 RIGA): In 1954 they lived in Vitebsk (Belorussia).Maria married Zalman Ivanter
BERMAN BLUMA (born c 1890),
BERMAN BENJAMIN,
BERMAN ARON -move from Riga(Latvia) to JOHANESBURG in 1917..
Thank you

I was browsing through your pictures from Kovno and found one that seems to be a picture of orphans in Jerusalem
I'm referring to no.49- It says Sanhedria 1947
My husband z'"l is in that picture with his brother , bottom row right 1st kid is my husband, 3rd is his brother
Their names are Moshe and Shalom Reish
What a find for me!
TOVA REISH

These are my ancestors. I would love to get better copies of these photos.
Can you please tell me where you got them?

I found them on http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/vilna/vilna_pages/vilna_portraits3.html

~Kim Meyers
The pictures are from the Yivo collection and you could order them online "People of 1000 Towns, a Photographic Encyclopedia of Jewish Life in Eastern Europe, 1880-1940," http://yivo1000towns.cjh.org/default.asp

Hi, my grandfather's name was Pustinnikov or Pustinnikoff. I am
looking for his ancestors who came to the US in early 1900s. On your
cite you have the following information:
Surname PENSKY
Given Name PELAGEA
Middle Name IVAN
Sex FEMALE
Birth Date 21 Oct 1875
Death Date 29 Jun 1959
Birth Place OTHER COUNTRY
Death Place SAN FRANCISCO
Social Security # 0
Mother's Maiden Name PUSTINNIKOFF
Father's Surname PENSKY

I wonder whether Pelagea's mother is related to my grandfather--they
have the same last name and the dates seem to match. How do I find
that out? Could you please let me know Pensky's contact information?

<barbarafranklin...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Jan 29, 2012 at 10:57 AM
Subject: Please consider
To: egl.comments@gmail.com

Is there a way to search your site
I'm trying to find references to Bass and Adler families of Kovno Gubernia?
Thank you

First off, I love your name and the place in Israel!

I am Myra Rothenberg currently near Seattle (grew up in LA). My GM was Sophie Brodie ( Brudne) from the city of Vilna, who married Morris Wasserman.

Years ago, I paid a researcher to help me gather my direct line of Brudnes and Wassermans. Well, I now have tons of small family-ettes of Brudnes/nos/noys/neys/nyaks/, etc. etc.

Recently, I have been working with a guy who is re-researching and editing that book of Clevelanders of Brudnos. I hear tell there are some Brudno folk in Israel also. I have kids in the West Bank and my daughter-in-law is a new teacher this year, English. My son is a Captain in the IDF, psychologist.

I’ve known about your website ( fabulous) for a long while now.

A couple of years back, maybe 2?, I started to try and find more of these Brudnos and came upon lots of families in Australia and in London and in South Africa and various parts of America.

I can send you my tree as it is and you can see what I have. I have a Brudno back to 1700, Mousha.

Ancestry has 100 spellings of Brudne, some we wouldn’t recognize at all, but soooooo many others. There was a different spelling for every little part of Lithuania and Belarus, etc.

Perhaps you know all this already.

I’d love nothing more than to piece all of our parts together into one big tree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m tossed as to how the heck this o would ever happen. First off, I am going to receive the Clevelander disc and see what I comes up.

Thoughts?

Myra

My GGrandmother, Esther ROTHENBERG/ROTENBERG (married names KUPINSKY & HANKIN
), was born in 1895 in Grodno, possibly Skidel. She came to the US around
1909 with her sister, Fannie.I am trying to find Fannie's descendants
Unfortunately, we do not know Fannie's last name after her marriage.
She was married twice, once to Israel & once to Samuel. She had 2 sons, we
believe born between 1909 and 1920, named Sol and Charles. Sol married Reba
;their children include a daughter named Helene who was born about 1929.
Fannie probably lived near Madison Street, Manhattan in 1920 & near
Clinton Ave, Bronx in 1930.Around 1945 Fannie lived in either Borough
Park or Bensonhurst, Brooklyn....

I am Mitcell Uberstine son of elliott uberstine age 82 and barbara uberstine (deceased 6 years ago)
My wife is Janice Uberstine age 51
Andrew 19 sophomore at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Jeffrey 22 at college and IT manager
abraham and Gertrude Uberstine are my grand parents deceased
Mayer Uberstine great grand father
Mitchell Uberstine
mariodinky661@aol.com

From: Barbara Franklin <barbarafranklin144@.com>
Date: Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 9:40 AM
Subject: Please help

I am trying to locate my family from Kovno Gubernia who emigrated to the US around 1882. The father's name was Israel Bass. He may have been a violin maker. Thank you so much

<alexx3@cellc.blackberry.com> wrote:
I'm trying to trace my uncle bernard aronstam he lived at the arcadia in johannesburg during the 1940s. He emigrated to the usa in the 50s he is now believed to be living in new orleans can anybody help? Regards ALEX

To whom it may concern,

I am descentant / relation of the Landau and Rosebluth family.

Can I be of some help?

Thanks,

Naomi Blass-Schutz

Cut and pasted from your website:

Looking for - LANDAU, Sara
Born
Krakow , Poland
Relatives
cousin: Cyril Landau Rosenbluth
Last place during war
Blazowa, Przemysl, Rzeszow
I remember
Have not heard from since Holocaust

Does anyone know if there are marriage records for Rakov, Belarus for the
1880's.? My great Uncle Velvel (Wolf) Semenovich married Bessie Ginsburg in
Rakov sometime before 1890. I am trying to find the village from which he came.
He was married in Rakov to the daughter of a prominent family in the
hardware business.Their son listed Rakov as his place of birth on his
WW I U.S. draft card.

....
In the "Deretchin" section, in the first picture (http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/deretchin/deretchin_pix/043004_101_b.gif #dere-1"), I can identify the following people:

Standing in the back row, second from the left: Sheva (Bas-Sheva) BESHKIN (BESZKIN). She was my great aunt. She moved to Canada in the early 1930's, married David MATLOW (MATLOVSKY), and died in 1988.

Back row, 4th from the left (in the middle): Rivka BESHKIN (BESZKIN), Sheva's sister. She was married to Moshe TABOLSKY, who became a cantor in Derechin (after Rivka's father, the cantor, Tsvi Hirsh, died). Rivka was killed in the Holocaust.

Back row, 2nd from right: my great aunt, Teme ORZHECHOWSKY. Her husband's name may have been ZELVIANSKY. She died in the Holocaust. (Teme's sister, Sora Golde, was my grandmother. She moved to Canada in around 1929 and died in Detroit in 1973.)

From: Gloria Pariser <pgoldie1836@...l.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 10:47 AM
Subject: Family from Vilna
To: egl.comments@gmail.com

I have been searching for family members from Vilna of the name Berman or Solomon. My grandmother's name was Rivka(Rae) Solomon she married Joseph Berman and they lived in Boston. She had a sister named Dina Milna and she lived in Johannesburg. There was also an uncle by the name of Shea Solomon who had a farm in Yorktown Heights NY. One of his son's was Solomon Solomon and his wife's name was Rose. They had 3 children- Helene, Linda and Harvey. Rivka and Joseph divorced and he went to California where I think he started another family. As far as I know he was a fund raiser for charities. If you could be of any help to me in finding my family I would appreciate it. I also have pictures of the family that perished in Vilna and if you would like I cpould e-mail them to you.
Thank you for any assistance you may be able to give me.
Gloria Pariser

I have good news for people researching the shtetl Widze (also known as Vidzy) in Belarus.

I finally succeeded in getting the Widze Yizkor book - Sefer Vidz: ayarah behayeha uve-khilayonah
(by Gershon Winer and Yizhak Alperovitz, Tel Aviv, 1998) onto the web available for everyone to view.
This is thanks to Amanda Seigel of the Dorot Jewish Division in the New York Public Library.

The 1998 Widze book can be found in the following link:
http://legacy.www.nypl.org/research/chss/jws/yizkorbooks3.cfm?trg6=W
click on Widze (1998) pdf available and wait several minutes (you need to click on PDF and not Widze).

The New York Public Library/Dorot Jewish Division has a Yizkor (Holocaust Memorial) Books project whose home page is at
http://legacy.www.nypl.org/research/chss/jws/yizkorbooks_intro.cfm
With help from the National Yiddish Book Center, the NYPL has made the digitized version of hundreds of Yizkor books, memorials to lost communities, available on the library’s website. The 1998 Widze book was just uploaded now after several year of efforts on my part. Since it was added to the library site with a different software, it takes several minutes to access the book. But the book is there in its entirety, along with the short English section at the end of the book.

Please make this info available to Widze researchers.

If any question arise, I can be contacted at harriste@bezeqint.net

Thank you for all your work in helping us all remember what once was.

Eudice Winer-Harris

Hello.
I came across your website today. My wife and I spent 2 years teaching in at Lithuania Christian College in Klaipeda in 1993-1995. The holocaust history has always interested me and being so near it in those years only intensified it. During our time there we met an old lady who grew up in Birzai. She died a couple of years ago just shy of her 103 birthday. She had been deported to Siberia in the 1950's. She told us of here memories of the killing of Jews there when she was young. She said they could hear the shooting for several days. When the shooting was done the jewish possessions were made available to the people of the region. She said that their pastor of the "reformed" church told his congregation that anyone who took any thing would be excommunicated. I did spend a few days in the area with one of my students but was not really aware of the history at the time. There seems to be more awareness of it now. I would like to return one day and take some of your pictures along and research the area. As my Mom said when she visited, "there is such a feeling of heaviness in Lithuania". She is right. I have sensed it too. The earth cries out, I guess.

In September 2011 I took a trip back with my daughter for the 20th anniverssary of LCC and to meet her birth mother. But 2 weeks is not long enough to see all I want there. I could stay a year and not see it all. Thanks you for your interesting site.

God bless,

Al Peterson

I am an Indian Postal Historian and a member of Civil censor study group based in UK and USA.. I recently purchased a censored cover sent by Dr. Samuel Kapeliowitch , Care of Superindentant of police, Simla , British India to Dr.J.Kopeliowitch C/o Palestine Electric Corp on 7Th July , 1940.

What is unusual to me as a postal Historian , this cover went to New Delhi for censorship which is a rare occurrence as seen by the censor marks. Normally in this period , such letters from Simala were to be censored either in Simla or Karachi as this was an airmail letter. Only something very important , was sent to Chief censor.

So my question is who were these Kapeliowitches ? What was one of them doing in India during the war time?

My husband is a decendant of Ephim H Jeshurin of Vilna. I am searching for photos or other historical documents about his family. I found a photo of a nephew on your site. What a wonderful resource. If anyone has more informaiton, please let me know.
Thank you,
Donna Brody

wow
i just came across your site looking up info on my saba the rav harif. wow. its wonderful. i am so emotional now.

I am looking for information about my grandmother's family who lived in
Molodechno. Her father's name was Efraim Chaim GOLUB, mother, Tzira. Had a
few brothers, one named Yisroel. My grandmother's name was Chaya Basha GOLUB
and she married Yekusiel Adelman. He came to America first and she came
with two children in 1911. I would love to find out about either family.
My grandfather's father was Abba Chaim Adelman.

Hi,
I'm writening from Lithuania, from the Museum of Pasvalys. I found
very important photos in Your internet site. We are preparing a new
booklet about jewish life in Pasvalys before World War II. So I want
to ask You about photos. Can we use some photos from Your internet
site? It would be very nice. This booklet will be designed for all
people, especially for schools. So I'm waiting Your answer.

If not now, then when?- Hillel
Ron Yitzchok Eisenman
Rabbi, Congregation Ahavas Israel
181 Van Houten Avenue
Passaic, NJ 07055
973.777.5929 ext.-1

Surname: ZEIFERT/ZAJFERT During the war MORAWSKI
Name: MACIEJ/HENIEK/MORDECHAI
Birth Date: March 14th 1937? Nov 15th 1937?
Birth Place: Poland, Krakow?
Father's Name: Unknown, went to England?
Mother's Name: GRETA/GRETY ZEIFERT
Known facts:
Maciej was saved by the concierge Mrs. Anna Morawska who during the war lived with him in ul. Poselska 16 in Krakow . After the war he was redeemed by the Zionist Koordinatzia organization and brought through Lodz, Czeckia, Germany and France to Israel where he arrived in 1948.

Anna Morawska died around 1950.
Questions:
What is the correct spelling of the family name – Seifert, Zeifert or Zajfert?

Maciej is NOT listed in the birth register of Krakow on March 14th 1937. Perhaps the Seifert family lived elsewhere and Anna Morawska fled with Maciej to Krakow so that nobody would recognize him and her? In that case, where was Maciej born?

In the Koordinatzia archive there is a note mentioning that Maciej's father "probably went to England". Does anybody in England have information about a Mr.Seifert who came from Poland just before World War Two broke out?
Comments

Poselska 16 in Krakow
written by Logan K., September 13, 2008
Searching at genealogyindexer.org for "Poselska 16" reveals an entry in a 1926 Krakow Address Directory for Zydowski Klub Sportowy "Amatorzy." Perhaps, records of this club's members, or former members, might have information about Maciej's family.
1937 Krakow
written by logan, May 01, 2007
Krakow is included in a 1937 business directory, searchable atwww.kalter.org/search . I find:

Seifert F., graficzne zaklady, Al. Slowackiego 8., tel. 187-44 [image 1202]
Fakler S., lekarze d-rzy medycyny, Poselska 16, tel. 123-31 [image 1221]

You might find other people then living at Poselska 16 by doing a Regular search for Poselska 1 or Poselska, in case the 6 has been incorrectly recognized by OCR process used to create the search engine.
...
written by Logan, April 21, 2006
Using the search engine at www.kalter.org/search.php, I found the following residents (the same person?) of Poselska 16: Lenczarski, J., Poselska 16, Krakow, Krawcy (1926/1927) Linczowski, J., Poselska 16, Krakow, Krawiectwo damskie (1928, 1930) -Logan

A picture of the Kartun/Cartoon family from Shavli, Lithuania Taken at their Dacha in 1929. It was probably sent to my great grandmother Masha Golda Kartun Robbins who was living in Philadelphia ( some relatives moved to South Africa) . The older man in the photo might be her brother Ber Kartun who ended up in the Shavli ghetto ( he had 2 sons born c 1920).

From: Eduard Gurevich <eduard112233@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 3:36 AM
Subject: art
To: "egl.comments@gmail.com" <egl.comments@gmail.com>

David Sandler, an ex South African who now lives in Perth, Western
Australia, has completed two volumes on Arcadia, the Jewish Orphanage
in Johannesburg - ARC 100 YEARS OF MEMORIES. ARCADIA - SOUTH AFRICAN
JEWISH ORPHANAGE 1906 - 2006. He then proceeded to complete a third
volume THE OCHBERG ORPHANS AND THE HORRORS FROM WHENCE THEY CAME which
describes the rescue of 181 Jewish orphans from the Pale of Settlement
in 1921 by Ochberg. He brought the orphans to South Africa where they
were housed in the care of Jewish orphanages in South Africa.

He is now in the process of trying to find anyone who may have had
ancestors from orphanages in Pinsk who would have been aged between
two and 14 in 1921 with names the same or similar to those listed
below.

THREE PINSK ORPHANAGES - 1921 - 1939
In 1917 a man by the name of Alter Bobrow, together with his friends
from a Zionist Socialist Group, helped establish three Pinsk
orphanages in the devastated city. They were supported by the North
American Joint Distribution Committee. Pinsk, a border town during the
Great War (1914-1918) was devastated in the battles between advancing
and retreating German and Russian soldiers.

In 1921 Isaac Ochberg the representative of the South African Jewish
Community selected 30 children from the three orphanages in Pinsk and
took these to South Africa via Danzig and London. Alter Bobrow was
asked to help Isaac Ochberg and he accompanied the children to South
Africa and helped looked after them.

When Alter Bobrow left Pinsk he was given two exercise books with 135
letters from his pupils and his colleagues. He also had photos of the
three orphanages with the names of the children and colleagues written
on the back of two of the photos.

Below are the names on the back of the two photos and the names of the
children and colleagues who wrote the letters. The numbers following
the names are references to letters written in Hebrew or Yiddish. If
anyone would like to volunteer to translate the letters from Yiddish
to English, please contact David Sandler - see contact details below.

While I understand that most of the children listed below would have
perished in the Holocaust I am hoping to make contact with the
descendants of those who may have survived.

PINSK ORPHANAGE ONE - NAMES WRITTEN ON THE BACK OF PHOTO
Lev Debranshka, Trina Dan, Dvorah Dolinki, Leah Dorfman, Rafel
Dorfman, Moshe Dubovsky, Miriam Epstein 119, Fellta Feldman, Chava
Fridel, Mental Frozinski, Shindel Golshmit, Yitshak Gunzer, Chaya
Gute, Fridel Kagan, Dina Kaplan 84, ??? Kantsfleski, Ruzi Kimstein,
Miryam Knovits, Dvorah Lev, Peshe Lev 62, Mordechai Levin, Rania
Levin, Shmuel Lichtan, Chana Lichtinson, Chana Lichton, Chana Rivka
Litvin 58, Malka Litvin 81, Mindel Merzel, Bashe Rachel, Rashke Rubin,
Bashra Rubinshtein, Leah Rufershtein, Rachel Safanznik, Toybel
Safolznik, Gushagot Shabat, Natee Shulman 75, Bracha Trushkin, Sarah
Trushkin, Rosa Tshiz, Feigal Tzrel 69, ??? Yochbad, Elman Yosef and
Ginl Zavodinkov.

PINSK ORPHANAGE TWO - NAMES WRITTEN ON THE BACK OF PHOTO
Sheindol Aranov, Moshe Avizonshtein, Nachum Avizonshtein, Hillel
Bakaltovich, Chaim Bammel, Feigel Bammel, Asher Bantshik, Nramia
Basalitz, Fesh Bashevits, Benzalel Beliak, Label Belozavski, Rivka
Bokliar, Necham Borman, Baruch Bregman, Hershil Bregman, Kalman
Bergman, Shachar Bregman, Yakov Chomsky 7 & 105, Sarah Cosmonisim,
Feivish Dalinka, Chana Dingman, Masha Dllaron, Vair (Leah?) Dorfman
61, Motil Eizenberg, Galda Epshtein, Gdala Epshtein, Chashar
Fagelevits, Moshe Faladavonik, Yosef Feldman, Rubin Fikman, Yehudit
Fikman, Harshel Friedman, Izik Friedman, Itshak Abraham Fritman,
Yehuda Gelfond, Shmuel Chaim Gorbooz, Avigdor Gotlieb, Esther Grets,
Moshe Grets, Rachel Grooshka, Fina Haltsman, Yacob Helshtein, Leah
Izluk, Eliezer Kagan, Henia Kagan, Itshak Kantor, Shmuel Katsenelson,
Elke Katsenelson, Aharon Mosel Klempert, Abraham Knoosolnits, Bashke
Knoosolnits, Zlota Knorvats, Nechama Kole, Gishel Koodnats, Leibel
Kushner, Leibel Lamish, Chira Levin, Yacov Leviton 110, Fridol
Liberman, Tsat Liberman, Yosel Liberman, Golda Libshovsky, Luby
Lidvinsky, Hene Lubashavsky, Genia Luria, Gershon Luria, Moshe Lydrok,
Mirle Mailin, Chaya Menasha, Asher Mashal 112, Elke Melamed, Tova
Migdalovits, Chaim Sheme Pinsker, Otke Pinsker, Dov Portnoy, Nechama
Portnoy, Regina Rabinomit, Michael Relznesi, Chaya Rimski, Aharon
Ruchalnki, David Rubin, Malkia Rubin, Yente Rubin, Henia Shifon, Dov
Silberman, Daniel Tarantsa, Rivka Teitelbaum, Yacob Telman, Chana
Toranda, Chaim Torkin, Arye Tsifarshtein, Chava Tsnovats, Arye
Tsoofershtein, Itshak Tsoofershtein, Miriam Tsoofershtein, Seindil
Tsoofershtein, Toybel Tsoofershtein, Mendel Tsutski, Leah Vaks, Mile
Vegman, Zisl Vinik 10, Yehudit Werman 115, Chaya Yerlansky, Fruma
Yerlinkski, Malka Zilberman, Arye Zuberman and Sara Zuberman.

COLLEAGUES Shepshge Bragton, Breshge Gefy, Nechama Helper, Aharon
Kaperplinski, Rachel Koosk, Toybe Kosol, Libentor, Sarah Raskot, Tina
Rubin, Tina Zil and P. Kantor - Headmaster 106.

LETTERS FROM PUPILS AND COLLEAGUES GIVEN TO ALTER BOBROW WHEN HE LEFT
IN PINSK WITH THE OCHBERG ORPHANS IN 1921
R Appelman 139, Tzaba Asselman 5, Peshe Bassevitz 88 & 107, Berle
Butenski 77, Feigle Calb 8, Tzeitle Cletzev 76, Lana Cohen 28, Rachel
Cohen 24, Shara Cohen 34, Gittel Davidovsky 55, Lezate Davidovsky
53, Shashke Davidovsky 52, Liba Denenberg 35, Shifra Eiberman 32,
Tzachzekit Eidel 12, Esther Eisenberg 37, Rachel Eizenberg 42, Zeev
Ben Meir Eizenberg 2, Itzhak Federman 4, Yehudit Fedeman 43, Chaya
Feldman 20, D Ferman 135, Malka Fiska 14, Masil Gorshtein 16, Gishe
Gutshabes 57, Miriam Kalton 33, Yache Kantzepleskis 83, Tvi Katzelson
41, Chaya Freidle Klempert 72, Bantze Klepatz 78, Shoshana Kuraz 27,
Zeev Kushner 19, Chaya Lemoosh 29, Devushka Lev 121, Rony Levine 117,
Shalom Levine 118, Chaim Lieberman 6, Tzarne Lieberman 87, Golde
Livshovsky 114, Reva Lutzki 38, Nechama Lutzkit 26, Bashe Rachel
Lubertan 63, Gitle Mann 86, David Marutetky 18, Rachel Pakatz 23,
Bashe Patzekin 80, Chana Peikov 25, Zipora Platnik 15, Gittel Poratz
3, G Poraz 141, Lea Rappaport 40, M Retzvi 109, Chanan Sapasznikov
149, Chazke Segalovitz 113, Ethel Shelkman 22, Chana Sherman 17,
Rachel Shertok 31, Hende Shifman 108, Natee Shulman 75, Tvi Shvetz 9,
Malka Shvetz 30, Yosef Sopalnik 82, Tzirel Sopatznick 68, Bracha
Tiroshek 59, Berle Triguch 79, Yaakov Turkenitz 73, Shena Tzelizika
39, Chaya Tzevin 64, Faigl Tzrel 69, Dasha Yosselman 147, B Zilberman
116 and Chaya Zilberman 111.

If you have an ancestor from Pinsk who would have been aged between 2
and 14 in 1921 (born say 1907 to 1919) with a name the same as or
similar to one of those listed above please make contact
with David Solly Sandler on sedsand@iinet.net.au. He plans to compile
a book on these three orphanages which will include all the letters
with translations, the family histories of any survivors he can make
contact with and any further information he can gather.

From: A Cohen <childofalithuaniansurvivor@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 8:57 AM
Subject: Event at YIVO Thursday Sept. 22, 2011
To: "egl.comments@gmail.com" <egl.comments@gmail.com>

I am a child of survivors from Lithuania. I am outrage that YIVO is sponsoring this event and feel that it should be boycotted for the following reasons:

1) YIVO has invited the Foregin Minister of Lithuania to attend; nothing wrong with this except YIVO's director Jonathan Brent has listed the Foreign Minister as a 'guest of honor." For the record, the Foreign Minister has made openly anti-Semitic remarks and as such , should not be treated as a guest of honor at any Jewish event, especially one relating to the Holocaust

2) Jews risked their lives smuggling books which were part of the YIVO pre-war library in Vilna out of the Vilna Ghetto for safe keeping. When Lithuania became indpendent in 1990, it was announced that 8,000 books were saved and hidden for 50 years. Lithuania has for the past 20 years refused to return these books to YIVO, which is now headquartered in New York. The new YIVO Director, Jonathan Brent, who after being wined and dined by Lithuanians during his visit to that country in July of 2011, has agreed to surrender ownership of these books to Lithuania on the condition that they be housed in a separate room which a sign reading "YIVO ROOM." So in other words, YIVO is permitting the theives to keep stolen property, of which Jews risked their lives to save. By the way, the cost of this room estimated at $300,000 which be paid for not by the Lithuanian Gov't but by New York and South Africa rich Jews.

3) YIVO Director Jonthan Brent has issued several statements recently insulting Holocaust survivors who object to both his plans to honor the openly anti-Semitic Lithuanian Foreign Minister and his surrender of YIVO's 8,000 books as "helpless and ageing", and insult to survivors and as such, prove that Brent is not fit to lead YIVO, an organization dedicated to preserve the Yiddish Language and Culture which was practically destroyed during the Holocaust. Please note, that over 95% of Lithuanian Jewry were killed; most of the Jews were murdered in the summer months of 1941 by local Lithuanians without the instigation nor presence of Germans.

4) YIVO's Brent has become an apologist for the Lithuanians stating the several elderly Jewish partisans who are under investigation have nothing to fear if they returned home to Lithuania. But the truth is that they will be arrested and that is why Rachel Margolis has been visiting her daughter in Tel Aviiv for the past five years. Two weeks ago, Lithuanians opened an investigation into Joseph Melamed for publishing a book listing thousands of Lithuanian war criminals with Jewish blood on their hands. Although this was published 15 years ago, the Lithuanians are unhappy that 9 who are listed are up to being honored as Lithuanian Freedom Fighters. YIVO's Brent claims in a statement to his staff that one of the 9 did not commit the murder of a Jewish Rabbi, although it is written that the Lithuanian murderer who is about to be honored by the Lithuanian Govt chopped the Rabbi's head off and then proceeded to walk around the town with the Rabbi's head in his hands.

I could write more and more but one needs to boycott this event and everything to do with YIVO as long as Brent is its director.

One can research Dovid Katz's e\website for more info or read Yossi Meleman's recent articles on this subject in Haaretz. Also The Forward has an article from a couple of weeks ago along with many comments from survivors.

I am researching my family from Rakov, in present-day Belarus. I
visited Rakov, near Minsk, this past spring -- and we said kaddish on
the site of the synagogue that was buried by the Nazis with much of
the Jewish population inside. I just came upon this passage in the
Rakov Yizkor book and it raises a number of questions:

"We reached the "Shul-Hoif", and were jolted by the shock. Here stood
the synagogues -- the "Old" and the "New". Next to these synagogues
stood the "Hasidishe Shtible" [a small synagogue, favored by Hassidic
Jews]. And opposite the "Shtible" stood the "Kalte Shul".

So that makes 4 synagogues: the Old, the New, the Hasidishe Shtible,
and the Kalte Shul. Elsewhere I have seen a reference to the Great
Synagogue of Rakov. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has
knowledge of the synagogues in Rakov -- and who could tell me which
one was burned by the Nazis with the Jewish population inside.

I am working on my mother's family whose name was HAKOHEN or
KAGANOVICH (various spellings) in Rakov and Volozhin (presentday
Belarus). I have traced my mother's grandfather -- Avram Akiva
(Abraham Cohen in the US) and all of his siblings (Arie, Leah Golda,
Herman, Shalom Tvi) except for ONE. The one I am searching for was
named Yasef Bear Kaganovich (various spellings) in Russia and Joseph
COHN (no "e") when he emigrated to Hoboken in 1901. On the 1910
census he is listed as living at 406 Newark Street in Hoboken with
his wife Ethel and children Herman 20, Sarah 17 and Rachel 14.
Profession is rabbi. I would love to hear from any of Joseph's
descendants -- I can put you in touch with many many family members!
Thanks.

hello, I am looking for ancestors of mine the name is Yeskevicz. My
father told me that his family owned a farm in Vilna.He said that the
spelling of his last name may have changed when his father came to the
US. Any ideas on how I can start this search? I will greatly
appreciate any of your assistance. Thank you
Lisa King
Ma
lisalee_31674@yahoo.com

My name is Robert. I live in Toronto. I accidently found your vebsite
eilatgordinlevitan.com. The fact is that I was born in Kovno and left
this town in 1971. I was grown up in two orphanages Zidu Vaiku namai
and Bet a Sheimin Rabbi Isaak Elchanan. I have lots of information and
pictures of the orphanages of this city.

Some who survived the Shoah:
Name: Meier Lifschuetz
Birth Date: 15 Dec 1913
Birth Place: Iwieniec
Emigration Location: Dp. Camp Foehrenwald
Destination: United States
Accompanied by: Raja Lifschuetz age 27;Devora Lifschuetz age 6
months;Selig Kost;Rosa Kost
Emigration Office: Germany, Munich
Name: Meier Lifschuetz
Arrival Date: 3 Mar 1950
Birth Year: abt 1915
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Ethnicity/Race/Nationality: Polish
Port of Departure: Bremerhaven, Germany
Port of Arrival: New York, New York going to 213 Majestic Building,
Fort Worth Texas
Ship Name: General Greely
--
Name: Genia Schenkelbach
Birth Date: 24 Dec 1924
Birth Place: Iwieniec
Emigration Location: Regensburg Arnulfspratz 4/III
Destination: South Africa
Accompanied by: Josef Schenkelbach
Emigration Office: Germany, Munich
Name: Genia Schenkelbach
Arrival Date: 5 Oct 1949
Birth Year: abt 1925
Age: 24
with 10 months old Solomon Yudel Schenkelbach going to Rochester, New York
Gender: Female
Ethnicity/Race/Nationality: Polish
Port of Departure: Bremerhaven, Germany
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Ship Name: General C C Ballou
Bremerhaven, Germany
Port of Arrival: New York, New York going to 213 Majestic Building,
Fort Worth Texas
Ship Name: General Greely
--
Name: Genia Schenkelbach
Birth Date: 24 Dec 1924
Birth Place: Iwieniec
Emigration Location: Regensburg Arnulfspratz 4/III
Destination: South Africa
Accompanied by: Josef Schenkelbach
Emigration Office: Germany, Munich
Name: Genia Schenkelbach
Arrival Date: 5 Oct 1949
Birth Year: abt 1925
Age: 24
with 10 months old Solomon Yudel Schenkelbach going to Rochester, New York
Gender: Female
Ethnicity/Race/Nationality: Polish
Port of Departure: Bremerhaven, Germany
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Ship Name: General C C Ballou
New York, New York going to 213 Majestic Building,
Fort Worth Texas
Ship Name: General Greely
--
Name: Genia Schenkelbach
Birth Date: 24 Dec 1924
Birth Place: Iwieniec
Emigration Location: Regensburg Arnulfspratz 4/III
Destination: South Africa
Accompanied by: Josef Schenkelbach
Emigration Office: Germany, Munich
Name: Genia Schenkelbach
Arrival Date: 5 Oct 1949
Birth Year: abt 1925
Age: 24
with 10 months old Solomon Yudel Schenkelbach going to Rochester, New York
Gender: Female
Ethnicity/Race/Nationality: Polish
Port of Departure: Bremerhaven, Germany
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Ship Name: General C C Ballou
Fort Worth Texas
Ship Name: General Greely
--
Name: Genia Schenkelbach
Birth Date: 24 Dec 1924
Birth Place: Iwieniec
Emigration Location: Regensburg Arnulfspratz 4/III
Destination: South Africa
Accompanied by: Josef Schenkelbach
Emigration Office: Germany, Munich
Name: Genia Schenkelbach
Arrival Date: 5 Oct 1949
Birth Year: abt 1925
Age: 24
with 10 months old Solomon Yudel Schenkelbach going to Rochester, New York
Gender: Female
Ethnicity/Race/Nationality: Polish
Port of Departure: Bremerhaven, Germany
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Ship Name: General C C Ballou

From left to right, Sara, Yitzhak, and Beyla Peshkin. It must have
been taken around in the mid-1920's, as the boy, the youngest, was
born in 1920. Beyla Peshkin (Beile Feinberg nee Peshkin was born in
Kowno in 1919 to Hirsh and Sheine. She was married to Yosef. Prior to
WWII she lived in Kowno, Lithuania. During the war she was in Germany.
Beile was murdered in 1945 in Sonnenberg, Germany report by her brother), Sara Peshkin
Stolbov and Yitzhak Peshkin ( who was in Siberia during the war) emigrated to Israel
( Yitzhak lived in Beer Sheva) in the 1970's.
Adrienne Baxt Lasky
Granddaughter of Ethel Chesler Baxt, aunt of the Peshkin kids

PESKINAS / [PESHKIN], Itskhok

son of Hirsh

born in 1920

Kaunas

3270/48606

pupil

Internal Passport Card

KRA/66/1/3270

PESKINAITE / [PESHKIN], Beyla

daughter of

Hirsh

born in 1918

Kaunas

1606/8041

pupil

Internal Passport Card

KRA/66/1/1606

PESKINAS / [PESHKIN], Hirsh

born in 1889

Kaunas

1021/55621

merchant

Internal Passport Card

PESKINIENE / [PESHKIN], Sheyna
(CESLERYTE / [TSESLER])

27 in 1920

Kaunas

15886/456983

housewife

Internal Passport Card

KRA/66/1/15886

PESKYN, Girsh

son of Yosel, grandson of Itska

son of Freide,
grandson of Girsh Beker

born 4/7/1889

17 Tammuz

Vilijampole

Kaunas

Family origin from Slonim, Grodno guberniya

Vilijampole

Vilijampole
Kaunas
Kaunas

20/1/1884
5 Shevat

Vilijampole
Kaunas
Kaunas

20/1/1884
5 Shevat

PESKIN, Yosel Ber

BEKER, Freida

Itsko

Slonim

Giirsh

Vilkija

BORKER

YOSELOVICH

MONES

Vilijampole

1884

Marriage

2291674 / 3

LVIA/1226/1/1974

BEKER, Freida

Itsko

Slonim

Giirsh

Vilkija

BORKER

YOSELOVICH

MONES

Vilijampole

1884

Marriage

2291674 / 3

LVIA/1226/1/1974

Yosel ber Peskin

born in 1861 in Slonim his wife BEKER, Freida

born in 1863 in Vilkija , Vilna

Lithuania. During the war she was in Germany.
Beile was murdered in 1945 in Sonnenberg, Germany report by her brother), Sara Peshkin
Stolbov and Yitzhak Peshkin ( who was in Siberia during the war) emigrated to Israel
( Yitzhak lived in Beer Sheva) in the 1970's.
Adrienne Baxt Lasky
Granddaughter of Ethel Chesler Baxt, aunt of the Peshkin kids

PESKINAS / [PESHKIN], Itskhok

son of Hirsh

born in 1920

Kaunas

3270/48606

pupil

Internal Passport Card

KRA/66/1/3270

PESKINAITE / [PESHKIN], Beyla

daughter of

Hirsh

born in 1918

Kaunas

1606/8041

pupil

Internal Passport Card

KRA/66/1/1606

PESKINAS / [PESHKIN], Hirsh

born in 1889

Kaunas

1021/55621

merchant

Internal Passport Card

PESKINIENE / [PESHKIN], Sheyna
(CESLERYTE / [TSESLER])

27 in 1920

Kaunas

15886/456983

housewife

Internal Passport Card

KRA/66/1/15886

PESKYN, Girsh

son of Yosel, grandson of Itska

son of Freide,
grandson of Girsh Beker

born 4/7/1889

17 Tammuz

Vilijampole

Kaunas

Family origin from Slonim, Grodno guberniya

Vilijampole

Vilijampole
Kaunas
Kaunas

20/1/1884
5 Shevat

Vilijampole
Kaunas
Kaunas

20/1/1884
5 Shevat

PESKIN, Yosel Ber

BEKER, Freida

Itsko

Slonim

Giirsh

Vilkija

BORKER

YOSELOVICH

MONES

Vilijampole

1884

Marriage

2291674 / 3

LVIA/1226/1/1974

BEKER, Freida

Itsko

Slonim

Giirsh

Vilkija

BORKER

YOSELOVICH

MONES

Vilijampole

1884

Marriage

2291674 / 3

LVIA/1226/1/1974

Yosel ber Peskin

born in 1861 in Slonim his wife BEKER, Freida

born in 1863 in Vilkija , Vilna

My name is Zalman Solomon, from Sydney Australia.
I'm currently doing a research project on my grandmother, who grew up in Druya. I found your website and sent it to my grandmother. Looking through the photos she was amazed to see a photo of her Aunts family who had passed away in the holocaust. Is it possible to find out were the photo was attained from?
the photo is number 16 on the (Druya) website of Nachum Leib Blachman and his wife Lasia nee Tribochov with their children Abba and Chaya. My Grandmothers Maiden name was Sokolic. She currently resides in Hertziliyah, Israel.
Her email is yaffaori@if you would like to get in touch with her
Thank you
Regards
Zalman

YIVO Institute in NYC is the major repository outside Lithuania
holding historical Jewish records.

To commemorate the year of remembrance for the victims of the
Holocaust in Lithuania they are holding a series of events, at YIVO
Institute at the Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street - NYC.
see http://www.yivoinstitute.org/events/index.php?tid=181&aid=858

THURSDAY 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 at 7PM
CONCERT Co-sponsored by the Embassy Series in cooperation with the
Lithanian Consulate and the Lithuanian Delegation to the United
Nations.
Guest of Honor - His Excellency Audronius Azubalis, Minister of
Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania

FOR BACKGROUND INFORMATION regarding this please contact me
privately.<saul65@gmail.com>

In commemoration of the year of remembrance for the victims of the
Holocaust in Lithuania, Jerome Barry highlights songs composed in the
Jewish Ghetto in Vilnius during World War II and cantorial music.
PROGRAM

Opening Remarks - Jonathan Brent, Executive Director of YIVO.
Performers: Jerome Barry, baritone, Edvinas Minkstimas, piano, Yuval
Waldman, violin

Geto. A Song written in the Vilna Ghetto by Kasriel Broyde
(1907-1945), author and director of theatre revues and concerts in the
ghetto.
Es vet zikh fun Tsvaygl. Song of the Vilna ghetto by Kasriel Broydo.
Music by Yankl Trupianski (1909-1944), teacher, composer, who was
deported from the ghetto to Estonia for hard labor. He died in a
concentration camp in Germany.
Friling.A song of the Vilna ghetto by S. Kaczerginski (1908-1954)
written after the death of his wife in April, 1943. It was first sung
in the theatre revue Di Yogenish in Fas. Later it was sung in other
ghettos and concentration camps. Kaczerginski joined the partisan
forces following the liquidation of the ghetto in September, 1943.
After the war he complied a collection of several hundreds ghetto
songs. He survived the war to meet his death in a plane crash. Music
is by Abraham Brudno who, following the liquidation of the ghetto,
September, 1943, was deported to a German concentration camp in
Estonia, where he died.
Tsi darf es azoy zayn. Song written in the Vilna ghetto by Kasriel Broydo.
Ernest Bloch (1880-1959)
Baal Shem Suite for Violin and Piano.Vidui (Contrition), Nigun
(Improvisation), Simchat Torah (Rejoicing). Todros Greenberg
R'tse (Cantorial).This poignant prayer of longing for the Holy Temple
in Jerusalem has been recited for many centuries and expressed the
Jews' yearning for a rebirth of Israel.
Sholom Secunda.Kiddish for Festival
Shtiler, shtiler. A song of the Vilna ghetto. An eleven-year old boy
Alex Wolkoviski wrote this prize-winning melody in a ghetto contest.
Wolkoviski, presently called Alex Tamir, is a composer in Israel.
Schmerke Kaczerginski then set words to the tune.
Unter dayne vayse shtern. Song written in the Vilna ghetto by Abraham
Sutskever (1913- ), a well-known poet before the war, first performed
in the play Die Yogenish in Fas in the ghetto theater. After the
liquidation of the ghetto, Suskever joined the partisan fighters. He
lives in Israel andedits the literary quarterly Di Goldene Key. Music
is by Abraham Brudno.
Froyen. The song was written by Kasriel Broydo while in the Vilna
ghetto. Composer unknown.
Yisrolik. This song was first presented at the second public theater
performance in the Vilna ghetto in February 1942. Words by Leyb
Rozental.

YIZKER & MEMORIAL LECTURE on SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2011 , 1PM
Nusakh Vilne Yizker & Memorial Lecture at YIVO, share the experience
of paying tribute to the lost Vilne and vicinity Jewish community.
The guest speaker for the event will be David E. Fishman, professor of
Jewish history at The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.
Dr. Fishman also serves as director of Project Judaica, a Jewish
studies program based in Moscow that is sponsored jointly by JTS and
Russian State University for the Humanities.
Dina Gutkowicz-Krusin and Lily Gutkowicz, daughters of Raisa and
Yankel Gutkowicz, will light the memorial candles. Their parents
helped renovate the Jewish Museum in post-World War II Vilna. A
musical interlude will be provided by actor-singer Yelena
Shmulenson-Rickman, accompanied by Binyumen Schaechter.

THE PARTISANS OF VILNA on TUESDAY 11 OCTOBER 2011 | 7PM
This extraordinary film tells the story of the men and women who
formed the Jewish partisan movement in Vilna, Lithuania, during World
War II. Using rare archival film footage dating from 1939 to 1944 and
contemporary interviews with 40 partisan survivors (including Abba
Kovner, a founder of the partisan movement and one of Israel's leading
poets) the film explores the difficulties of organizing under the
anarchic conditions of the ghetto. Includes a discussion with Josh
Waletzky, director and editor, and Aviva Kempner, producer, moderated
by Dr. Annette Insdorf.

in your page re R. baruch ber lebovitz,zl, your first comment was that he was the brother of rachel graber. i was wondering why you mention her name and whether there is any info about her? her background? who was her husband? where was she born.

my father, isaac graber, had a sistem, rachel graber, who was born in warsaw but, we believe was killed in warsaw. if you had more info, we would be grateful

Bruce Graeber
The Herrick Group LLC
The Cedarhurst Center
445 Central Avenue (Suite 210)
Cedarhurst, New York, 11516

I found the statement " ... he [Reuven] moved Yaakov's mattress from Zilpah's tent to his mother, Leah's tent, .. " on your website (http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kovno/kovno_pages/kovno_stories_sher.html) This is not correct. Reuven moved Yaakov's bed from Bilha's tent to his mother's.

From: mordechai pelta <mdpelta@.com>
Ghetto and residency register, birth, school and marriage records
I would like to know how to obtain these records.

I had two aunts, two little cousins, and an uncle who were murdered in this
ghetto. It was called Baranowicze when part of Poland.
Now it is Baranavichy in Belarus.

From: Hayley Rothman <hayley.rothman@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 7:11 PM
Subject: Vishnevo information - Family inquiry (Rudnick - Podbereski)
To: egl.comments@gmail.com

First I'd like to thank you for your website! It has helped me very much in my ancestral research. I have some information and first-hand stories that I think might be helpful for your website.

I have been focusing most of my research on my mother's paternal grandmother's family. Her maiden name was Rudnick/Rudnik. She was born in Vishnevo in 1885 and immigranted to NY probably around 1900-1905. All of her siblings immigrated as well except for one brother, Joseph/Yosef. I have found old handwritten letters from him describing what life was like in Vishnevo from the late 1930's - early 1940's. There are 10 letters total. He and his entire family died when the Germans invaded Vishnevo in 1942. Only one daughter (Rebecca) survived, she ran into the woods and lived with the partisans. She eventually immigrated to Israel. The 10th letter is from her telling us what happened to her family and where she went after running away. I only have 2 letters translated. I am trying to find someone who is able to translate the other 8 letters. I want to be able to share her story and I think your website might be the one of the only places where it might be appreciated.

Also, I have searched the Vad Vashem Holocaust database and Rebecca submitted several pages of testimony and one was for her sister Sheina Rudnick who was married to a Itzchak Podbereski/Podberesky. I also see that there is a person(s) names Zusman and Zisla/Zisa Podbereski and Gedalia Dudman also giving testimonies for several of my family members. I noticed that these people are mentioned on your website. I was hoping to find information about these people and their relationship to my family.

I hope and look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Hayley Rothman
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Yosef Rudnik was born in Wiszniew to Meir and Khana. He was a butcher and married to Kuni. Prior to WWII he lived in Wiszniew, Poland. During the war he was in Wiszniew, Poland. Yosef was murdered in 1942 in Wiszniew, Poland. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted by his daughter.

Shimon Rudnik was born in Wiszniew. He was an agriculturist and married to Charna. Prior to WWII he lived in Wiszniew, Poland. During the war he was in Wiszniew, Poland. Shimon was murdered in Wiszniew, Poland at the age of 35. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted by his sister
Sara Rudnik was born in Wiszniew. She was single. Prior to WWII she lived in Wiszniew, Poland. During the war she was in Wiszniew, Poland. Sara was murdered in Wiszniew, Poland at the age of 20. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted by her sister Riva BALTERISKI
Kuni Rudnik was born in Viszniev * in 1870 to Shimon and Rivka. She was a housewife. Prior to WWII she lived in Viszniev *, Poland. During the war she was in Viszniev *, Poland. Kuni was murdered in 1942 in Viszniev *, Poland. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted by her daughter Riva.
Pinkhas Rudnik. He was a yeshiva student and single. During the war he was in Vishniva, Poland. Pinkhas was murdered in the Shoah at the age of 25. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted by his sister Riva
Shifra Ruchnik was born in Vishniva. She was married to Khoni. Shifra was murdered in Vishniva, Poland at the age of 30. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted by her sister.
ource Pages of Testimony
Last Name PODBERESKI
First Name SHEINA
Maiden Name* RIEDNIK
Gender Female
Place of Birth WISZNIEWICE,CHELM,LUBLIN,POLAND
Marital Status MARRIED
Spouse's First Name AIZIK
Spouse's First Name* YITZKHAK
Permanent Place of Residence WISZNIEWICE,CHELM,LUBLIN,POLAND
Place during the war WISZNIEWICE,CHELM,LUBLIN,POLAND
Place of Death WISZNIEWICE,CHELM,LUBLIN,POLAND
Type of material Page of Testimony
Submitter's Last Name BALTERISKI
Submitter's First Name RIVA
Submitter's First Name* RIVKA
Relationship to victim SISTER

Elka Dawidson was born to Chaim and Yehudit nee Rudnik. She was a child. Prior to WWII she lived in Wilno, Poland. During the war she was in Poland. Elka was murdered in the Shoah at the age of 15. This information is based on aShifra Ruchnik was born in Vishniva. She was married to Khoni. Shifra was murdered in Vishniva, Poland at the age of 30. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted by her sister. Page of Testimony her sister Pola
.Lejb Rudnick was born in Wiszniew. Prior to WWII he lived in Poland. During the war he was in Wiszniew, Poland. Lejb was murdered in 1942 in Wiszniew, Poland. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted by his granddaughter Pola.
Sara Rudnik was born in Wisznewe in 1922 to Yosef. She was single. Prior to WWII she lived in Wisznewe, Poland. During the war she was in Wisznewe, Poland. Sara was murdered in 1942 in Wisznewe, Poland. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted by her community member.
Tzipora nee Rudnik was born in Wolozyn in 1900 to Leiba and Buna. She was a merchant and married to Moshe Bor. Prior to WWII she lived in Wiszniew, Poland. During the war she was in Wiszniew, Poland. Tzipora was murdered in 1942 in Wiszniew, Poland. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted by her daughter, a Shoah survivor.
Cheina wrote"
We whispered to each other and the men said we must escape, no matter what. When we left Itzganzova, someone yelled, “Hurrah hurrah.” It was my cousin Berl. The men started running and a few succeeded but Berl was shot. He had a bullet in his intestines and he fell next to me, gravely wounded. He lay on the ground, begging, “Cheina, save me.” But I stood frozen next to him, my eyes saw it, but I could not come any closer to him. And soon a death rattle came over him. He shook with unbearable pain right next to me until his soul departed. When we returned to Bogdonova after an hour and a half, we saw him lying there at the place where he fell, but now he had no shoes and no coat, as the local people had taken them. From all the other men, all succeeded to escape except Hanan Ohishiskin, who was now with us. So now we were seven girls and one guy being taken to be killed. What did each one of us think while we were going to our deaths? To tell you the truth we were so confused and frozen with fear that we could not comprehend our situation. To say it simply, it's as if our ability to think was diminished and oblivion filled our skull. Our feet walked android-like.
When we passed near the Jewish cemetery, one of us, Riva (Rivka) Rodanick, started crying and begged the Feldpebble (rank of some kind?), “Please have pity on us and kill us right here in the cemetery.”
“No” answered the Feldpebble, “The game must take place on the same stage.”

Dear sir/madam,

during our preparations for my grandfather's 90'th birthday, I searched the web for some info of Rokishkis, his birth place.

I found your website and it was very nice to find all those faces and photos - as you may guess, I don't have many remaining photos of him during his childhood. or of were he grew up.

thank you for that.

best Regards,
Batsheva Shtenill Netanel
grand daughter of Meir and Rosa Karks (both born in Rokishkish).

From: David Wayne <davidwayne.mail@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 7:54 PM
Subject: Israel Pollack

I can't find much information, but I know my Grandfather, Israel Pollack came from Zaslav around 1902. They settled in Massachusetts.
His wife's maiden name was Guralnick, but can't find much on her either.

From: rk carl <rkcarl@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 6:16 AM
Subject: searching Budovnitsh

Hello
I am searching the surname BUDOVNITSH, also spelled BUDOVNITZ and BENDOVITCH. I have been able to trace my great-grandmother back to Dvinsk (Daugavpils), Latvia. I found your web page (http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/budovnitz.html) about your BUDOVNITZ family from Druysk, which is only 30 miles from Dvinsk.

My great-grandmother, Anna (Khaika) BUDOVNITSH married my great-grandfather Solomon (Schlema) KATSHER in Dvinsk in 1904. They immediately set off for London and then the United States. They settled in St. Louis, Missouri and Anna died in childbirth in 1911.

Anna had several younger siblings who lived in London: Zipporah, Rebecca and Lou. Their father's name (my great-great grandfather) was called Zalman.

I have found a couple of other BUDOVNITZ family members in St. Louis but have not been able to establish exactly how, or if, we are related.

Hello,
My name is Ari Rubin. My grandfather, Dovid Rubin, was born in Radishkovitz to Arye Leib (Leiba) and Esther Malka. My grandfather had an uncle (father's brother) named Avraham (Abraham) (ben Dovid Hertz) who emigrated to America and settled in Portland, Maine.
I am trying to find out more about my grandfather's family. Do you know of anything, or do you have any suggestions on how to go about searching this? I would greatly appreciate any help.
Thank you,
Ari Rubin

My grandparents, ELCHANAN/CHONE HARKAVY and ZLATA ZERSTEIN. My
grandfather was probably born in SKIDEL, but lived in GRODNO until the
late 1930's, when he moved the family back to SKIDEL. His paternal
grandmother, SARA TAIBE YEZERSKI, came from WOLKOWISK. My
grandmother's family lived in GRODNO. Her father, SHIMSHON ZERSTEIN,
was a woodcarver.

Aside from one brother, YITZCHAK HARKAVY, who had emigrated to the
United States in the early 1900's, my grandfather was the only one of
the 14 children of JOSEF CHAIM HARKAVY AND LEAH CHAYA GABOVITCH to
survive the Holocaust.

Many of the records from Belarus were destroyed. I haven't been able
to find any official records.

Searching for names: HARKAVY (alternate spellings- HARKAVI, HARKAWE,
GARKAWE, GARKAVI, GORKAVI, ARKAVI)
GABOVITCH
ZERSTEIN (ZERSTAJN, ZERSHTEIN)
RIFKIND
YEZERSKI (YEZERSKY, YESERSKY, YESERSKI, JEZERSKI, JEZERSKI )

stacy reines <ycats2@bellsouth.
I've been trying to find anything about Yitzhak Mayer REINES and his
wife Leba Kovarsky REINES and family in Smorgonie or Vilnius. I haven't
found any mention of them. If anybody has anything, please let me know!

The first group of translated Vilnius Internal Passport Records,
1919-1940, have been received - a total of 305 records. To receive
these records, as well as the records translated in the future, please
contribute a minimum of $100.00 to LitvakSIG.

Go to www.litvaksig/contribute and select Internal Passports in the
Special Project Section. In the NOTES block, key in Vilnius. You can
use your credit card as the site is secure.

The file containing the Vilnius internal passports is huge so it will
take time and money to translate all of it. With your help and
cooperation, I am sure we can get it done.

If your family left Lithuania prior to World War I, do not overlook
these records even though it is for the post war period of 1919-1940. Your
immediate family may have left but not everyone. In many cases, siblings,
Aunts, Uncles, cousins, etc., remained and my be included in the internal
passport files.

Howard Margol
Founder - Coordinator - Internal Passport Project
LitvakSIG Research and Records Acquisition Coordinator

The database and discussion group of LitvakSIG
(litvaksig@lyris.jewishgen.org) are hosted by JewishGen

LitvakSIG is a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation. Contributions to LitvakSIG
may be made online at www.litvaksig.org/contribute and are
tax-deductible as provided by law. Contributions may also be mailed
to LitvakSIG, Inc., c/o Eden Joachim, 41 Country Club Lane, Pomona, NY
10970. Contribution forms may be faxed to 845-623-1708. Please specify town
(for vital records) or district research group (and town of interest) for
other types of records, and include your e-mail address with your
contribution.

I'm with a forthcoming American PBS TV series called "Finding Your Roots." The show, which is hosted by Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the genealogy of prominent Americans. Right now I'm working on a segment about the US TV journalist Barbara Walters.

Based on our research we know that the maternal grandfather of Barbara Walters, Selig Seletsky lived in Bieniakonie in the late 19th century. He emigrated from there to the US in 1890. Based on census data we believe that Selig was born circa 1869, possibly in Bieniakonie. We believe his father might have been Daniel Sholetski, who was born in the Lida region, 1834.

We're desperately trying to find further documentation of Selig Seletsky in Bieniakonie, ideally primary documents. But I'm also interested in finding out more about Bieniakonie in the 19th century. Thus far the information I've been able to turn up is thin to say the least.

Yuri Dorn, Coordinator of the Jewish Heritage Research Group in Belarus suggested that the appropriate records would be located in Vilnius.

I would love to hire someone to check the archives there for information about Selig and Daniel Seletsky/Sholetski and their family. Unfortunately, I am working under a major time crunch and must obtain what information we can by late Tuesday NY time.

On Saturday, July 9, 2011, my father Noah Podberesky passed away in Baltimore, Maryland at the age of 95. He was born in Vishnevo in 1915 and is pictured on the Vishnevo website's homepage on the far left of picture VF-15. He was one of a handful of survivors of the liquidation of the Vishnevo Ghetto and one of the last living Vishnevo partisans. He is survived by his wife Mina (Milikowsky) Podberesky, also a Vishnevo survivor and partisan, and by 2 children and their spouses, 4 grandchildren and their spouses, and 7 great grandchildren.
Sam Podberesky

Wow, in more that 20 years, this is the first time I've found MATZKIN
(as MATSKIN here) in a VIDZY record! (Various American records show
that my great-grandmother, grandfather and great aunt were from Vidzy,
which is now in Belarus.)
There are three Matskin households but not with the forenames that I
know. There are also 2 Gurber-Matskin households. (The Matzkins of
whom I know are a generation or two later.) These records are from
the Zarasai-Vidzy Revision Lists of 1816 and 1818.
I asked coordinator Dorothy Leivers whether there may be other records
to flesh this information out. It seems that the Zarasai District
Research Group has 12 sets of Vidzy records between 1844 and 1907 yet
to be translated.
I certainly plan to contribute to Litvak SIG to help get these
translated. If you have any interest in this area, please contribute
as well.
A chink in the brick wall! May we all find them.
Batya Matzkin Olsen, Concord, Massachusetts USA
batyaolsen@l.com
Researching: EISENSHMID/AJZENSHMIDT [any spelling] (Tsikhovolya
& Svisloch, BY), KAYOTSKY (Vidzy, BY), KELMAN (DE), KLONER
(Postavy/Smorgon, BY), MANFELD (Smorgon), MANFIELD (Sterling,
Ill., US), RUNKIN, MATZKIN (Vidzy & anywhere), ROSENBLUM (Postavy),
SCHARER
The database
--
Eilat Gordin Levitan

Much to our surprise, Picture #1 on your Viazin website is definitely
of my grandparents, Moshe and Gittel Rieur. Interestingly, the
picture has been identified by my first cousin as one taken by him in
Brooklyn circa 1940. The couple had emigrated from Viazin in 1922.
So I wonder how their photo came to your website. I cannot identify
any of the other photographs and I think you may have comingled a
number of families. It would help if the i.d.’s were in English.

I can clarify the confusion about a number of the names on your
website. My family name was spelled ???? and was pronounced ree- er.
My Uncle Jacques (Jacov), who was the first of the family to leave
Viazin, spent time in France on his way to the U.S. and took the
spelling Rieur. According to my uncle, his great grandfather Israel
Rieur (my great-great grandfather) was originally from Perpignon,
France. Allegedly, he went to Russia with Napoleon’s army. Circa,
1812 in defeat and retreat, Israel settled in the village of Rakov
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/rakov/rakov.html.

I can identify the individuals listed with the Ellis Is. information,
all of whom adopted the spelling RIEUR when arriving in United States.
They identified Jacov Rieur (Rier, Rivar) who arrived circa 1910 as
their sponsor..

Not mentioned on your website were two other siblings who left Viazin
-Miriam, who probably was already married to Z. Bleecker, and Sarah.
They arrived in the U. S. at different times. I’m not sure of Miriam’s
date of arrival, but believe that Sarah arrived in 1913 -1914. Two
siblings, not mentioned on your website, Hirshel Rier, (his wife
Taubel and three children) and Shaina Basha Rier (Her husband Aaron
Ginsberg and, I believe, two children) perished in the holocaust.
Miraculously, a son survived the war and ultimately emigrated to
Israel in the 1950s or 1960s.

This is my uncle Zachary who first came to the U.S. and then emigrated
to Israel in the 1920s where he married, settled in a moshav, raised a
family and died. His children, grandchildren and great grandchildren
are Israelis.
First Name: Zachari
Last Name: Rier
Ethnicity: Russia, Hebrew
Last Place of Residence: Wiazn, Russia
Date of Arrival: January 03, 1912
Age at Arrival: 17y Gender: M Marital Status: S
Ship of Travel: Vaderland
Port of Departure: Antwerp
Manifest Line Number: 0027
going to brother; Jacob Rier in New York
--------------------

My Aunt, Minnie Rieur Schrager
First Name: Minda
Last Name: Ryjer
Ethnicity: Hebrew
Last Place of Residence: Wiazyn, Poland
Date of Arrival: September 18, 1920
Age at Arrival: 19y Gender: F Marital Status: S
Ship of Travel: Susquehanna
Port of Departure: Danzig
Manifest Line Number: 0014

My father, Charles Isaac Rieur
First Name: Chaim
Last Name: Ryjer
Ethnicity: Hebrew
Last Place of Residence: Wiazyn, Poland
Date of Arrival: September 18, 1920
Age at Arrival: 15y Gender: M Marital Status: S
Ship of Travel: Susquehanna
Port of Departure: Danzig
Manifest Line Number: 0016

My father’s first cousin who took the name Robert Rieur
First Name: Chaim
Last Name: Ryjer
Ethnicity: Hebrew
Last Place of Residence: Wiazyn, Poland
Date of Arrival: September 18, 1920
Age at Arrival: 10y Gender: M Marital Status: S
Ship of Travel: Susquehanna
Port of Departure: Danzig
Manifest Line Number: 0015
All going to brother; Zachar Ryjer on 326 Hard Street in Brooklin

This is probably my grandfather whose name was actually Moshe Israel
who is shown in picture #1
First Name: Srul
Last Name: Ryer
Ethnicity: Pinsk, Hebrew
Last Place of Residence: Wiazyn, Pinsk Region, Russia
Date of Arrival: September 01, 1922
Age at Arrival: 66y Gender: M Marital Status: M
Ship of Travel: Berengaria
Port of Departure: Cherbourg
Manifest Line Number: 0016
------------------

This is probably my grandmother Gittel who is shown in picture #1
First Name: Gita
Last Name: Ryer
Ethnicity: Pinsk, Hebrew
Last Place of Residence: Wiazyn, Pinsk Region, Russia
Date of Arrival: September 01, 1922
Age at Arrival: 64y Gender: F Marital Status: M
Ship of Travel: Berengaria
Port of Departure: Cherbourg
Manifest Line Number: 0017 Both going to son ; Jacob Rivar on 1026
Hard street in Brooklin

Hello - I found myself on your website a few weeks ago and was
startled to see the photograph of Yuri Levitan (#lev-1a). He bears a
striking resemblance to my father, grandfather and uncles. My cousins
and I are now curious about Yuri Levitan's family and place of origin.
My grandfather came from Goworowo, Poland, and my paternal
grandmother is from Rozhan, Poland, on the Narev river. These
towns/villages are both northeast of Warsaw, less than 10 miles apart.
Most of the Levitan family that we know emigrated to the United
States in the early 1900s. I am curious also about the other Levitans
on your pages and about yourself. Thank you.

Hi,
I wonder if you can help me, my mothers family came from Janow and
most of them perished during the Holocaust, her family name was
Weingarten ( I have also seen it Wejngorten) and I wonder if there are
still someone in the association of survivors of Janow that remember
them and also could let me know more details about them.
Best regards
Alex

We are working on a documentary film that tells the childhood stories
of individual survivors of the Holocaust and we would like to use the
image of the Lag Baomer parade in Vishnevo we found on your site to
help illustrate one of the stories.

#vf-5
Lag Baomer parade in Vishnevo.
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/vishnevo/v_images/62vish_b.gif
We would be grateful if you could help us by providing the information
about where you were able to locate the original photograph, or how we
may be able to obtain a high quality scan of the photograph.

Thank you for your time in responding to this inquiry. We appreciate
the hard work you put in to collecting the memories of the past.

My father's name was Lev Maximovich Bengis of the Vilna Bengis family.
It is my understanding that the Chief Rabbi of Vilna was a Bengis, but
am unsure of the connection. My father's family, parents, two sisters
and brothers were all killed in the holocaust, some in Ponar and some
in the camps. I have photos of the family, and am interested in
finding any family connections. I have heard from several people with
the same name, but believe that they are not related. Who is? I don't
know. I would be happy to make copies of the photos and send them to
you.

Some Yad Vashem reports:Eliasz Bengis was born in Wilno to Shlomo and
Lea. He was a ????? ????? ????. Prior to WWII he lived in Wilno,
Poland. During the war he was in Wilno, Ghetto. Eliasz was murdered in
the Shoah. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed
on left) submitted by his cousin, a Shoah survivor
Salomon Bengis was born in Vilna in 1884 to Moshe and Gitel. He was a
tanner and married. Prior to WWII he lived in Vilna, Poland. During
the war he was in Vilna, Ghetto. Salomon was murdered in Vilna,
Ghetto. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on
left) submitted by his nephew, a Shoah survivanor Moshe Shutan. More
Details...

Elcze Bengis was born in Wilno in 1911 to Shlomo and Chaia. She was
married to Miriam. Prior to WWII she lived in Wilno, Poland. During
the war she was in Wilno, Poland. Elcze was murdered in Wilno, Poland.
This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left)
submitted by her sister-in-law Rachel Holtzman

Mirjam Bengis was born in Wilno in 1914. She was married to Elchia.
Prior to WWII she lived in Wilno, Poland. During the war she was in
Wilno, Poland. Mirjam was murdered in the Shoah. This information is
based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted by her
sister Rachel Holtzman
Yisrael Bengis was born to Elchia and Mirjam. He was a child. Prior to
WWII he lived in Wilno, Poland. During the war he was in Wilno,
Poland. Yisrael was murdered in the Shoah at the age of 2. This
information is based on a Page of Testimony
Szlomo Bengis was born in Wilno in 1887. He was a shop owner and
married to Khaia. Prior to WWII he lived in Wilno, Poland. During the
war he was in Wilno, Poland. Szlomo was murdered in the Shoah. This
information is based on a Page of Testimony

my name is Yael Yulia, my grandmother is Rozalia Rapson born in 1935
in Belarus. her father's name was Girsh Rapson (born 1900 , died 1950)
he was the son of Michael Rapson from Vilnius (Poland at those days)
and the step brother of Vigdor Rapson, my grandmother was told all her
life that most of her father's (Girsh's) family (his mother and
sisters) left in the 1930's to the States. he stayed in Belarus,
fought WW2 and his family ( wife - Ester Genia Chernov and kids
Rozalia and Michael) survived the war and started their families.
currently we are living in Israel.
i saw in your family tree that the names and places are the same and
even the dates are a match. Michael Rapson Vigdor's son has found us
through Yad Va'Shen records in the 90's (he is my grandmother's
cousine) but we didn't stay in touch.
please let me know if you need me to send more details, i have a
picture of Girsh that i can scan.
hope to hear from you
Yael Podmazo

From: David Geffen
Date: Saturday, June 11, 2011
Subject: Looking for writer uri orlev
To: egl.comments@gmail.com

Dear Website designers
How wonderful it has been to enter your website since you
have extensive material on Kovno Lithuania.
My name is Dr. David Geffen - I am a grandson of the
noted Rabbi Tobias Geffen. I was born in Atlanta where he
served as a rabbi for 60 years so after WW2 when my father
Lt. Col. Louis Geffen served as a judge advocate in US Army
from January 1941 until March 1946 and we came back to Atlanta
I was closely connected with both Rabbi and Mrs. Geffen since
I was the only one of 18 grandchildren who lived there.
Recently you probably read the wonderful article about
him in the New York Times on April 23 2011.

However, I am seeking to find the e-mail address of
the noted writer Uri Orlev who is featured on your site.
I have lived in Jerusalem off and on since 1977. For
Rosh Hashanah in September 1985 I wrote an article in
Jerusalem Post about 40th anniversary of the Mataroa ship which Mr.
Orlev arrived on. The story of that
ship is one of the great miracles in 1945 of bringing
refugees to Eretz Yisrael. I would like to contact him.

Barry Mandell <gabels11@.com>
Date: Sat, Jun 18, 2011 at 8:46 AM
Subject: Chicago Family Mandel
To: egl.comments@gmail.com

Let me introduce my self, my name is Barry Mandell. For many years I
have been searching for a contact to the Mandel Family of Chicago
included in your site. I have contacted every Ancestry.com listing,
called nearly every Mandell over 60 in the Chicago area phone book and
to no avail. It has been well told in my Mandell family that my
grandfather, Jacob Mandel, was related to the brothers and visited
them late 1890's or so. This all the information I have of my
grandfather, I have come to a dead end at ever direction.

I was hoping that with the information you have on the family you
might have a suggestion.

Recently, I have become a member of the Siauliai District Research
Group of LitvakSIG and am overwhelmed by the commitment that has been
made. My research is for my Matskel Family has exceeded my
expectations.

A list of military draftees for years 1904 to 1916 from the shtetl Linkuva
has been posted to the Panevezys District Research Group's Shutterfly website. The list of 1349 lines of data consists of a draftee's registration number, surname, given name, father's name, relationship to the head of household, sex (all male), and age. On selected lines there are additional comments which most often list the actual date of birth, and occasionally some other pertinent fact about the named individual.
The list is organized by family groups including the heads of households and the sons. This may offer limited use as a representative census of males eligible for military service in the Russian military during
this period.

While the figures for Linkuva, a relatively small town, may not be
representative of the Pale of Settlement as a whole, it is interesting to
note that in 1904, the year before the Russo-Japanese War and the Russian
Revolution of 1905, the number of draftees was only 14. In 1907, the number
was 146. The yearly average for ten years (1907-1916) was 133, ranging from
a low in 1908 of 103 to highs of 174 in 1910, 160 in 1913 and 156 in 1914,
presumably in expectation of mobilization for the coming war.

Prior to 1827, Jews were ineligible to serve in the Czarist military and
instead were taxed as an alternative to military service. This was a matter
of law as a result of which, nevertheless, led to characterizing Jews as
cowards unwilling to fight for their country. The change in 1827, authorized
by Czar Nicholas I, was intended to educate and assimilate Jews into Russian
culture, teach them useful skills and crafts and encourage them to become
loyal and useful citizens. At the time, Russia was following the trend in
other countries that had previously restricted Jews from military service.
In Russia, military service was considered the most effective educational
opportunity for the masses.

The required period of service for draftees, initially, was 25 years, and if they were married their male offspring became the "patrimony" of the
military and were required to attend special schools for the children of
soldiers (the so called "cantonists"). Although the normal age of
conscription was between 18 and 25, for Jews the age limits were 12 to 25.
The Jews (through the Kahals) were usually required to supply four
conscripts for each thousand subjects. The efforts of the Kahals were to
recruit "non-useful" Jews, which tended to exempt middle class families and
guild members and concentrate on single Jews: heretics, beggers, outcasts
and orphans. To complete unfilled quotas, "khapers" (usually non-Jewish
catchers) were employed to dragoon otherwise ineligible candidates, some
even as young as age 8. During the Crimean War (1854-1855) the quotas of
Jewish recruits was substantially increased to a much greater extent than
for non-Jews. Draft of children was outlawed in 1856, but did not
end until 1859.

In 1874, under Czar Alexander II, there was a major reform of the
conscription laws which resulted in shortening the term of service to 6
years, broadening the pool of eligible recruits and instituting a new system
of exemptions.Between 1874 and 1892 more than 174,500 Jews were drafted.
Between 1874 and 1914, the proportion of Jews in the military
(5% in 1907) was greater than the proportion of Jews to non-Jews in the
general population (4%).

After the Russo-Japanese War, beginning in 1906 there was considerable
anti-Jewish sentiment in the Duma debate about the loyalty and discipline of Jewish soldiers. The Linkuva data show that beginning around 1907, the
conscription of Jews increased substantially. A statute adopted in 1912,
approved and legalized all of the previously adopted discriminatory
anti-Jewish practices and regulations. However the service for Russia of
around 300,000 Jewish soldiers in World War I did not seem to be
substantially affected. After the February Revolution of 1917, the
provisional government cancelled all anti-Jewish regulations and Jews then
even became eligible to become officers.

Two versions of the List have been posted: one in alphabetical order and one by year.

The Panevezys District Research Group is open to anyone who makes a contribution of at least $100 to help finance the work of the Group.
Qualifying contributors are entitled to receive all new record translations for at least 18 months before they become publicly available on the All Lithuania Database (ALD).

Contributions in smaller amounts, of course, are always welcome. All
contributions are used to pay for translations of original records and can be made on-line at www.litvaksig.org/contribute. For any further information please contact me.

Shavuah tov and
Regards,
Bill Yoffee
Panevezys District Research Coordinator
kidsbks@verizon.net

The database and discussion group of LitvakSIG (litvaksig@lyris.jewishgen.org) are hosted by JewishGen

LitvakSIG is a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation. Contributions to LitvakSIG may be made online at www.litvaksig.org/contribute and are
tax-deductible as provided by law. Contributions may also be mailed to LitvakSIG, Inc., c/o Eden Joachim, 41 Country Club Lane, Pomona, NY 10970. Contribution forms may be faxed to 845-623-1708. Please specify town (for vital records) or district research group (and town of interest) for other types of records, and include your e-mail address with your contribution.

In the Harrisburg Patriot newspaper from 27 December 1911 was an article
about a party in Harrisburg hosted by my relatives from Panevezys Lithuania,
Mr. and Mrs. Hyman LANE, for their daughter Rebecca LANE. Others at the
party were young ladies identified as "Miss" including Bessie LOON, Tillie
BEAR, Ida BLOOM, Mary SHERMAN, Jennie KLAWANSKY, Rose ZAMMIT (ZOMMIT?),
Tillie ZAMMIT (ZOMMIT?), Rose KLAWANSKY, Lena LANE, Rebecca KLAWANSKY.

Others present included Mr. and Mrs. M (Max?) LANE, Mrs. S. KLAWANSKY,
Israel CLADE, David FREEDMAN, Mr. A. GERBER, Max SMERTZ, S. DANNOVITCH,
Charles GAUSS, L. POCKEROY, D. KLAWANSKY, Samuel LANE, Abraham LANE, and
Michael KLAWANSKY.

Some of the families listed were neighbors of the LANE family, and some may
have been known through the local synagogue or other Jewish organizations,
or family connections.

From City Directories and Census records, I know that most of the Hyman LANE
family moved from Harrisburg to Philadelphia sometime after 1920.

I'm looking for information on what happened to Hyman, wife Sarah, and their
children Rebecca, Abraham, Samuel, and Lena LANE, on who the children
married, where they lived, their families, when and where they died and are
buried.

Hyman was born about 1871 and Sarah about 1874.
Rebecca was born about 1895, Abraham I have as 18 December 1899 (based on
World War I draft registration), Samuel 12 Jul 1900, and Lena between 1902 -
1904.

Jeff Miller, Maryland
Researching Lithuania families: LAN (LANE), IUDELOVICH (YUDELOWITZ),
BLANKFORT, WHITEMAN (WEISSMAN/VAISMAN), ZUSKIN, WIENER, SPEKTOR

The database and discussion group of LitvakSIG
(litvaksig@lyris.jewishgen.org) are hosted by JewishGen

It's been awhile, but I was in contact with you a few years ago related to your research on the Jewishgen Krivichi site. My mother, born Chasia Katzowitz, is a survivor, the granddaughter of Mordechai Ha Cohen who is listed as one of the martyred.

I wanted to let you know that I've written a book that contains my mother's entire Krivichi history, the massacres (about which I interviewed her extensively), and her subsequent escape into the forest with the Gitlitz family of Krivich, several of whom later died. It is also a funny, yet somber, memoir about growing up the child of Holocaust Survivors since my father was a survivor too, born Herschel Bursztyn in Wyshkow, near Vilna.

I thought you could perhaps put the word out among other survivors and descendants from the region. Here's the link to the Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Looking-Up-Memoir-Sisters-Survivors/dp/145647068X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304235060&sr=8-1

And here is an excerpt from the book; chapters one and two.

Thanks for all the valuable work you do and for your assistance with this!

Linda Pressman

My mother always starts with the pig’s head. Whenever she tries to cajole me into eating, she drags out her two most miserable food stories from the Holocaust, when she lived in the forest, starving and running from the Nazis. The first one is about the pig’s head.

One day during her two years in the forest, the Partisans slaughtered a pig and gave her family the head to eat. They were thrilled.

“A pig’s head? To eat?” I look at her like she’s joking. If someone handed me a pig’s head I’d have nightmares about it for the rest of my life.

I still don’t believe her. Because I’m ten and my job is to doubt everything she says, I give her a skeptical look and say, “Weren’t you kosher?” Like I have to remind her that her family was kosher so maybe she can come up with a more believable story to get me to eat.

She’s a little jubilant at this point in the conversation since she’s conveying one of her core truths to me: that food is anything that doesn’t eat you first, a truth she learned at eleven that stayed with her always. But there’s also a little criticism here, of the idea that being kosher matters at all, and astonishment towards my grandparents for becoming kosher again after the war. Like once you eat a pig’s head, there’s no going back.

I try to imagine my mother, my uncle, and my aunt - all children at the time - and my grandparents, carrying around the decapitated head of a pig; and not just as food but as precious, coveted food. Not surprisingly, this image doesn’t make me hungry. It has the opposite effect. I feel ill, like maybe I’ll never eat again.

The other story my mother tells me about food is told every time she sees me trim the crusts off slices of bread. As I slice them off she looks on in horror at the horrible waste.

She says, “In the forest, one time I had to survive a whole week on a crust of bread, just like that one. A whole week I nibbled at it slowly, crumb by crumb, sitting in my pocket. It got cold and hard and tinier every day, yet still I was so happy to have that tiny crust of bread. And there you are, just throwing it away!”

She is incredulous. What’s more, each time she sees me do it she’s incredulous again like she never saw me do it before. Sometimes she grabs the crusts before I can throw them out, saving them to eat later.

I don’t know what to say to this. I never have an adequate response because no matter how much she had starved and no matter how long she had nibbled on that crust of bread in the forest, I still don’t want to eat the crust. Born in the United States, a second-generation child of Holocaust survivors, I cut off those crusts anyway.

It’s late 1959, September. I’m not born yet. My Dad’s family is living in a brownstone apartment building on Sawyer Avenue in Chicago, one stacked on top of the other; a vertical Jewish shtetl. My Dad, Mom, and my five older sisters who are born already live in a two-bedroom apartment on the second floor; my grandparents live a floor down. My Dad’s two newlywed brothers and their pregnant wives are scattered elsewhere in the apartment building, and later one of Dad’s sisters moves in, the whole family connected by an umbilical cord running from their individual apartments to that of their parents. Where there aren’t family members, there are Jews.

My aunts and my mother are in and out of each other’s apartments all day and all night - talking, gossiping, fighting, making up. They inspect each other’s apartments for many things - how clean they are, how kosher, whether dinner is on the table.

Before I’m born, my mom has managed to pop out these five older sisters of mine – Francine, Lauren, Brenda, and the twins, Denise and Sherry. After me she’ll have one more, Mindy. With just two or three girls she would perhaps have been the object of pity among the other Jewish mothers, but with five girls, then six girls, and eventually seven, she becomes the stuff of legend.

At this particular time, in late 1959, my Mom and my aunts Rose and Ida are big, bigger and biggest, all pregnant at the exact same time. My soon-to-be cousins and I are swimming around in their bellies, sucking up all their energy and their oxygen, swelling up their feet, and popping out varicose veins and stretch marks.

Aunt Ida is the biggest. She gives birth to my cousin Barry in October 1959, resulting in my Uncle Sid announcing, “It’s a boy!” glowing with pride and, I imagine, my Dad gnashing his teeth in frustration. After all, Mom is pregnant with his sixth child - me - and he already has five daughters. Does he glare at the belly?

Aunt Rose is the second biggest and the next to go. She gives birth to my cousin Aaron in December 1959, resulting in my Uncle Meyer’s exultation, and a second announcement of, “It’s a boy!” most likely rankling my father. Both of his younger brothers having boys for their first children, and my Dad sitting there like a shlimazel with five daughters already! But maybe he started thinking they were all going to have boys; that there was something magical about this time out.

He waits and waits until March 1960 rolls around since Mom was due the last of them all. And then I am born, the one who will be a boy for sure. I show up headfirst so it’s looking good, both boys and girls have heads. My shoulders emerge and, again, I could be a boy. My belly appears and they still can’t tell. Then my bottom half pops into view and it’s unmistakable. I am Not A Boy. Again.

Uncle Meyer and Aunt Rose go on to have three boys. Uncle Sid and Aunt Ida end up with three boys and a girl. Dad has seven daughters.

Later that day the baby me is lying in the newborn nursery at Edgewater Hospital in Chicago. My father shows up at the hospital, my mother tells me, coming over after he closed our laundry on Division Street that day, to see me. He is standing at the nursery window, noticeable for his Polish round head, short-sleeved button down shirt, baggy khaki pants and a skinny black belt.

If I wasn’t just a baby, I’d be very worried right now. Mom is sitting in her hospital room chewing on the end of a pencil with my Hospital Birth Certificate in her hand, the one with my footprints on it, her head tilted to one side. Having made her decision, she ponders the name she’s already chosen for me, “Jane,” which is already recorded on my Cook County birth certificate, and then pencils in above and in front of it, “Linda.” She does this because her brother, my Uncle Herbie, has already come to the hospital to meet his new niece. He saw me and held me in his arms, marveling at the thick black hair sticking up on my head.

“Jane? Jane? This is no plain Jane! How could you name her Jane?” And he renamed me Linda, with my Mom penciling in the change.

Another reason I should be worried is that when my Dad comes to the hospital and stands in the Newborn Nursery, he’s looking for a bassinet with the last name “Burstein” on it but his last name is “Burt.” Just who is this guy anyway?

Dad had name problems for a long time. He had too many names, for one thing. Being Jewish and Eastern European, he had been born with a Hebrew name, Tzvie ben Gershon; then he had the name his parents had given him in Yiddish, Herschel. The name Herschel had always sat heavily on him as being too Jewish. In the Displaced Persons camp in Germany after the war he got another name, Hersz, the German equivalent of Herschel. Then, when he arrived in the U.S. in 1951, he translated his name into English, choosing the American sounding Harry, which took care of his first name.

Our last name also had its spelling permutations. In the old country our last name was Bursztyn; in the U.S. Dad spells it Burstein, but his brothers spell it Burstyn. No matter how it’s spelled, it’s a problem for Dad; it’s just too Jewish for someone who’s uncomfortable with everyone knowing he’s Jewish. Dad will do the deciding about when and if to tell people he’s Jewish; he doesn’t want his name to do it for him. Of course, he won’t tell anyone at all, so he doesn’t want his name announcing it.

On top of that, it has to be spelled all the time. Anyone who hears our name thinks it’s “Bernstein,” so that spelling our name becomes the bane of Dad’s existence, translating Polish sounds and letters - his first language - into English sounds and letters, which is more than he wants to do day in and day out.

In 1956, in between sister number three, Brenda, and the twins, sisters number four and five, Sherry and Denise, he changes our name. First he gives it a lot of thought. It should sound a little like our original name - so should it be “Burst” or “Stein?” He pretty much decides on “Burst,” telling Mom that we’re going to be the Burst Family. She hits the roof and says that if he knew anything about English, he’d know that “burst” means to pop, like an explosion.

“It’s not a name you pick on purpose,” she tells him. “It would be very bad for the girls to have a name like that.”

So he ponders it again, now down to “Bur” or “Stein.” He doesn’t want Stein because what’s the use of getting another Jewish name when he could slap some bland, American name on our family and let us pass for Christian?

No sooner does Dad hear this than his mind is made up. My Dad always leaps before he looks, he always has to chop and clop; he never has any patience. He’s a man of action, impetuous action, so he lops off half of our name, sending those extra letters packing, off wherever someone can appreciate an extra syllable. And so we become the Burt Family, which he ends up spelling every day anyway, all the days of his life. No, not Birt. No, not Bert. No, not Byrt. B like in boy. U like in umbrella. R like in Robert. T like in Tom. Burt.

Then Dad had another problem. The three oldest girls were born “Burstein” but now our name was “Burt.” So he decided to have the rest of us born under the name “Burstein” as well, just to keep everything consistent, or inconsistent, whichever.

I’m born Jane Burstein, but within minutes of my birth she no longer exists. I leave the hospital Linda Burt.

The final thing I’d be worried about if I wasn’t just an oblivious baby is that my birth certificate says my mother was born in 1930 in “Krzywieze, Poland” and my father was born in 1926 in “Wyshkow, Poland,” and they’re both Jews.

This is not good. After all, there was a war that occurred in the villages where my parents were born, almost in their front yards, in between then and now, a war in which ninety percent of the Polish Jews were killed, as I’ll later find out. There was a war in which the Nazis marched on Eastern Europe, right to the places my parents lived, and killed as many Jews as they could. There was this war that my parents survived physically but not altogether mentally or emotionally, if it’s ever possible to survive a war like that mentally and emotionally, and I’ll get to relive it with them every day of my little life.

A lot has happened in my family before I’m even born. There are sheaves of photos in which my face doesn’t appear. There is a whole place they used to live, the mythical apartment on Sawyer in Chicago, that I don’t remember since I’m six months old when we move to Skokie, a northern suburb. In these photographs there is a two-toned 1954 Oldsmobile sedan parked in front of the apartment building on Sawyer, the apartment that’s filled with my little girl sisters, who are smaller than I’d ever seen them, smaller than I was even then. They’re beaming - happy, somehow, even before I’m alive. There are other things: first days of school and kosher meals and the fluent Yiddish they spoke as an immigrant family, until my sisters’ teachers crushed that right out of them when each of them started kindergarten and then, mysteriously, they could no longer speak it, only understand. There was our move out to Skokie, the sudden luxury of a three-bedroom house, the play potential of a swing set.

My oldest sisters are the Yiddish-speaking, apartment dwelling, kosher children of immigrant parents. I end up being the suburban dwelling, English speaking, non-Kosher child of parents who appear to be American – on the surface anyway.

They tell me about life in the apartment on Sawyer. Two bedrooms filled with little girls. My crib in the dining room, the twins playing beneath it, me sleeping through all the noise, watched with anxiety by my grandmothers, both certain I was deaf.

“How can she sleep through such tsoris?” My mother’s mother laments, wringing her hands. She yells in my ear to check if I’m deaf and wakes me up.

The reason for my parents having so many of us was a topic of great conjecture. Was my mother trying to repopulate the Jewish world after the Holocaust? Or maybe it was Dad who was goading her on, was he trying for that elusive boy? Or was it the faulty birth control methods of the time, the diaphragms, the rhythm method, the primitive version of the birth control pill? Maybe Mom didn’t understand the instructions for using her diaphragm since English wasn’t her first, or even her fourth, language? Would there have been less of us if the instructions had been written in Yiddish?

For ease, the seven of us are given numbers, with the twins smack in the center of the family, taking numbers four and five. I’m number six, down at the forgotten end of the family, the evil number six, where, if we were Christian, I’d have had to worry about the Mark of the Demon, the triple six. But I don’t; six is nothing in Judaism. None of my relatives look at me in terror, expecting me to burst out speaking in tongues; no one ever examines my scalp searching for the other two sixes. I’m just the next single birth below the more notable twins, the one who isn’t the youngest, the middle child of the bottom set.

Being number six is a very low number in this family. It seems capricious, like if Mom had managed to get some reliable birth control, I wouldn’t be around. So being of precarious existence, I guard my spot jealously. After all, I want to move up, to push the other sisters out of the way. In a family where everyone wears their sister number proudly I fidget under the weight of mine. I hide the ugly part of me, the part that wants life and the world and all our existences to begin with me, with March 7th, 1960, with Skokie, with the house on Drake Street, with English, with three bedrooms, with the station wagon - just one-toned, blue - and nothing else.

Linda Pressman
author of
Looking Up: A Memoir of Sisters, Survivors and Skokie
now available on Amazon

Ever have anything on Niedzieliska Poland, near Tarnow ? Do you know
any Falgut's in Israel.

Amit Yarkoni- Evon writes ; My grandmother Leag Dagonee nee Kagan came to Israel from Novogorodok in 1937 to join two of her brothers. the rest of the family perished other then a relative by the name Henia Yarmovski who sent the family letters after the war. She had a grandaughter named Tali and the family is trying to find her....

I noticed that you are collecting photographs by Szymona Balicera. I have attached an unidentified photo for you, in addition to the image on the back of the photo that identifies it as being an authentic Balicera photo. This photo is part of my family collection. However, none in my family has been able to identify the person.

June 1941, The Germans entrance to Dunilovichi By Yitzhak Mushkat (A
survivor, now in Argentina) Translated by Eilat Gordin Levitan

1. We went out of the house and dawn was breaking. By day, we had to
be careful not to be seen. We went deeper into the forest. The frost
was fierce and we had nothing to wear. We didn't dare make a fire. We
again went around in circles. Suddenly we saw a small boy sitting on a
tree stump, eating a piece of bread. He was wounded in his leg. This
was Reuven Furman's eight-year-old son. While running across the lake,
he had been shot in the leg. He told us, “I made out as if I was dead.

When the policeman went away, I ran into the forest. I was in the
forest with my father and two brothers. Where they are, I don't know
because I had fallen asleep. When I awoke they were gone.” We couldn't
understand why the father had abandoned his son. We asked him, “Where
could they have gone?” He answered that he had simply heard them
saying that they must go to the Shnitz Forests, where there were
partisans.

When we heard this, we had a shred of hope. We decided to go there
since we might meet up with the partisans, but what to do with the
boy? He wants to go, but he can't, since he is limping badly, and it
is about forty-five kilometers to Shmitz. We bandaged his foot with a
torn shirt. A rich peasant lived nearby. We brought him there and
asked that he keep him until we find his father. We told the peasant
that if he turns him over to the Germans, the partisans will come and
burn down his entire farm. He took him and made a shepherd of him.

2. We were driven deep into the forest until we noticed patrols at
their posts. One was an acquaintance from the shtetl. Then we
understood that these were the partisans. We met people from
Dunilovichi such as Leib Gentzel and his daughter and Reuven Furman
and his two sons. This was the father who had left his small son in
the forest.

I believe that one of his two sons is my father, Jacob Furman, and the
other son was his twin brother, David.

My father had 7 brothers and sisters and he told us that they,
together with his parents were murdered.

Hi
just starting out with the "research" & wondering if......
my maternal great grandmother was a Scheinhous. Her name was Pauline
and and her brothers were Lipe (Lippe?), Zelig, Fanny (Feige??), and
Sarah??
Pauline died very young, when my grandma Esther (Estelle) was a little
girl. I do know that she had a slightly asymmetrical mouth (from
photos I've seen)

Pauline married Nathan Kaplowitz , and was the mother of Selma,
Bessie, Joseph, and Esther
My mom who is Esther's daughter says that Bessie was buried as a
Scheinhous and did live in Queens and died circa 1981 in Queens. I
remember Bessie, my "Aunt Betty, who BY THE WAY, married LIPPE
SCHEINHOUS, her mother's BROTHER!! They had to go to Rhode Island to
get married-they had no children (thank G-d). Her second husband was
Aaron Fishman, a furrier in NYC. We used to visit Aunt Betty all the
time, she lived on Wetherole Street in Forest Hills.
So maybe are we related to y'all????
thanks
Karen kvmonotype@gmail.com
??'?
Karen Vornov

Recently I received the first file containing Minsk Birth records. These
records are one of the first files that will be available to those researchers
making a donation to this project. The file has over 1000 family names
and listings for people born in the 1880's in Minsk (town, uyezd and gubernia
What an exciting find and addition to BelarusSig researchers! I look
forward to receiving more files as soon as enough funds are accumulated.

Help fund these files. Read the information below and please make a donation
on to help all Minsk / Belarus researchers.

These records are primarily for Minsk City, but some of
them also include a few shtetls in Minsk District.

Some of the records included are:
1. birth records 1866 Zaslsavye
2. death records 1867 (some months) Minsk
3. birth records 1879-1900 and 1906 and 1917 Minsk
4. birth records 1890 (incomplete) Rakov
5, marriage records 1907 Ostroshitskiy Gorodok
6. death records 1908 Kaminsk
7. marriage records 1914 Minsk
8. In addition to these metrical records, tax records, conscription
lists, and resident lists are also available.

If you want to make sure these records are translated and made available
for your personal research, please make a generous donation to the Minsk
Gubernia: Revision Lists and Metrical Records Project by going to:

To post to the Belarus SIG discussion group, send your message to:
<belarus@lyris.jewishgen.org>
Remember to send your message in PLAIN TEXT and sign
with your full name and location

Belarus SIG Webpage: <http://www.jewishgen.org/Belarus>
Online Newsletter: <http://www.jewishgen.org/Belarus/newsletter/bnl_index.htm>
***************************************************
****************************************************************
Join us at the
31st IAJGS International Conference
on Jewish Genealogy
"A Capital Conference"
Washington, DC USA
http://www.DC2011.org
August 14-19, 2011 Grand Hyatt Washington

Once again I am delighted to announce that we have added new material to our site http://kaunas.shutterfly.com/

Now completed are the 1922 – 1940 Prisoner Lists and at our site you can check the Surname Frequency List to see if your family appears.

Recently added are also the 1901 Draftee Lists – these lists again hold a "mine" of information.

Our continued research projects are dependent on your support so if you are researching your family in the Kaunas area this is certainly the time to join our group.

The database and discussion group of LitvakSIG (litvaksig@lyris.jewishgen.org) are hosted by JewishGen

Don Simon don.simon.cmh@g
have been trying for 10 years to find the village from which my
grandfather came in 1889. Every reference to his arrival, citizenship etc
just say Russia although he often said he was from Minska Guberyna but never
just from MInsk. I have found the village (Rakov) from which his brother
came through a WW I draft registration card of one of my father's first
cousins. Now I am trying to find the marriage certificate of my great uncle
hoping it will list his home town. A list of families from Rakov mention
the family of my great uncle's wife but not our family so I assume that they
lived in another shetl.

A list of 1,664 Jewish prisoners in Lithuania between the two World Wars has been added to the Panevezys District Research Group's Shutterfly website.
This completes the listing of 1357 prisoner out of a total of about 4,200 prisoners that was added previously. All but eight of the persons on this new list were charged with Communist Activity. The exceptions were charged with larceny (2), foreign currency speculation (3), passport forgery (1) and illegal border crossing (1). Slightly more than 30% (514) of the prisoners were listed as females. A number of family groups are also listed: 26 male-female siblings, 136 pairs of brothers, 24 pairs of sisters, 10 spouse couples, one case of 4 sisters, three cases of 3 sisters, four cases of 4 brothers, and several cases of parents and a son or daughter. The sentences cover a wide range of lengths, but there does not appear to be any consistency with the charges. The prisoners listed come from all parts of the Lithuanian Republic.

A majority of the prisoners were charged as members of the Communist Party. A large number were charged with specific activities relating to the Party's program or its organizing efforts, but not with membership. One person was charged for being a member of the Bolshevik faction of the Party, and one person was charged with being a "Sionist Socialist".

The official list is composed of Lithuanian surnames (with appropriate suffixes for males and females). However, bracketed [ ] next to the Lithuanian surname is the Jewish surname. Based on the given names that are listed, it appears that all those prisoners listed were ethnically Jewish even though the Lithuanian surname and the Jewish surname do not appear to be consistent. In most cases the prisoner's file is noted to include a photo, and in many cases the prisoner's Internal Passport number is listed. This may assist in locating the correct Internal Passport among those in the IPP Project coordinated by Howard Margol. For anyone who finds the name of a relative on this list, in order to obtain more details about the prisoner, it will be necessary to obtain the complete file from the Lithuanian State Archives in Vilnius.

These data will be made available to contributors to the Panevezys District Research Group at least 18 months before they are added to the All Lithuania Database (ALD). Since these data are being made available to other LitvakSIG district research groups, Contributors to any of those groups may wish to check first to see if these data are already available on one or more of their Shutterfly websites.

Participation in the Panevezys Research Group is open to anyone who makes a contribution of at least $100 to help finance the work of the group. All contributions are used to pay for translations of original records and can be made on-line at www.litvaksig.org/contribute . For any futher information please contact me.

Regards,
Bill Yoffee
Panevezys District Research Coordinator
kidsbks@verizon.net

My mother's grandfather, Wilhem (Schmerl Wolf) Heller, was postmaster in Cracow. It was unusual for a Jew to work in such a position in Poland before the war, and my grandmother made mentioned of this in particular. He had come to Cracow to study law. His folks came from a wealthy family in Tarnopol with many Rabbi's, but he was assimilated and lived in different social circles. He died about 2 years before the second world war. His wife, Anna (Hanna) born Frommer, perished in Cracow during the war. Their daughter Hela, a famous literary translator in pre-war Poland, survived concentration camps and later married and died as Mrs. Helen Antonia Atlas in New York in 1978. Anna and Wilhelm also had a son, Dr. Tadeusz Heller, a gynaecologist who perished in the war. Dr. Heller's wife Irene and his daughter born Ewa Heller, my mother, survived the war with many hardships. Eva, my mother now lives in Israel, and she has two sons and two grandchildren. Of the Heller family in Tarnopol we know that my grandfather had a cousin, also called Tadeusz a communist living in Berlin. Pecularly, his wife, who was Christian, was called Eva and his daughter Irena. Shortly before the war, this Heller traveled to Soviet Russia, and was promptly shot, or at least disappeared in a purge.

Much to our surprise, Picture #1 on your Viazin website
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/viazhin/viaz_pix/091205_1_b.gif is
definitely of my grandparents, Moshe and Gittel Rieur. Interestingly,
the picture has been identified by my first cousin as one taken by him
in Brooklyn circa 1940. The couple had emigrated from Viazin in 1922.
So I wonder how their photo came to your website. I cannot identify
any of the other photographs and I think you may have comingled a
number of families. It would help if the i.d.’s were in English.

Hello!
I am the daughter of Dora (Devorah) Sosensky from Kurenetz. My
maternal grandparents names were Frumeh and Shlomo Sosensky. I believe
Shlomo owned a general store in Kurenetz.
I came across your website when I was tinkering with some family names
I recently found in some old papers (Rabunski and Alperovitz).
My mother had three siblings: her brother Donya, and sisters Esther& Chana.
I see a photo of my mother in one of the Hashomer Hazion photos and a
photo of my cousins (Chiale and Shimshe) on your Kurentz website. It's
absolutely thrilling to see these images.
I grew up in New Haven, Conn. and remember well a family friend,
Charlie Gelman, who wrote a book about his time with the partisans who
operated near Kurenetz. I also remember Mendel Alperovitz, he owned a
butcher store in New Haven and my mother spoke of him as family.
Any information you could provide to "fill in the blanks" would be so
appreciated.
Best,
Sharon Halperin
Chapel Hill, NC

#vil-5:members of the Vileyka orchestra- 1930 (on Vileyka Site)
The three Ruderman brothers in the orchestra are: top row, first on the left is Osher Ruderman; second row, first on the right is Grisha Ruderman; first row (reclining) Ellia Ruderman. They survived WW2 and settled in Odessa after the war. They are identified by Grisha's son who is residing in Israel.

The second photograph, attached, appears on your Vileyka Scenes as #vils-43, titled Vileyka Band.
In it is Grisha Ruderman - second row, second from the left - identified by his son residing in Israel.

I recently discovered the Kurenets website and am attaching some pictures you might want to upload. The website is incredible and I have been sharing it on Facebook with all my Alperovich cousins!

1. Huda and Eliyahu Alperovich, my great grandparents. (I am named after Eliyahu.)

2.. The other picture is of their 4 oldest children: the tallest girl is Bunya, my grandmother. The next tallest girl on the left is Shifra, and the smallest girl is Rochel. The boy seated is Yaakov ( Alpert) who wrote the story "Old Images" on your website.

Thank you so much for documenting these beautiful stories and helping to recreate the vibrant community of Kurenets. The website is both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

Camp on Wheels in Minsk, Belarus

?amp on Wheels is a unique model of a summer camp that combines volunteer work with an educational tour of Jewish sites. Such a camp is only possible in the former Pale of Settlement, now Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and Lithuania, because of the Jewish life that once flourished there.

Now in its sixth year, Camp on Wheels attracted approximately 100 participants (students and young adults) from all over Belarus this past July. Camp of Wheels is run jointly by the Jewish Agency and Hillel. This August, a pilot based on Camp on Wheels was held in Moldova.

Guests from the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta during the visit to Camp on Wheels

The camp always begins with an intensive two-day educational seminar where participants learn about the Jewish legacy of the local area and listen to lectures on subjects ranging from synagogue architecture to deciphering tombstone inscriptions. The teachers are all Russian speaking experts and professors. For example, one of the teachers is an expert on epitaphs on Jewish tombstones and Jewish cemeteries in the Pale of Settlement.

This summer, the first term of Camp on Wheels focused on renovating the Jewish cemetery in Volozhin. Volozhin is the site of one of the most prominent yeshivas of Lithuanian (non-Chassidic) Judaism. The Jewish community of Volozhin and the yeshiva peaked in the 19th century and was already in decline by WWII. Under Nazi occupation, the Nazis mercilessly executed the Jews of Volozhin and extinguished any remnant of Jewish life. Today, there are only a few Jews living in Volozhin and none was born there.

The famous Volozhin yeshiva overlooks the cemetery

Before the campers tended to the cemetery it looked like a large overgrown field with tombstones here and there, and a large memorial tombstone for R. Chaim of Volozhin in the middle that was falling apart.

A memorial for the Jews of Volozhin who perished in the Holocaust

Large memorial tombstone of R. Chaim Volozhiner

Today, thanks to the campers and other volunteers, the site of the cemetery has been mowed and the gravestones carefully catalogued for further research. The fence around the cemetery and R. Chaim Volozhiner's grave have been restored and repainted.

In previous years, Camps on Wheels focused on renovating historic synagogues and yeshivas. Each year, campers stay in very simple accommodations and work under the supervision of experts, applying the skills they learned from a pre-camp seminar. After a few days of work the students embark on an educational tour of Jewish heritage sites and former shtetls, covering five locations each day. An educational component is connected to each site. The program of this year's Camp on Wheels takes the participants from destruction (abandoned cemetery in Volozhin) to rebirth (a synagogue in Grodno that is being rebuilt).

Tree of Life Tombstone with the branches cut off

Participation in Camp on Wheels makes a profound impact on participants. A powerful educational tool, the camp connects students to what is essentially their family history in a very direct, hands-on way. Many participants have gone on to do genealogical research after the camp, discovering previously unknown family stories and sharing them with other participants. Some campers got a head start on Hebrew while deciphering epitaphs, and today speak fluently. Others have found friends for life. All of them connected to a shared heritage and a common past, and are now strengthened in building a common future.

Group shot of Camp of Wheels participants and the delegation of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta

The Jewish cemetery in Volozhin before the Camp on Wheels participants' hard work and renovation.

If you would like to know more about Camp on Wheels, or other Jewish Agency summer camps, please contact Anya Zhuravel at anyaz@jafi.org

I thought in Riga, but I found a 1914 Ship’s Passenger List, where she
listed Wilno as her home.

Her father could have been David Goldt. Supposedly she was a
Lady/Chamber Maid for someone connected to the Czar’s family… and was
in England and never returned /nor saw her family. She was to have
come from a large family

She eventually wound up in New York City. Attached is her Reisepasse.
If anyone can translate the writing and provide clarity as to cities,
location, destination.

I am trying to trace anyone who knew my father Bernard Rosner, born 30 October 1912, in Krakow. Most particularly I would like information regarding my Grand-mother Maria Rosner who was left behind in Krakow when Bernard was deported to Siberia during the Second World War. I know that in 1921 Maria and Bernard were living at 11 Sw.Filipa St. and by 1928 had moved to 78/8 Dluga St. I believe Bernard was illegitimate, as no father is recorded on his birth certificate. After his release from Siberia Bernard joined the Polish Division of the British Army and served in Palestine, Egypt and Italy. He married Bronislawa Gradzik in England in 1948 and they were accepted as refugees into New Zealand where he and my mother raised myself and my younger sister Krysia. It was a source of great grief to him that he was never able to discover the fate of his beloved mother. Maria(after whom I am named) was the daughter of Selig and Justyna(nee Kenner) Rosner. Any information would be gratefully received. Thank-you,
Maryla Rosner Fyfe

My name is Hanna and former family name was LAPUK.
I was born on KREVO and brother named ARIE (LEIB)
LAPUK LEIZER and my mother FEIGE parents were born KREVO.
My parents died 6 years ago.
If possible have pictures relevant period.

I would like to know how you can add them to the list.
Rozen Dov

Please update the Announcement for the yearly Dolhinov Azkara meeting.
This year it will take place on the 22nd of June 2011 as usual at Beit
Vilna in Tel-Aviv at 6 PM.
All people concerned are cordially invited to attend.

My great grandfather was Avram Skarishevski from Orla near Bialystok, married to a Rochel Guta Rishilevski.

Eli Siegel was my father. He was born in Horodok, Minsk Gubernia, in 1901 and died in 1960.

George Rosov and George Randall are the same person. He was my uncle (Bessie Siegel's husband).

I hope you find this information useful and can make the appropriate changes. Many thanks for the wonderful services you provide in keeping our history alive.

My name is Joseph Toltz. I have been trying without success to trace my great-grandfather's family.

My great-grandfather Yitzhak Isaac Toltz migrated from a town apparently called "Vitz" ( Vidzy?) to England, presumably to escape conscription into the Czarist army. He married (either before or in England), and my grandfather Maurice was born in London before the family relocated to Australia. He had two more children, Louis and Abraham by his first wife Rachel Leah (nee Mushnitzky) and Shirley by his second wife Rose (nee Amster).

I have the names of Yitzhak Isaac's siblings: Smuel, Joseph (changed his surname to Joffe when arriving in South Africa), Sorrel, Slomo and Sholem. I have their photographs too. Other than Joseph's family (who migrated to South Africa in the 1920s), we cannot trace any of these people, and I have presumed until now that they were all murdered in Europe. Have you heard of our family name from this Shtetl (perhaps in another variant spelling - Tolc, Tolz, Tolzan etc)?

I'm currently a post-doctoral fellow at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, so if you could point me to any useful resources for the Shtetl, including listed names from Yizker-bikhen etc, I would be very grateful. The Museum has a great service for researching families. (I'm an ethnomusicologist - researching musical aspects of the USHMM collection)

From: Laurie Bender laurie.bender@homeinstead.
My Grandparents were from Wiena/Wilyna/Wilina Russia. is this, in fact Vilna? He was a a "scholar" and my Grandmother kept a dry goods shop. From the photos on your site, this looked, by 1930's to be a city, they, I believed lived in a village. The were Samuel and Fannie Seltzer.
Any information is appreciated.
Sincerely,
Laurie Bender

Hi, I am interested in more information about the Web site: http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/malkin.html

My maiden name is Malkine, and some of my relatives are listed in this page.

Thanks!

Monelle Malkine Richmond

Researching ASHENOFSKY (Yaacov and Ethel)
TROTSKY (Isaac Trotsky and his wife, Hannah Lieberman)

Locale: Area of VILNA; we know that at some point they lived in SMORGON,
Belarus.

I am looking for leads on my grandmother. Rose Ashenofsky, born about 1882,
was the daughter of Yaacov and Ethel Ashenofsky. She was one of six
children. (The others were David, Frieda, Gussie, Louis, and Masha.) She
married my grandfather, Benjamin Trotsky. I expect her family lived around
Vilna. I know before marriage, Ben lived in Smorgon (although when I asked
him where he was from he would say "Vilna, around Vilna."

Dear Pan Eilat
Which shul is Warsaw #99, the Nozyk or Tolamackie please?
Does your collection of unlisted photos include any photos of Hazan Gershon Sirota?
Tim

Tim Bertram
Whangarei:
29 Lovatt Crescent, Mairtown, Whangarei 0112, New Zealand
phone 64 9 459 4424 | mobile 64 21 277 7876
Gershon-Itskhok Sirota (1874-1943) was one of the leading cantors of Europe during the "Golden Age of Hazzanut" (cantorial music), sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Caruso."

Sirota began his cantorial career in Odessa, then spent eight years in Vilna as cantor of the Shtatshul (State Synagogue) there. It was in Vilna that he began his collaboration with choirmaster Leo Lowe, which would continue throughout his career. He performed on numerous occasions throughout Europe, and in 1902 he sang at a reception in honor of Theodore Herzl, the founder of the Zionist Movement.
In 1907, Sirota assumed the position of cantor at the presigious Tlomackie Street Synagogue in Warsaw. He continued his concert appearances around Europe, and even sang in Carnegie Hall in New York City to a sold out crowd. While cantor at the Tlomackie Synagogue, he also began recording his music. The first Jewish records, made in Vienna, Berlin, and St. Petersburg and spread across the whole Jewish world, were of the two famous khazonim: Gershon Sirota and Zanvil Kvartin. As the technology improved, he was constantly rerecording the songs, so that listeners can trace the improvement of his rich tenor voice over the years.
While Sirota eventually left the synagogue over disputes concerning his frequent performances, he continued to live in Warsaw. Nevertheless, he travelled frequently, and his concerts were attended by Jewish and Christian audiences alike--and according to some accounts, even by Caruso.
Caught in Warsaw during the Nazi invasion of Poland during World War II, he spent his final years living in the Warsaw Ghetto, and died in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943

My great grandfather is buried at Mt.Hebron .
He was a Kovno member.
William Epstein.
We have no information and about Rose or Rosie my great grandmother.
My grandparents are bth gone. My Dad told me nothing about the Epstein side of my family.
he died in 1973 at age 45.
I am looking to see if I have any relatives.
I was told many Kovno wives are not buried near their spouses.

Thanks,
Madlyn Epstein-Steinhart

Please find attached a photo of my grandfather Lazar Zalmanowicz Kopelowicz and G. Ch. Alperowicz taken in Odessa in 1916.
On the reverse of the photo: 1916, 8/7. (RUSSIAN TEXT MAY BE READ ABOVE) 1916 8/7. To our friend Ch. Sh. in eternal memory G.(?)Ch. Alperowicz (and) L. Kopelowicz.

I hope someone may recognize G.(I think) Ch. Alperowicz on the photo.
It is possible that he is a relative as my paternal great grandmother was Minnie Alperowicz (not from Vileyka).
She married my grandfather Moshe Isaakowicz Kaganowicz (from Vileyka).

With appreciation for any leads,
Ludmila Kopel

From: DANIELA TORSH <danielat1@bigpond.com>
“On January 31st 1941 at a train station in Mogaliska Street, Krakow, Poland,
my aunt Olga BRANDMANN nee THORSCH, born 1892 in Uhersky Brod, Czechoslovakia,
her husband Max (Maks, Maximilian Pinkas) BRANDMANN, born 1876 in Tarnow who was a banker,
their son Egon BRANDMANN, born 1918 in Olomouc, Czechoslovakia, a student at the Jagellonian University in Krakow,
Egon's wife Hanna BRANDMANN nee ROTHSTEIN, born 1916 in Krakow
were ordered to assemble.
What happened after that? Where were they sent?
When and where and how did they die?
Did any of them survive?
The fact is that nobody in the family has heard from them since January 1941.
Do you have any information about my relatives?”
I appreciate your assistance.
Sincerely,

Daniela Torsh

My Dad is the 3rd standing from the left in the below picture. He is
86. Here is another picture taken the same day. My father said an
SS Officer shot it. It seems the timing on the pictures is more than
just a minute since one picture has a motorcycle (maybe the SS man’s).
Maybe this pic shot by someone else. My father also wrote a book:
Prisoner of the Gestapo.
Image number 62
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/krakow/krkw_pages/krkw_ghetto.html
-------
My grandfather, Leon Lefkowitz, (mom’s dad) was a well known Cracow
artist. His pics and documents and photos are at
http://esqwire.com/leon

<SRsmink@aol.com>

I recently found you website on line. My great-great-grandmother was Rachael Perlman, nee Chait. She was born in Baisogala, which is not far from Panevich, probably in the 1830s. She married Efraim Perlman. Among her siblings was a younger brother named Joseph.

It's possible that the Chaits were also related to families named Visanska and Brin.

How can we explore this further?

Robert Smith

#pstv-5:A group of girls at a well: (left to right) Sonia Strichanski, Slove Taudrese, Ronia Pergament, Chashe Mampil, unidentified. 1938.

In picture above, #pstv-5 in the Postavy page there is a girl named Sonia Strichansky

I was wondering if you can direct me to the person who posted the picture and identified that woman

Hello! My name is Gina Martino and I've been reading an article on your site about the Reckin family from Horodok. My mother's name was Reckin (from Berlin not Poland) and I've been having a very difficult time figuring out anything beyond that. I've traced their branch back to about 1850 in Brandenburg. I was particularly fascinated by the three brothers in the story who changed their name to Reckin to avoid army service. Do you know who recorded/wrote the story or who might know why Reckin was a desirable name for someone looking to avoid service?

I recorded the story which was told to me by Avraham Reckin who since passed away. The rule was that if you were the oldest son you did not have to serve in the army. Jewish Families with many sons would try to find families with no sons and they would register their sons with the Russian authorities as members of those families ( each son with a different family). For the Jews of the shtetles in the 1800s' last name was something which was imposed on them from the outside and they cared little about it. It was common then for each brother to have a different last name and sometime the next generation did not know the details ...
Thanks,
Eilat

Just been looking thru all the photos on your web site....absolutely fantastic

my family left the area and came to london in 1906, altho my father always said they were from grodno i believe it may have been a town called 'drechen?' as the UK 1911 census

wonder if there is anything in your records to help me research my roots

Deretchin/ Derechin/ Derechyn/ Dzjarecyn
Slonim Uyezd, Grodno Gubernia
Latitude: 53º15' Longitude: 24º55'
86 km (54 mi) ESE of Grodno
117.5 miles WSW of Minsk
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/deretchin/deretchin.html

I am a Rabbi in Chicago. I was just told by my uncle that my grandfather (my name sake) came from Vidzy.

My great garndfather was named Yakov Katczerginski and passes away in 1935. His wife , Chana Gitel and family were murdered by the Nazis.

Do you know of any other source of info? Was the memorial book ever published? Is it available?

I'm also intrigued ny the gact that the famous Rabbi of Ponovich, Yosef Kahaneman was Rabbi of Vidzy for a period of time and I'm fascinated by the possibility that my great grandfather knew him!

On this photo, the person sitting on the floor, first from the right, is my grandfather, Lazar Zalmanowicz Kopelewicz. He was rescued from the Krasna labour camp by the Frunze regiment partisans and served with them untill the end of the war. He died in 1950 in Vieleyka.

I have forwarded to you his son's, David Lazarowicz Kopelewicz, translated partisan story which was published in Vileyka Yizkor book.

With best regards,
Ludmila Kopel(ewicz)

I found your site on the internet and was very interested in your
family tree for Haim Laskov. He was, in fact, my Dad's first cousin.
My grandfather, Maurice Laskow (1896-1974), was the youngest brother
of Haim's father. My grandfather lived in Bialystok until he was 14
at which time he was sent to the US (1910). My grandfather had
contact with some of his family in New York, but apparently due to the
efforts to get the sons out of Russia to avoid conscription in the
army, a large age span of the children (there were many, maybe 8-10),
and the fact that my grandfather was the youngest, he did not know
where many of his relatives were. My grandfather saw Haim on
television while he was in Chicago raising funds for Israel after the
'67 War and first connected with him at that point. My grandfather
(until his death in 1974) and my father, Fred Laskow (1924-) met with
Haim frequently (sometimes in Chicago, mostly in New York) until his
untimely death in 1982.

I presume the photo on Haim's page is him with his parents. Do you
have any others? Unfortunately, we have very little information--my
grandfather didn't talk much about his past and my father says he
knows no history other than what I stated above. Any additional
information that you have would be most interesting. There are so
many pieces to a complicated puzzle--I am hopeful that we can put more
pieces together.

I look forward to hearing from you,
Wendy Laskow Lipsman (www. blipsman@comcast.net)

HI
I came across your website,it's fascinating reading,do you know who
would be interested in buying a holy book that belonged to Reb
Getschlik Schlesinger of hamburg?

My name is Rachel, and I am doing research on my Grandmothers side of
the family. Her mother was a Mollie Botwinik(maiden name) and her
parents were Zev and Yessel(Yael) Botwinik. We know they had six
girls including Mollie, Dina, Nechama, Soshana, Leah and Golda/Zehava.
The family we think is from Poland. We know nothing about Zev's
siblings or parents. Do any of these names look familiar to you?
Thanks for any help you could possibly give me.

I am interested in locating any info on my family that came from Illya
Russia ( now Belarus).

My great grandfather ( Samuel Alpert ) immigrated to the US in 1898 .
He was born about 1868.
His wife Minnie (chafetz) Alpert , was born about April 1, 1873,She
along with her 2 sons and one daughter , Robert ( my grandfather )
and brother (geishan) George immigrated to the US in 1904. According
to the petition for citizenship of my grandfather Robert Alpert , my
grandfather was born Rubin Altuch , it states he was born in ellia
russia about 1898 . He immigrated to the US via Hamburg Germany aboard
the S.S. Moltke arriving on July. 24 1904. I found the manifest for
this vessel when minnie and her kids came to ellis island. . I am not
sure when the surname changed from Altuch to Alpert.
The only other names I found were on my Great Grandfathers Death
Certificate it states his Father as Abraham Alpert and mother as
Rachael Simon but I have learned that death certificate info is very
unreliable.

Minnie's death cerficate stated her father as Simon Chafetz and
mother as Tassie Schumann

any info would be appreciated gary ,,,,,, gtctc@aol.com
In the list of perished in Ilia in 1942:
Altuch Mendel and his family;

I am writing on behalf of the Forward newspaper. I was wondering if it
would be ok to use the photograph of Yitzhak YaLevi Herzog as found on
the following webpage:
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/hillman.html. It
will accompany a piece about Herzog in this week's paper. Thank you
very much for your help.

--
Ezra Glinter
Contributing Editor, Forward
Editor, The Arty Semite
Tel: 917-972-3413
glinter@forward.com
www.forward.com

A listing of files of Jewish prisoners detained in Lithuanian prisons
between the two World Wars for communist activities has been added to
the Panevezys District Research Group's data on its Shutterfly
website. The list of Jews is composed of 1357 names out of a total of
around 4200 prisoners. The list is composed of persons from all of
Lithuania, not just the Panevezys District. In addition to the name of
the prisoner , files contain additional information on each prisoner,
such as place of birth, age, father's name, place and details of
arrest, and in most cases photographs (right and left profiles and
front view), and the file number.

This listing of Jewish prisoners represents slightly more than 32% of
the total, whereas Jews represented only about 7% of the Lithuanian
population during the inter-war period. The Lithuanian Communist Party
membership ranged between 650 in 1930 and 1741 in 1940, so it appears
that probably a much smaller number of Jews who were detained were
party members, and that many Jews may have been associated with fellow
traveler organizations such as the Bund or the Labor Zionists. Many
Jews were attracted to Communist ideals which stressed equality of all
ethnic groups, freedom from discriminatory treatment under law, and
the dignity of labor, though not necessarily to the economic goals
that subsequently became paramount.

Lithuania was not unique. Jews participated in communist activities in
most of the countries of Eastern Europe between the wars (with the
possible exception of Albania), and in many cases represented the
vanguard of Soviet domination of those countries after WWII. It should
be noted that these were not religious Jews for the most part, but
Jews by birth or by "nationality" as defined by local laws or custom.
Some examples were Markus Wolf in East Germany (DDR); Slansky and
Clementis in Czeckoslovakia; Rajk, Rakosi and Gero in Hungary (where
in 1956, seven of eight members of the Central committee were Jews);
Kostov and Zhak Natan in Bulgaria; Ana Pauker in Rumania and Moshe
Pijade in Yugoslavia. Jews founded the Communist Parties in Hungary
(Bela Kun) and Greece (Avraam Benaroya). The anti-Semitic purge begun
by Stalin in 1952, just before his death, was completed in 1956 at the
time of the uprisings in some of these countries.

For anyone who finds the name of a relative on this list, in order to
obtain more details about the prisoner, it will be necessary to obtain
a copy of the complete file from the Lithuanian State Archives in
Vilna.

These data will be made available to contributors to the Panevezys
District Research Group for a period of at least 18 months before they
are added to the All Lithuania Database (ALD). Since these data are
being made available also to contributors to other LitvakSIG district
research groups, contributors to any of those groups may wish to check
first to see if these data are already available on one or more of
their Shutterfly websites. Membership in the Panevezys District
research Group necessitates a contribution of at least $100, although
smaller contributions are always welcome. All contributions are used
to pay for translations of original records and may be made on-line at
www.litvaksig.org/contributions

Shavuah Tov,
Bill Yoffee
Panevezys District Research Coordinator
kidsbks@verizon.net

I'm brand new at this, and it will show. My mother's father was Max
Berman, though on his naturalization papers he says he came over as
"Michel Berchmann". His wife (they married over here around 1907),
Sadie Levine, had three siblings: a sister Hinde, who also came over;
a brother Berel, supposedly a violinist; and Rabbi Shmuel Dovid Levin
(Shadal) of Zabrzez. (He married into Zabrzez, having lived just
before that in Bobruisk.) That's all I know, nothing of
great-grandparents. All of them are described as "from Minsk", but
I'm beginning to suspect that's generic rather than descriptive,
something like being "from new York". Could you help me as to where
to look for birth records, or anything else that would shed some
light? Mark Leder

Dear friends,
The year 2010 has been eventful and memorable year for me and my
family on past Chanukah the fifth candle that came out December fifth
2010 I turned 90. In August of the same year I took a trip accompanied
with my daughter and two grand children ages 23 & 20. We visited the
place of my birth Horodok. The the place of my mothers birth
wolozyn.We lived in Rakov temporarily before the town of Krasne from
were I escaped in 1942. Our base was the Capitol of Belarus Minsk we
also visited Vilna and Berlyn upon my return I described our trip in
the local jewish weekly the same year I was interviewed by The
Carnigie museum quarterly magazine. As part of a article describing
the immigration to western Pennsylvania after the war and what
memorabilia each immigrant brought from there own country. As
mentioned before I turned 90 on Chanukah but because of logistics and
time restraints the party was held on January 22, 2011. Over 200 guest
attended. The same day an interview with me appeared in the local
daily newspaper. My only regret is that my family in Israel could not
participate in this festive event. I hope to be in Israel from April
11 to May 11 with my sister MIna. To spend Passover with my family. I
fowarding you the links some of the links which i would like to share
with you.

From: Ari Goldberger <ari@esqwire.com>
Subject: Montelupich Prison. Jewish mechanics at garage; and Leon Lefkowitz
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/krakow/krkw_pages/krkw_ghetto.html

My grandfather, Leon Lefkowitz, (mom’s dad) was a well known Cracow artist. His pics and documents and photos are at http://esqwire.com/leon

From: David Schonberg <avraba@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 10:00 AM
To Minsk site

I happened to come across your interesting site...

I noticed, however, 2 photos (min-os_27, and min-os_29) which I had seen elsewhere (I'm not sure whether in Yad Vashem, or in another Yizkor book) which are specifically ascribed NOT to Minsk, but to the Tarnow ghetto.

I hope to check the matter further- as the buildings surrounding the central square (in Tarnow) are known...

Please can you clarify whether these photos have proper source-provenance information. I think they may be misdescribed and not show the Minsk ghetto.

Hope to hear from you,

David Schonberg
Jerusalem

My father came from Paris in 1940 he came to London uk. The family
originally came from Lodz in Poland they moved to Paris when my father
was 6 months old my fathers name were Maurice Lipshitz if you have
any info i would be very grateful yours Brian Lipton
<cornelthecat@yahoo.co.uk>

Hello from Diane Sacks Miller of Port Washington, New York.
Somehow, we are related, as I am the granddaughter of Rose Botwinik
who is listed on your webpage.
Rose married Jacob Perkel and had three children. Dorothy, my mother,
was the eldest and was married to Milton Sacks. Most of their married
life was spent in New Jersey and in their later years they lived in
Delray Beach, Florida. Dorothy passed away in 2008 at the age of 92.
Carl, who passed away around 1979. The only living child is my aunt,
Sylvia Leichter, who is about to celebrate her 90th birthday. Sylvia
is currently living in Pompton Plains, New Jersey.
Your family history is fascinating and it's sad that you did not have
the opportunity to hear it first hand.

Sir:
I came across your website due to the New Haven items, particularly the Rosenbaum story.
The website is a treasure chest and superbly executed.

I went to Milford Prep and studied under Harris Rosenbaum and his son ‘Bud.’
I enjoyed the Joe Alderman pieces, as he was a private tutor of mine.
I drove Joe from his Westville home to Milford everyday in 1957 and 1958.

I write to you as my family is anxious to finally study their roots.
I am 70 and the oldest with the surname Cutler.
My father was Dr. Hermann Shepard Cutler and mother Doris Winifred Cousins Cutler.
We have very little information, but I would like to travel back to their origins, wherever they may be to do more research before too long.

My paternal grandfather was Max Cutler aka Mutel Kotlerov and his wife Kate aka Gitel.
They said to some of us that they came to New Haven from Elizavetgrad, Russia.

Is there a web site comparable to yours in any way, that could help me to source information regarding our family?
Are there any sources you can share?

I have the census information, their country of origin says ‘Russia.’
Elizavetgrad is, according to some, now in Ukraine, and others tell me it is called Dneperpetrosk today, also in the Ukraine?

Laurence S. Cutler AIA RIBA, Chairman/CEO and Co-Founder
National Museum of American Illustration
Vernon Court
492 Bellevue Avenue
Newport Rhode Island 02840 USA

Is it possible to communicate with Marty Meyers of Montclair, NJ? He
posted a comment about Prushkins and Breskins in Slonin, now in your
archive.

I am interested in researching Bereskins all over the world. Bereskin
is a place-name, from the Berezkina River that runs along the east
side of Bobruisk, now Belarus.

Currently, we are trying to find out more about Bereskins who
immigrated east to the westernmost Aleutian Islands in Alaska. If
Census records are correct, they arrived prior to 1844, because at
least two males were born in Alaska about that time who carry this
surname-- or variations of it. 1844 is well before Alaska became US
territory in 1867. It wasn't safe for people with a place-name that
could tip off the Russians to their parents' location. So they tweaked
their surname to Vereskin, Vershine, Bershine, etc. Add to the
confusion lack of education, cultural naming practices, changing to
Russian Orthodox religion, marrying Aleut women and disappearing into
that culture and ethnicity---and the Great Sickness of 1900, which
killed off vulnerable Aleuts who had never been exposed to measles or
influenza. This is pretty compelling! And frustrating, because Alaskan
records of the time were only in the Russian Orthodox Church and
written in Russian. The good news is that the descendants of these
"Vereskins" use the original surname again, and I've been able to make
some contact.

There was also a group that immigrated to Winnipeg, then Sioux City,
Iowa. There is some overlap between the groups; my great uncles went
to Winnipeg first, then Chicago.

There are Bereskins who went straight to New York and Philadelphia.
There were some who lived in Leeds, Eng., at least for a while.

We're considering doing a DNA study for this surname. Wouldn't it be
wonderful to find family ties among these diverse Bereskins? There may
also be a family tendency to Factor 11 Deficiency, a type of
hemophilia.

Leon Gork wrote;
Shalom, I'm looking for information about my family, Gork, who lived
in Posvil. My father Abraham Emanuel (Manke) emigrated to SA. He
appears in a picture of a group of people in Posvil in 1932. I found a
record on your website
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/chait.html. so I'm
writing to you perhaps you have more information about Roza and her
family who according to your record died in the holocaust with her
husband and children.

I believe Photo WRSW OS-31 is a view of the famous Nalewki Street, noted for the number of Jewish establishments.

Thank you!

Isabel Cymerman
Roxbury, CT
isabelcym@aol.com

Sonia Peres, wife of President Shimon Peres, dies at 87

Sonia Peres rarely appeared in the public eye, preferring to play a backstage role in her husband's six-decade political career.

By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press
The wife of President Shimon Peres, Sonia Peres, died on Thursday at the age of 87 at her northern Tel Aviv home.
Peres is survived by her husband, their three children Tzvia, Yonatan, and Hemi, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Her son-in-law and physician, Dr. Raphael Walden, told Israel Radio she died peacefully in her sleep.
The president arrived at the Peres family home Thursday afternoon. The presidential residence publicity adviser announced that the family is currently in deep mourning, and will issue another release soon.

. Shimon Peres and his girlfriend Sonia Gelman at a Hanoar Haoved summer camp in ‹‹Zichron Yaacov, August 1939.

Sonia and Shimon Peres with David and Paula Ben-Gurion at the bar mitzvah of their son ;Yoni Peres, August 1965

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

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.

I will be in Belarus in March, 2011, teaching in Minsk for two weeks. I plan to go to Slonim, where my grandfather was born. I would be interested in hearing of any travel tips you may have collected over the years -- I.e. is the old Jewish cemetery open to the public, or do private arrangements need to be made in advance to visit? The same with the synagogue?

I am just wondering if anyone knows the names of the Magid Family shown on Vilna os-91. I believe, though I am not certain, that the young man sitting low down at the table to the right of the photo could be my aunt's father, Barnett (Barney). Also, does anyone know the date of the photograph? If it is Barnett, I am also interested in tracking down when he came to the UK. He was born about 1895 in Vilna and naturalized British in 1920, but I don't know when he left for the UK.

Hi-
My father is the third standing from the left of ("Krakow Ghetto" pic 62) this picture:Adam Goldberger. We have another version of this picture taken minutes minutes apart with some of the men in a different position. Do you know sourced of the picture. I would love to find any of these men.

Thanks,
Ari Goldberger
Jewish inmates in the Montelupich prison in Krakow, who worked in the Gestapo's central garage on Konarski Street. Photographed in 1942 by a German SS driver. In the photo: Bobi Kahana (on the left), Rimek Meirovic, Friedlander, Feldman, Sloman, Kornhauzer, Rott, Izio Apel - Kapita, Moshe Eintracht, and Goldberg. The Polish garage mechanic, Tadeusz Kuzibau, is standing next to the motorcycle

I wonder if You know about the fate of Ryfka Boszes. She was working at Korczak Orphanage Bursa when studying medicine. Afterwards when MD she took care of Orphanage children.
Ryfka Boshes was from Pinsk. Her father, like my grandfather Boruch Wasserman were both teachers in Jewish School in Pinsk. Both were registered in Pinsk ghetto.

I found this family tree on line. My great grandfather Simon Persky was from Volozhin. He came to the US and resided in New Haven, Ct. He is buried there. I have his obituary. He died in the 60s. I remember him( barely). His daughter Gertrude Persky Levin is now also deceased. His grandson and granddaughter are still alive.

I am would think we are related some how. I remember my grand mother telling me this is where he is from.

The family Gordin (Gordon?) came from a village Krizy (near Dvinsk,
Latvia). Leizer Gordin (z.l) was my great-grandfather, Michael
Gordin(z.l) - my grandmother, Zelda Gordin (z.l) - my mother and I -
Reuven Slutskin - was born in Daugavpils in 1934.
Brother of Michael Gordin and his kids emigrate in USA, and my mother
corresponded with them. However all the connections and addresses are
lost now.
Please help me to renew the connections with my relatives in USA. I
live in Modiin, Israel.
Many thanks! Reuven Slutskin rs1rls2@gmail.com

I have been searching for info. on my Mother's family;
Yudovich. My Mothers name was Chana, born in David Gorodok, Russia
March 18, 1899. Her Fathers name was Usher, or Asher Yudovich.Both He
and my Grandmother had approx:4 Boys and 5 daughters. My Grandfather
was known as "Usher the Perevozchic" He owned 2 Cargo and 3 Passenger
Ships, in addition to his own home in David Horodok.
My Mother, Chana, married my father Yosel Turkienicz, or
Turkenicz. His Father was Abraham. After marriage in David Horodok,or
David Grodak March 12, 1919 or I believe the Jewish calendar was Feb,
14, 1919 They then left to my Fathers home town of Stolin (nearby)
till approx: April or May 1921, when they left for America. They got
off the ship in Warsaw, Poland for my mother to give birth to my
brother Yankel (Jack) They proceeded to go to Odvok for the birth and
then after a short time, again left for America on the ship SS
Mauretania, arriving in New York City via London England June 12,
1921. Witnessing my parents wedding in David Grodak was Rabbi Zev Wolf
Ginzufin and Sh'maryah Lansky. Cantor and Shochet and Bodek.
Please be kind enough to supply me with any info. on my family
and their possessions, and whatever you know.
Looking forward to a early response and thanking you in advance,
Respectfully

Rabbi Kraines of Johanesburg, South Africa, wrote me about his
grandfather; Yitzcak Tuvia Kraines was born in Smorgon in about 1878
to Pesach Kraines. He was the youngest of 13 children. He emigrated to
NY in 1904 . His children ( information from "Geni") Paul Kraines,
Anne Firestone, Harry L. Kraines ( the father of the rabbi) , Maury
Kraines and Cele Freifield.

My relation to the Kraines of Smorgon is via Esther nee Kraines
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/smorgon/smo_pix/041905_11_b.gif
who was born in Smoron to David Kraines son of Yitzcak Kraines. Esther
is a holocaust survivor who maried Moshe Kremer of Kurenitz ( also a
survivor) the Kremer family is related to the Kramer family of the New
York area who first brought Chabad to the U.S ( Moshe Eliezer Kramer
and his children; Becky (Basha Liebe) Kaplan, Hyman Schneor Zalman
Kramer, Sadie ( Sheine) Weisbord, Avraham B Kramer, Isidore H. Kramer
, Samuel Kramer and Bertha Green ) You could see their pictures and
read their stories at;
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/kremer.html

Badana nee Pitov was the daughter of Keila nee Spektor/ Levitan, she
was born in Kurenets c 1902. Badana came to Eretz Israel in 1924 and
married Yaakov Dori (1899–1973) (Hebrew: ???? ????‎) who was the first
Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

I am trying to locate relatives. I believe that my paternal grandfather migrated to the US circa 1900.. His name was Kalman Borensthain [bernstein] I think from Kovno, until the name was changed to Berns in the 1930's. My patrilineal heritage is that of being a Kohen. My matrilineal heritage is my grandfather Mordechai Antonos of Vilna, who migrated circa 1918 from Paris to the US.
Can you please give me some guidance on how to find any relatives, however distant, who may still be alive.....

A friend showed me a link with photos of the Jewish community in Crakow which you created:

I am interesting about the photo No. 25. It is about the School for Deaf Jews. Do you have more informations of it and who have the photo?

I saw you r websites... Thanks a million...My g g g grandmother was Rachel Zimmerman Augustowsky, She was born in or near Bailystok
... Have you
seen this name or can connect me? ....

I just stumbled onto your website recently. My great-great-grandmother was Rachael Perlman, nee Chait, who was born in Baisogala, Lithuania around 1840. She had at least one brother named Joseph. I note from your website an Asna Chait, nee Kriger. What do you know of their descendants?

Thank you.

Robert

Robert M. Smith, CLU, ChFC, CLTC
CA Insurance Lic# 0741819
8383 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 600
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Tel (323) 965-6327
Fax (323) 965-0941
www.robertsmithservices.com

From Jewishgen:
Dear all,
One of my Grandfather's sisters; Roza SHUB, born Usdin ( c1894)
married Solomo, son of Haim SHUB. He was born in 1892 in Latvia.Their
children:
- Simen, born in 1920 in Poland
- Bella, born in 1932 in Poland

In your research on Slonim, have you come across a little village that
was located near Slonim called Gnoino?

Alex Noyenski
Silverman Consulting, Inc.
Cell: (312) 402 7282
E-fax: (312) 277 6755
www.silvermanconsulting.net

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).

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

LitvakSIG is pleased to announce that the Kaunas Family List Project is now
complete. Eighteen files were translated resulting in nearly 23,000 lines
of data. The last of the eighteen files has been added to the Kaunas
Family List site at http://kaunasfamilylist.shutterfly.com/

Finding that files like these exist is just the beginning of a project. It
is the contributors who made it happen and because we were able to afford
two translators, it was possible to complete this project in less than two
years. Without the support of our contributors, the translation of this
list of almost 23,000 lines of data spanning a time frame from 1858-1915
could not have happened.

The entire project has now been given to the Kaunas District Research
Group . A surname list can be downloaded at http://kaunas.shutterfly.com/
Please scoll to the bottom of the page and select KFL surname list.

From the outset, it was obvious that this was a very important list for
researchers. Quite a few brick walls were breached for those fortunate
enough to find their families listed. The information originally recorded
was gleaned from all sorts of documents which were presented to
the authorities.

Many links to former shtetls of residence were found as well as details
of extended families. For some, it provided the confirmation that a family
they thought might be theirs did indeed move to Kaunas or left Kaunas for
other places.

List of perished Krakow residents who invested money with the Zionist
organization.
Restitution of Holocaust Victims' Assets;
http://www.hashava.org.il
Adler Leo
Adler Michael
Aleksandrowicz R.
Bauminger Izak
Bauminger Joel
Bauminger Salomon
Bernstein Leib
Birnbaum Jonatan
Blankstein Emanuel
Bloch Bruder
Broder Izydor
Flamm Emil
Freiwald Moritz
Freiwald Lazar
Fritz Heinrich
Goldwasser L
Grunwald Roman
Gumpelewicz Eliasz
Gunzig Dawid
Heumann Heinrich
Himmelblau Mietek
Hollander Israel
Holzer Rachel
Horowitz Michael
Jankler M.
Krofs (?) Herman
Landau Abraham
Lehrfreund Michael
Leser Maks
Machauf Jacob
Mahler Selig
Markowicz Salomon
Mirtenbaum Leon
Nebenzahl Moriz
Paffeles Selig
Pamm Mendel
Peltz Sina
Rieser Gerson
Ripp Leon
Rose Adolf
Rosenfeld Chaim
Simcha
Rubinstein Simche
Schenker Ferdubabd
Schmeidler Hillel
Schmerler Joel
Schonberg Moses
Spira Isak Meyer
Thon Osias
Urobin Juda (?)
Wellner Josef Aron
Wohl Salomon M.
Zeltner Leon
The Company for Location and Restitution of Holocaust Victims' Assets
was established in 2007 under law in order to do historical justice
with the victims of the Holocaust and reinstate with their legal heirs
those assets located in Israel and which were purchased before they
found their death under the Nazi regime.
If your family experienced the Holocaust, and if you have information
regarding relatives or acquaintances that died in the Holocaust, and
if you would like to locate those assets of your loved ones that are
located in Israel, please go to the list of assets published on the
Company site.

Rabbi Barry Marcus of the Central Synagogue, London, has asked me to
inform Litvaks and anyone else interested that they are hosting a
function to honour Holocaust Survivor Joseph Levinson from Vilna,
Lithuania, for all his years of work memorialising Lithuanian Jewry.

Joseph Levinson traveled the country and extensively investigated the
massacres. He located more than 200 Jewish mass graves and cemeteries
in Lithuania for commemoration. He organised and supervised their
restoration and maintenance, as well as the erection and documentation
of Jewish memorials which led to him writing and publishing his 'Book
of Sorrow'. Skausmo Knyga (Vilnius: Vaga Publishers,)

There is no charge for the event, but for catering and security
purposes, kindly RSVP to Raquel Amit at
raquel@centralsynagogue.org.uk or 020 7580 1355.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Time:
2:00pm - 3:00pm
Location:
Vilnius Jewish Cemetery (Seskine)
Description
The Litvak Studies Institute is proud to join the Ziburkus family in
paying respects to Vilnius Litvak icon Tsile Zhiburkiene (Cilia
Ziburkiene) who passed away last Friday aged 93. She was a towering
figure here in the Litvak community. Friends and colleagues are
invited to the brief funeral ceremony at Vilnius Jewish Cemetery
(Seskine), Tuesday May 11th at 1400.

I am a descendant of Tabakin family from Birzai, Lithuania. Over the
last several years I was lucky to find hundreds of the family members
who live in many countries and speak many different languages. Some
families left to USA and South Africa in 1890-1910 and some today live
in Russia and in Lithuania.

I am looking for some recommendations. I'd like to organize a large
family reunion of my family in Israel and looking for practical
advices from people who already did it in the past. I am sure many
did.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Businessman Sheldon Adelson, Russian
mogul Roman Abramovich and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg rank among
the world's richest Jews, according a new survey published by
TheMarker.

The financial newspaper on Wednesday published an analysis of the
world's richest Jews, ranking them by sector and industry and based on
their standing on Forbes' list of the world's richest people.

Most of the people included on TheMarker's list have business ties
with Israel and are also involved in philanthropy for Jewish causes.
dvertisement
Contrary to Forbes' list, a number of the Jewish billionaires listed
have not inherited their fortunes, but rather earned them through
entrepreneurial initiatives or political changes, such as the
dissolution of the former Soviet Union.

So who ranks number one? According to TheMarker, Oracle founder
Lawrence Ellison is the richest Jew in the world, with a net worth of
$28 billion (Forbes No. 6).

Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg News service, ranks as the richest Jew
in the media industry, with a net worth of $18 billion (Forbes No.
23). Isaac Perlmutter, CEO of Marvel Comics, ranked second on
TheMarker's list, with a net worth of $1.6 billion (Forbes No. 616).

In the technology sector, Ellison came in first place again, followed
by Facebook's Zuckerberg, the youngest member of TheMarker's list,
with a net worth of $4 billion (Forbes No. 212).

Energy companies and Chelsea football club owner Abramovich led the
way in the oil and commodities section, with $11.2 billion (Forbes No.
50), followed by Viktor Vekelsberg, the owner of Renova Group, a large
Russian conglomerate (Forbes No. 113). His net worth stands at $6.4
billion.

Other categories ranked by TheMarker include real estate, finance and
gambling and tourism, with Australian property developer Harry
Triguboff (Forbes No. 316), entrepreneur George Soros (Forbes No. 258)
and Adelson (Forbes No. 73), topping those categories, respectively.

According to notes left by Yasha KAMBER, his cousin Abraham "Abrusha " KAMBER born 1897 was a doctor in Shavel in the 1930s and later in the ghetto there .

Yasha tells that Abrusha was married to a non-Jewish woman and the wife and son survived WW2 and the Holocaust. Abrusha perished in Muhldorf Concentration Camp on 6 December 1944

I will be grateful for any information about Dr. KAMBER and any suggestion about how to trace his son. I suspect that the wife went back to her family and her maiden name.

Abraham Foxman, left, and Rabbi Leo Goldman meet again after 65 years. Each had lived in the other man's memory. (David Brystowski)
Detroit, MI - In the fall of 1945, a Soviet soldier hoisted a 5-year-old boy aloft and paraded him through a Lithuanian synagogue that had been closed throughout a long Nazi occupation.

For 65 years, the boy and the soldier carried that moment in their heads and hearts. Unknown to each other, they told the story to family and friends. A Toronto songwriter memorialized it in song. The boy became a man and included the anecdote in his 2003 book.

On Thursday, they met and embraced for the first time since then in Rabbi Leo Goldman's Oak Park living room.

"It was very emotional, much more than I would have expected," says the former small boy. He is Abraham Foxman, the New York-based director of the Anti-Defamation League. In that role, he is a public voice against racial and religious intolerance.

The soldier is Goldman, 91, an Orthodox rabbi in Oak Park and an educator who continued to work as a Beaumont Hospital chaplain until a few months ago.

"We tell this story every year," says Rose Brystowski, the rabbi's daughter, who says her father has become too frail to interview. "It's very moving to us, because it's about survival, about a child symbolizing the future of our people."

The memory remains vivid for Foxman: He had lived with his Catholic nanny, separated from his parents and concealed from the Nazis as a so-called "hidden child" for four years.

The nanny saved his life -- but also taught him to spit on the ground when a Jew walked by.

In mid-1945, he was reunited with his parents. His father waited four months to take him to a synagogue on the holiday of Simchat Torah, an ancient and festive holiday that celebrates the reading of the Torah -- the Old Testament -- on hand-written scrolls. "That was very smart of him because it is a fun holiday for children," says Foxman, who remembers walking by a church and making the sign of the cross entering the synagogue for the first time.

For Goldman, who had been wounded twice as a soldier, and lost his parents to the Nazis, the return to the synagogue in Vilna that day was also momentous. The concentration camps had been liberated, Jews were reuniting with their families across Europe, and in Lithuania, it was no longer a capital crime to be Jewish. Most had been dispersed or exterminated. Only 3,000 of Vilna's 100,000 Jews remained.

"Are you Jewish?" the Soviet soldier, asked the boy. When he nodded yes, Goldman said, "I have traveled thousands of miles without seeing a Jewish child." Then he stooped down, lifted the boy and danced around the room with him.

Neither man ever forgot that day, that celebration of religion and survival under extraordinary circumstance.

But only last summer, after an Israeli researcher finally put together a song, "The Man From Vilna," about the incident with a Michigan rabbi, did Foxman learn that the Jewish Soviet soldier he wrote about in his 2003 book, "Never Again?" was Goldman, still alive and living in the United States. The songwriter had credited Goldman as the story's source.

Getting to Thursday's reunion was circuitous: Three years ago, Foxman told the story at Yad Vashem, the Israel Holocaust Memorial Museum. There, a researcher embarked on a quest for the dancing man in uniform Foxman described: Eventually, she found the song, inspired by Goldman's story, and the rabbi's name in the credits. For Foxman, that day "was a memory, a bittersweet memory." The soldier -- a stranger -- had embraced him in public, in a synagogue. He had carried him like a trophy around the synagogue.

"That was for me the first time anyone took pride in me," says Foxman, who as "a hidden child didn't know who or what I was."

"I thought that story was a kind of legend," recalls Brystowski. "I always believed it in my heart, but on another level, I wondered, did that really happen?"

She was stunned when she learned last summer, when Foxman called, that "this prominent, grown man" was the little boy she had grown up hearing about.

The mythic boy had become a very real and prominent man. "It shows us that any gesture, any mitzvah or good deed, can have an impact," she says.

On Thursday, the two men hugged and talked and recited a Hebrew prayer, a blessing that's a reminder of the importance of celebrating life in the moment.

"It is a privilege to have lived long enough to have this moment," Foxman says Goldman told him.

Goldman's parents and older brother were killed by the Nazis. Foxman's early years as a "hidden child," living with secrets and lies, led him into a career of speaking out publicly against injustice and hatred.

For each man, the memory of dancing in a Vilna synagogue was a pivotal moment. "I came home and told my father that I wanted to be Jewish," recalls Foxman. "It was the beginning of my life as a Jewish person."

Each man had a memory of a moment -- a dance in a synagogue -- that symbolized then and throughout their lives the promise of freedom and faith and life.

At long last, the boy and the soldier who carried phantom memories, now know each other as two grown men who have, against the odds, survived to find each other.
http://www.vosizneias.com/52836/eid/76230705

Abraham Sutzkever, 96, Jewish Poet and Partisan, Dies

Published: January 23, 2010

Abraham Sutzkever, one of the great Yiddish poets of his generation who evoked the nightmare of the Holocaust with images of a wagonload of worn shoes and the haunting silence of a sky of white stars, died Wednesday in Tel Aviv. He was 96.

William E. Sauro/The New York Times
Abraham Sutzkever devoted himself to keeping Yiddish alive.
His daughter Mira Sutzkever confirmed his death.

“In the postwar world, he was the most important Jewish poet and a world class poet in general,” said Dr. Paul Glasser, associate dean of the Max Weinreich Center for Advanced Jewish Studies at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in Manhattan. “People thought he should have gotten the Nobel Prize, but now he won’t.”

Mr. Sutzkever had helped rescue YIVO manuscripts and other treasures from the Nazis when they occupied the Lithuanian city of Vilna.

Writing poetry helped Mr. Sutzkever survive a war in which he lost his mother and an infant son as well as the Jewish soul of his beloved city of Vilna, which prided itself as the Jerusalem of Lithuania for its fiercely cultivated intellectualism.

There, with his sometimes flint-hard, sometimes lyrical voice, he found an audience as a member of a renowned group of Yiddish artists and writers, Yung Vilne, which included Chaim Grade, Shmerke Kaczerginski and Leyzer Volf.

That golden age came to an end in June 1941, when the Nazis invaded the city and eventually herded its 60,000 Jews — one-third of its population — into a ghetto as the first step toward mass killings in giant pits and deportations to concentration camps.

Mr. Sutzkever, a wiry man with an impish sense of humor and a full-throated appetite for living, smuggled arms into the ghetto. When he was assigned by the Nazis to round up books that would be sent to Frankfurt for an ominously named Institute for the Study of the Jewish Question, he and other intellectuals in a so-called Paper Brigade concealed precious books and art works, including a diary by Theodor Herzl and drawings by Chagall, in building cavities and crannies.

He helped unearth many of them when he briefly returned to Vilna after the war, and those treasures wound up in YIVO’s home in exile in Manhattan.

All that time he composed poems, writing, he once said, while crawling through sewers and even while hiding in a coffin.

“If I didn’t write, I wouldn’t live,” he said in an interview with The New York Times in 1985 while reminiscing over a glass of French cognac. “When I was in the Vilna ghetto, I believed, as an observant Jew believes in the Messiah, that as long as I was writing, was able to be a poet, I would have a weapon against death.”

In a 1942 poem called “My Mother,” he wrote of a dead mother who tells her son:

If you remain

I will still be alive

as the pit of the plum

contains in itself the tree

the nest and the bird

and all else besides.

His poem about a sky filled with white stars was put to a plaintive melody and became a classic of Yiddish song — “Unter Dayne Vayse Shtern” (“Beneath the Whiteness of Your Stars”).

Mr. Sutzkever and his wife, Freydke, fled the ghetto with a group of partisans and were airlifted to Moscow, where their daughter Rina was born. The family made its way to Poland and Paris and finally to the British mandate of Palestine, where they remained after independence in 1948.

In Israel, where modern Hebrew was the muscular language, he devoted himself to keeping Yiddish alive even as the number of speakers diminished year after year. He founded and edited Israel’s leading Yiddish literary journal, Di Goldene Keyt (The Golden Chain), until it stopped publishing in 1995. And he continued to turn out Yiddish poetry, most notably “Lider fun Togbukh” (“Poems From a Diary 1974-1981”), which many regard as his masterpiece. In 1985, he was awarded the country’s most prestigious award, the Israel Prize.

Mr. Sutzkever’s wife died seven years ago. In addition to his daughters Mira and Rina Sutzkever Kalderon, he is survived by two grandchildren.

Abraham Sutzkever was born in 1913 in Smargon, a small industrial city southwest of Vilna in today’s Belarus. With the outbreak of World War I, his parents fled to Siberia.

In 1921, after the death of his father, his mother resettled the family in Vilna, where Mr. Sutzkever attended Polish-Jewish schools, audited Polish literature classes at Vilna’s university and studied Yiddish literature with the great linguist Max Weinreich. His debut on the Vilna cultural scene was notable for his rejection of politically themed poems for ones that emphasized wordplay and experiments with sound and rhythm.

Many readers remember him most, however, for poems that capture the pathos of what he and other Jews experienced in the war, like the verses he wrote in 1942 in “A Vogn Shikh” (“A Wagon of Shoes”), about a wagon clattering through Vilna’s alleys filled with a heap of “throbbing shoes.”

The poet asks:

Tell me the truth, oh, shoes,

Where disappeared the feet?

The feet of pumps so shoddy,

With buttondrops like dew —

Where is the little body?

Where is the woman, too?

All children’s shoes — but where

Are all the children’s feet?

My father's sister, Sora Schaya - born in Dvinsk about 1873, married Hirsh
Joffe, son of Gershon Joffe, from Kupiszki, Lithuania. They had at least two
children, Gershon Joffe, b. 1899 in Dvinsk and Lia Joffe, b. 1905 in Dvinsk.

They all lived in Dvinsk, but I don't know if and when they left or where
they went. The only piece of information I have is that a relative in
Baltimore received a post card from China in 1948 from Sora. This is a
verbal hand-me-down story so I have no idea whether it is true or not. I
know that many Jews went to Shanghai to escape the Holocaust and perhaps
Sora and family did go there. Any information or suggestions would be
greatly appreciated.

From: Baltos lankos export and import <eksportas@baltoslankos.lt>
Date: Thu, Jan 21, 2010
Dear Sir / Madam,

We are proud to inform you that Baltos lankos publishing house has recently reprinted Dovid Katz's monumental Lithuanian Jewish Culture. It is the most comprehensive work ever to appear in English on the cultural, linguistic and spiritual worlds of the Litvaks - the Jews hailing from the lands of the medieval Grand Duchy of Lithuanian and its successor modern states - Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, and parts of northern Ukraine and northeaster Poland.

Dovid Katz was born in New York City in 1956. After completing his studies at Columbia University he settled in Britain where he founded and led Yiddish studies at Oxford university for eighteen years (1978-1996). After a stint at Yale, he resettled in Vilnius, Lithuania in 1999 to take up a new chair in Yiddish language, literature and culture at Vilnius University. Professor Katz is the author of dozens of studies in Yiddish language and culture, as well as three collections of fiction in Yiddish. He is a winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Manger Prize and numerous other awards. For a decade and a half, he has led expeditions to seek out and record the last survivors in smaller towns in Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine and northern Poland. He is the son of Yiddish poet Menke Katz (1906-1991).

This exquisite huge folio volume provides an introduction to Jewish history and culture starting with antiquity and leading methodically to the rise of Lithuanian Jewry some seven centuries ago. It covers the traditional rabbinic culture of Ashkenazic Jewry, the specifically Lithuanian rabbinic and kabbalistic (mystical) traditions, and the Hasidic-Misnagdic conflict. It carries on to cover the various modernistic 19th and 20th century movements, including Yiddishism, Hebraism, Zionism, Socializm, and Jewish Art. Sections are also devoted to the life of the Litvaks in the interwar republics, in emigration centres in America and Israel, and around the world today, including the post-Holocaust remnant of survivors in Eastern Europe. Professor Katz has spent a decade and a half leading expeditions to discover and record these survivors. For the first time, a book on Lithuanian Jewry appears with equal emphasis on religious and secular Jewish life. The chapter on Lithuanian Jewry's most famous scholar, the Gaon of Vilna (1720-1797) contains a complete translation of the never-before translated biography of the Gaon penned by his two sons shortly after his death. It is in many ways astounding, and its more unusual aspects are usually left unmentioned in works on the Gaon. There are also translations of various other never-before-translated excerpts from vital works in the field in Hebrew, Aramaic and Yiddish.

This 400 page volume contains 325 rare photographic images collected by the author, many appearing in print for the first time. There are also 26 maps and charts, all of which are newly produced specially for this volume by Dr. Giedre Beconyte of Vilnius University's Centre for Cartography.

If You are interested in buying this title, please contact us by e-mail eksportas@baltoslankos.lt or by phone + 370 656 90447

Fax. +370 5 240 74 46
Mob. phone. +370 656 90447
eksportas@baltoslankos.lt
http://www.eksportas-importas.lt

We wish to create a living Memorial in Israel for the 5000 Jews of Dolhinov, men, women and children,

who were murdered by the German Nazis and their collaborators in Dolhinov during the Second World War.

We want the Jewish community of Dolhinov to be remembered by creating a place that is a living Memorial

and a live contribution to the State of Israel. A peaceful place that people would like to visit and feel part of.

A forest of 5000 trees will be planted. One tree in memory of each member of the Jewish community

For the realization of this Project a fund of $50000 is required ($10 per tree).

We appeal to you for your assistance and ask you to contribute generously to this important

Special Certificates of thanks and appreciation will be issued and sent to donors by the JNF of Israel

Cheques, signed to "Leon Rubin for Dolhinov Forest Project", or cash, can be sent to:

I am sure that with your cooperation and generous support we'll accomplish our goal

Please distribute this appeal letter to your friends and acquaintances that might be willing to contribute

I have been trying for some time to find documentation about my maternal GGF
Shale GREENGOUS, who served as chief Schochet (Jewish ritual slaughterer)
for the city of Minsk in the early years of the 20th century. I'm looking
for a municipal record of his service, or documentation in the records of
the Jewish Community (Kehillah).
Several years ago, I wrote to the archivist, and received a rather vague
reply about non-existence of such records. Are there more potential sources
that any of you could suggest? Do the Kehillah records exist, or were they
all destroyed by the Nazis?
Thanks,
Beryl BLICKSTEIN
(researching GREENGOUS, SASONKIN, BLICKSTEIN, and GITLER)

Since several people asked me about my info regarding the National
Historical Archives of Belarus in Minsk, I am following up on this list.

Yitzhak Ike Ahronovitch, the captain of the Exodus ship whose attempt
to take Holocaust survivors to Palestine built support for Israel's
founding, has died, at 86.

The Exodus 1947 ship left France in July 1947 carrying more than 4,500
people - most of them Holocaust survivors and other displaced Jews -
in a secret effort to reach Palestine. At the time, Britain controlled
Palestine and was limiting the immigration of Jews.

The British navy seized the vessel off Palestine's shores, and after a
battle on board that left three people dead, turned the ship and its
passengers back to Europe, where the refugees were forced to disembark
in Germany.
Advertisement

His daughter Leah said following his death "he never overcame the
surrender of Exodus, and believed that they should have fought the
British over it."

The ship's ordeal was widely reported worldwide, garnering sympathy
for the refugees, especially because they were taken to Germany, where
the Nazi murder of 6 million Jews during World War II originated.

It inspired a fictionalized account by American writer Leon Uris and a
classic 1960 film directed by Otto Preminger and starring Paul Newman.

Newman's character was patterned after Yossi Harel, who commanded the
Exodus mission as a leader of the Haganah pre-state Jewish armed
force. Harel died last year.

Ahronovitch, who was nicknamed Ike, captained the ship. His daughter
said the experience remained a pivotal part of his life for years
afterward.

It was one of the most important things of his life. He wasn't a big
storyteller, but he'd happily tell schoolchildren about it, she said.
The Exodus influenced him and his friends deeply. Those were the days
that defined them and as far as they were concerned defined the
character of this country.

President Shimon Peres eulogized Aharonovitch and said that "Ike was
unlike anyone else and no one was like Ike - a rare combination of
pioneering, bravery and love for the people," said Peres.

"Exodus was the product of his very spirit, as he was not just a
regular captain, but a captain who gave the voyage its character
through amazing leadership skills" he added.

Aharonovitch, also known as Ike, died after a long illness, his
daughter Ella said.

Ahronovitch was born in Poland in 1923 and moved to pre-state Israel
10 years later. He later worked with ships and always loved the sea,
his daughter aid.

Ahronovitch is survived by two daughters, seven grandchildren and two
great grandchildren. His funeral is scheduled for Friday in northern
Israel.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed to have Jewish past
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's vitriolic attacks on the Jewish world hide an astonishing secret, evidence uncovered by The Daily Telegraph shows.

By Damien McElroy and Ahmad Vahdat
Published: 7:30AM BST 03 Oct 2009
Ahmadinejad showing papers during election
Ahmadinejad showing papers during election. It shows that his family's previous name was Jewish

A photograph of the Iranian president holding up his identity card during elections in March 2008 clearly shows his family has Jewish roots.

A close-up of the document reveals he was previously known as Sabourjian | a Jewish name meaning cloth weaver.

The short note scrawled on the card suggests his family changed its name to Ahmadinejad when they converted to embrace Islam after his birth.

The Sabourjians traditionally hail from Aradan, Mr Ahmadinejad's birthplace, and the name derives from "weaver of the Sabour", the name for the Jewish Tallit shawl in Persia. The name is even on the list of reserved names for Iranian Jews compiled by Iran's Ministry of the Interior.

Experts last night suggested Mr Ahmadinejad's track record for hate-filled attacks on Jews could be an overcompensation to hide his past.

Ali Nourizadeh, of the Centre for Arab and Iranian Studies, said: "This aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad's background explains a lot about him.

"Every family that converts into a different religion takes a new identity by condemning their old faith.

"By making anti-Israeli statements he is trying to shed any suspicions about his Jewish connections. He feels vulnerable in a radical Shia society."

A London-based expert on Iranian Jewry said that "jian" ending to the name specifically showed the family had been practising Jews.

"He has changed his name for religious reasons, or at least his parents had," said the Iranian-born Jew living in London. "Sabourjian is well known Jewish name in Iran."

A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in London said it would not be drawn on Mr Ahmadinejad's background. "It's not something we'd talk about," said Ron Gidor, a spokesman.

The Iranian leader has not denied his name was changed when his family moved to Tehran in the 1950s. But he has never revealed what it was change from or directly addressed the reason for the switch.

Relatives have previously said a mixture of religious reasons and economic pressures forced his blacksmith father Ahmad to change when Mr Ahmadinejad was aged four.

The Iranian president grew up to be a qualified engineer with a doctorate in traffic management. He served in the Revolutionary Guards militia before going on to make his name in hardline politics in the capital.

During this year's presidential debate on television he was goaded to admit that his name had changed but he ignored the jibe.

However Mehdi Khazali, an internet blogger, who called for an investigation of Mr Ahmadinejad's roots was arrested this summer.

Mr Ahmadinejad has regularly levelled bitter criticism at Israel, questioned its right to exist and denied the Holocaust. British diplomats walked out of a UN meeting last month after the Iranian president denounced Israel's 'genocide, barbarism and racism.'

Benjamin Netanyahu made an impassioned denunciation of the Iranian leader at the same UN summit. "Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium," he said. "A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies the murder of six million Jews while promising to wipe out the State of Israel, the State of the Jews. What a disgrace. What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations."

Mr Ahmadinejad has been consistently outspoken about the Nazi attempt to wipe out the Jewish race. "They have created a myth today that they call the massacre of Jews and they consider it a principle above God, religions and the prophets," he declared at a conference on the holocaust staged in Tehran in 2006.

The family of David (son of Yosel Todres) and Mina ( daughter of the Olsfein family)
Pictured from left: Mina (Mother). twins; Isaak/Isaac and Berel/ Ber/ Bernardo (alive in Argentina, age 89 in 2009), Oldest daughter; Freida youngest son Abraham .
A the time the picture was taken David was already in Argentina. David' brother: Notel Todres, perished with some of his children in Vidzy. His son Meir survived. He served in the Red Army and later came to Israel. In 2008 he gave Yad Vashem reports and lived in Ramat Efal. The family in Argentina would like very much to find him or his children

This year the Disna District Research Group has funded the translation of
the Disna District Additional Revision List 1851-1856 and the 1857 District
Farmers List. As well work has begun on the 1834 Revision list and data
for the three towns of Glubokoye, Golubichi and Germanovichi has been
received. Together this represents 3,300 lines of new data which is not
yet on the All Lithuania Database (ALD).

With the translation of the above two lists, the district will be out of
funds and work will come to a complete halt.

The following towns in the Disna District 1834 RL are waiting to be
translated. The only holdup is a lack of funds.

Disna around 1800 lines,
Druya around 1900 lines,
Plissa around 550 lines,
Postavy around 550 lines
Sharkovshchizna around 500 lines.

The translation cost is $0.55 per line. If you can raise the necessary
funds to have any of the above towns translated, those towns will be next
in line to be translated. Please let us know if you are willing to
contribute to a particular town or are willing to try and raise the
necessary funds.

If you are already a contributor to the work of Disna District, please
consider making another contribution. Would you like to become a
contributor and receive copies of all records as they are translated
in spreadsheet format ? - please make a contribution of $100 at
www.litvaksig.org
http://www.litvaksig.org/contribute.

No donation is too small but $100 is requried to become a qualified
contributor.

The following text has been revised to correct information about
Novogrudok during the Holocaust:The pre-war Jewish community of Novogrudok numbered about 6000. More
than 10000 Jews, most from Novogrudok and the district, were killed
in Novogrudok and, except for 52, were not buried at the Jewish
cemetery. The place in the cemetery where the 52 victims were buried
on the 26 of July 1941 is unknown. 250 Jews escaped from the Ghetto
through a 250 meter long tunnel. Of those 170 reached the Bielski
partisans and survived, the others were killed on the way.

The document is mentioned in the book "Surviving the Holocaust" by
Avraham Tory, Martine Gilbert, Dina Porat and Jerzy Michalowicz, Pages
15-16.

Jewish Hospital, 3 Jakstu Street
Jewish Orphanage, 15 Fire Brigade Street
Jewish Home for the Aged, 15 Puskos Street
Well-known restaurant, 10 Mapu Street
Jewish Community Centers, 14 Rotuse Square and 12 Luksio Street
Mikvah, 3 Luksio Street
Hebrew Gymnasium, 25 Nieman Embankment
Talmud Torah School, 17 Ugnagesiu Street
Jewish Clinic, 7 Pilies Street
ORT School, 86 Jonavos Street
OZE Jewish Health Organization, 1 Misku Street
Jewish Central Bank for the Support of Cooperatives, 76 Laisves Boulevard

The Internet is a rich resource for locating references for Jewish
orphanages which were established pre-World War I, during World War II
and post-World War II in Lithuania. Some of these references can be
found at YIVO in New York, others in various books and other resources
includng JewishGen. Sometimes, the orphanages were called kinder hois
or kinder heim and you can find them that way.

One reference I found some time ago and posted about then was for the
Kovner Yidisher Kinderheim. It was found in the records of the
Kupishok Benevolent Society in Cape Town, SA. Evidently, the Society
had sent money to the orphanage after World War II.

There was a listing of 108 children with the names of their parents,
where they were from originally and their year of birth. Of course,
not all of the information was provided for each child.

An example of what is found in this listing is the orphaned SAPLICKI
family of five children, all born in Kaunas, Lithuania, whose parents
were Sholom and Rose: Genie, born 1934, Malka, born 1935, Moshe and
Sheine (twins), who were born 1936, and Chone, born 1938.

Another family of children in the orphanage were the STOLIARSKI
family, no parents' names given, all born in Salakas, Lithuania:
Avrom, born 1935, Eda, born 1936, and Reise, born 1940.

Two other families were those of WAINER from Taurage, Lithuania, whose
parents were not listed: Yankel, born 1938 and Raine, born 1940; and
ZIMAN from Lazdijai, Lithuania. whose parents were not listed: Sheine
and Shmuel (twins), who were both born 1937.

There were even three children listed who had no first name at all,
but their parents names were provided: Zalman and Freda GITLIN's
child; Rachmiel and Dina LACHOWITZKY's child; and Dovid and Slave
SHNEIDER's child.

The shtets represented in this listing were the following: Dusetos,
Daugavpils, Janova, Kenigsberg, Klaipeda, Kaunas, Krekenava, Kretinga,
Lazdijai, Oriol, Panevezys, Prienai, Raiseniai, Riga, Salakas, Shantz,
Siauliai, Taurage, Vandziogale, Viesintos, Vilnius, Vilkaviskis,
Vitebsk, Ukmerge, and Utena.

All in all, these references can provide valuable clues to the
whereabouts of relatives.

Subject: Axelrod and Betwinik

I was very excited to find your site. My grandmother's maiden name was
Axelrod/Axelroad. I have evidence that her grandfather Victor/Vigtor
Axelrod/Axelrood and grandmother Dubbie/Doba Betwinik lived in Minsk. Her
father Morris was born in Vilnius in 1872/4, and he had 8 siblings: Nathan,
Hyman, Charlie, Israel, George, Sam, Rachel and Ann. Morris immigrated to
the US in 1888, and I know that Israel was here as early as 1904.

If there is anyone connected to the Berman family, particularly Annie (Chana)
and Louis, and their son Isaac, or daughters Liza ?, Clara Katzman,
Rebecca Lepofsky, Julia Landy, and Sara Rogovein, please be in touch privately
at sljban@verizon.net.

I am particularly interested in finding information about Annie/Chana, who
seems to have the same maiden and married surname, but also at times was
referred to by the surname Kapelovich. Her sister Ida gave her place of birth
as Radoshkovichi, and there is quite a bit of information online about
that town, but no reference to my ancestors. The Berman family
immigrated to Port Arthur in the Thunder Bay district of Ontario, then
later to Windsor.

Also Ida married Hyman Yudis, who appears in a photo in some sort of
Russian military uniform? They immigrated first to Canada, then to NY.

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Eva Bublacki was known in Liverpool as Eva Black, she had two children, a son Harry Black, and a daughter Rosa, we think she married my wife great grandfathers brother, see this email from my daughter Linda who lives in Newcastle Upon Tyne England>>>>

She was a funny one this Eva. In 1926 she went to Africa (Durban) and is recorded coming back into the country in 1926. She describes herself as a furniture dealer and lived at 6 Ravenscroft Road, Birkenhead. She is listed as a Russian citizen.

I found a Samuel Black who died in 1889 in Birkenhead. You'd have to order the death certificate to see if it is him, but I reckon this must be her husband. So if this is her husband, then Samuel Black must be Nathan Black's brother. It fits as Samuel was born in 1864 and Nathan in 1861. So Eva is a relation by marriage.
She is the woman in ; http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/slonim/slo_pix/new_scenes/082608_82_b.gif
For other pictures of Eva during her visit t her family in Slonim:
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/slonim/slonim.html
Our family are related to the Bublackis of Slonim, and one side resided in Leeds, a large tailoring town, NATHAN BLACK formerly BUBLACKI came to Leeds, he had quite a large family, best regards.

FRM / E WILSON AND DIANE WILSON [NEE BLACK]

Dear friends,
This is an invitation to all concerned
to attend the Dolhinov Memorial meeting "Askara"
at Beit Vilna in Tel-Aviv on the 16th of June this year.
Our intention is to let people, especially abroad,
know about the event well in advance.
Best wishes to all for a happy and enjoyable Pesach Holiday,
Leon Rubin

The invitation below is in Hebrew:

My name is Bruce Sadler <bsadler2047@att.net> and I live in the
United States. I have attached some pictures both front and back that
have the town name Gorodok and the date on the back, the rest I can
not read. Any information you can give me about these pictures would
be wonderfull.
Thank you for your help
Bruce Sadler

Putting together pictures and documents with my sister - in - law, regarding my Father, Dr. Elliott Konis born in Vilna Poland on May 26, 1911

My father's original name was Dr. Eliasz Konichski (Koniuchski). Don't know how many brothers and or sisters he had in his family. His parents, family members and relatives where killed by the Nazi's when Poland was invaded by Germany. Before War World Two my father became a physician . He served for a short time in the Polish army. Later, he was captured and held in Dachau Concentration as a physician. He help countless number of survivors.(Will provide a letter in the future) He found one of his brother's in the concentration camp. Sometime later he was transferred to another location. After the war, my father, his brother and his brother's sister in law, and son adopted by his brother and sister in law immigrated to New York City (United States).

Enclosed (first picture) my father in uniform.
Second copy of his title and name on a card (Dr. med. E. Konichski - Medical Officer - Heidenheim)
Third picture - (from left to right) - Dr. Konis, my aunt (Olga Konis) and Benjamin Konis. (Very likely Olga and Benjamin names where previously spelled differently before they immigrated to the United States). The adopted son name is Edward Konis

My father died in 1984 and my mother died in 1979

Further pictures, documents, and information will be send, including pictures from Vilna. I have old photo album. Will take some time to copy, and download some pictures to you.

Maybe someone may know about the Konichski family?

My brother's family and I live in south Florida (USA).

Maureen Piasecki (cimabello@gmail) on Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 22:26:22
Message: Thank you - I am researching my Irish Immigrants 1949 story and
happened on yours - so alike we are, so unique we are.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mara Turecaite (sendasmile23@yahoo.com) on Sunday, May 17, 2009 at 21:28:49
Message: On photo 63 is pictured my uncle Simon Bloch, sitting is Yakov Ratner
(a father of schoolmate). I thing his daughter Khaya is living currently in
Canada.
Mara

Subject: remaining 256 records of the Glubokoye Society of New York

Is there any way to post the remaining 256 records from the "Glubokoye
Society of New York" link? The current list is truncated after 200

records.
We are most interested in the "K"'s - i.e.KLIOT.

Thanks so much. Your site has been most helpful in our family searches.

Regards,
S. Lancashire

This particular branch of the LOTZOV family moved from Ludza to Dvinsk in
the 1890s. Dvorka LOTZOV married Itzik Mendel TRAININ. They had three known
children: Sora Faiga, David and Hirsch. According to all the evidence this
whole branch, as well as all of their cousins, were wiped out in the
Holocaust. However, Sora Faiga married Sam CHITRIN and left before the
Holocaust.

Christine's translations allowed me to reconstruct this branch of the family
and I'm now in contact with Sora Faiga's family in Canada.

My great-uncle, Majer (Meier, Meyer) INGBERG,
lived in Bialystok. He resided at Polna 19 or 17 in the 1930's. He
was born around 1877 in Warsaw. It is my understanding that he owned
a factory/shop which made leather goods. He had three sons, one named
Moshe, and one daughter, possibly named Paula. One of the sons married
a girl who was a teacher. I also have a letter dated 1933 from a Dr. H.
Lukaczewski indicating that my great-uncle had arteriosclerosis.

I recently sent a message to the Archives in Bialystok.
What follows is a rough translation through Poltran;

Record office inform in bialystok kindly, that we lack in local stock:
Acts (records) from period of interwar .m bialystok person confession
moses metrykalnych For from period of interwar registration books .m
of bialystok; Act from end for XIX .m of warsaw metrykalnych w.;Thus,
we can not lend information about your family jakiejkolwiek.We inform
simultaneously, that records (acts) are transferred from offices of civil
statuses after hundred from moment of fabrication ( 100 ) lat (summer;
year) metrykalne. Therefore, bialystok is belonged to return regarding
documents for from period of interwar for office of civil status .m
confession moses metrykalnych, street 9 Branickiego, 15 089 bialystok.
In questions of act of birth carrying (concern) Majera Ingberg, ur.
In warsaw 1877 , it for record office .m st. warsaw advise (consult)
return, bandy circle A street 7, 00 270 warsaw...
it appears there are no records for my family.
I cannot request a look-up of my Uncle's birth record in Warsaw
as I do not have an exact date or the District in which he lived
which the Archives in Warsaw requires for a search.

I had hoped there would be some way to trace my Uncle through the
address at which he resided in Bialystok, but again have hit a brick
wall. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I might be able to
find information on my family?
Thank you in advance for your help!

BELARUS: RAICHEL from Dunilovichi, LEIBOWITZ, SHER and GOLD from Glebokie
UKRAINE: KISHLANSKY and SHEICHER from Kamentz-Poldolsk
POLAND: WAJNBERG, RUBINSZTAJN, BEKIERMAN, DREZNER, BAUMZECER from Radom and
WAJNBERG and ROZENBERG from Sienno

have just distributed to the qualified donors of the Panevezys
Internal Passport Project another 401 records. This makes a total
of 7,025 records distributed to the donors thus far. More records
remain to be translated. If you are not already a donor to the
Panevezys I.P. Project, you can receive all of the translated
records merely by making a $100 contribution, specified for the
Panevezys Internal Passport Project. Go to
http://www.jewishgen.org/JewishGen-erosity/ You can use your credit
card as the site is secure. To see a full description of Internal
Passports, and to view images of original records, go to
http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Lithuania/InternalPassports.htm

Just because your ancestors left Lithuania before 1915, it does not
mean these 1919-1940 records hold no interest for you. Your immediate
family may have left but, in most case, other family members and
relatives remained there. In 1915, the majority of the Jews in
Lithuania were forced to go deep into the Eastern part of Russia.
After 1919, most of those Jews returned to Lithuania and had to
apply for an Internal Passport. Many researchers have had great
success with the Internal Passport records.

Every time I receive another group of translated Internal Passport
records, it never ceases to amaze me about the outstanding information
presented. Several examples from this group of Panevezys records will
illustrate my point.

(1) Leib NEMAS / [NEMM], son of Yankel. Born 1877 in Baisogola. Applied
for his Internal Passport on 14 December, 1921. (This is an indication of
the date he returned to Panevezys from Russia because he had to apply
within 30 days of his arrival back in Lithuania). He lived at Ramygalos
st. 60 in Panevezys and was a Merchant. He was married. He died 18 July
1927. His Military Service Certificate Nr. 5151, issued in Siauliai in
1899 and his Internal Passport are in the file. His wife was Hinda
FARBERAITE / [FARBER] born in 1883, daughter of Yovel. They had three
children - Yosel - Born 1908, Tauba - Born 1909, and Rakhel - Born 1914.
(Baisogola, Panevezys, Siauliai - you can see the possibilities this
opens up to find more records. Also, his Military Service Certificate
may offer the information needed to find his Russian military records).

(2) Basia MILSTEINAITE / [MILSHTEIN], daughter of Abraham and Rebecca.
Born 1903 in Vilnius. She was single when she applied for her Internal
Passport 28 August 1920. (Upon reaching the age of 17 she had to apply
for her own Internal Passport). She lived with her parents at Kranto st.
10 in Panevezys. Her mother's maiden name was BIGELYTE / [BIGGEL] and
she was born in 1869 in Vidzai, Ezerenai Uyezd. Her father was born in
1868 in Vidzai, Ezerenai Uyezd. He was a carrier. The German passports
for Basia and her father were issued 29 May 1916 in Vilnius and her
mother's German passport was issied in Panevezys 19 May 1917. All three
German passports are in the file. Basia got married to Hirsh DOLBERGAS /
[DOLBERG] on 8 August 1926 in Kaunas. In addition to Basia, Abraham and
Rebecca had three sons. Alter - born 1908, Shimon - born 1911, Jacob -
born 1913. (Again, the records not only provide a wealth of information
but also present an opportunity to do further research in the records for
Vidzai, Vilnius, Panevezys, and Kaunas).

n 1894 record from Vilna shows my great-grandparents Abram and Feiga
(daughter of Eliyahu and Ida FINBERG) LANDSMAN having a child Isaac
and the record says the family came from Podberzhe (Paberze). Available
records from Paberze show virtually no LANDSMAN activity which got me
wondering why my GGGF would have been there.
Based on past experience with family in Poland, a very likely
possibility would be that Feiga's family may have come from there (it
appears that LANDSMAN spread out from the Bagaslaviskis area into the
surrounding towns) as the husband often
moves to the wife's shtetl.

Checking the Paberze records I came across some records for FAIN which
may be related (Feiga's surname in the US was always listed as FINBERG
except on records related to her oldest son, where it was listed as
PEANEN, which if spoken quickly sounds close to FA-IN?).

From Paberze vital records:
David (son of Israel) FAIN was married to Itka (daughter of Ber)
ARNOVITZ. Their children included Feiga (b.1861), Avram (b.1864),
Shmul Khayim (b.1859), and Khaya Lea (1863-1866). What is interesting
is that this Feiga is the correct age to be my GGM and her mother's name
Ida would be correct for the Itka here. The only part that doesn't fit
is David versus Eliyahu/Eliasz as Feiga's father, so I would surmise as
a working hypothesis that either these are cousins of my GGM or the
father had the double name David Eliasz and this could in fact be
my GGM's birth in 1861.

If any of this sounds familiar, please contact me privately at
<MandJMeyers@
Martin H Meyers

I have recently been researching my family history and found my
grandfather, Samuel Raskin, who is listed as having arrived at Ellis Island
from Novo Libki or Nozebkow on 3/26/1906, on this site. He married Sophie

(Sonja) Nechamkin (I am not sure of the correct spelling) who arrived, perhaps
in 1908, chaperoned by Samuel's sister, May Raskin. I am interested in finding
additional information if it is available. Sophie & Sam had 2 children,

Jeanette, born about 1909, and Isadore David (my father, born in 1911.
Jacki Fromer

http://http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/p/e/r/Jana-L-Perskie/index.html

I think we may be
related. My family, (descendants of Lazar Perskie and Mindel Dithy Perskie),
are originally from Volozhin and came to the US in the mid-19th century. Check
my genealogical Website for more information. Also, please email me your email

Werner (gwerner@dc.r
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

am looking for a relative of Chaim Kremer who would have hidden for about 20
months following the late 1942 Aktionen in Kosow, Poland. My father, the
plumber, hid out with Chaim Kremer at a Ukranian friend's home with Chaim until

liberated by the Russians. Is your relative the same Chaim Kremer? Do you know
more about that particular time frame. I have several photos with relatives (or
friends) of my father that I cannot identify, so I am scouring through other's

photos lookiing for familiar faces. Also, am interested in posting my own
website with the photos. What software and hosting site do you use?

The most famous Lithuanian rescuer of Jews during the Holocaust was
probably Ona Simaite, a librarian in Vilnius University, took advantage
of her freedom of movement into the Jewish ghetto, ostensibly to retrieve
books loaned to Jews before the war, as a pretext to secure valuable
literary works by Jewish authors. She also looked after Jews in hiding
outside the ghetto. Arrested during an attempt to smuggle a Jewish girl
outside the ghetto, she was tortured and sent to a concentration camp.
She survived but suffered permanent damage to her health.

There is now also a book published by the State Jewish Museum in Vilnius
that lists more than 2,500 Lithuanians who helped save Jews during the
Holocaust (though whether all have been recognized by Yad Vashem I don't
know.) I had some correspondence a few years ago with Viktorija Sakaite,
who was working on this book. At the time, a book had come out by a
Lithuanian, Antanas Gurevicius, listing more than 10,000 Lithuanian
rescuers. Sakaite was attempting to verify as rescuers the people named in
Gurevicius' book. It's obvious that she was able to do so with only about
25% of those listed by Gurevicius. See:

1834 Revision Lists for four towns in the Trakai District: Nemunaitis,
Punia, Stakliskes and Varena,

1858-1908 Additional Revision Lists for 4 Oshmiany District towns:
Golshany, Oshmany, Soly and Traby

1816 & 1818 Revision Lists for Pusalotas; 1818 Revision List for Pumpenai
and 1816 & 1818 Revision List for Zeimelis (Panevezys District)

Amongst the tax and voters lists, there are new entries for:
Gargzdai, Kretinga, Zidikai and Telsiai (Telsiai District)
Kvedarna and Kelme (Raseiniai District)
Grzuzdziai (Siauliai District)

There are 12 district research groups matching administrative districts
-- uezds or uyezds -- of the Russian Empire period (1795-1917). They focus
primarily on translating revision and family lists. These were registers
for each family in a given shtetl that generally covered a period of about
10 years. Families often lived in one shtetl and were officially registered
in another shtetl. There is a District Co-ordinator for each district.

You can find a list of the Districts and their coordinators by going to
www.Litvaksig.org and selecting Meet the LitvakSIG Team.

Qualified donors for a given district are sent excel files of all records
translated for that district and new translations generated from available
funds soon after they are completed. This is usually one year or so
before they are published on the All Lithuania Database ("ALD"). The
qualification level is US$200 for Telsiai and Vilnius districts and US$100
for all other districts. Smaller donations can be made over time to build
up to the qualification level.

District donations are allocated to specific projects by LitvakSIG.
However if a donor wishes wholly (or partly) to fund a particular project
then this is possible and should be discussed this with the relevant
district co-ordinator.

Where a particular list is very large it may be treated as a project by
itself, distinct from other projects for that district. Currently, for
example, funds are being raised for the City of Kaunas family list
1858-1915. This has its own US$100 donor qualification.

Please support our work with a contribution. There is still so much to
be done. Donations can be made online

"The Eretz-Israeli residents that have been exchanged have arrived
from the Reich," a Haaretz headline announced on November 17, 1942.
"There's been much commotion at the Afula station," the article read,
"in preparation for the arrival of 114 women and children, relatives
of Eretz-Israeli and British residents, who've come from Germany. They
were exchanged for German women and children from Eretz Israel, who
were allowed to travel to Germany."

Ora Reshef, 73, from Kiryat Ono, may have been aboard that train to
Afula. In 1939 she journeyed with her mother from Palestine to Poland,
she thinks, "to celebrate Passover, and so that my grandmother and
grandfather could get to know their grandchild." The grandparents, a
wealthy couple, lived in a large wooden house, she recalls. After they
occupied Poland, and return travel became impossible, "the Nazis came
to the house and found us. Since we weren't Polish citizens, but had
documents issued by the British Mandate authorities, Mother had to
report to the police station every week. In 1942 they came and told
us, 'You're going.' No one knew whether to believe them, but a few
days later we were put on a train and got to Israel by way of Turkey."

Between 1941 and 1945, some 550 Jews arrived in Palestine under
similar circumstances, having been trapped in occupied Europe and then
released as part of the same deal, for Germans detained in Palestine.
Some of them have remained in touch with each other to this day.
Advertisement
The German women and children who were deported from Palestine were
Templers - members of a Protestant religious movement founded in
Germany in the mid-1800s. The Templers worked to bring about salvation
and the second coming of Jesus Christ, and believed the only way to do
this was to live a productive life in the Holy Land.

By World War II, the Templer population in Palestine was already in
its third generation, with communities in the German Colonies of
Jerusalem and Haifa, as well as in Sarona (now the Kirya in Tel Aviv),
Valhalla near Jaffa, Wilhelma (now Moshav Bnei Atarot), Beit Lehem
Haglilit and Waldheim (now Alonei Aba). Although they lived in Eretz
Israel, they maintained their German citizenship, studied in German
and identified as Germans. Many supported the racist-nationalist
ideology of Adolf Hitler; indeed, after Hitler's party rose to power
in 1933, some Templers joined the Nazi cause. The Nazi regime decreed
that their party would run all German affairs in Eretz Israel and
placed Nazi activist Cornelius Schwarz at the head of the local
community.

"They went from religious messianism to political messianism," says
Prof. Yossi Ben-Artzi, rector of the University of Haifa and a
professor in its Land of Israel studies department. He believes that
the Nazi episode in Templer history has been blown out of proportion.
"The members of the younger generation to some extent broke away from
naive religious belief, and were more receptive to the Nazi German
nationalism. The older ones tried to fight it."

In 1938 about 17 percent of Palestine's Templer community were members
of the Nazi Party. British Mandate authorities were not happy to have
Nazi activity in their own backyard. And at the end of August 1939, a
few days before the war broke out, young Templer men eligible for the
draft were conscripted into the Wehrmacht and left for Germany. Those
who stayed behind became enemy nationals, imprisoned in their own
homes. Palestine's German colonies were surrounded by barbed-wire
fences and watchtowers, and effectively became detention camps. The
British wanted to expel the German citizens from the country they
controlled. And so the road was paved for an exchange of German
citizens in Palestine for British subjects - Jews from Palestine, who
had left for Europe just before the war and were stranded there,
unable to return.

"In return for the Germans whom the British wished to deport, they
received Palestinian citizens - Eretz Israeli Jews in occupied
Europe," says Hebrew University Holocaust scholar Prof. Yehuda Bauer.
"Jewish groups pressured the British government to negotiate an
exchange of these British subjects for the Germans."

The swap, Bauer stresses, stemmed primarily from British and German
interests: Just as the British wanted to get the Germans out, Germany
was happy for the chance to rid itself of a few hundred more Jews. The
exchange, however, was not an even one. The number of Germans deported
from Palestine was greater than the number of returning Jews.

Bauer explains that despite the pressure they exerted, the various
institutions affiliated with the Yishuv (pre-state Jewish community)
wielded no real influence over the talks that ultimately enabled a
group of Jews to escape the ghettos of Europe. It was the British who
negotiated with the Germans, first under the auspices of the U.S.
Embassy in Berlin, and later through the Swiss.

"The Yishuv's leadership had no idea when the Jews exchanged for the
Templers would arrive. They did not even know how far the negotiations
had progressed - the British had that little regard for the leadership
and its power," he says.

Ostensibly prevented from taking substantive action, Yishuv leaders
settled for protest. Some 10 days after the second group of exchanged
Jews arrived in November 1942, they thus decided to appoint a special
committee "to oversee the response of the Hebrew Yishuv in Eretz
Israel to the atrocities and the decreed extermination against the
Jews in Poland and other German-occupied areas," Haaretz reported.
Additionally, a special session of the Yishuv's parliamentary assembly
was planned, in which the community's claims would be formally
drafted.

On December 21, 1941, immediately after the arrival of the first
group, Haaretz published a story about a woman who had left Palestine
with her daughter before the war to visit her hometown and family in
Poland. "Our little town did not even have a cemetery in ordinary
times," the unnamed woman was quoted as saying, "but now the Germans
have established one, and it contains hundreds of graves of local Jews
and of others deported there from the big cities."

Leah Bartal, 77, from Haifa, was five years old when she left to visit
her grandparents in Tarnow, Poland. Her parents made two such visits,
returning to Palestine in 1939, just three weeks before the war broke
out, after "they looked for work, but didn't find any," says Bartal.
Meanwhile, she remained with her relatives in Poland. At first, she
recalls, "there were rumors that all foreign nationals were being
rounded up and killed, and people were terrified. But my grandmother,
a smart and prescient woman, told me to guard my passport at all
costs. She sewed a special pouch for it, which I always wore around my
neck."

Although she was not listed among the Jews of Tarnow, Bartal moved
into the city's ghetto along with her aunts. "My parents weren't with
me, but I was a little girl surrounded by a great deal of love," she
remembers. The aunts had to work outside the home, and she was forced
to learn the art of survival herself: how to keep quiet, how to listen
carefully, then run and hide at any small sound. Yes, she says, "it
was alien to a girl who had grown up in Eretz Israel, partly on a
kibbutz, but I didn't think of it. I was like all the other people,
getting through one day, then another, then another." Later Bartal
would survive two German roundups, one of which left many of the
ghetto's children dead.

Bartal: "In May 1943, shortly before the ghetto was taken over, they
said that all foreign nationals had to report in order to be sent
home. There were 12 of us, mainly from Argentina and Eretz Israel. I
went with another girl, Dalia, and her mother, Rachel Klein Handler,
who took me under her wing as though I were her own daughter. There
was much fear, but there had already been two roundups, and people saw
that the end was near. That's what the rumors said, too, so there
wasn't much to lose. The next day we reported to the German offices
and walked out of the gate. My aunt stayed behind. The entire ghetto
stood by the gates and waved goodbye. It was hard.

"We rode on the train to a prison in Krakow and from there, a few
months later, we were transported to Bergen Belsen. They had a
separate camp for foreign nationals - no forced labor or executions. I
think the Red Cross was involved, because we got food and a shower
once a week. Then we were taken to France, where we waited for the
liberation, after which we sailed to Palestine on a British ship,
half-filled with soldiers. It was not until a few years ago that I
learned we had been part of the deal with the Templers."

Says Dalia Gavish, 72, from Haifa, who returned on the same boat, in
September 1945: "My cousins were killed in the ghetto, and if we had
not been part of the deal, we might not be here today. I remember that
everyone at the port looked the same to me. Father was waiting for me;
it was the first time I saw him. They gave us orange juice, and we all
went our separate ways."

Among the people waiting to welcome Bartal in an apartment in Haifa
was Rina Efraim, then eight years old. She, too, had spent time with
her mother in Poland, but they had returned in late 1938. "The
economic situation here was difficult then," she says, "so young
mothers with children traveled to their families, if they could, till
things improved or until their husbands could find work or lodgings."

Bartal, Efraim says, was referred to all through the war as "the girl
who remained there": "On the day the ship docked at Haifa, we stood on
the balcony, very many of us, and someone came and said they had
arrived. They came home in a taxi, and when they got there - how
people cried."

According to Prof. Bauer, most of the Jews who returned as part of the
exchange were not residents of Palestine who had gone to Europe and
gotten stranded there, but rather citizens who could prove they had
relatives in Palestine and had secured immigration permits. All in
all, the exchange involved five groups of Jews, the first landing in
December 1941; the second group, consisting of 69 Jewish passengers
and 45 British ones (as described above in the Haaretz article),
arrived on November 14, 1942; the third and fourth groups landed in
February 1943 and July 1944, respectively; and the final group, to
which Leah Bartal and Dalia Gavish belonged, arrived in mid-April
1945, shortly before Germany surrendered. The total number of Jews
extricated from Europe this way was about 550, in exchange for some
1,000 Templers sent back to Germany.

Despite the swap, Ben-Artzi notes, most of the Templers remained in
Israel after the war. "They lived in open detention camps in Beit
Lechem Haglilit, Waldheim and the other communities, and went to work
every day under escort. The Yishuv pressured the English to expel
them. When the fighting between Arabs and Jews broke out in 1948, they
were caught in the middle. On April 17, 1948 Waldheim was captured,
and a local couple was killed. The Templers realized they could not
stay here, and they left. Waldheim was taken when the
Israeli-Palestinian war was at its peak. That is, many of them did not
think they needed to get out."

I'm a descendant of Tziril Minah first husband Aaron Leibe Haneles (by his
previous wife). I'm interested in any descendents of Haneles or the Botwiniks.

Haneles was also variously spelled as Khaneles or Ganeles and were concentrated
in the Minsk area.

I am trying to find the descendants of Girsh Schnaider from Birzai,
Lithuania. My great-grandfather Haim Itsyk is Girsh's grandson. Below
is the brief summary of the families I am looking for. Please let me
know if the names sound familiar.

1. Girsh Shneyder had two sons
Ruvel (Reuven) Shneyder (1840)
Shimen Leizer Shneyder (1851)

2. Ruvel (Reuven) Shneyder (Shnaider) was born in 1840.
Ruvel married Pese Leia.

Haim Itsyk Shneyder (1878-1916)
Ester Shneyder (1868)
Mariasha Shneyder (1876)
Khaia Minukhe Shneyder (1876)
Khaia married Itsyk Josel Klaz on 15 Apr 1911 in Birzai, Lithuania.

Mariasha married Shmuel Nokhum Shneyder (Shnaider), son of Shimen Leizer
Their children:

Freide Rive Shneyder (1873) Freide married Girsh Abrem Khait
Minukhe Khaia Shneyder (1878)
Eide Shneyder (1881)
Gena Shneyder (1889)
Elke Shneyder (1888)
Shmuel Nokhum Shneyder (1876)
Eliash Shneyder (1884)
Movsha Leib Shneyder (1895)

Holocaust survivors in Israel cope better with the traumatic effects
of the genocide than those living in the U.S. and Australia, according
to mega-analysis of prior studies performed by researchers from the
University of Haifa.

The analysis, carried out at the university's Center for the Study of
Child Development, encompasses results from dozens of research works
on some 12,000 Holocaust survivors living in the three countries.

The research found that living in Israel played a role in moderating
the long-term effects of the Holocaust on survivors.
"The results of the research clearly suggest that Holocaust survivors
in Israel have higher functionality than elsewhere, and are in general
coping better with the trauma," Dr. Efrat Barel, who performed the
study, told Haaretz. She added that alongside this resilience there is
also considerable vulnerability in Israeli Holocaust survivors. "It
comes out less in their [everyday] lives, but in nightmares and
sentiments and in their emotional existence," she said.

Barel, a developmental psychologist, says there is no definite
scientific way of interpreting the results, but notes a few
conjectures. "We were groping in the dark when we first started this
research. We were dealing with a few conflicting ideas. On the one
hand, the difficulties connected to life in Israel through wars and
problematic financial situations would intuitively mean a less
supportive environment for coping with trauma." The statistical
analysis of the 59 previous studies, however, seems to support an
opposing view, which argued that the "national sense of purpose" in
Israel and "togetherness" offer a more supportive environment than
elsewhere, she says. "The fact that the troubles of war and pressures
that come with it are shared by everyone could help reduce trauma and
isolation rather than augment it," Barel adds.

The groups of survivors surveyed in the 59 studies, Barel explains,
were tested against control groups of people from their countries of
residence. In other words, the trauma level of Holocaust survivors
living in Israel was measured against the trauma level of
non-survivors from Israel, while trauma levels of Holocaust survivors
who had moved to Australia was measured against trauma in "ordinary"
Australians.

In this context, Barel notes the high prominence the Holocaust
receives in Israeli society as a possible means for reducing trauma in
survivors. "Israel has ceremonies, panels, commemorations. Society is
more open to discussing the Holocaust and this could relieve
survivors' sense of isolation," she says. At the same time, Barel
mentions that during Israel's first two decades the Holocaust was
"swept under the rug." She adds: "This has changed over time, which
could help explain the results."

The newly released study, conducted under the supervision of Prof. Avi
Sagi-Schwartz, has yet to draw reactions from researchers in the
field. "[This study] is important in discussions on the need to offer
support for survivors - in Israel and elsewhere - and how to go about
it," Barel concluded.
By Cnaan Liphshiz

If not for the Holocaust, there would be as many as 32 million Jews
worldwide, instead of the current 13 million, demographer Professor
Sergio Della Pergola has written in a soon-to-be published article.

Della Pergola, who holds the Shlomo Argov chair in Israel-Diaspora
relations and is the director of the Division of Jewish Demography and
Statistics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, attempts to estimate
the demographic damage to Jews of the Holocaust. The Holocaust 'struck
a mortal blow particularly at the Jews of Eastern Europe because of
their especially young age structure,' and particularly the number of
children. This led to significant long-term demographic damage. The
quantitative ramifications are far beyond what we think," he writes.

In the article, to be published in "Beshvil Hazikaron," the periodical
of the Yad Vashem Holocaust commemoration authority's school of
Holocaust studies, he writes: This was the destruction of a
generation, and what we are lacking now is not only that generation,
it is their children and their children.
Advertisement
According to Della Pergola, while the birth rate of the Jewish
population outside Israel is relatively low, the young Jewish
population of Eastern Europe has great potential for growth. "What
would happen if there were another 10 million Jews in Eastern Europe?
It raises questions that are like science fiction - for example, would
the State of Israel have come into being?

Della Pergola says another demographic outcome of the Holocaust is the
lower relative number of Jews in the world. "At present, the
percentage of Jews in the world is constantly in decline. Before the
Holocaust, the rate was eight Jews per thousand people in the world;
today it is two per thousand.

Della Pergola also notes in the article that various estimates put the
number of Jews killed in the Holocaust at between 5.6 and 5.9 million,
and that part of the problem in pinpointing the numbers lies in the
question of 'who is a Jew', he writes, since some of those killed
converted to Christianity before the Holocaust or were part-Jewish

I have recently been in touch with Professor Dovid Katz of Vilnius
University and The Vilnius Yiddish Institute in Vilnius,
Lithuania. He advised me of a fascinating once-only two-week seminar
on Jewish Lithuania which is part of the Summer Literary Seminars for
which he serves as Program Director. It is intended for English-speaking
individuals.

Please take a minute to look over this link about the program that
describes it in great detail and includes links to lodging
possibilities and such.

shoshana (shoshana13@013.net.il) on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 07:29:11
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Message: My mother was born in Rakov (1914). Her maiden name was Uzlaner. I
know that her fathr died before the war, and that her 3 sisters and mother were
killed. She and her brother survived. I would like to know whether there is an

Uzlyaner Bobe

Bobe Uzlyaner nee Leikind was born in Minsk in 1880 to Sara nee Leikind. She was a housewife and married to Moisei. Prior to WWII she lived in Minsk, Belorussia (USSR). Bobe perished in 1942 in Minsk, Ghetto at the age of 60. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted on 26-Oct-2006 by her granddaughter.

Alan Zeligson (Bigvan82@gmail.com)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

South africa. My fathers mother was Chaya Gafanovitch , but I believe that her
mothers maiden name was Chait. From Kovna .i would love to hear from anyone who
is also researching family from Lithuania. I think they got married In Dusyat ,

My name is Victoria Shaldova, I am an executive director of Jewish community
"Shamir", Riga, Latvia.

Activity of "Shamir" is aimed to commemorating the memory of Latvian Jews. The
most significant project of us is Latvian Jewish Encyclopedia, which gathers
information about all the Jews, connected to Latvia. It will be a memorial for
the Latvian Jews, which do not exist now. We have gathered already more than 2
500 biographic and thematic entries and it is a half of the proposed amount. It
covers the period of time from 1561 to 1991.

Now we are looking for information about David Stupel and Henriette Hes nee
Stuppel.
David Stupel was born in Riga, Latvia in 1891. David died in 1942 in
Auschwitz. This information is based on a list of deportation from the
Netherlands found in the In Memoriam - Nederlandse
oorlogsslachtoffers, Nederlandse Oorlogsgravenstichting (Dutch War
Victims Authority), `s-Gravenhage (courtesy of the Association of Yad
Vashem Friends in Netherlands, Amsterdam). More Details...
Stupel Elfriede
Stupel Elfriede
Elfriede Stupel nee Schereschewsky was born in Riga, Latvia in 1900.
Elfriede died in 1943 in Sobibor. This information is based on a list
of deportation from the Netherlands found in the In Memoriam -
Nederlandse oorlogsslachtoffers, Nederlandse Oorlogsgravenstichting
(Dutch War Victims Authority), `s-Gravenhage (courtesy of the
Association of Yad Vashem Friends in Netherlands, Amsterdam).

Hes Henriette
Henriette Hes nee Stuppel was born in Riga, Latvia in 1877.
Henriette died in 1943 in Auschwitz. This information is based on a
list of deportation from the Netherlands found in the In Memoriam -
Nederlandse oorlogsslachtoffers, Nederlandse Oorlogsgravenstichting
(Dutch War Victims Authority), `s-Gravenhage (courtesy of the
Association of Yad Vashem Friends in Netherlands, Amsterdam). More
Details...

I would like to invite you to participate in the project of Encyclopedia with
any information you have on the topic or pass the information to people, who
may be interested in it.

Sara Leber (pattyi@sympatico.ca)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: I am looking for any information on the Urison Family from Kovno
father was Chaim (Khaim), Wife was Sara (Sura) they had 5 daughters and 1 son.
Ester Mina, Chaya, Doba, Judishka, Hennala, and Schmeul. Found document of
internal passport card for both Chaim and Ester Mina (my mother). Asking for
any information on the family. Thank you for this opportunity.

Yoram Wolkowyski (geowisky@covad.net)
: My parents Dr. Shlomo and Mina Wolkowyski escaped from Slonim in 1941
/42 to the forest close to Slonim to join the Russian Partisans.
The Russian partisan usually did not admitted Jews, but they agreed to take my
Father and Mother because they needed a Medical Doctor and a Nurse.
After the war my parents moved to Israel where they lived for rest of their
life.
Anyone who would like to know more please feel free to contact me.

From: Lawrence Litwin <theslice@sympatico.ca
HI all. I was wondering if there were any good sites for researching the Slonim Shtetl?
Any help would be great.
Specifically dealing with Yugeroffsky or other spellings of such name.

Lawrence Litwin
Montreal Canada
Searching
Reisapfel, Kuhn, Fogel, Litwin, Singer, Gelb, Wilhelm, Engelsberg, Wertman
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Susan Weinberg <susanweinberg@comca
I am planning on visiting Belarus for a one day visit to Dunilowitz and
Glebokie in August and am interested in anyone else's experience in visiting
these towns. Has anyone worked through the Jewish Heritage Research Group
in Belarus? (Please respond privately to me on this question)

My great-grandparents, Schloime and Malka Raichel (later changed to
Rothchild) and all of their grandchildren came from Dunilowitz. My
great-grandfather's parents were Pinchus Mordechai Raichel and Malka
Liebowitz. My great-grandmother was born in Glebokie to Pinches Scher and
Chaja Gitl Gold. I would be interested in any potential linkages as an
additional line of inquiry. I will be in Vilnius for a month prior at the
Vilnius Yiddish Institute and hope to do some research in their archives as
well.

BELARUS: RAICHEL, LIEBOWITZ from DUNILOWITZ, SCHER,GOLD from GLEBOKIE
POLAND: WAJNBERG, RUBINSZTAJN, BAUMZECER, ROZENBERG, BIEKERMAN
UKRAINE: KISHLANSKY, SCHIECHER, BEZNOS

Leon Rubin (rubinlj@netvision.net.il) on Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 18:39:17
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: I want to congratulate Steven C. Sosenski for his proper comment on
the Aidan
Gaynor hypocrite note on the 6th of February 2009.
Right answer,well done, Steven!
Leon Rubin

David Conway (smerus@gmail.com) on Monday, March 09, 2009 at 04:38:15
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: Very interested in your photos of the Bublackis of Slonim. I am
descended from Bublackis of Bialystok (see my website) - I assume there is a
connection. In England they changed the susname to Simons - Isaac
Bublacki/Simons is 'ben Shima' on his tombstone. If anyone has details of the
Bublacki family/families I should be very interested to hear from them.
David Conway

Bublacki family of Hajnowka, Bialystock & Slonim. (dalefarmer@ntlworld.com) on
Monday, March 09, 2009 at 05:32:11
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: Thank you for your wwwsite, from information found we traced family
members who perished in the Holocaust. The photos you show on your Slonim page
shows [we think] several family members, most of who died in the Treblinka
death camp. My own views are that it was the myth that 'All Jews had money and
were wealthy', was the match that lit the holocaust-fire, but it was robbery
and and the thought of looted personal gain what got the lynch mob motivated.
These people were looters masquerading as nationalists, just the same as Hitler
was when he robbed 2 firms of German banknote printers during the Munich
putsch.

Last week I was caught in a debate with myself: whether or not to appear, despite the feeling of nausea, in a discussion with Lithuanian historians, writers and poets at the International Book Fair in Jerusalem. The idea made me so sick that in the end I decided to stay away and I also convinced my friend, former partisan and former chairman of Yad Vashem Yitzhak Arad, to excuse himself from the discussions.

In recent years, the government of Lithuania has been making considerable efforts to improve the country's image in Israeli public opinion. The discussions in Jerusalem were part of this attempt, which is entirely fraudulent and deceptive. Lithuania's policy is two-faced. One of the faces is smiling and demonstrating ostensible friendship with Israel. The other is doing all it can to deny the horrors of the Holocaust and harass partisans and Holocaust survivors in Lithuania and Israel.

With utter gall, the Lithuanian prosecutor tried to summon Arad for questioning in 2007, on the grounds that he had committed "war crimes" during World War II. I don't know what the prosecutor's father did during the war, but I do known that Arad and I, and many other good people, were partisans and we fought the Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators. Similar "investigations" are still underway in Lithuania against a number of other partisans.
Advertisement

All this is going on in the context of the "rehabilitation" and the granting of wholesale clemency to Lithuanians who collaborated with the Nazis, a policy that began shortly after Lithuania declared its independence in the early 1990s.

At the end of World War II, when Lithuania was annexed to the Soviet Union, these same collaborators were sent to prison for war crimes. The policy of the post-Soviet Lithuanian government has been to treat the Nazis' crimes and the "crimes" committed by the Red Army that fought the Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators as equivalent.

When Lithuanian president Algirdas Brazauskas came to Jerusalem in 1993, I, as a Holocaust survivor, had a bitter argument with him about the sweeping pardons he had granted to tens of thousands of Lithuanians who had murdered Jews, some of whom had even taken over the property of those who were murdered.

In response, Brazauskas delivered a flowery speech in which he said that he bowed his head before the 200,000 Jews of Lithuania who perished in the Holocaust and asked their forgiveness, "for the deeds of those Lithuanians who cruelly killed, shot, deported and robbed."

In hindsight, it appears these were empty words. The policy of pardons has only accelerated. Its real purpose is to cleanse Lithuanians of their responsibility for the murder of Lithuanian Jewry and thus downplay the Holocaust and its significance.

To my regret, because of their desire to maintain good diplomatic, trade and security relations with Lithuania, the governments of Israel have kept quiet about this policy. Instead of protesting and condemning it and perhaps even lowering the level of diplomatic relations, they fawn over the country.

This ingratiation reached its peak over a decade ago, when the Foreign Ministry agreed that Israeli representatives would participate in committees of historians that would discuss Lithuania during the war. The letter of appointment for the committees was based on a starting point of "equality" between the crimes committed by the Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators and "the crimes committed by the Soviet Union" after it occupied Lithuania.

Now, the government of Lithuania is trying, by means of its embassy in Israel, to blur and conceal the disgrace with the help of collaborators of a new sort: obsequious intellectuals who came to Israel for discussions that bear no relation at all to intellectual integrity and cultural discourse.

The author is a former partisan, a member of the board of Yad Vashem and a professor emeritus at Hebrew University.

Landsman,

Dee Axelrod, here. My grandfather, Benjamin Axelrod and his brother, Samuel,

left Dolhinov in 1914. They settled in Salem, MA.

I teach Hebrew School. We're currently on the Holocaust. That makes me think
about personal history. Once again, I thought of Dolhinov, feeling sad, as I

have so many times, that I couldn't go back and see the place my ancestors came
from. Ii can't tell you how wonderful it is to find this site.

Thank you so very much.

Michael Davis (michaelphilipdavis) on Tuesday, February 03, 2009
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: Dear Sir:

Enjoying your website enormously.

Would you know how we may obtain a high-resolution image of a painting shown on
the Krakow home page, Zydowski democrasza by Regina Mundlak (1929).

Steven C. Sosensky (sosensky@sbcglobal.net) on Friday, February 06, 2009 at
13:37:06
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: Mr. Gaynor, I read your note. You are mistaken, and you appear biased
too. The Israelis did not "slaughter" any Palestinian children. Instead the
Israelis, after years of patience, came to the conclusion that it must protect

its citizens from years of daily aerial rocket bombardment from the
Palestinians in Gaza. Regrettably, the Palestinians doing the bombing choose to
hide among and launch rockets from among the peaceful people there hoping for

casualties when Israel retaliates so pictures of such can be paraded on
international news outlets which are eager for such. I wish the Palestinians
loved their children more than they love hating Israel. Save your comments for

My new book, "My Germany," has a lot about pre-WW II Vilno in it as well as
a translation of my late mother's memoir essay about the liquidation of the
Vilno Ghetto. She published it in a Yiddish newspaper in France in 1945
and it has never been published since or appeared in English.

"My Germany" is available on-line from the usual book sellers; it was
published by the University of Wisconsin Press.

http://www.levraphael.com
author of MY GERMANY
due April 2009 in the U.S. &
September 2009 in Germany

Since you seem to be related I am pasting here some of the notes which
I received from you.
allon wrote;
I have our ancestry for both Aharon Lipetz (Dov's father) and Zipora
Dolnitzki (Dov's mother) as far as the late 1700's and I will happily
provide you with further information as much as you are interested.

David Lipetz (dlipetz@hotmail.com) on Thursday, December 04, 2008 at 22:46:27
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am a descendant of, and named after, David Lipa Lipetz from Kovno.
My father is Jacques Lipetz. His father is Abrasha Lipetz - one of David's
three sons who left Lithuania before the war. The text I found on this site
regarding my family's history is fascinating. Abrasha died in 1985 I've been
trying to fill in the blanks. I now know that my uncle Leon Lipetz (who died a
few years ago) was named after his uncle Leon who was murdered in the
holocaust.

Aidan Gaynor (agaynor@iol.ie) on Sunday, January 18, 2009 at 18:15:05
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: I have always had an interest in the history of European Jewry. I have
visited Auschwitz,the remains of the Warsaw ghetto, Jewish cemeteries in
Bratislava,Riga,Budapest and Lvov. As an Irish catholic I empathised with the
suffering of the Jews,the Irish famine in the 1840's was our Holocaust.I'm
moved by the family photographs,especially those of the children. What troubles
me is how can the Israeli state slaughter 500 Palestinian children in Jan 2009
and not feel the parallels with the 1940's. There seems to be an idea that 100
Palestinians must die for every Israeli citizen killed,reminiscent of Nazi
collective punishments.I am hugely disappointed in Israel and can only surmise
that we are all capable of cruelty in what we see as a "just cause"!

Message: I found my grandmother's name, Reiza Dorfan, on your 1897 census list
for Vashki. It states she was aged 10 & it also includes her siblings &
parents. She married my late grandfather, Avram(Avraham) Klitzner & both my
late father & his sister were born in Lithuania before they all emigrated to
South Africa. My father, Hymie, was supposedly born in 1922 (but I'm not 100%
sure if that is accurate). Sonia, his sister, was younger. I was under the
impression that the Klitzner family were also form this area. I do know of
Klitsner relatives in the United States/Israel who we've made contact with &
are related to, that were from Pazevezys (Ponevez) which is not too far away in
distance. I'll try find out more info if possible. Perhaps you are also able to
assist or have any suggestions in this regard. Wishing you all the best, Brian
Klitzner (now live in London, UK

Former Chief Rabbi Lau named as chair of Yad Vashem council
By The Associated Press

Lau was born on June 1, 1937, in the Polish town of PiotrkoLw Trybunalski. His father, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lau, was the last Chief Rabbi of the town and died in the Treblinka death camp.

Lau was freed from the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945. His entire family was murdered, with the exception of his older brother, Naphtali Lau-Lavie, his half brother, Yehoshua Lau-Hager, and his uncle already living in Mandate Palestine.

Israel's Cabinet has named the former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau as the new chairman of the council of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

Lau, 71, is a Holocaust survivor who went on to become a respected and influential rabbi. He succeeds Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, a fellow Holocaust survivor and former minister of justice who died in June this year, as chairman of the council, an honorary body of 120 people, which meets once a year.

"The issue of the Holocaust is close to Rabbi Lau's heart, and he sees in Holocaust Remembrance both Jewish and universal values," Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev said in a statement released by the Centre.

"My life experiences echo in the walls of Yad Vashem, and are found in the documents and exhibits therein," said Lau.

Born in 1937 in Piotrkow, Poland, and scion of a well-known European rabbinic family, Lau survived the Holocaust, in which his parents and his entire family, with the exception of a brother and half brother, were murdered. At age eight, he was liberated from Buchenwald concentration camp by the U.S. army, the youngest surviving prisoner.

After the war, he emigrated to Palestine on a ship of orphaned refugee children.
Yisrael Meir Lau (8 years old) in the arms of Elazar Schiff,

Buchenwald's survivors at their arrival at Haifa on 15 July 1945.
His autobiography, "Do not raise your hand against the boy," published to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald, became a best seller in Israel.

Lau served as chief rabbi of Israel from 1993 to 2003, and in 2005 was elected chief rabbi of Tel Aviv. He is also the recipient of the Israel Prize, the country's highest civilian honor.

...we share an avid interest in learning more about our ancestors in tsarist Russia. As the family tree grows, we may become especially interested in the life that one of these ancestors led. That happened to me when I wanted to find out more about my father's life in a shtetl. He had told me only a little about it, but about twenty years after he died, I developed a desire to find out what it really meant to live in a shtetl. Fortunately, I found Anna Spector Dien, a St. Louis woman who grew up in the Ukrainian small town of Korsun from 1905 to 1919.

Anna and I talked for two and a half years about her childhood. I decided that her remarkable store of information about shtetl life needed to be preserved. From the interviews with Anna, I wrote the book Anna's Shtetl, a first-hand account of life in a Ukrainian shtetl in the early 1900s. It's the true story of her childhood, beginning in peacetime in Korsun, and extending through the eventful times of World War I, the Bolshevik Revolution, and the Russian Civil War that followed. The town of Korsun was also hit by three pogroms.

I thought you might be interested in Anna's story. Maybe you will have the feeling that I had, namely that I did not understand what life in a shtetl was really like until I had heard Anna's story.Anna Spector Dien was a remarkable observer, and some of her observations about shtetl life do not appear anywhere else.

Here is what reviewers say about Anna's Shtetl.
" This biography is especially rare?. [Written] with remarkable clarity and detail .... a page-turner that keeps the reader's attention to the very end. In addition to the interviews with Anna, this book is well documented, with extensive outside sources. Highly recommended..."
(Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter. Vol. XVII, No. 3. Feb-Mar. 2008, p. 2.)

"A picture of life in the Russian shtetl is painted with a very talented brush in the book, Anna's Shtetl?. Although this book is non-fiction, it almost reads like a novel." (2007 St. Louis Jewish Book Festival Review).
----------------------------------
You can find Anna's Shtetl at more than 250 libraries.

If you wish to buy your own copy, you can order it at all online booksellers, and also at your favorite bookstore. The retail price is $ 43.50 per copy. Some used copies online sell for less. If you would like to buy a new copy from me,my author's discount allows me to sell it at a price of $33.00 per copy,which includes the U.S. postage.

Here is the book's identifying information:
Coben, Lawrence A. Anna's Shtetl. University of Alabama Press, 2007. 243 p. $43.50
(ISBN- 978-0817315276).

P.S. One other thing-- I'm thinking of starting an online group (a listserve, like Ukraine SIG digest) for people interested in life in the shtetl. Based on the comments I get from readers of Anna's Shtetl, many people who would like to know more about shtetl life have questions, but have no good source for answers. If you think such a group would be useful, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

Message: hi saw the name Chodosh settled in Carteret Nj My name is Edward
Schwartz, my father was Louis Schwartz my grandfather was Isador Schwartz of
Carteret. A Dr. Chodosh was my pediatrician when I was a child in the 50's. He
had an office in Woodbridge Nj He recently died. There was another chodosh in
the oil business in Carteret. thanks ,Ed garcoininc@aol.com

Marilyn Robinson (marilyn4622r@msn.com) on Friday, December 19, 2008
Message: Yesterday, I figured out that my grandfather, SAM YUDIEN, and his
brothers,ABRAHAM YUDIN, ISRAEL YUDIN, MORRIS YUDIEN,and Sister JENNIE YUDIN
(different spellings for their last names) emigrated to the US from
SHARKOVSHCHINA (town), DISNA (district), VILNA (province), RUSSIA (empire).
They were given new surnames here in the US (Yudien, Yudin).
I am looking for records or information that would possibly help me figure out
what their original last names were.
Does anyone know where I should look next??
Birth Dates:
Sam Yudien ( Mar. 10 or 14), 1886, 1887, or 1891
Abraham Yudin: Jan 15, 1893
Israel Yudin: Mar. 14, 1888
Morris Yudin: unknown
Jennie Yudin: unknown

-----------------------
Yudin Rubin
Rubin Yudin was born in 1910. He was an employee. Prior to WWII he
lived in Sharkovshchina, Poland. During the war he was in
Sharkovshchina, Poland. Rubin perished in the Shoah. This information
is based on a List of persecuted
------------------------------------
Yudin Mendel
Mendel Yudin was born in 1905 to R. He was an accountant and married
to Besia. Prior to WWII he lived in Sharkovshchina, Poland. During the
war he was in Sharkovshchina, Poland. Mendel perished in the Shoah.
This information is based on a List of persecuted.
Yudin Yankel
Yankel Yudin was born in 1934 to Mendel and Besia. He was a child.
Prior to WWII he lived in Sharkovshchina, Poland. During the war he
was in Sharkovshchina, Poland. Yankel perished in the Shoah. This
information is based on a List of persecuted

Yudin Rubin
Rubin Yudin was born in 1938 to Mendel and Besia. He was a child.
Prior to WWII he lived in Sharkovshchina, Poland. During the war he
was in Sharkovshchina, Poland. Rubin perished in the Shoah. This
information is based on a List of persecuted. More
Yudin Besia
Besia Yudina was born in 1908 to R. She was a housewife and married
to Mendel. Prior to WWII she lived in Sharkovshchina, Poland. During
the war she was in Sharkovshchina, Poland. Besia perished in the
Shoah. This information is based on a List of persecuted. More
Details...

Yudin Basia
Basia Yudina was born in 1915. She was a housewife. Prior to WWII
she lived in Sharkovshchina, Poland. During the war she was in
Sharkovshchina, Poland. Basia perished in the Shoah. This information
is based on a List of persecuted. More Details...

Yudina Khana
Khana Yudina was born in 1880. She was a housewife. Prior to WWII
she lived in Sharkovshchina, Poland. During the war she was in
Sharkovshchina, Poland. Khana perished in the Shoah. This information
is based on a List of persecuted. More Details...

Ytkin Ela
Ela Ytkin nee Yodin was born in Russia (to Yroham and Roza. Prior to
WWII she lived in Disna, Poland with husband Sana and 4 kids. Ela
perished in 1942 . This information is based on a Page of Testimony )
submitted on 05-May-1999 by her son, a Shoah survivor
Raphael Ytkin of Kfar Saba ( there is a phone number)

brother of Raphael Ytkin of Kfar Saba who perished; Shmuel Ytkin was
born in Russia in 1914 to Sana and Ela nee Yudin. He was a tailor and
single. Prior to WWII he lived in Dzisna, Poland. Shmuel perished.
Yudin Gdaliyahu
Gdaliyahu Yudin. Prior to WWII he lived in Glubokie, Poland.
Gdaliyahu perished in the Shoah. This information is based on a Page
of Testimony (PDF) (displayed on left) submitted on 15-Jan-2007 by his
researcher

Kantor Reiza
Reiza Kantor nee Yudin was born in Luzki in 1870 to Moisei and
Bronislava. She was a housewife and married to Abram. Prior to WWII
she lived in Taganrog, Russia (USSR). During the war she was in
Taganrog, Russia (USSR). Reiza perished in 1942 in Taganrog, Russia
(USSR) at the age of 72. This information is based on a Page of
Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 01-Jan-1995 by her
granddaughter

hi saw the name Chodosh settled in Carteret Nj My name is Edward
Schwartz, my father was Louis Schwartz my grandfather was Isador Schwartz of
Carteret. A Dr. Chodosh was my pediatrician when I was a child in the 50's. He
had an office in Woodbridge Nj He recently died. There was another chodosh in
the oil business in Carteret. thanks ,Ed garcoininc@aol.com

Lily (tigerlily51@gmail.com) on Thursday, December 25, 2008 at 13:51:20
Message: I am looking for a town named vevirzhe - could it be Birzai ? I would
really appreciate your assistance

As many of you may have noted on the Internet: yesterday marked the
sixty-fifth anniversary of the liquidation of the Minsk Ghetto.
Fittingly Professor Barbara Epstein's magisterial work The Minsk
Ghetto 1941-1943 has just been published by the University of
California Press and is available through Amazon amongst other
outlets. It is compelling, authoritative and thought provoking
offering fresh insights into the ghetto and Jewish resistance in
Belarus. You will find it worthwhile for your own reading and I
suggest that you urge your local library to make it available.

Franklin J. Swartz
P.O. Box 100
Minsk
220074
Republic of Belarus
fjs@voluntas.org

R. Abraham BERGER of Haradok (born about 1843) was a descendant of Reb
Itzaleh, son of R. Chaim Volozhiner, according to an acrostic on his
tombstone. Abraham parents were Yitzkhak Levi SOLOVEICHIK and Esther.
He was not a kohen so his descent from Reb Itzaleh would have been on
his maternal side.

Could Abraham's mother, Esther, have been the daughter of R. Shmuel
LANDAU and Reb Itzaleh's daughter? One of Abraham's sons, my
grandfather, was named Shmuel as am I.

I have translated and own the copyright of Yizkor Book of Ivenets, Kamin and
Surroundings, now called These We Remember. It includes all photos, memorial
pages and necrology. For any genners who are involved in teaching Holocaust
studies it is an excellent source of primary source memoirs. It is
available for purchase from:

You can send a check to the above address for $45.00 plus $8 for shipping
and handling.

[litvaksig] Amazing discoveries using Birzai Internal passport archive
by Igal Sokolov
I'd like to share the most exciting story that ever happened to me since I
started my family research. My Tabakin family starts from Birzai Lithuania
The census from 1898 stated 11 children of Movsha and Sheina Tabakin.
Birzai Volost
Panevezys
Kaunas
TABAKIN Movsha son of Abel Head of Household

Registered in Birzai, resides in the village of Spalvishki since 1896

January
1898

57 41

Families Living Out of Towns; 4th Stan
KRA/I-26/1/2
Birzai Volost
Panevezys
Kaunas
TABAKIN Sheyna

January
1898

57 40

Families Living Out of Towns; 4th Stan
KRA/I-26/1/2
TABAKIN Shmerel son of Movsha Son
12

TABAKIN Iosel

Movsha
Son
6

TABAKIN Sora Movsha Daughter
19

TABAKIN Chana Movsha Daughter
15

TABAKIN Shleva Movsha Daughter
14

TABAKIN Rocha Movsha Daughter
13

TABAKIN Tauba Movsha Daughter
7

TABAKIN Feyga Movsha Daughter
5

TABAKIN Ester Movsha Daughter
3

TABAKIN Ida Movsha Daughter
6 months
I always knew that most of the family left Birzai to Riga and Moscow around
1914 and my mom has a good contact with all the descendants besides two
male names mentioned in the census doc. But these two names never were
even heard by any of the Tabakin descendants. I was sure that they died
young.

To my surprise when I opened the list of Birzai internal passports I found
these two names there, getting their passports in 1920. That gave me an
idea to look for the Tabakin family name-bearers. The rest were female
or didn't have kids so I was sure that there are no Tabakin in our family
ly branch. I sent my question to a popular Russian language on-line social
network. And... in about 6 hours got a reply from a granddaughter of one of
the men listed in Census. We couldn't believe that we found each other and
checked all the facts many times. Everything fitted like a perfect puzzle.

Most amazing fact that she grew up in Birzai since her family never left
the place. She knew nothing about the rest of the family since her
grandfather was murdered by Nazis in Aug 1941. She and I are still speechless
from what happened to us. It's a happy family reunion after 95 years of
separation.

I want to express enormous gratitude to the organizers of the Internal
Passports project and their translators. I'd like to encourage everybody
to try it. My story shows that miracles happen.

Thank you
Igal Sokolov
Researching:
Tabakin (Birzai)
Polyak (Odessa, Kherson)
Kurzon (Courland, Lvovo, Skadovsk, Kherson)
Yaroshevsky (Kherson)
Sokolov (Krasnopolye, Belarus)
Leybishkis (Bratslav, Ukraine)
Remez (Gornostaypol)
Goldenberg (Belilovka)

--
Other relatives
Birzai Volost
Panevezys
Kaunas
TABAKIN Wulf Abel Head of Household

Registered in Birzai, resides in the village of Lepolaty since 1873

January
1898

57 46

Families Living Out of Towns; 4th Stan
KRA/I-26/1/2
TABAKIN Mortkhel Wulf Son
10

TABAKIN Chana Wulf Daughter
26

TABAKIN Sora Wulf Daughter
15

TABAKIN Borukh Abel Head of Household

Registered in Birzai, resides in the village of Tubaki since 1865

January
1898

55 11

Families Living Out of Towns; 4th Stan
KRA/I-26/1/2
TABAKIN Elka Borukh Daughter
12

TABAKIN Tsile Borukh Daughter
10

TABAKIN Itsyk Borukh Son
3

TABAKIN Abel Borukh Son
1 1/2

April
1834

407

Revision List Index
LVIA/515/25/427
Searching for Surname Tabakin
Number of hits: 25
Run on Saturday 18 October 2008 at 23:17:47
Name Father, Grandfather Mother, Grandfather Mother Maiden Surname Date of Birth
DD/MM/YY Hebrew Date Town Ujezd Guberniya Comments Place Recorded Year Record # Microfilm / Item Image Archive / Fond
DAVIDOV, Sheine Tomka, Efroim Shlove, Moisei TABAKIN 7/5/1911 22 Iyar Birzai Panevezys Kaunas Family came from Bausk Birzai 1911 F10 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
DAVIDOV, Feiga Tomka, Efroim Shlova, Moiska TABAKIN 20/1/1913 25 Shevat Birzai Panevezys Kaunas Family came from Bausk Birzai 1913 F2 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
DAVIDOV, Abel Ruvin Tomka, Efroim Slova, Moiska TABAKIN 24/4/1914 11 Iyar Birzai Panevezys Kaunas Family came from Bausk Birzai 1914 M10 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
SHNAIDER, Iudis Khaim Itsyk, Ruvel Khana, Moiska TABAKIN 7/1/1912 1 Shevat Geidine village Panevezys Kaunas Born in the village Geidine Birzai 1912 F1 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
SHNAIDER, Aria Khaim Itsyk, Ruvel Khana, Movsha TABAKIN 2/4/1914 19 Nisan Gailekrug village Panevezys Kaunas Born in the village Gailekrug Birzai 1914 M8 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
TABAKIN, Shmuel Khaim Leib, Berel Brokhe Dveire 15/8/1891 23 Av Birzai Panevezys Kaunas Father from Anyksciai Birzai 1891 M52 2199343 / 1 LVIA/728/1/985
TABAKIN, Iosel Movsha, Iosel Gruna Glike 13/3/1866 8 Nisan Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1866 M7 2205126 / 3 LVIA/1226/1/380
TABAKIN, Freide Rivke Shlioma, Iosel Rakhel Iudes 20/8/1880 25 Elul Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1880 F9 2205137 / 2 LVIA/1226/1/1027
TABAKIN, Leib Movshe Girsh, Abel Leia 24/4/1878 13 Iyar Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1878 M16 2270865 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1314
TABAKIN, Shore Rivka Iosel, Shloma Rokhel 19/9/1881 8 Tishri Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1881 F20 2270865 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1314
Name Father, Grandfather Mother, Grandfather Mother Maiden Surname Date of Birth
DD/MM/YY Hebrew Date Town Ujezd Guberniya Comments Place Recorded Year Record # Microfilm / Item Image Archive / Fond
TABAKIN, Tevie Ruvel Ber, Shmuel Khaim Khase 21/2/1882 14 Adar Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1882 M4 2270865 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1314
TABAKIN, Mortkhe Shmerel Volf, Abel Rokhel 2/7/1887 22 Tammuz Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1887 M38 2270865 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1314
TABAKIN, Sholem Ber Nakhmen Izrail, Movsha Frume Gene 24/5/1893 21 Sivan Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1893 M31 2270865 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1314
TABAKIN, Golde Malke Iosel, Shloma Rokhel 27/5/1893 24 Sivan Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1893 F24 2270865 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1314
TABAKIN, Itsyk Borukh Zelik, Abel Rokhel 7/9/1893 9 Tishri Birzai Panevezys Kaunas Family came from Kursenai Birzai 1893 M56 2270865 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1314
TABAKIN, Taube Feige Leib, Berel Brokhe 15/9/1893 17 Tishri Birzai Panevezys Kaunas Family came from Anyksciai Birzai 1893 F41 2270865 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1314
TABAKIN, Rakhmiel Iudel Iosel, Shloma Rokhel Iudis 4/6/1895 24 Sivan Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1895 M28 2268931 / 1 LVIA/1226/1/1314
TABAKIN, Khatskel Gdalie Leib, Berel Brokhe 17/12/1895 12 Tevet Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1895 M61 2268931 / 1 LVIA/1226/1/1314
TABAKIN, Itsik Izrael Nakhmen, Movsha Frume Gene 11/8/1896 14 Elul Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1896 M40 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
TABAKIN, Abram Girsh Leib, Berel Brokhe Dveire 21/5/1898 12 Sivan Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1898 M22 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
Name Father, Grandfather Mother, Grandfather Mother Maiden Surname Date of Birth
DD/MM/YY Hebrew Date Town Ujezd Guberniya Comments Place Recorded Year Record # Microfilm / Item Image Archive / Fond
TABAKIN, Rokhel Iudis Shmuel Mendel, Iosel Ite Raikhe 17/3/1900 29 Adar II Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1900 F10 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
TABAKIN, Ele Risa Mendel Shmuel, Iosel Ite Raikha 6/12/1901 9 Tevet Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1901 F43 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
TABAKIN, Shimen Aria Iosel, Moiska Sheine Kreinde, Movsha KHAIT 16/3/1912 11 Nisan Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1912 M12 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
TABAKIN, Iokhel Abel Iosel, Moiska Sheina Kreinda, Movsha KHAIT 19/3/1913 23 Adar II Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1913 M8 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
VOLOVICH, Rakhil Izrail, Iankel Shora Riva, Iosel TABAKIN 27/5/1914 15 Sivan Birzai Panevezys Kaunas Family came from Pogary (Pagirys, Kedainiai district) Birzai 1914 F12 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959

Searching for Surname Tabakin
Number of hits: 25
Run on Saturday 18 October 2008 at 23:17:47
Name Father, Grandfather Mother, Grandfather Mother Maiden Surname Date of Birth
DD/MM/YY Hebrew Date Town Ujezd Guberniya Comments Place Recorded Year Record # Microfilm / Item Image Archive / Fond
DAVIDOV, Sheine Tomka, Efroim Shlove, Moisei TABAKIN 7/5/1911 22 Iyar Birzai Panevezys Kaunas Family came from Bausk Birzai 1911 F10 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
DAVIDOV, Feiga Tomka, Efroim Shlova, Moiska TABAKIN 20/1/1913 25 Shevat Birzai Panevezys Kaunas Family came from Bausk Birzai 1913 F2 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
DAVIDOV, Abel Ruvin Tomka, Efroim Slova, Moiska TABAKIN 24/4/1914 11 Iyar Birzai Panevezys Kaunas Family came from Bausk Birzai 1914 M10 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
SHNAIDER, Iudis Khaim Itsyk, Ruvel Khana, Moiska TABAKIN 7/1/1912 1 Shevat Geidine village Panevezys Kaunas Born in the village Geidine Birzai 1912 F1 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
SHNAIDER, Aria Khaim Itsyk, Ruvel Khana, Movsha TABAKIN 2/4/1914 19 Nisan Gailekrug village Panevezys Kaunas Born in the village Gailekrug Birzai 1914 M8 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
TABAKIN, Shmuel Khaim Leib, Berel Brokhe Dveire 15/8/1891 23 Av Birzai Panevezys Kaunas Father from Anyksciai Birzai 1891 M52 2199343 / 1 LVIA/728/1/985
TABAKIN, Iosel Movsha, Iosel Gruna Glike 13/3/1866 8 Nisan Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1866 M7 2205126 / 3 LVIA/1226/1/380
TABAKIN, Freide Rivke Shlioma, Iosel Rakhel Iudes 20/8/1880 25 Elul Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1880 F9 2205137 / 2 LVIA/1226/1/1027
TABAKIN, Leib Movshe Girsh, Abel Leia 24/4/1878 13 Iyar Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1878 M16 2270865 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1314
TABAKIN, Shore Rivka Iosel, Shloma Rokhel 19/9/1881 8 Tishri Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1881 F20 2270865 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1314
Name Father, Grandfather Mother, Grandfather Mother Maiden Surname Date of Birth
DD/MM/YY Hebrew Date Town Ujezd Guberniya Comments Place Recorded Year Record # Microfilm / Item Image Archive / Fond
TABAKIN, Tevie Ruvel Ber, Shmuel Khaim Khase 21/2/1882 14 Adar Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1882 M4 2270865 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1314
TABAKIN, Mortkhe Shmerel Volf, Abel Rokhel 2/7/1887 22 Tammuz Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1887 M38 2270865 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1314
TABAKIN, Sholem Ber Nakhmen Izrail, Movsha Frume Gene 24/5/1893 21 Sivan Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1893 M31 2270865 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1314
TABAKIN, Golde Malke Iosel, Shloma Rokhel 27/5/1893 24 Sivan Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1893 F24 2270865 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1314
TABAKIN, Itsyk Borukh Zelik, Abel Rokhel 7/9/1893 9 Tishri Birzai Panevezys Kaunas Family came from Kursenai Birzai 1893 M56 2270865 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1314
TABAKIN, Taube Feige Leib, Berel Brokhe 15/9/1893 17 Tishri Birzai Panevezys Kaunas Family came from Anyksciai Birzai 1893 F41 2270865 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1314
TABAKIN, Rakhmiel Iudel Iosel, Shloma Rokhel Iudis 4/6/1895 24 Sivan Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1895 M28 2268931 / 1 LVIA/1226/1/1314
TABAKIN, Khatskel Gdalie Leib, Berel Brokhe 17/12/1895 12 Tevet Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1895 M61 2268931 / 1 LVIA/1226/1/1314
TABAKIN, Itsik Izrael Nakhmen, Movsha Frume Gene 11/8/1896 14 Elul Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1896 M40 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
TABAKIN, Abram Girsh Leib, Berel Brokhe Dveire 21/5/1898 12 Sivan Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1898 M22 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
Name Father, Grandfather Mother, Grandfather Mother Maiden Surname Date of Birth
DD/MM/YY Hebrew Date Town Ujezd Guberniya Comments Place Recorded Year Record # Microfilm / Item Image Archive / Fond
TABAKIN, Rokhel Iudis Shmuel Mendel, Iosel Ite Raikhe 17/3/1900 29 Adar II Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1900 F10 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
TABAKIN, Ele Risa Mendel Shmuel, Iosel Ite Raikha 6/12/1901 9 Tevet Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1901 F43 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
TABAKIN, Shimen Aria Iosel, Moiska Sheine Kreinde, Movsha KHAIT 16/3/1912 11 Nisan Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1912 M12 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
TABAKIN, Iokhel Abel Iosel, Moiska Sheina Kreinda, Movsha KHAIT 19/3/1913 23 Adar II Birzai Panevezys Kaunas
Birzai 1913 M8 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959
VOLOVICH, Rakhil Izrail, Iankel Shora Riva, Iosel TABAKIN 27/5/1914 15 Sivan Birzai Panevezys Kaunas Family came from Pogary (Pagirys, Kedainiai district) Birzai 1914 F12 2290696 / 4 LVIA/1226/1/1959

There are two more books about Vilna now available. The first is "The Story
of Wilno". The second is in Polish and contains a large number of
photographs. The title is "WILNO I ZIEMIA WILENSKA". A machine translation
of the title, courtesy of Google means "Vilna and the Land of Vilna".
Presumably this means the city of Vilna as well as the Vilna region.
Articles of particular interest to Jewish readers can be found on pages
262 - 271 [Jewish culture], p. 308 - 311 [Shuls], and p. 315 - 318
[Karaites]. There may be more interesting content , but I have not gone
through the entire book.

Both books are in DjVu format and require a plugin. A DjVu plugin can be
found at the Celartem website at
http://www.celartem.com/en/download/djvu.asp

In 1950 Mordechai Leib immigrated to the United States and took the name
Martin Small. It was a few weeks later that he met Doris, also a Holocaust
survivor, whom he married in 1951. They settled in Manhattan and after a
successful career in business, at age sixty-five Martin retired and
moved permanently to the family's summer home in Huntington, New York were he
became a self-taught artist. His Holocaust pieces are deeply moving and the images of folk-life are wonderfully charming recollections of his youth in Molchad. In April 2003 Martin and Doris moved permanently to Broomfield, Colorado, to be close to their family.

Martin was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer in March 2008 and his dying wish to see his life story in print became a reality in May 2008 when his book Remember Us: From My Shtetl Through the Holocaust was released. His next dream was to help purchase of a Torah scroll for Congregation Bonai Shalom in Boulder. On July 31, 2008, Martin in his weakened condition proudly carried the Torah into the sanctuary and read a portion of that week's chapter fulfilling his dream.

After a heroic battle with his illness Martin passed away in his sleep at his home in Broomfield, Colorado on Saturday, November 29, 2008 (Hebrew date 2nd Kislev 5769). He dedicated his life to share his Holocaust experiences with groups of all ages. An accomplished educator, artist, poet, lecturer, and author, whose sweetness and compassion touched the hearts of everyone he had contact with; Martin will be sorely missed by all.

Please visit 'A Tribute to Martin Small' at www.martinsmallholocaustsurvivor.com
and be kind enough to leave a message in the Visitors Book.

Message: Photo # 70 on the Minsk page is actually the very handsome synagogue
in Lida.

I was scanning the page looking for synagogues in the Moorish revival style.
Like the Great synagogue of Minsk

group of fellow JewishGenners are seeking other researchers of the
communities between Pinsk and Kobrin and their surrounding rural areas; all
in the Czarist-era Kobrin Uyezd; including Ivanovo/Yaneve, Yakovlevo/Gutava,
Drohichin, Antopol, Horodetz, Motol/Motele, and Chomsk. We intend to work
together to discover what records are available for these communities in
order to pursue research. Please contact Debbie Kroopkin at
deborah_j_kroopkin@comcast.net with your towns of interest.

A Holocaust survivor from northern Israel will be reunited for the
first time in 60 years on Wednesday with the Polish woman who shelter
her during the Holocaust and saved her from the extermination of the
Nazis.

Between 1942 and 1944, Wiktoria Sozanska (nee Jaworska) risked her own
life, along with her widowed mother and five siblings, to secretly
house Rozia Rothshild (nee Seifert) and her family in Poland.

Sixty years later, the two will greet each other for the first time at
the JFK Airport, in a meeting arranged by the Jewish Foundation for
the Righteous. A Polish interpreter will be on hand to facilitate the
reunion.

"I cannot fully express how grateful I am to Wiktoria and her mother
Anna. They opened their home and their hearts to me, risking their own
lives in order to save me," said Rothshild.

"Their bravery is what has allowed me to live and build a wonderful
family of my own, with three children and four grandchildren," she
said. "I am so thankful to them and the Jewish Foundation for the
Righteous for making this extraordinary reunion possible."

Rozia Seifert was one of 5,000 Jews herded away from Turka, Poland and
shuttered by the Nazis into the Samburg Ghetto.

Many of the healthy adults were able to hide away in a bunker in the
woods before being exiled to the ghetto, but the children and the sick
were taken away, forced to sell all their belongings.

Wiktoria Jaworska, then a young woman, came with her mother to look at
the furniture the Seifart family had put up for sale.

When she learned that the girl she saw in front of her would be taken
away to the ghetto, she told the family: "We will take care of you.
You will come with us."

In the middle of the night, Sozanka's brother Mikolaj Jaworska came to
the Seifart home in a hay cart and snuck Rozia, her brother Lucien,
her father Mendel and disabled aunt Fanya away, past the eyes of the
Germans on patrol. The Jaworskas hid the Seifarts in an underground
bunker for two years, every day bringing them food and disposing of
their waste.

The Germans raided Turka in the summer of 1944, when the Soviet army
began to approach. Sozanka and her mother moved the Seifarts into the
woods, where they lived for two weeks until the area was liberated.

After the war, Rozia Seifert met her Israeli husband and moved and
immigrated with him, changing her name to Shoshana - the Hebrew
version of her name. Wiktoria Sozanka, now in her 80s, lives in
Wroclaw, Poland.

?In the many years we have worked with survivors and their rescuers, I
remain awestruck by the heroism of the thousands of rescuers who
risked their lives to save others. By holding true to their values,
these individuals saved Jews from certain death,? said JFR Executive
Vice President Stanlee Stahl. ?We owe a great debt of gratitude to
these men and women, and through our work, hope to improve their lives
and preserve their stories."

The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous was created in 1986 to provide
financial assistance to non-Jews who risked their lives and often the
lives of their families to rescue Jews during the Holocaust. Today the
JFR supports more than 1,200 aged rescuers in 26 countries. The
Foundation preserves the legacy of the rescuers through its
internationally lauded Holocaust education program for middle and high
school teachers and Holocaust center personnel.

Several months ago, it was announced that members of the Belarus SIG with an
interest in Nesvizh (Nyasvizh) had launched a new project involving the
translation of 19th Century records for Jewish families from this town in
present-day Belarus. In addition to being the home of hundreds of Jewish families,
the town has ties to many surrounding towns, such as Horodia, Kleck,
Baranovichi, Mir, Kapyl, and Lyakhovichi.

This project requires about $1800 to complete. The Belarus SIG has helped
cover the outlay for expenses while the group has been raising the money. To
date, we are within a couple of hundred dollars of our goal. In the meantime,
the initial work has been completed and the results forwarded to me as project
coordinator for review. More than 2700 entries have been translated. The
project cannot be completed until we finish raising the initial goal.

If you have a specific interest in Nesvizh, or a general interest in Minsk
Guberniya, and have not yet contributed to this project, please consider doing
so. Especially if we can see end-of-November financial results, we can
declare the initial project complete. Any funds raised beyond the goal for the
initial record set will be applied towards the incremental collections in
ensuing years beyond the one targeted by this project.

The results will eventually be distributed to the All Belarus Database and
made available irrespective of who contributed.

The project can be seen on on JewishGen-erosity by following the link to
Belarus SIG. It is entitled "Nesvizh Jewish Records" and you may read a more
complete description.

Reconnecting families separated by the Shoah (Holocaust)
using Yad Vashem's collection of Pages of Testimony

http://www.shoahconnect.org/
Yad Vashem has collected millions of Pages of Testimony documenting individual victims of the Shoah. These Pages of Testimony were often submitted by family members of the victims, and can, therefore, be a basis for the reunion of families separated by the Shoah. There have been dramatic instances of siblings reconnecting in this way. However, despite the Pages generally containing contact information for the submitters, it is often difficult for relatives of the victims to contact the submitters, because of the time elapsed since submission. ShoahConnect aims to help solve this problem, by enabling email addresses to be associated with Pages of Testimony and matching users associated with the same Pages. ShoahConnect is completely free to use and protects your privacy. Reunite families separated by the Shoah (Holocaust)

Using ShoahConnect is easy. While viewing a Page of Testimony on Yad Vashem's website, you will simply click a button to associate your email address with that Page.
What button? The button you will click will be a letter C (like this: ShoahConnect button), and will appear in a toolbar in your web browser. The toolbar is provided by Google, and you must install it (once only) to use ShoahConnect. The toolbar facilitates communication between Yad Vashem's website and ShoahConnect. For installation, your web browser must be either Internet Explorer 6+ (Windows) or Firefox 1.5+ (Windows XP/2000 SP3+ or Mac OS X 10.2+ or Linux).
If you are using a private computer (e.g., at home), follow this link to install/upgrade the Google Toolbar (if needed) and add ShoahConnect's button to the Toolbar. [Problem?]
If you are using a public computer (e.g., at a library), check whether the Google Toolbar and ShoahConnect button are already installed. If not, please ask someone responsible for the computer to help you (contact us with questions about public installations).
After installation, go to Yad Vashem's website, view a Page of Testimony, then press the ShoahConnect button button to associate your email address with it. ShoahConnect will then ask for your email address and how you want to be notified of "matches" with other users. If you are the submitter (or immediate family member of the submitter), ShoahConnect will allow relatives to contact you without your email address being revealed, unless you choose to respond. If you are a relative of the victim and want to contact the submitter, ShoahConnect will notify you when the submitter's email address has been added, and allow you to contact the submitter through ShoahConnect. Relatives can also choose to contact and be contacted by other relatives, with similar privacy protection.

To learn how to use ShoahConnect, click here.
ShoahConnect is only fully available in English. If you want to help translate ShoahConnect into another language, please contact us.

Nancy Efron Schimmel (Norfe55@cs.com) on Saturday, September 24, 2005 at
18:24:44
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: I am trying to find out more info on my grandmothers side of the
family. She was Rebecca Zaveloff (or Zaveloffsky when in Russia) from Kossowa,
Belarus. She came to New York around 1910 via Philadelphia (I think because
there is no such name on the Ellis Island lists). She came with her father
Meier. She worked and brought her mother, Chana Sora and sister Jennie. She
then brought her brothers Abraham, Israel, Samuel and Willy. One brother, Aaron
did not come right away because he was in a Yeshiva. She married my
grandfather, Benzion Efron and had 3 children, Helen, Martin and Seymour. I
grew up in Princeton, NJ where they bought a farm around 1950. Do any of these
names sound familiar to anyone. My great uncle Abraham Zaveloff went back to
Kossowa but didn't find anyone that he knew. Everyone that is old enough to
remember has passed away now and I feel the need to know more and have no one
to ask. Wouldn't you know that when I get the itch the jewishgen website i!
s down due to hurricane Rita. Any help would be appreciated. You can write to
me at Norfe55@cs.com Thanks!! Nancy
------------------------------------------------
Judith Chodosh (Chodosz) Goldman(Rebbetzin) (rav1@isp.com)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: Dear Friends,
My family came from Rechke, a small hamlet near Kurenits. My father was a"h
Chaim Meir Chodosz and my mother Libe Shifrah Alperovicz Chodosz. My father
became a Partisan under Mironovich's brigade and saved many lives. He led many
missions. My father owned a water mill in Malishke. My paternal grandmother a"h
was Libe Gordin Chodosz and my grandfather Dr. Chevel Chodosz. My great
grandfather Mordechai Chodosz was a Dr. who also had semicha. He founded
Borisov hospital. Mordechai had three brothers and a sister, Velvel,Yitzchok,
and sister Chana. My maternal grandfather was Rabbi Yehuda Chaim Alperovicz and
my grandmother was Pessia Chana Ginzburg Alperovicz. They had six daughters and
a son. Tzirke,Zlate,Ite, Sarah, Frade and Libe (my mother)and their son Yoseph.
They married into the following families Kashdan,Rubin,Kabilnik,etc.
Is there anyone out there who knew my family. The Chodosz family was very well
known in the region. A relative in the Chodosz family was one of the rabbis
in the Vilna shul. Please respond to this e-mail. A lot of the names you have
listed in your site are familiar. My parents knew a Chana Svirski, Rubin and
Esther Livitan, my grandmother was a Gordin etc.
Wishing you a wonderful New Year, a year of Peace, Good Health, Joy and Nachas
and Prosperity. Our steps are resounding. Sincerely, Judy Goldman

In researching the Ancestry.com passport records, I found the following quite interesting one for a Rokishoker as follows:

Abel ADELSOHN, born September 1, 1842. Left Hamburg on the Germania on May 1 1886. He lived in Garden City, Kansas. He was naturalized before the District Court in Kansas on July 24, 1891. He was a merchant. He also lived in Denver, CO.If you look at the Rokiskis vital records, you won't find Abel's birth record as it occurred earlier than any existing records. However, you will find an Abel ben Motel Adelson who had a daughter Feyge Dine on April 11, 1874. Other Rokiskis records connect Abel with his father and siblings.

As you can see, there is quite a bit of info on this passport including a physical description which I didn't include. It is well worth looking through these records in case your relatives can be found there.

Ann
annrab@.....net

Message: My grandfather Aaron Chipkin had a Brother who emigrated to USA at the
beginning of 20th century from Minsk.
He lived in Brooklyn in 11-13 Rock Street. He had a daughter Zipa (Tsipa, Chipa)
born 1915/1916 .
I search for their descendant.

-----------------------------------------------------------
from 1920 census;
Name: Aron Chipkin
Home in 1920: Brooklyn Assembly District 14, Kings, New York
Age: 33 years
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1887
Birthplace: Russia
Relation to Head of House: Head
Father's Birth Place: Russia
Mother's Birth Place: Russia
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Sex: Male
Home owned: Rent
Year of Immigration: 1904
Able to read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Image: 903
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
Aron Chipkin 33
Mollie Chipkin 26
Alxaham Chipkin 4
Semon Chipkin 2

----------------------------------------------
Name: Meyer Chipkin
Home in 1920: Brooklyn Assembly District 6, Kings, New York
Age: 42 years
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1878
Birthplace: Russia
Relation to Head of House: Head
Spouse's Name: Mashe
Father's Birth Place: Russia
Mother's Birth Place: Russia
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Sex: Male
Home owned: Rent
Year of Immigration: 1903
Able to read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Image: 870
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
Meyer Chipkin 42
Mashe Chipkin 41
Samuel Chipkin 19
Evelyne Chipkin 17
Solomon Chipkin 15
Bella Chipkin 6
Charles Chipkin 4
Bessie Chipkin 2 3/12

----------------------
Name: David Chipkin
Home in 1920: Brooklyn Assembly District 18, Kings, New York
Age: 39 years
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1881
Birthplace: Russia
Relation to Head of House: Head
Spouse's Name: Katie
Father's Birth Place: Russia
Mother's Birth Place: Russia
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Sex: Male
Home owned: Rent
Year of Immigration: 1904
Able to read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Image: 452
Household Members: Name Age
David Chipkin 39
Katie Chipkin 33
Rachael Chipkin 12
Lois Chipkin 10
Irvin Chipkin 7
-------------------
Name: Hymen Chipkin
[Hymn Chipkin??]
Home in 1920: Brooklyn Assembly District 19, Kings, New York
Age: 25 years
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1895
Birthplace: Russia
[Rus;Ludwig]
Relation to Head of House: Head
Spouse's Name: Gettie
Father's Birth Place: Russia
Mother's Birth Place: Russia
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Sex: Male
Home owned: Rent
Year of Immigration: 1911
Able to read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Image: 498
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
Hymen Chipkin 25
Gettie Chipkin 23
Beatrice Chipkin 2 0.5/12

Searching for information about Rabbi Menakhem-Mendl KUPERSTOCK, who
moved from Warsaw to Berlin and stayed there throughout the war.

He is spoken about a great deal in this article (it is my only
source right now):
"The Protected Rabbi" -
http://www.aish.com/holocaust/people/The_Protected_Rabbi.asp

There are rumors that he is a relative of my great grandmother, Lena
(Faja) KUPERSTOCK (b.1888), daughter of Mendel KUPERSTOCK of Warsaw.

Subject: Birzai, Lithauania Internal Passport Records
From: HOMARGOL@aol.com
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:05:56 EDT
X-Message-Number: 1

I have just distributed, to qualified donors, another 456 Internal Passport
records for Birzai. There are additional records to be translated but the
necessary funds are lacking. If you have any connection to Birzai, a minimum
contribution of $100 would be appreciated so the remaining Birza Internal
Passport records can be translated. You would not only receive these records but
also the previously translated records and the records translated in the future
as well.

The information included in these records is simply amazing and can lead to
further discoveries. One example is a record for Itsik Eliya TABACHNICK. He
lived in Tel Aviv and had British Citizenship. The names of his father and
mother are included. His marriage certificate issued in Birzai 14 January, 1932
is in the file. His wife's maiden name, REBYTE, her father's name and her
mother's maiden name are also included. After the wedding, Itsik and his new
wife went to Tel Aviv to live. Her father's Russian passport is also in the file
and that probably contains additional information.

Another important example is Yudel PASVALETSK - Born 23 September, 1874. On
27 May, 1938 he committed Suicide. He left a wife and two daughters. The
Lithuanian archives contain hundreds of thousands of police and court records.
However, they are not indexed and are filed only by date. In order for the
archivist to find a police or court record, you must know the location, the
event, and the exact date. With the information from this Internal Passport
record, the police report can probably be found as well as an autopsy report
on the suicide. An article about the event probably still exists in an old
issue of the Birzai newspaper. There may even be a court record if his
assets were disposed of.

For a full explanation of Internal Passports, and to view the various types
of documents contained in the files, go to
http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Lithuania/InternalPassports.htm

To contribute to this project, please go to:
http://www.jewishgen.org/JewishGen-erosity/v_projectslist.asp?project_cat=17
Be sure and mention that your donation is for Internal
Passports - Birzai. You can use your credit card as the site is secure.

Kiselov's List, The film on Dolhinov during the holocaust
A message from Leon Rubin:
The producer of the documentary full length film on Dolhinov,
"Kiselov's List," wrote me that his film has won the first prize in
International film festivals in Russia including the first prize and
Grand-Pris of the 12th International film festivallast Friday. A lot
was written about the film in the Russian press.

He is participating in the International Film Festival of 24 countries
in Ashkelon (The 2008 5th JEWISH EYE festival , OCTOBER 22-30/ 2008,
80 FILMS FROM 24 COUNTRIES IN A BIG JEWISH CULTURE CELEBRATION will
last nine days, during which 80 Jewish films from 24 different
countries will be screened in the frame of a prize-bearing
competition. The films are divided into three categories: full-length
feature films; full-length documentaries; and short dramas and
documentaries) He is arriving in Israel on the 22nd of October and
will bring me copies of the film for distribution. So please inform
the people on your email list that anyone who is interested in buying
a copy of the film should send a payment of $100 either by cheque
(plus postage fee of $5) or through Western Union to my home address:

Email address is: rubinlj@netvision.net.il Upon receipt of payment a
copy of the film will

From Barry Rubin: I will just add that this is a superb film, very
well made and very emotionally affecting. Anyone who has connections
to television stations that might buy the film for broadcast can
contact Leon.

Director, Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center
http://www.gloriacenter.org
Editor, Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal
http://www.meriajournal.com
Watch on the Middle East http://www.watchonthemiddleeast.com
Editor Turkish Studies,
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~db=all~content=t713636933%22

THE 5th JEWISH EYE FESTIVAL
The festival will take place at the cinematheque of the International
Conference Center of the Ashkelon Academic College, which has allowed
us to use its luxurious halls and state-of-the-art cinema equipment.

The 2008 festival will last nine days, during which 80 Jewish films
from 24 different countries will be screened in the frame of a
prize-bearing competition. The films are divided into three
categories: full-length feature films; full-length documentaries; and
short dramas and documentaries.

Exhibitions: This year we will hold two exhibitions: one of photos of
Jewish community life in pre-World War II Vilnius (courtesy of the
Lithuanian Embassy in Israel), and one of oil paintings on Holocaust
themes by Australian painter Ruth Rich, that will arrive at the
festival along with the artist. These paintings are part of the film
"Bloodlines" by Australian director Cynthia Connop, that will also be
screened in the festival.

As we do every year, this year too we will note some major milestones
in the history of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. This
festive evening will include the screening of a film on a specific
theme and a reception at which a guest connected to that theme will
deliver a speech. Among the themes:

Israel celebrates its 60th anniversary- Salute to the Israeli and
Jewish Cinema.
A SPECIAL EVENING WITH YAD VASHEM to mark 70 years since Kristallnacht
and 100 years since the publication of "The Protocols of the Elders of
Zion";
A retrospective of movies by Lithuanian filmmaker Saulius Ber?inis,
who in the recent decades has been documenting the glorious past of
the Jewish community of Lithuania, which was almost entirely
annihilated in the Holocaust;
An evening to mark UNESCO's declaration of Vilnius as 2009 cultural
capital of Europe "From Ashkelon to Yerushalayim deLita". The evening
will include a performance by the colorful song and dance group
Anachnu Kan("We are here"), comprised of Israeli descendants of
Lithuanian Jews.
An evening dedicated to the Moroccan Jewish community, including the
premiere screening of a film (Morocco-Canada).
A special premiere of the Australian documentary "Bloodlines," one of
whose protagonists is Bettina Goering, grandniece of Hermann Goering,
who will be among the guests of the festival.

Israel celebrates its 60th anniversary- Salute to the Israeli and
Jewish Cinema.
A SPECIAL EVENING WITH YAD VASHEM to mark 70 years since Kristallnacht
and 100 years since the publication of "The Protocols of the Elders of
Zion";
A retrospective of movies by Lithuanian filmmaker Saulius Beržinis,
who in the recent decades has been documenting the glorious past of
the Jewish community of Lithuania, which was almost entirely
annihilated in the Holocaust;
An evening to mark UNESCO's declaration of Vilnius as 2009 cultural
capital of Europe "From Ashkelon to Yerushalayim deLita". The evening
will include a performance by the colorful song and dance group
Anachnu Kan("We are here"), comprised of Israeli descendants of
Lithuanian Jews.
An evening dedicated to the Moroccan Jewish community, including the
premiere screening of a film (Morocco-Canada).
A special premiere of the Australian documentary "Bloodlines," one of
whose protagonists is Bettina Goering, grandniece of Hermann Goering,
who will be among the guests of the festival.

Message: My maternal grandparents (Bezdansky) came from Vilna as did first
cousins of my mother's APT & Magun--any information about that that I could
forward to my mother and aunts (and grandmother who is still B'h alive) would be
most appreciated, thank you and Shana Tova
-------------------------
From Yad Vashem:
Aleksandrovich Masha
Masha Aleksandrovich nee Bezdanski was born in Bistriwicz to Sara.
She was a housewife and married to Moshe. Prior to WWII she lived in
Wilno, Poland. During the war she was in Wilno, Poland. Masha perished
in the end of 1941 in Wilno, Poland at the age of 53. This information
is based on a 1999 Page of Testimony by her daughter Fruma Zipelovitz
(nee Aleksandrovich) of Beer Sheva Gamal Street number 5, phone number
on the report

Aleksandrovich Moshe
Moshe Aleksandrovich was born in Grodno. He was a binder and married
to Masha Bezdanski . Prior to WWII he lived in Wilna, Poland. During
the war he was in Wilna, Poland. Moshe perished in 1941 in Wilna,
Poland at the age of 55. This information is based on a Page of
Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 22-Apr-1999 by his daughter
Fruma Zipelovitz (nee Aleksandrovich) of Beer Sheva Gamal Street
number 5, phone number on the report

Looking for information as I am trying to flesh out my family tree and finally
made a connection back to Latvia. It looks like they were on the Dvinsk list
of 1875. I am decendent of Scholom Jacobs who was married to an Esta Golda.

Janekl Kwasnik Unkown DOB father of
Scholom Kwasnik 1841 approx DOB I now that Scholom immigrated around 1906
with his five of his children. Scholom son Harry Benjamin was my Grand father.
He died in early 1960's.

Arbram Kwasnik 1846 approx DOB
Isorel Kwasnik 1830 approx DOB
Wulff Kwasnik 1850 approx DOB

Sorry don't have much else to go on as we are just starting out. It took a
while to find the original Name Kwasnik, Which was changed to Jacobs when they
immigrated.

DIANA GOLDBERG RAICHEL (dianaggoldberg@yahoo.com.mx) on Friday, August 29, 2008
at 16:56:51
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Message: MY FAMILY IS FROM KASIANY (Kazany), I SPEAK SPANISH AND HEBREW, NOW I HAVE A
GRANDAUGHTER IN ISRAEL.
MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER: BEILE RAICHEL Z"L RESTS IN ISRAEL. WHEN SHE WAS A LIVE, SHE WOULD SAY: "MOST OF
MY FAMILY DIED IN THE HOLOCAUST", BUT IT SEEM THAT THEY ARE STILL ALIVE, BECAUSE WE
ARE THEIR NEXT GENERATIONS.
IF ANYBODY WANT TO BE IN TOUCH WITH US PLEASE CONTACT MY E MAIL ADDRESS.
dianaggoldberg@yahoo.com.mx

-----------------------
Reikhel Barke

Barke Reikhel was born in Koziany to Zeev and Beila ( she survived, hiding in the woods). He was married to Reizl and had 3 children. Prior to WWII he lived in Koziany, Poland. During the war he was in Pieczurki, Poland. He perished in 1943 in Polygon, Murder Site at the age of 40. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 15-Apr-1999 by his brother Avraham Raichel of HaShachar Street #35, Kfar Saba, who came to Israel in 1935.
Gdud Malka

Malka Gdud nee Reikhel was born in Koziany to Beila and Zeev. Prior to WWII she lived in Koziany, Poland. During the war she was in Stojaciszki, Poland. Malka perished in 1943 in Poligon, Murder Site at the age of 44. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 15-Apr-1999 by her brother Avraham Raichel of Kfar Saba.

Reikhel Reizl

Reizl Reikhel. During the war she was in Siarkowszczyzna, Poland. Reizl perished in 1943 in Polygon, Murder Site. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 15-Apr-1999 by her brother-in-law Avraham Raichel of Kfar Saba
Raykhel Leyba

Leyba Raykhel was born in 1876 to Avsey. He was a shoemaker and married to Liza. Prior to WWII he lived in Koziany, Poland. During the war he was in Koziany, Poland. Leyba perished in 1943 in the Shoah. This information is based on a List of Persecuted

same as;
Reichel Leb

Leib Reichel was born in Koziany in 1876 to Yehoshua and Sara. He was a merchant and married to Lea. Prior to WWII he lived in Koziany, Poland. During the war he was in Koziany, Poland. Leb perished in Glebokie, Poland. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 23-May-1957 by his nephew LIFSHIN( the son of his sister)

Szneier

Szneier Reichel was born in Koziany in 1912 to Yehuda Leib and Lea. He was a merchant and married to Rakhel. Prior to WWII he lived in Koziany, Poland. During the war he was in Koziany, Poland. Szneier perished in Glebokie, Poland. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 23-May-1957 by B Lifshin
Reichel Jechezkiel

Jechezkiel Reichel was born in Koziany in 1918 to Yehuda Leib and Lea. He was single. Prior to WWII he lived in Koziany, Poland. During the war he was in Koziany, Poland. Jechezkiel perished in Glebokie, Poland. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 23-May-1957 by his relative B Lifshin
Lipszin Khaim

Khaim Lipszin was born in Koziany in 1919 to Yaakov and Rakhel nee Raichel. He was a merchant and single. Prior to WWII he lived in Koziany, Poland. During the war he was in Koziany, Poland. Khaim perished in Glebokie, Poland. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 23-May-1957 by his brother B Lifshin
Raykhel Samula

Samula Raykhel was born in 1872 to Nokhom. He was a tailor and married to Basya. Prior to WWII he lived in Koziany, Poland. During the war he was in Koziany, Poland. Samula perished in 1943 in the Shoah. This information is based on a List of Persecuted
Raykhel Vulf

Vulf Raykhel was born in 1867 to Gertzok. He was a shoemaker. Prior to WWII he lived in Koziany, Poland. During the war he was in Koziany, Poland. Vulf perished in 1943 in the Shoah. This information is based on a List of Persecuted

Raykhel Zalman

Zalman Raykhel was born in 1896 to Mendel. He was a shoemaker and married to Sonya. Prior to WWII he lived in Koziany, Poland. During the war he was in Koziany, Poland. Zalman perished in 1942 in the Shoah. This information is based on a List of Persecuted

Peter Hochstein (PeterHochstein@mac.com) on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at
16:24:25
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Message: Better late than never. At the age of almost 69, I'm trying to trace
records of my paternal grandparents and my father from Minsk. Any help would be
appreciated. None of the dates and names on the Ellis Island website seem to

work. My grandfather was Nathan Hochstein (Hebrew name possibly Naftali) and
his wife was Dora Hochstein, maiden name Berger. They immigrated to America
(New York, to the best of my knowledge) in 1905. My father was about 4 months

old at the time, I was told.
My birth certificate, lists my father's birthplace as "Minsk, Russia." His
name was Murray Hochstein. I remember hearing that he had changed his name from
Morris. I also remember a cousin of his saying that when he was a kid, my

father was called "Misha." All are now deceased. I do not believe we are
related at least not closely, to the Radiskovitz Hochsteins.(Reasons too long
to go into here.) Any suggestions? Connections?

I'm trying to find the birthplace of my grandmother, grandfather and
mother.
I have Town: Wyskomierz, Kubernia, Poland the name of my grandmother is Julia
Krakowski (maiden), Kierzkowski (marriage) and maybe a second marriage name
Walkiewicz. Grandfater: Steven Kierzkowski. Any help would be appreciated.
Is there such a town in Poland?
Eleanor Spalmacin (eleanorspal@aol.com)
Krakowski, Wojciech came from; Wysokie, Russia age; 21 born; 1891 year of arrival; 1912

--
Wysokie Mazowieckie?
Kaminski, Jan Wyskow, Russia 33 1876 1909 view view view view view
2 Kaniecki, Jan Wyskow, Russia 40 1869 1909 view view view view view
3 Kasalova, Marie Wyskov, Austria 20 1893 1913 view view view view view
4 Kiriluk, Wasiliz Wyskoss, Russia 29 1879 1908 view view view view view
5 Kiris, Naftula Wyskow, Poland 41 1880 1921 view view view view view
6 Klemenko, Semen Wyskoss, Russia 29 1879 1908 view view view view view
7 Klinkowska, Juliana Wyskowa, Austria 23 1886 1909 view view view view view
8 Kopyty, Zysli Wysko, Poland 25 1895 1920 view view view view view
9 Kutnik, Frain Wyskoss, Russia 28 1880 1908 view view view view view
10 Kutnik, Pesko Wyskoss, Russia 43 1865 1908 view view view view view
1 Kaczmerezuk, Wladyslaw Wiskow 24 1883 1907 view view view view view
2 Kaczynski, Josef Wiskow, Russia 17 1892 1909 view view view view view
3 Kahn, Chiena Wiskovo, Russia 28 1882 1910 view view view view view
4 Kahn, Herschel Wiskovo, Russia 5 1905 1910 view view view view view
5 Kahn, Rachel Wiskovo, Russia 4 1906 1910 view view view view view
6 Kameski, Jan Wiskowo 16 1890 1906 view view view view view
7 Kaniewska, Alexandra Wiskowo, Russia 18 1889 1907 view view view view view
8 Kanski, Waclaw Wiskow, Russia 23 1890 1913 view view view view view
9 Karoz, Aniela Wiskowice 7 1897 1904 view view view view view
10 Karoz, Marya Wiskowice 58 1846 1904 view view view view view
11 Kartofel, Gere Muier Wiskowo 18 1884 1902 view view view view view
12 Kartoffel, Chaie Wiskowa, Russia 22 1885 1907 view view view view view
13 Kartoffel, Doow Wiskow, Russia 16 1890 1906 view view view view view
14 Kasbucski, Marian Wiskownia 25 1882 1907 view view view view view
15 Kasbucski, Michal Wiskownia 18 1889 1907 view view view view view
16 Kascienska, Rezi Wiskowitz 24 1880 1904 view view view view view
17 Kerschinowitz, Schloime Wiskow, Russia 28 1881 1909 view view view view view
18 Kesak, Jakob Wiskovice, 27 1878 1905 view view view view view
19 Kiebala, Anton Wiskowitz, Austria 18 1895 1913 view view view view view
20 Klein, Lara Wiskola 38 1864 1902 view view view view view
21 Klinczar, Leib Wiskowo 17 1882 1899 view view view view view
22 Knczynsky, Antoni Wiskow 18 1889 1907 view view view view view
23 Knopfer, Naftali Wisko, Austria 18 1892 1910 view view view view view
24 Kobrin, Sergey Wiskoje, Russia 20 1892 1912 view view view view view
25 Kolodzi, Jendrzej Wisko 27 1871 1898 view view view view view
26 Kolzmann, Schmul Wiskow 30 1874 1904 view view view view view
27 Kornet, Rifke Wiskow, Russia 26 1885 1911 view view view view view
28 Kornet, Riwke Wiskow, Russia 26 1885 1911 view view view view view
29 Kosakow, Savely Wiskow, Russia 35 1874 1909 view view view view view
30 Kosizka, Alexander Wiskowje, Prussia 11 1901 1912 view view view view view
31 Kosizka, Josef Wiskowje, Prussia 3 1909 1912 view view view view view
32 Kosizka, Rosalia Wiskowje, Prussia 30 1882 1912 view view view view view
33 Kosizka, Stanislaw Wiskowje, Prussia 8 1904 1912 view view view view view
34 Kosizka, Wadislaw Wiskowje, Prussia 6 1906 1912 view view view view view
35 Koslowitz, Frankel Wiskow, Russia 32 1879 1911 view view view view view
36 Kossower, Abram Wiskow, Russia 38 1871 1909 view view view view view
37 Kotecki, Josef Wiskowiske, Rusland 23 1890 1913 view view view view view
38 Kotlowicz, Jankel Wiskow 27 1878 1905 view view view view view
39 Kowalenk, Palacheia Wiskowa (Schern), Russia 19 1890 1909 view view view view view
40 Kowalow, Isak Wiskow, Scherm, Russia 17 1892 1909 view view view view view
41 Kowalski, Peter Wiskow, Russia 33 1880 1913 view view view view view
42 Kowalski, Wojciech Wiskow, Russia 36 1873 1909 view view view view view
43 Kozakow, Fiodor Wiskow, Russia 18 1894 1912 view view view view view
44 Kozakow, Stepan Wiskow, Russia 20 1892 1912 view view view view view
45 Kozan, Franz Wiskow 26 1881 1907 view view view view view
46 Kozeniow, Jewdokia Wiskow, Russia 35 1877 1912 view view view view view
47 Krainski, Ivan Wisko 24 1882 1906 view view view view view
48 Krawetz, Matwey Wiskoje, Russia 28 1884 1912 view view view view view
49 Krochmal, Jan Wiskow, Russia 21 1891 1912 view view view view view
50 Kroedas, Alexsi Wiskonicz, Russia 32 1879 1911 view view view view view
51 Krupa, Rozalia Wisko, Austria 18 1892 1910 view view view view view
52 Kudla, Franciska Wisko, Austria 18 1889 1907 view view view view view
53 Kulamerik, Antoni Wiskow, Russia 22 1886 1908 view view view view view
54 Kulessa, Maria Wiskowa, Russia 17 1896 1913 view view view view view
55 Kuleszow, Petro Wiskow, Scherm, Russia 20 1889 1909 view view view view view
56 Kumor, Marya Wiskowa, Austria 17 1895 1912 view view view view view
57 Kuper, Jankel Wiskow, Russia 23 1886 1909 view view view view view
58 Kwiaskowski, Boleslaw Wiskow, Russia 19 1895 1914 view view view view view

'The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe,' Gershon David Hundert, editor in chief
A comprehensive and illustrative look at shtetl life.
By Kenneth Turan
July 27, 2008
Los Angeles Times
The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe

Say "the six million" and some will know what you mean, that you're referring to the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust. But knowledge of who those people were and what the outline of their world might have been has been much harder to come by.

More than that, our lack of knowledge puts us in danger of having that massive, undifferentiated number stand in for a sophisticated, nuanced reality. Was that world-that-is-no-more really "Fiddler on the Roof" all the time, or was something much more complex going on? Getting an essential and authoritative sense of that obliterated past -- "far more varied -- and conflicted -- than a sentimental vision of the shtetl would imply" is how one scholar put it -- has been beyond the capacity of nonspecialists for more than six decades. One book has just changed that. Forever.

Beautifully published by Yale University Press, "The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe" actually comes in two volumes totaling 2,400 triple-columned pages. Some 450 scholars from three continents contributed articles on more than 1,800 subjects, starting with Shim'on Abeles, a boy of 17th century Prague whose father was accused of murdering him to keep him from converting, and ending with Zalmen Zylbercweig, a 20th century Yiddish theater historian.

"No publication has ever attempted to systematically represent the entire historical legacy of this culture until now," says Carl Rheins, the executive director of YIVO, the New York-based center for scholarship about Eastern European Jews under whose auspices the encyclopedia was put together, and it's hard to argue with him.

The result of that attempt is a fiendishly comprehensive look at a civilization so unexpectedly multifaceted that it's best viewed as a Yiddish-speaking Atlantis, a lost world buried forever by the volcano of Nazi mass murder.

Yes, there are 220 rabbis and other religious leaders with their own entries, as well as dozens of different Hasidic dynasties. And 24 pages are devoted to Yiddish literature, including 128 mini-biographies of writers not quite worthy of full encyclopedia entries.

But though that kind of high-culture thoroughness might be expected, we also meet flyweight Stanislaw Rotholc (1912-1996), the first Jewish boxer to become a Polish national champion, and Zishe Breitbart (1883-1925), a Yiddish-speaking circus strongman who, "flanked by the Zionist flag," regularly "bent rods into horseshoes, bit through chains, and pounded nails into boards with his fist" not to mention balanced a platform of motorcycles on his stomach. You could look it up.

Also profiled are photographer Evgenii Khaldei, who took the memorable World War II photo of the Soviet flag flying over the captured Reichstag in Berlin, and the odd-couple comedy team of Dzigan and Shumacher, who performed even while imprisoned during the war. And the entry for entertainers reveals such notables as a wrestler known as "the Son of Rubber" and Moyshe Shtern, "a Jewish fakir whose performances as 'Takhra Bey' featured the artist piercing his face and body with needles."

The notion with all of this, editor in chief Gershon David Hundert explains in the preface, is to present that lost world "in a dispassionate manner, as accurately and fully and precisely as possible -- not to celebrate or eulogize but to recover and represent . . . without bias and without nostalgia but as comprehensively and as objectively as possible."

To accomplish this, the encyclopedia has first of all contacted the top scholars in the field. For instance, we have the pleasure of reading Ruth Wisse on poet and short-story writer Y.L. Peretz, Dan Miron on S.Y. Abramovitsh ("the founder of modern artistic prose in Hebrew and Yiddish") and Arthur Green on controversial Hasidic rebbe Nahman of Bratslav. The editors have also ventured outside the academy when necessary, with Village Voice film critic J. Hoberman writing on cinema and "Born to Kvetch" author Michael Wex on humor, and, more than that, they insisted that the writing be not stiflingly academic but readable.

More than accessible, the "YIVO Encyclopedia" is so compulsively browsable that you can disappear within its pages for hours without a trace, the equivalent of diving into the coolest, deepest of pools. These volumes should come with a warning label, cautioning the time-challenged that they are entering at their own risk.

Keeping the pages lively are more than a thousand illustrations, including cartoons about cheating wives and photographs of chess players and criminals, of Hasidic rabbis on a spa visit and of a group of fusgeyers, Romanian Jews who walked to port cities to sail to America because they couldn't afford rail fare.

Even more involving are the charts and tables that, in terms of comprehensiveness and willingness to map the unexpected, are remarkable.

Here, for instance, you will find a map of major pogrom sites and another pinpointing the location of centers for Misnagdim, sworn enemies of the Hasidic movement, where my surprise at seeing my father's obscure home town, Volkovishk, was matched only by my astonishment at finding, a few pages later, an entry for a Hungarian mathematician named Pál Turán. Who knew?

The tables and charts are just as informative and surprising. There is an elaborate table illustrating the relationships among dozens of different Zionist parties, and there's a two-page annotated list of 19 principal trials against Jews for "ritual murder" dating from 1494 to 1911. Even longer is the four-plus page section devoted to listing journals dealing with everything from literature to science to Zionism.

If the "YIVO Encyclopedia" gives one overall impression of the world of Eastern European Jews, it's of a society in continual ferment on every imaginable front. There were conflicts among religious rabbis -- a 17th century sage known as Taz had disputes so intense they continued for decades after his death -- and battles so rancorous between conventional rabbis and the emerging Hasidic movement that Jews informed on other Jews to the government and even refused to marry people with the opposing viewpoint.

In time, however, the biggest disputes were between the forces of religion and the yearning on the part of succeeding generations to be part of the nonobservant secular world.

One of the refreshing things about this enormous endeavor is that though the shadow of the Holocaust looms, the encyclopedia refuses to dwell on it, insisting, in Hundert's words, that its main focus "is on the life of Jews and not their murder or their murderers."

"The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe" accomplishes exactly what it set out to do, providing the most complete picture of this world we are ever likely to get. Anyone with an interest in culture, language, religion and politics will be fascinated by what's between its covers; if your family comes from that part of the world, this is as close as you will ever come to truly possessing your past

Leonid Lovinsky (lovin_1@mail.ru) on Monday, September 08, 2008 at 01:15:07
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