JewishGen: Yizkor Book Project, February update

During February, JewishGen’s Yizkor Book Project added four new books:

Gherla, Romania (Szamosujvar-Iklad and surroundings)
Jedrzejow, Poland (Jews of Jedrzejow)
Lesko, Poland ( Jews of Linsk, Istrik and vicinity)
Smarhon (Smorgon), Belarus (Smorgonie, District Vilna)

Sixteen new entries have been added from the Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities in Lithuania):

Abelina, Abelinkas, Aleksandrobolis, Alkiskiai, Akunik, Alove, Alvitas, Andriejavas, Antanavas, Antazave, Antnemunis, Asminta, Aukstoji Panemune, Avanaste, Azuolu Buda, and Azventis.

Twenty existing projects have been updated:

BELARUS
Antopol

POLAND
Bedzin (Bendin)
Bilgoraj
Chelm
Czyzew-Osada (Czyzewo)
Dabrowa Gornicza (Dabrowa Gornicza)
Katowice
Kolomyya (Kolomey)
Kutno
Leczyca
Miedzyrzec Podlaski (Mezritsh), Poland
Piotrkow Trybunalski
Pultusk
Ryki
Zelechow
Zgierz

LITHUANIA
Gargzdai (Gorzd)
Skuodas

MOLDOVA
Tighina (Bendery)

Click here for the translations.

JewishGen: Adopt a ShteLinks page

Are you looking for a way to honor your ancestors and remember your ancestral shtetl?

Some ShteLinks pages were created by individuals who can no longer attend to them. These pages offer valuable resources, but what they really need is a person or persons to maintain the page and add new material – as it becomes available.

The pages have already been set up so all you need to do is to continue the process of adding material.

Pages up for adoption include:

Barysaw (Borisov), Belarus

Dolj County, Romania

Kamiensk, Poland

Krnov (Jagerndorf), Czech Republic

Lask, Poland

Rozdil (Rozdol), Ukraine

Ivano-Frankivsk (Stanislawow), Ukraine

For more information, contact Susana Leistner Bloch.

San Francisco: Hungarian research, Feb. 21

“Family Research in Greater Hungary” will be presented by Vivian Kahn, at the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society’s next meeting on Sunday, February 21.

The program begins at 1pm, at the Oakland Regional Family History Center.

Vivian will provide an overview of the history of Hungary’s Jewish community and discuss resources available to those researching roots from the current and former territory of Hungary, including archival records in Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine, and Hungary and sources such as burial and military records.

The session will describe and provide tips for searching JewishGen’s All Hungary Database, – one of JewishGen’s largest all-country databases with nearly a million records -with information on individuals living in areas in present-day Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, northern Serbia, northwestern Romania, and subcarpathian Ukraine.

Vivian will discuss some of the SIG’s current projects and demonstrate additional online resources.

The Hungarian SIG coordinator, she moderates its discussion group.

An experienced researcher, Vivian has presented workshops on Jewish genealogy and, in particular, Hungarian Jewish family research at the annual international Jewish genealogy conferences and for other groups.

She’s been investigating her ancestral roots in pre-Trianon Hungary for some 18 years, and has traveled to Hungary, Slovakia, Israel and Salt Lake City. Additionally, she is familiar with the wide range of resources for information on Jewish families in her areas of interest. See her family website here.

JewishGen vice president for SIG Affairs, Vivian is coordinator for SIG and Research Group participation for JGSLA 2010.

For more information, click here.

ShtetlLinks: New, updated pages

JewishGen ShtetLinks has added new and updated pages that serve as memorials to the Jewish communities that once lived in those places. The sites also provide resources for future generations of descendants.

N =new page
U = updated page

UKRAINE

N – Chumal’ovo (Csmolif)
Helen Ganz Kastenbaum

N – Yurovshchina (Labun)
Emily Garber

AUSTRIA

N – Lackenbach (Lakompak)
Yohanan Loeffler

BELARUS

N – Lebedevo (Lebiedzieva)
Eilat Gordin Levitan, WebPage design, Judith Goldsmith

MOLDOVA

N – Leova
Rennie M. Salz

POLAND

N – Pultusk (Pultosk, Ostenburg)
Stanley Finkelstein

N – Radom
Susan Weinberg

N – Rawa Mazowiecka
Merav Shub

HUNGARY

N – Sarvar (Savar)
Anne-Marie Pollowy Toliver

U – Bodrogkeresztur

Readers who wish to create a ShtetLinks webpage for their ancestral shtetl or to adopt an orphaned shtetlpage should contact Susana Leistner Bloch, VP ShtetLinks. Volunteers are available to help create these webpages.

JewishGen: ViewMate improvements

New social networking features will be added to JewishGen’s ViewMate feature from February 20.

Participants submit letters, documents and photos for translation and to identify people, clothing, artifacts, etc., to ViewMate and post about the item on the discussion group lists. Readers can then go to the link and provide assistance.

— Visitors to the ViewMate Image Gallery will see the number of responses each item has received.

— When visitors view any image, they will see responses submitted — just as users of blogs and other social media sites see comments posted.

— Volunteers will see immediately if they need to add a different translation or another response.

The online response form is available after logging in to JewishGen.

— Submitters of documents and other images will be able to select which responses to display on a submission’s page in both the Image Gallery and the Archive. They will also be able to close a submission to additional responses whenever they choose.

These functions will be available in a user’s “My ViewMate” after login to JewishGen.

ViewMate will become a more usable and dynamic site.