MIDDLE and EASTERN EUROPE
see also our other sections: cemetery, Shoah, place's names, name change
The Eastern Europa's SIG of the CGJ
First, our specialized interest group "Eastern Europa" is open to our members and peoples who are seriously considering joining. Contacts, meeting dates and minutes of previous meetings are found by clicking here clicking here.
You will find within this group and in the following wor the general assistance to locate you. But, despite these serious explanations and facilitated access by Internet, genealogical research in Eastern Europa to tell the truth winds through a vast field full of pitfalls and shortcuts. This is for example what is meant to recall the phrase "in principle" that no one will see below.
Again, here our group facilitates the progression from one to the other through its undeniable intuitions. These are, of course, neither spontaneous nor immediate. Therefore be patient, and always accept a resolved enigma entails two others to resolve. Tthere is the fun ...
Our intuitions, however, are certainly the result:
- one hand of specific exchanges, to collect neophyte* researcher's family's datas as a whole
- other hand of multiple genealogical experiences told and passed on, for at least 30 years, from a member of CGJ to another and within a global network of genealogists.
*It goes without saying that everyone is at one or another time neophyte in these processes. At the very least, we will ensure that the new member, upon registration, establish a good genealogical contact with its first "Godfather" (see membership form).
The Jewish Genealogy Guidebook
The main tool for genealogical research in these regions is Basile GINGER's publication "Guide pratique de généalogie juive en France et à l'étranger", (in French) published in 2001 by CGJ, a second edition of which is under way. It includes a summary of the history of the these countries, as well as maps, which are absolutely necessary to understand the numerous border modifications. Useful postal addresses and websites are also given.
LES NATURALISATIONS
Remember
to ask if the person you are looking for has arrived in France and was
naturalized; Naturalization records are available. The CGJ can advise
you on which method to use to get them (see especially the Member's
Corner of this site). The same applies to the ancestors of Eastern
Europe who lived some time in Belgium, Switzerland etc. ... Sources
exist that it is not possible to relate all here ...
The Civil Record Offices of each country
- becikowe site lets you search the address of a vital statistics office in Poland, from a map to click.
See also in the Members Corner:
- Les Bureaux d'Etat Civil en Ukraine
- L'état-civil de moins de 100 ans en Pologne
ROUTES TO ROOTS
If your ancestors come from Belarus, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Ukraine (see map), Route to Roots
by Miriam Weiner identifies the funds, "in principle" over 100 years
and the archives that hold them. If they come from Poland, it is
recommended to combine information from Routes to Roots with those from
Polish Achives site SEZAM . SurnameIndex.info
is an application associated with Google Map, which for Belarus,
Ukraine, Moldova, identifies some funds: vital records, censuses.SurnameIndex.info
JEWISHGEN
A source to consult in all cases is the JewishGen
website. It was designed and is hosted primarily by American Jews,
whose the vast majority have ancestors from Europe to Central and
Eastern Europe. You must register for a password, but registration is
free. If you can find some cousins through the Family Finder (JGFF), the most useful tool seems to be all SIGs (Special Interest Groups). These specialized groups in one region or country, which you see the complete list here
are a daily source of information, country by country. They have forums
where you can ask questions and exchange information with other users
of the same origin. There are for Romania, Hungary, Belarus, Latvia,
Lithuania, Czech Republic, Ukraine and several regions of Poland.
The JewishGen search engine (click here)
allows to explore the many databases of this site that we can not quote
all, of which JRI-Poland. May be addeed the archives of SIG (click
here) that the general search engine does not explore, and the
necessary Gazeeter to find places.
The SIGs databases
The JewishGen SIG (Special Interest Group) already mentioned contain toolkits and databases by country, which will be found most exact addresses by clicking here. Include those for Belarus, Poland (including JRI-Poland below), Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, well the crossborder Galicia (Gesher Galicia),
etc. ... Note that for Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, these databases
contain, in addition to vital records, various lists such as lists of
voters, and also census records, typical of territories of the former
Empire Russian. One searches in vain for such datas for Poland Kingdom,
yet under Russian controll and subject to the same census.
As in the Polish case, in other countries, like Ukraine, it is strongly
advised to identify and provide almost accurate and complete references
for any act or mention in a register before ordering a copy of
corresponding originals. In a country like Belarus, it is rather better
to go there, after appropriate preparation.
JRI-Poland
If your ancestors come from Poland or Ukraine, Eastern Galicia, the JRI-Poland
particular site, hosted by JewishGen, deserves your attention. Here are
indexed all sorts of Jewish sources, including vital records from 1825,
and this in sufficient detail to enable the genealogist to order to the
National Polish Archives birth, marriage, death records, or supporting
documents to marriages. The site states the identified sources and
updated regularly, the status of indexing by location.
LES MORMONS
Mormons
can, in some countries, be a valuable source of genealogical
information. Their site will let you know if they have microfilm for
the place and the period you want. There are many microfilms for Poland.
So this is another possibility, which can seem old fashioned, which
provides the genealogist to control acts from Poland and Ukraine,
Eastern Galicia. However, note that this solution provides the ability
to see, close to home in the context of the register that contains, the acts, possibly spotted in advance on an ad hoc sites, and so without moving into the countries from which they originate.
Hungary is particularly well represented in these Mormons lists, both
for specifically Jewish records (until 1895) as for post vital records.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia are also shown. Romania and Bulgaria
are almost absent, as well as Russia.
Once found the number of microfilm interesting, you will find the
Mormon center (Family History Center) nearest to you and ask to this
microfilm. Reading the microfilm is sometimes challenging, especially
if the acts were written in a foreign language with an "exotic"
alphabet .GENBASA
If
your ancestors came frow a town whose Jewish civil registers are kept
by the Polish State Archives, branch of Grodzisk, you can find the
digitalized records who concern them in Genbasa.
The CGJ website
This site, although not equally rich as those mentioned above, is not negligible. Our journal has published over fifty articles on Eastern Europe, and in particular articles of methodology. You can find the list in the Index of the Journal. Our Library contains 60 papers on Poland, 15 on Romania, 10 of Hungary ... and therefore deserves your visit. Several monthly conferences CGJ focused on these regions. Many of them have been recorded and you can buy CDs or cassettes corresponding (click here). The Questions-Answers of our site may also provide answers to your questions. More generally, use the search engines of our site to remember everything.
National Archives of each country
Ultimately, on the spot, in a Mormon center or by mail, regardless of
the country, funds from the National or local Archives, once
identified, are to explore, especially for civils records "in
principle" more 100 years ...
If you visit the country at the National Archives, be accompanied by an
interpreter. Otherwise, you can find a professional genealogist who
will do the research for you (for example you can see the list in July
2010 by JewishGen). About Polish archives, read the article by José
Klingbeil and Basil Ginger "Les commandes d'actes d'état-civil en Pologne" (Revue du CGJ, No. 93, p. 27, 2008) and this one by Daniel Vangheluwe Basil and Ginger "Recherches de documents de Pologne et de Galicie" (Revue du CGJ No. 99, p. 7-11, 2009)
Reminder: If your ancestors come from Poland or Ukraine, Eastern Galicia, use in locating the following sites: SEZAM for vital confessional records; from 1825, JRI-Poland. There is also an online pdf document summarizing the details of archive services.
Note that if SEZAM works for most of the regional archives in Poland, it is necessary for other services using instead the site Szukajwarchiwach, wich a manual in French was developed by Christol.
Anecdotally, a site metryki.geneadzi,
contains a few scanned pages of the Napoleonic civil and
not denominational record, between 1808 and 1825. Although it is generally not
as accessible as one who follows him, remember that this state exists
and Napoleonic remains to spot.
Before 1808, there are only rarely funds for births, marriages and deaths registration.
SPELLING OF SURNAMES
For Ashkenazi surnames, the international index JGCSI of Avotaynu is a database of names (and their attested deformations ) from different sources: the Family Finder Jewishgen, the Klarsfeld Memorial , dictionaries of surnames, etc. .. .
For names of the Russian Empire, see the dictionary itself part of the work of Alexander Beider, (A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire, 784 p., Avotaynu, Inc.., 1993, on our side L071 library). The approach is similar to Russian Poland and the Austro-Hungarian Galicia.
CHRONOLOGIES
Chronology of Jews from Poland
Chronologies of Polish towns: StayPoland: choose the town, the history
Chronology of Jews from Hungary: See in Member's Corner
Map of Hungary formation:
