table of contents // june 2012din-online.info/pdf/dorot26-2e.pdfunique jewish foods cooked, the...

Table of Contents // June 2012

2-3 |Dr.LeahTeicher/FromtheEditor’sDesk.

4 |Dr.LeahHaber-Gedalia/Chairperson’sNote.

5-15 |Dr.LeahHaber-Gedalia/JewishGaliciaGeography,Demography,HistoryandCulture.

16-27 |Pamela A.Weisberger / Galician Genealogy: Researching Your Roots with "GesherGalicia".

28-36 |Dr.EliBrauner/MyJourneyintheFootstepsofAnders’Army.

37-50 |Immanuel(Ami)Elyasaf/DecodingCivilRegistryandMappingtheBrodyCommunityCemetery.

51-57 |AmnonAtzmon/TheTownofYahil'nytsya-MemorialWebsite.

58 |SomeGalicianWebPages.

59-60 |Instructionsforwritingarticlestobepublishedin"SharsheretHadorot".

The Israel Genealogical Society | "Sharsheret Hadorot" | |1

From the Editor’s Desk // Dr. Leah Teicher

DearReaders,

“ErizaGalitsianer”,myfatherusedtosayaboutaGalicianJew,andthatsaideverythingaboutaperson:hehadasenseofhumor;hewascunning,asurvivor,areader,afanofmusic,musiciansandculture;areligiousperson,andmostly,aYiddishspeakerandaHolocaustsurvivor.

For years, Galicia had been a part of Poland. Its scenery, woods and rivers had been our parents’memories.

AJewishculturehaddevelopedinGalicia,theYiddishlanguagewascreatedthere,customsestablished,uniqueJewishfoodscooked,thefigureofthe“YiddisheMame”developed,inspiringagooddealofgenealogicalresearch;“Halakhot”andRabbinicLawsmade;anauthoritativeleadershipestablishedinthetowns,organizingcommunitiesontheirsocialinstitutions–Galiciagavebirthtothe“Shttetl”–theJewishtown,onallitssocial-historicalandemotionalimplications.Allthiswasdeeplyengravedintheheartsofourgrandparentsandparents.They,theirparents,grandparents,great-grandparentsandgreat-greatgrandparents,some40generationsback,hadlivedinPoland.Galiciaplayedasignificantroleinthelivesofalargepartofourpeople,whohadlivedandcreatedthereforsomethousandyears.ThatGaliciahadperishedandnolongerexists.

Galicia’sinfluenceonourheritagehasbeengreat.Manytownsconstitutededucational,commercial,cultural and religious centers: Leviv, Nowy Sącz, Kraków, Krosno, Brzesko, Bucac, Kołomyja,Drohobycz, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Sanok, Belz and Brody as well as many others. The JewishenlightenmentMovementdevelopedthere,precededby“Hasidut”,whichhadsweptsomanyJews.Galicia produced S.Y. Agnon, Shmaryahu Imber, U.Z. Grinberg, Goldfaden, Gershom Shofman andGebirtig;journalists,politicians,teachers,musiciansandartistsinalldomains.Ithadartisans,whoengagedincraftswhichhadperishedfromthefaceoftheearth,andaroundwhosecrafts,auniquecultureevolved.

ThecenteroftheZionistMovementdevelopedinGalicia.Thatiswhereourpeople’snew,nationalistway was mapped. The “Hovevei Zion” movement built branches in Galicia where it operated formanyyears.Later,thepioneeryouthmovementsspreadallthewaytocountriesbeyondthesea.

Iamhappythat thesocietycanpublish thefruitofgenealogicalresearchengaginginGaliciaontheoccasionoftheconference,wheretheassociationwillhostJewsfromLvivanditssurroundingcommunities,aswellastheLvivJewryAssociation.Thearticlespresentcommemorationmethodsaswellasresearchtoolsdevelopedbygenealogicalresearchers.

| | "Sharsheret Hadorot" | The Israel Genealogical Society2

Thistimein“SharsheretHadorot”:

Dr.LeahHaber-GedaliadescribesthelivesofPolishGaliciaJewryfromthehistorical-geographical-demographic-cultural perspectives, on all the political and social revolutions the area and itsJewsexperiencedovertheyears.Sheemphasizesthemanychangesingovernmentintheregion.Awarenessofthisdetailmayhelpresearchersrealizewheretheycanfinddocumentspertainingtotheirfamilies.

Pamela Weisberger heads the “Gesher Galicia” association, and describes the association’s abilityto assist in Galicia research: new lists cross-referencing information from a variety of sources,regardingtheJews’economiccapabilities,theirplacesofresidencebasedonperiodicalmapsandlists of residual areas and families living in them. The article provides a detailed description ofmaterialsavailableto“GesherGalicia”researchersandmaterialsabouttobeuploaded.

Inhisparents’familyphotoalbum,Dr.EliBraunerfoundaphotographofhisuncle;anordinaryevent.ThephotographledtoAnders’Army,whichconsistedofPolesandJews,andfoughttheGermansinWorldWarII.ThephotographandAnders’ArmyledEli tonewinformationabouthisuncleandavarietyofresearchtools.

AmiElyassafisadescendantofaBrodyRabbinicalfamily.Amiinitiatedtwoprojectsdirectedatuncovering this important city’s genealogical levels. He worked with a crew of researchers fromdifferentpartsoftheworld,andtogethertheydecodedthousandsofJewishnamesfromtheBrodycemetery.Thisteamofresearchersdevelopedresearchtoolsthatcanservesocialscienceaswellasartandgenealogyresearchers.

AmnonAtzmonwantedtogatherpeoplefromhisfather’stown,Yahil'nytsya(todayintheUkraine)onHolocaustMemorialDay.Fromasmalllistofsurvivors,hedevelopedafiledocumentingalllivingsurvivors. Amnon recorded survivors’ testimonies, researched, read relevant research literatureandcollaboratedwiththeeducationsystemtobuildawebsitewithagooddealofinformationandmaterialsaboutthetown.Thearticlepresentstheinsightsgeneratingfromsuchresearch.

Wehaveaddedalistselectedwebsitesforreading,researchingoranyotherusebyGaliciaresearchers.Naturally,wecouldnotincludeallwebsitesonthelist,butwehaveincludedthemostprominentones,whichprovideextensiveresearchpossibilities.

Finally-Thisissueof"SharsheretHadorot"couldnotbepublishedifnotforthehelpfromoureditorialboardmembers–using theiroriginal thinking,sharing theirknowledgewithus,helping ineditingthejournal,correctingandproofreading.Allwasdonewithagoodwillandwiththejoyofdoinggenealogy.Thanks!

The readers are hereby invited to publish their research, so as to enrich genealogical researchconductedinIsrael.

Yours, Dr. Leah Teicher, Chief Editor

[email protected]


DearFriends,

Thisissueof“SharsheretHadorot”isdedicatedtoGalicia,aregionwhereenlightenedphilosophers

and“Hassidim”livedandoperated.

ThisregionproducedsuchwritersasAgnonandBarash,poetslikeHirschLasarTeller,UriZviGrinberg

andShimshonMeltzer,painterslikeBrunoSchulz,LeoRothandMordechaiArdon,andphilosophers

likeJosephPerlandSolomonBuber.

Incontrast,thousandsofHassidimfromBelz,Stratin,BojanSanz,WiznitzandCzortkow(Chortkiv)

adheredtotradition,meticulouslyabidingbyall“Mitzvoth”,usingaccuratelanguageandabidingby

theirdresscodes.

Galicia–eachofus,readers,canfindasourceofidentificationinit.

Wearehereinthebeginningofsummer,andarealreadyplanningthewinterevents–the2012Annual

ConferenceSteeringCommitteebeganitswork,thenewIsraelGenealogicalAssociation’sWebsite

is inhighmotion.Thesociety’sFacebookpagehasmore than800friendsand thenumberkeeps

growing,andnotinvain–memberskeepuploadingrelevantmaterialsforfamilyresearchofthe

differentpartsoftheworld,andyouaremorethanwelcometoaddyourmaterials.

Agenealogicalfairisplannedforearly2013…

Thereisalottolookforwardto.

IamcallingyoutohelpusintroducefamilyresearchintotheIsraelidiscourseandconsciousness,as

eachandeveryone’sstoryisalinkinourhistory.

Alwaysatyourservice,

Dr. Leah Haber-Gedaliah Chaorperson of the Israel Genealogical society

[email protected],[email protected]

Chairperson’s Note // Dr. Leah Haber-Gedalia


Jewish GaliciaGeography, Demography, History and Culture

ThenameGaliciareferredtoaregioninEasternEurope,northoftheCarpathianMountains,which

turnedintoageo-politicalentitywhenannexedtoAustria(1772–1918).In1919theregionwasrestored

toPoland.

Fewarethecountrieswhosebordersweredrawnonamapbydiplomats,aswasthecaseofGalicia,

accordingtoProf.Brawer1.However,intermsoftheGalicianJews,theregionhadbecomethehome

ofalargeJewishcollectivewithuniquemarkers,createdbythefactthatGalicianJewswere,onthe

onehand,partofthehistoryofPolishJewry,andontheotherhand,hadlivedforgenerationsunder

Austrian rule influenced by its language and culture which brought them closer to the culture of

centralEurope.

WhenDidtheJewsArriveinGalicia?

ThefirstJewishsettlementinGaliciawasinthetimesofRuthenian(Ukraine)GrandDukes’Volodymyr-

HalychDuchyregimeinGalicia’seasternterritoryandunderthejurisdictionofPolishkingsinthe

westernpartsoftheregion.2

Sincethe14thCentury,JewishsettlementsexpandedintheeasternregionknownasRusCzerwona,

whereJewsconstitutedamajorfactorinabroadsettlementinitiativeofPolishhighnobility,and

tookpartintheestablishmentoftownsontheirlands.

TheJewsinthese“private”townsenjoyedtheautonomytopracticetheirreligiouslivesaccordingto

theircustomsandtoengagefreelyincraftsandtrades.3

1) A.J. Brawer, Galicia and Its Jews, Studies in the History of Glaicia in the 18th Century, (Jerusalem, 1968) [Hebrew] p. 11 2) About Jewish settlement in East Galicia -The Settlement of Jews in West Galicia probably began in the 12th-13th centuries in Kraków or Rzeszòw, where Jews lived until Rus was annexed to the Polish Kingdom in 1340 -1348. The first settlers mostly arrived from Česko and Moravia, or from Silesia, and former Rus cities. Some Jews arrived from the eastern Volodymyr-Halych Duchy, Wlodzimierz and even Kievan Rus. Danuta Dąbrowska Abraham Wein and Aharon Weiss (Eds.) “Eastern Galicia” Pinkas Hakehilot Encylopaedia of Jewish Communities, Part IV vol. 2 (Jerusalem, 1980). 3) The region north of the Carpathians has remained a passageway between Polish and Ukrainian population. The eastern part of Galicia was occupied by Ruthenians, the majority, and the Polish, a large minority, occupied the western part, be-yond the San River, and were a definite majority there.

By:LeahHaber-Gedalia


PartitionMap–betweenEastGaliciaandWestGalicia

GaliciahadbeenalternatelygovernedbythekingsofPolandandtheRusDukes(Ruthenian),untilin

themid-14thcentury,duringthereignofKazimirtheThird,Polandestablishedcontrol.SinceGalician

Jewishcommunities livedbetweentwolargepopulationgroups, theUkrainiansandthePoles, the

relationshipbetweenthesetwogroupsdeterminedtheeconomicgroundsforGalicianJews’living.

KingKazimirIIIgrantedtheJewsprivilegesin13674

4) According to Polish and Jewish tradition, the king had a Jewish mistress called Esther’ka, and several sites in Poland are named after her.


MuchlikeinotherregionsinPolandandLithuania,theJewshadbecomeacrucialfactorinproduction

andbusiness:theyhadleasedalcoholdistilleries,beerbreweries,flourmillsandsawmills;marketed

agriculturalproduceandimportedluxuryproductstosupplytheneedsofthenobility;theyloaned

moneyandcollectedtaxes.

InPolishkingdom’sfeudalsociety,theRusCzerwonaJewsconstitutedaseparate,uniquegroupwith

religiouspracticesandcustomsthatweredifferentfromthoseoftheothergroups.WhereasthePoles

mostlybelongedtotheCatholicChurch,andmostofthem(exceptforcitypeople)weremembersof

thenobilityandenjoyedtherightsonlands,andtheGreek-CatholicRuthenianswereprimarilyserfs

andhadnorightsinlandassets–theJewswerelandleasersandhadrightswhichresembledthoseof

thecityresidents.JewsandthePolishnobilityhadcommoninterests,andhencethelatterprotected

theJewsfromurbanhostility,fromtherageofRuthenianpeasantswhichofteneruptedinriots,and

frompersecutionsonthepartoftheCatholicChurch.

Hatewavesandserfpersecutioncausedthecentralgovernmenttoissueanedictin1485,forbiddingthe

Jewsfromengagingintheiroccupations.ToestablishthestatusofPolishJewry,thekingsformalized

the Jews’ residence incitiesand towns,andprivilegesgrantedby thekings.Definedoccupations

whichJewswereallowedtopractice,anddeterminedcommunityrepresentativeswouldattendtoall

communityissues.

In the 16th Century, Jews enjoyed religious autonomy. They engaged in the development of their

day-to-daylanguage–Yiddish–and“LeshonHakodesh”(thesacredlanguage)-Hebrew.Jewswere

freetoopen“BateiMidrash”(studyhalls),andYeshivotforTorahstudies.Intheframeworkoftheir

autonomy, Jewswereallowed to formacentral Jewishauthority,basedonPoland’sgeographical

regions.

The“CouncilofFourLands”(“Va’adArba’Aratzot”)wasthecentralJewishauthorityinPolandfrom

1580to17645andconstitutedamajorfactorinmakinglawsandregulations.Thecouncilreceived

questionsandanswers fromallaround thePolishKingdom.The “CouncilofFourLands”was the

highestconflict resolutionauthority,and thecouncils’ rulingswerebinding toall Polish Jews.As

forinteractionwiththePoles,thecouncilhandleddirecttaxcollectingandengagedinresolvingthe

Jewishcommunity’sdailyproblemsandinternalaffairs.“TheCouncilofFourLands’”activitycame

toanendin1764afterasaresultofPolishgovernmentdecidedtocollecttaxesdirectlyfromallPole

citizens.

The Cossacks’ uprising in the mid-17th century and the decline of security in the Kingdom of

Poland influenced the Jewish community, and consequently the regional city of Lviv (today in

theUkraine) lost itseconomicstrengthand influenceon the smallerRusCzerwonacommunities.

Jews left the city to settle in “private cities” where they enjoyed the nobility’s protection.

ThecommunitiesofBrody,Zolkiew,Buczacz,TarnopollandKomarnoevenchallengedLviv’sspiritual

andreligiousauthority.

TheappearanceofmessiahclaimantJacobJosephFrankinPoland(1726–1790)uncoveredtheimpact

5) The Council of Four Lands’ composition: 1. Poznań, the capital of called Greater Poland Voivodeship; 2. Kraków and Lublin, major cities in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship.; 3. Rus (Rus Czerwona or East Galicia and Podolia) with the capital – Lviv; 4. Wołyń with the major cities of Włodzimierz and Krzemieniec; 5. Lithuania (withdrew!) with major cities of Brześć and Grodno; 6. Wilno – an independent city-state at the time. The number of “lands” changed from time to time and the councul’s title did not always smatch the number of participating lands” (Editorial note).


ofKabbalahinRusCzerwonaandthespiritualrelationshipsbetweenGaliciaJewsandSpanishJewry

livingacross theborderwith theOttomanEmpire.Theseevents indeeddiminished theeconomic

resilienceofJewishcommunities,butdidnothalttheincreaseinpopulation.

A.J.Agnon,whowasborninBuczaczwrote(freetranslation):

“Oncethelandhadquietedfromthehavoc,andriots,andkillings,someofthewarremnantsreturned

totheircitiesandtheirplaces.ThepeopleofBuczaczdidthesame.Theybuilttheirhousesandshops,

and before that (they buils) – houses for Torah and prayer. They sat peacefully for a number of

generations,exceptfor years of warandrevolt, first undertheKingdomof Poland,andthenunder

Österreich Kingdom. Then came the poles, seized the Kingdom made some conquests and boykotts

untiltheirenemyarivedandfinishedthemall.6

Mapofpartitionofpoland

UndertheruleJosephthesecond

In 1772, Austria annexed the districts of Kraków, Sandomierz and Lublin in "Little Poland"7 and a

largepartofRusCzerwonaunderthename“Galizie”.Inthesameyear,Galicia’sJewstotaled171,851

6) S.J. Agnon, A City and the Fullness Thereof,” (Jerusalem and Tel Aviv), 1973, p. 13. 7) "Little Poland"- aHistorical expression which describes Geographic area of South East Poland. Until WWII parts of Ukraine'sareas were included in that area. (such as Galicia). L'viv and Krakow were two main towns in "little Poland". Hun-dredsof years Jews used to live there. Representatives of the region were one part of "Va'ad Arba Ha'Aratzot,which was the representative body of Poland Jewry. (Editor's note).


constitutingsome6.5%ofthepopulation,spreadinthousandsofvillagesand280townsandcities;in

15ofthem(includingBrodyandBelz),theJewsconstitutedthemajority.

UntiltheendofWorldWarI,TheeasternpartofGalicia(withtheexceptionofterritorieswhichwere

partoftheRussianempireduringtheNapoleonicWars),wasunderAustrianrule.Duringthattime,

thecharacterofEastGaliciaJewrywasdeterminedandremainedthesameuntilitperishedduring

theHolocaust.

“Betweenthetongs’armsoftwoforeignpeoples,Jewishcommunitieserodedinthemeagertowns…

worldwidespiritualmovementsspreadtheirarms,asifseekingtomakeupformaterialpovertywith

therichnessofspiritandthought,knowledgeandTorah.Hasidismand“Haskala”(enlightenment),like

currentsoffreshwater,fedthejoyofspiritualcreation,inthemysteryofexperienceontheonehand,

andinformedrationalismontheother.Theyoungintelligence,whoserootsarewellgroundedinthe

people’sculture….turnedtoassimilationontheonehandandlongingfornationalZionistrevivalon

theother.ThesparklingyoungIntelligentiacombinedthehesitantstepsofwanderinginaforeign

world,budsofthinkingwhichbegotinfluentialmovementsandephemeralideas.”8

ThehistoryofJewsinEastGaliciaunderthereignofJosephIIcanbedividedintotwoperiods,which

differedintermsoftherelationshipswiththeauthoritiesandrelationshipswiththenationsinthe

region.

TheFirstPeriod:fromAnnexationtoAustriato“SpringofNations”(1848)

The Jewish population was constantly pressured by the authorities, and at the same time began

acultural and political approach to the Imperial center in Vienna started budding. During these

years,AustrianstreatedGalicianJewsinwaysandmethodswhichcharacterizedabsolutistregimes

inEurope,seekingtogainmaximumeconomicbenefitsandreducethenumberof“useless”Jews:

special taxeswereimposed,occupationsconnectedtoretailsalesandtrade,peddlingand leasing

assetsandproductionmeanswererestricted,marriagesweresupervisedandbeggarswerebanished.

Nevertheless,duringJosephsecond’sregime(the1780s)anotherapproachwasadded–“Enlightened

Absolutism”seekingtoformulatelawsregulatingthemoralandpoliticalstatusoftheJewsinAustria,

soastointegratetheJewsasworthyresidents.Toreachthisgoal,stateschoolswereestablishedfor

Jewishchildren[supervisedbyJewishenlightenmentMovementmember,HertzHomberg(1749–1841)];

thebroadautonomywhichJewshadenjoyedbeforewasabolished,Jewswererecruitedtothearmy,

attemptsweremade to setup Jewishagriculturalcommunities. Secondaryschoolsandacademic

institutionsopenedtoJews,andcertainprofessionals (doctors,forinstance)wereencouragedand

supported.

WhentheNapoleonicWarsended,andtheCongressofViennaconvened(1815),JosephII’sreforms

werediscontinued.RestrictionsplacedonJewslosttheir“enlightened”natureinthebeginningofthe

19thcentury.EconomicrestrictionsbroughtaboutthedetachmentofGaliciafromthePolishKingdom,

8) D. Horowitz, My Yesterday (Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, 1970 p. 12 (David Horowitz was born and grew up in Drohobyč, and Lviv)


meaning,cuttingtheregionfromthetraderoutes,whichconnectedGaliciatothenorthandthewest.

Galiciastartedlaggingbehindtheotherpartsofthekingdom,andimportedproductsfromregions

wheretheindustrialrevolutionhadalreadybeenunderway.Apartfromsomethrivingcenterssuch

asBrody,whichenjoyedeconomicprivileges,thebeginningofthe19thcenturymarkedthedecline

oftradecenterswhichhadexistedpriortothepartitionofPoland.

“Hassidism”and“Mitnagdim”(Opposition)

HassidismspreadinEuropeintimesofincreasingeconomicdistress.Withindecades,themovement

swept the small and medium sized communities and had become a crucial factor in the region’s

socialandreligiouslife.

Hassidic groups evolved around charismatic leaders, who were the focus of alternate leadership

mechanismsabolishedbythegovernment.The“Tzadikim”dynastiesdevelopedfromafewHassidic

families:RokachofBelz, FriedmanofRozhinSadgora,Husiatin,Czortków,HagerofWiznitz –all

preserved the traditional life style, on its garments and language, in the attempt to prevent the

authoritiesfrom“Germanizing”theJewishpopulation.

Many leaders of the Jewish Enlightenment movement arrived from large communities that had

tradeconnectionswiththecitiesofGermanyandAustria(Lviv,BrodyandTarnopil)andconsidered

Hassidim to be enemies of the enlightened regime. Their leaders opposed the rapidly spreading

religiousmovement,butcouldnotstopit.OneoftheoppositionrepresentativeswasJosephPerl(1773

–1839)ofTarnopil,awealthymanwhohadgoodrelationshipswiththeAustrianauthorities.In1813,

PerlestablishedamodernschoolinthespiritoftheEnlightenment.Perlsubmitteddetailedreports

totheauthorities,inwhichhelistedthedamagecausedbyHassidim’sirrationalbehavior.Hismain

literarycontributionwasthecreationofsharpsatireswhereheridiculedtheHassidim’sbeliefsand

customs.

JosephPerlandhisbook“RevealerofSecrets”(MegallehTemirim)


TheSecondPeriod:fromthe“SpringofNations”(1848)toWorldWarI

The “Spring of Nations” revolutions constituted a highlight in the political, social and cultural

developmentofEastGalicianJews,especiallyinLviv.LeadersoftheJewishpopulationtookanactive

part in thepolitical struggle,while identifyingwith theclaimsof thePolishpopulation,although

manyofthemdidnotsupportthePoles’nationalistattitudesandtookapro-Austrianstand.

Alreadyin1848,thePolesrevealedastronganti-Jewishattitude,andtherewereattemptsatviolent

riots(“pogroms”)againsttheJews.UnlikeinotherpartsofEastEurope’sincethe“SpringofNations”’

Jewsintegratedintothestate’spoliticalactivityatall levels. InGalicia,wherethePolesenjoyeda

gooddealofautonomyunderAustrianrule,Jewsfacedtwooptionsofpoliticalidentificationwith

government,andindeedtheydeliberatedbetweenidentifyingwiththeGerman-Austriancultureand

thePolishone.

In East European countries of the early 19th century, Galicia preceded the Russian Empire in the

organizationofmodernpoliticalschoolsofthoughtevenwiththetraditionalaspectsoftheirsociety

included.Alreadyin1849equalrightsweregiventomembersofallfaiths,butinpractice,allthelegal

differencesbetweenGalicianJewsandtherestofthepopulationwerefinallyerasedonlyin1868.

Despite the slow pace of guaranteeing the Galicia Jews equal rights, an intensive process of

embracingGermanculturebegan,andatthesametime,culturalcontactswiththePolesintensified.

Thepro-Polishtrendincreasedwiththecompletionoftheemancipationprocessinthelate1860s,and

decreasedduringthe1880s,whenthePoles,inthespiritofmodernanti-Semitism,startedmanifesting

hostilitytowardstheJewishminority.

Thosewhowerepro-AustrianGermancultureoriented,establishedthe“ShomerYisrael”association

in Galicia (1867), constituting the “go ahead” of modern political activity in Galicia. The members

of the association spread German culture in the attempt to integrate Jews into the local, regional

andimperialpoliticalsystems.TheyissuedanewspaperinGerman,DerIsraelit,setupaclubanda

libraryinLviv,andsupportedthe“restored”synagogueinthecity.However,onthepoliticallevel,

theycooperatedwithPolishorganizations.

Asecondgroupwhichconsolidatedinthoseyearswasstrictlypro-Pole,anditsmembersestablished

anassociationnamed“DorsheiShalom”,whichbegotthePolish-Jewishassociationof“AgudatAchim”

(UnionofBrothers,1880),whichadvocatedJewishassimilationandeventurningtheJewsinto“Poles

oftheMosaicPersuasion”(“DatMoshe”).Oppositethesetrends,OrthodoxJewsalsoorganizedunder

theleadershipofRabbiShimonSofer,ChiefRabbiofKraków,andRabbiYehoshuaRokachtheRabbi

ofBelz,whohadalsoembracedmodernpoliticalstrategies,issuedtheirpaper,“KolMachzikeiHadas”

andcooperatedwiththePolessupportingdelegatestotheAustrianParliament.

Freedom of assembly granted to the Galician Jews, together with opening the gates of general

educationinstitutions,andtheirintegrationintogovernmentsystems,begot,inthesecondhalfofthe

19thcentury,threewaysofintegratingintolocalcultures:

TherewerethosewhochosetheimperialcultureandmigratedtoCentralEurope,especiallytoVienna,


soastoengageinautonomousprofessions;othersintegratedintoPolishculture,andtherewerethose

whocombinedOrthodoxJudaismandopennesstowardstheEuropeanspirit,andsoughttoestablish

co-existencebetweenthetraditionalwayoflifeandthePolishorGermanculture.

Nevertheless,alongsideallthose,thousandsofGalicianJewspreservedtheoldlifestyle,madetheir

livingontheirfarmsorbypracticingoccupationssuitableforvillageorsmalltownlife,andsuffered

fromtheregion’seconomicpoverty.

Thefirstdecadesafterthe1848revolutionswerecharacterizedbyaflowofliteraryandjournalistic

activity,inwhichmembersofthesecondandthirdgenerationoftheEnlightenmentMovementin

Galiciatookpart.Duringthoseyears,LvivwasanimportantEuropeanprintingcenter,amongother

things because already in 1836, Russia restricted publication of books in Hebrew or Yiddish. Still,

duringtherevolution,newspapersinYiddishsuchasthe“Zeitung”werepublished.

ThefactthemajorityofGalicianJewshadnoinclinationtowardsculturalintegrationasthedesired

by Poles, together with an increase in the influence of anti-Semitism on Poland’s political life,

constitutedthebackgroundfortheemergenceJewishnationalism.

As early as 1875, in Przemyśl (now in Poland), on the border between East and West Galicia, “an

associationfortheadvancementofJewishsettlementsintheLandofIsrael”wasestablished.From

the1890son,Galiciawasfilledwith“HoveveiZion”associations.

Inthebeginningofthe20thcentury,Zioniststookpartinpoliticalcampaignsandwereinvolvedin

the Austrianelections for Parliament.The Poles stronglyobjected to the Jews’ organizedpolitical

independenceandsupportedthepro-PolishcirclesinJewishcommunities.

Togetherwiththegrowthofthenationalistmovement,aworkers’movementalsoformedinGalicia.

ThemovementevolvedfromthecraftsmenunionsandcontinuedinJewishassociationsadjacentto

thePolishSocialParty.

TheGalician“PoaleZion”movementwasestablishedin1903.MuchlikeinotherpartsofEastEurope,

nationalandsocial radicalismjoinedhands thuscreatingan infrastructurefor thepolitizationof

the Jewishstreet.On theeveofWorldWar I,EastGaliciahadnetworkof Jewishpoliticalparties,

associations and organizations, engaging in a variety of political and cultural activities: Zionists,

socialists,membersoftheintelligence,speakersofGermanandPolish,OrthodoxJewsandmembers

oftheEnlightenmentmovementintownsandcities.

Lviv became one of the thriving centers of Jewish activity in East Europe, together with Odessa,

WarsawandSt.Petersburg. Ithosted “Cheders”of theoldstyle,aswellasschoolsof thedifferent

ideologies,publiclibrariesandevenaYiddishtheater(1890).Culturalinteractionwasexpressedin

thegreatnumberofJewishstudentsintheUniversityofLviv(1n1897,some205ofthestudentswere

Jewish).OtherswenttostudyinUniversitiesinCentralEurope.

AlongwithperiodicalspublishedinHebrewandYiddish,JewishnewspaperswerepublishedinPolish.

HebrewwritessuchasYosefHaimBrenner (1881–1921)andGershomShoffman(1880–1972) lived

andcreatedtogether;inothercities,scholarsstudiedandresearchedPolishliteratureandclassical

languagesinthelocaluniversities.

TheencounterbetweenJewishcultureandalongtraditionofintimatecommunitylifeontheone


hand,andtheinfluenceofEuropeancultureonitsGermanandPolishexpressions,madeLvivthe

cradleofmodernhistoricalresearchoftheJewsofthePolish-LithuanianKingdom.

AdministrativeDivisionoftheKingdomofGalicia,1914

WorldWarI

During World War I, East Galicia was a battlefield. Once again, the armies of Russia and Austria

engaged inwar.The regionchangedhandsanumberof timesand thousandsof Jewish refugees

abandonedtheirhomesandfledtoregionsintheAustro-HungarianEmpire.

ThosewhoremainedbecamevictimsofRussiansoldiers’molestations,killings,rapes,pillagingand

destruction.JewswerealsoexiledtoRussia.Hungerandepidemicsresultedinnumerousdeaths.

Helpwasgiventowarcasualtiesbycommitteessetupinthecommunities,withthehelpofRussian

Jewishcommittees,whohadattemptedtoensuretheRussianswouldnotriotagainsttheJews.Author

S.Ansky,whotookanactivepartinthisactivity,describedthefateofGalicianJewsduringWorld

WarIinhisbook“TheDestructionofJewsinPoland,GaliciaandBukowina”:

“AnoutrageousthingwhichthehumanmindcannotperceivehappenedinGalicia.Alargeterritory

hostingonemillionJews,who,untilrecentlyenjoyedallhumanandcivilrights,issurroundedbya

chainoffire,bloodandsteel,separatedfromtheworld,andsubjecttotheruleofbeastly“paritzim”

inthefiguresofCossacksandsoldiers.Thisfeltasifawholetribewascutofffromthepeopleof

Israel”.9

9) S. An-sky, The Destruction of Jews in Poland, Galicia and Bukowina, (Berlin-Wilna 1929), Part I p. 14.


ThewarinfluencedtheEastGalicianJewishpopulation’seconomicinfrastructure,andshatteredtheir

demographic resilience. The number of Jews in many communities was small, and their ratio in

theruralsettlementsdecreased.Ifthatwasnotenough,whenthebattleswereover,theJewswere

betweenthehammerPoleswhowinpoliticalindependence,andUkrainiananvil,whoestablishedan

indendentrepublicintheregion.

BetweenTwoWorldWars:BacktoPolishRule

Uponthewar’send,EastandWestGaliciaJewsmadethetransitionfromlivingunderamulti-national

regime,wherebytheyenjoyedpoliticalequalityandtoleranceonthepartofgovernment,toliving

undertheruleofanationalstatewithanacuteminorityproblem.TheeconomicroletheJewsplayed

in theregionwasnowassumedby themajoritypopulationand thePolishregimeremoved them

fromgovernmentpositions.

The Jewishcommunity inGaliciabetween the twoWorldWarswasnothealedof thewoundsof

war.TheJews’economicsituationbecameevenworseduetoPoland’staxationpolicy,whichhurt

tradeandcraftsmanship,andduetotheincreasingcompetitiononthepartofPolishandUkrainian

Cooperatives.

TheeconomicboycottofJewishbusinessesexpandedinthe1930s,andtheiradmissiontohighschools

anduniversitieswasrestricted.

Anti-JewishpropagandaincreasedonthepartofUkrainianright-wingparties,andstudentriotsin

LvivcauseddamagetoJewishbusinesses.Restrictionsonmigrationtowesterncountriestightened

reducingchancesofimmigratingtoPalestine,andthusmigrationwasnolongeragenuinesolution

fortheJews’distress.

However,asinotherpartsofindependentPoland,distressandhostilityenhancedJewishactivity:a

diversesystemofwelfareorganizations,helpandeconomicsupportwassetupinGaliciancities.

Associationshelpedcraftsmenandtraderscopewiththerestrictionsanddifficultconditions.

Jewishpoliticalactivityalsoexpanded,andthousandsofmembersjoinedthevariousparties.

TheNational-Hebrew“Tarbut”and“AgudatYisrael”educationnetworksoperateddozensofschools

all over east Galicia. Unique Jewish political and cultural activity increased where “Polanization”

trendsdecreasedintimesofincreasingPolishalienationtowardstheJews.

Lvivbecamethecenterofactivity,andbetweenthetwoWorldWars,thecitywasoneofthemost

prominentculturalcentersinindependentPoland.Everythinginthecitywasanexpressionofthe

neighboringtowns’andcities’politicalandculturallife.Thislifewasmulti-lingual,andusedPolish,

YiddishandHebrew,whichinturn,addedtothevarietyofeducationalinstitutions,literaryworks

andjournalism.

Apart fromthedifferentschools, thecityalsohostedaHebrewCollege,a Jewishvocationalhigh

school,teachers’seminariesandevena“Folks’University”(establishedin1926)wasfoundedbythe

“Tarbut”Association,wheretheytaughtJudaism.Manyoftheeducationalactivistslaterimmigrated

toIsraelandintegratedintotheeducationsystemhere.

Lvivhosteda largeconcentrationofJewishacademiciansandphilosophers,someofwhomwere

connected to theUniversityofLviv.Anassociationof “HebrewUniversityFriends”alsooperated


inLvivtogetherwithUniversityofLvivprofessors.Thankstothisassociation’sactivity,dozensof

studentsfromEastGaliciaenrolledintheHebrewUniversity.Allthiswasdoomedtoceaseuponthe

soviets’entryofEastGaliciainthebeginningofWorldWarII.

In conclusion, The Galicia region has undergone numerous historical-social-political-economic

changes.Thesechangesinfluencedcultural,economic,politicalandZionistJewishlifeaswellasthe

Jewsspiritualheritage.

ForthesereasonsitisrecommendedthatresearchersofGaliciafamiliesstarttheirquesttryingto

findexactlyinwhichstatetheorigintownorcityoftheirfamilywas,anditsexactlocationinlightof

today’spoliticalchanges(forinstance,LvivandBrodyarenowpartoftheUkraine,whereasPrzemysl

andNowySączarenowinPoland.

To make research more efficient, we recommend the use of the “Gesher Galicia” website:

http://www.jewishgen.org/Galicia/andtheAllGaliciaDatabasewebsite:

http://search.geshergalicia.org/

RecommendedReferences:

An-skiShlomo,HurbanHayhudimBe’Polin,GaliciaU’Bokovina,PartI,(BerlinandViena1929),p.14.

Brawer,AvrahamYa’akov,EretzYisrael,GaliciaVe’Yehudeha,MechkarimBeToldotYehudeyGalicia

Ba’MeaHashmonaEsre,(Jerusalem,1965).

BartalYisrael,InNathanMichaelGelber,(ed.)“Lvov”,EncyclopaediashelGaluyot,(1956),Vol.IV,partI

p.772.

GelberNathanMichael,ToldotHa’TnuaHazionitBe’Galicia,1875-1918,(Jerusalem,1958).

GelberNathanMichael,ToldotYehudeyBrody,(Jerusalem,1955).

Dumbrowska, D.Wein, A.Weiss (ed.), “Galicia Hamizrahit”, Pinkas Hakehilot,Vol. II, (Jerusalem, 1980),

pp.1–47.

MahlerRafael,HachasidutVe’ha’HaskalaBe’GaliciaUve’PolinHacongresayitBamachatzitHarishona

shelHa’MeaHaT’shaEsre,(TelAviv,1961).

Magocsi,P.R.,GaliciaaHistoricalSurveyandBibliographicGuide,(Toronto,Buffalo,London,1985).

Markovits,A.S.andSysynf.(eds.)M:“EssayonAustrianGalicia”,NationBuildingandthePoliticsof

Nationalism,(Cambridge,Mass.,1982).

http://www.jewishgalicia.net/

http://galiciantraces.com/blog/

Dr. Leah Haber-Gedalia is the Chiarperson of the Israeli Genealogical Society, born in Israel and

graduatedfromtheHebrewUniversity–Ph.DinInternationalRelations.Inthepast,Dr,Haber-Gedalia

managedhumanresourcesandtaughtintheuniversity.Dr.Haber-Gedaliaismarried,amotherof

three,grandmotheroffourandlivesinAtlit.

[email protected]


Galician Genealogy: Researching Your Roots with Gesher Galicia

By:PamelaA.Weisberger

GesherGalicia(“BridgetoGalicia”)isthespecialinterestgroupforpeopleresearchingtheirJewish

rootsintheformerAustrianprovinceofGalicia.Itsgoalsaretopromoteaforumforresearchersto

shareinformationandtopromoteindividualandgroupresearchofGalicia,theformerprovinceof

theAustro-HungarianEmpirefrom1772-1918.

Wehostawebsite:www.GesherGalicia.orgalongwithtwosearchabledatabases:TheAll GAliciA

Databaseatwww.search.geshergalicia.organdtheCadastralMap&Land-OwnerRecordsInventory

at:http://tinyurl.com/MapsofGalicia.

CadastralMapInventoryOverviewShowswhatapagelookslikeonourwebsitewhenyousearchforrecords

WhatdoesitmeantodoGalicianresearch?Whereshouldonebegin?Theusualprocesswastostart

withresearchingvitalrecords–births,deathsandmarriages.TheindexesofJRI-Poland,hostedby

theJewishGenwebsite,provideagoodstartinthatdirection,buttheyonlyrepresentrecordsheldin


AGAD–thePolishStateArchives,andnottheJewishrecordsheldinLviv.

GesherGalicia’snew“AllGaliciaDatabase”(AGD)searchenginecurrentlyfeaturescloseto200,000

recordsfrom70differentdatasources,andisgrowingdaily,includingtheLvivarchiverecords.It

coverseverythingfromGalicianbirth,death,marriageanddivorcerecordstophonebooks,school

andlandownerrecordsandcanbesearchedbygivenname,surname(and“kinnui”orJewish

nickname)withdatasortedbytown,orrecordsource.Mostoftherecordsonthissearchengine

haveneverbeenonlinebefore.GesherGaliciaisactivelyinvolvedinresearchinPoland,Ukraine

andAustria.Wephotographandscanrecordsonsite,orindexinformationdirectlyatthearchive.

ThedataeventuallyfindsitswaytotheAGDandtheimagesarealsohousedonoursite.

TheAGDInstructionGuideillustratesTypesofsearchesyoucandoonthisnewdatabase

Butwhataboutmovingbeyondvitalrecords?Supposethattypeofrecordforyourtowncan’t

befound?ThatquestionmotivatedGesherGaliciatoinvestigatemoreunusualtypesofrecords

thatwouldalsoprovideusefulgenealogicalinformationandleadusto“thinkingoutsideofthe


(genealogical)box.”

WeareespeciallyproudoftheCadastralMapandLandownerRecordsProject,whichbeganin2007

asalong-terminitiativetoinventoryandobtaincadastralmapsandpropertyrecordsfromarchives

inUkraineandPolandandtoindextheinformationcontainedthereintofurtherfamilyhistory

research.Whythissuddeninterestinmap?PartofthereasonmightbethatforsolongJewish

researchersfeltthattheirancestorsdidnotownland.Thisisfarfromthetruth.NotonlydidJews

ownland,theyhadrenter’scontractsfromthePolishmagnatelandownersthatallowedthemto

operatetaverns,mills,andinns.Allofthisinformationisdocumentedintheserecords.

AndasGalicianresearchersaccumulaterecordscontaininghouseandparcelnumbers,their

interestincadastralmapshasalsogrown.AsdescribedbyBrianJ.Lenius,authorofthebook,The

GenealogicalGazetteerofGalicia:“Threedistinctpropertylandsurveyswereconductedforall

ofGaliciaduringtheAustrianperiodofthe18thand19thcenturies.Theseconsistedofdetailed

recordsshowingthesizeoflandparcels,typeofland,cropsgrownandmore.TheAustrianStable

CadastralSurveyofthe1830sto1860sconsistedofrecordsandextremelydetailedmapsshowing

thesmallestparcelsofland,individualyards,houses,barns,roads,fieldplots,cemeteries,churches

andsynagogues.

Atleastthreeversionsofthesemapswerecreatedatthetimeincludingafieldsketch,apreliminary

draftedversionandtheCadastralMapinfullcolor.Atleastoneormoreversionsofthesemapsstill

existformostvillagesandtowns.”

Bymatchingdetailsandtheinformationinthelandrecordbookstothemaps–alongwith

comparingthemapstohousenumbersonvitalrecords–youcanseeexactlywhereintownyour

ancestorsoncelivedanddrawconclusionsaboutpossiblerelatives.

BukachivtsiComparisonshowstwocadastralmapsforasingletownfromdifferenttimeperiods

showingtheevolutionofthetowns,buildingserected,etc.


Manyhouseswerehandeddownthroughmarriage.

DetailsonJewishfamilies,whoownedbuildingsinthemarketsquare,wheretheyconducted

business,wereoftenhand-writtenoncadastralmaps.Themergingofthesenewdatasources

withtraditionalmetricalrecordswillofferGalicianresearchersamorecomprehensiveportraitof

thelivestheirancestorslead.Takingbirthrecords—andthehousenumberslistedonthem–and

linkingthemtoonlinemaps,willbeoneofthenewfeaturesontheGesherGaliciawebsiteaswill

annotatingmapswithinformationaboutthetowngatheredfromavarietyofsourcessotheshtetl

can“comealive”totheresearcher.

SeethisexampleoftheannotatedmapofGrzymalowintheTarnopoldistrict.

Severalofourmembershaveundertaken“HouseNumbersProjects”whichtracetheoccupants

ofasingledwellingoverhundredsofyears.Inthiswayonecandiscerninheritanceandfamily

patterns,andwomen,whoareoftenlosttohistoryoncetheygetmarriedandtheychangetheir

name,canbefoundthisway.


Above:BukachivtsiNamesshowsthenamesofthebuildingownerswrittenonthesideofthe

blackandwhitemap

Below:Buckazczowce&JewishNames(AnotherversionoftheBukachivtsimap.OneisthePolish,

theotherUkrainianname.(Sametown.)


GesherGaliciahasalsoexpandeditsresearchtoincludevoter,taxandschoolrecords,spanningthe

nineteenththroughtwentiethcenturies.Thereismuchusefulinformationtobefoundinthistype

ofrecordthatsometimesgoesbeyondwhatmetricalrecordscantellus.Oftenthe“townofbirth”

isnotedonthesedocuments.Wetendtoforgetthatpeoplemovedaround.Amanwhomarried

mightleavehisvillageandhisfamily.Ifyouareonlysearchinginoneplace,findingarecordfora

relativethatidentifiesatownwherehisrelativeslivedcouldopennewdoorsforyou.(Andkeepin

mindthatwomenwerevotinginGaliciabeforetheyhadtherightinmanyothercountries!)

WearealsocoveringLviv(Lwow)newspapers,nowavailableonline,inwhichmanyJewishnames

arementionedandoftenfromasfarafieldinBrody.Notetheinterestingtextonthis1874noticein

thepaper:

SUMMONS

Thecitycouncil(magistrate)ofthefreeHanseaticTownofBrodyasksthefollowingpeopleto

register:

Allindividualsdueformilitaryservicebutabsentduringtherecruitmentof1846onthe“Ussenplatz”

mustregisterwithinsixweeksandmustexplainwhytheydidnotshowup.Otherwisetheywillbe

treatedaccordingtothecurrentrulesas“draftdodgers.”

AndfromtherewehavealistofmostlyJewishresidentsofthetownobviouslynoteagertojointhe

Austrianarmy:

Baleisen,Jossel–House44

Papuscher,Marcus–House131

RozinRecteRutin,Dawid–House302(Notethe“Recte”meansthathehadhismother’sname

becausehisparentshadonlyareligiousmarriage,notacivilone,buthisfather’snameisalso

listed.)

BrodyOverview-withcaptions


ThisisacommonproblemwhendoingGalicianresearch.Ifacoupledidnotregistertheirmarriage

withtheState,theywerenotconsideredlegallymarriedandtheirchildrenwereregisteredas

“illegitimate,”somethingthatallGalicianresearchersshouldkeepinmind.Oftenthechildrenofthe

samecouplewereregisteredunderavarietyofnames,sousinglogiccomesinhandywhendoing

genealogicalresearch.

GesherGaliciahasalsoconductedresearchintheAustrianStateArchivesweremanyinteresting

communityrecordsareheld,manyofwhichcontainerintimatedetailsofshtetllifeandbear

thesignaturesofyourancestors.Manyofthesedocumentsreflectcomplaintsfiledwiththe

governmentinViennaincludingdisputeswiththerabbioverhissalary,thetownscribebeingupset

overnotgettingaworkroompromisedtohim,orthetowns’eldersbeingupsetbecausetheywere

slanderedbyanothergroup.Theargumentsvoicedarereminiscentoflifetodayandhumanize

ourrelativeswhotoiledinKahalorgovernmentalwork.Imaginefindingarecordthathasthe

signatureofyourancestor!Rathermiraculous…but,thenagain,notreallywhenyouexpandyour

Galicianresearchbeyondnamesanddates,birthsanddeaths.Wehavealsoacquiredtablesshowing

therabbis,cantorsandsochetsforeveryGalicianJewishcommunitythathadasynagoguefora

varietyofyears,aswellasalistingofJewishschoolteachers,createdin1788.

TabularegistersalsoexistformanyGaliciantownsandheldintheLvivStateHistoricalArchive

–the“TabulaKrajowa",orTabulaRegisters(Fond166,1780-1891).In1780theStateRegistrar

Department--establishedbytheAustrianEmperorJosephthe2nd—begandocumentingthepurchase

andsaleofrealestateandland,propertyleasing,testaments,deeds,money-lendingagreements,

promissorynotes,andpublicsalefordebts,etc.BecauseJewishpeoplewereactiveincommerce

-itwasoneofthoseareasinwhichthegovernmentallowedthemtowork-manyfamilieshad

occasiontoparticipateinsomekindofbusinessrelationshipandsignacontract,whichoften

containednamesofboththehusbandandwife,representedinthedealasoneparticipant.Other

documents,liketestamentsandpublicsalesfordebts,frequentlycontaininformationonseveral

generations.Inordertogiveyouanideaofhowimportantanduniversalwerethedocumentskept

bytheDepartment,itsenoughtomentionthattherewereabout300volumesofvariousindexes

totherecordsandALLthelandownershipregistersafter1874werearrangedbasingontheTabula

registers.

TheTabularegistersconsistof4parts:

1.TabularegistersforthecityofLemberg.Thereare932volumesofregistersdated1787-1886

thatincluderegistersofrealtyowners,booksforregistrationofdeeds&contracts,booksfor

registrationofwills.

2.TabularegistersforthetownsinthevicinityofLemberg:

Basiowka,Bilogorszcze,Brzuchowice,Hamulets,Grzybowice,Hodowice,Horodowice,Holosko

Wielkie,HoloskoMale,Zydatice,Zawadow,Zamarstynow,Zarudce,Zaszkow,Zboiska,Zimna

Woda,Rudno,Kaltwaser,Zniesienie,Zubra,Kleparow,Kosiejow,Krzywczyce,Persenkowka,

Sichow,Sknilow,Jaryczow,JaryczowNowy.


3.TabularegistersforthevillagesandtownsofGalicia:

• Arlamow

• Bandrow

• BaniaKotowska

• Belz(15volumes)

• Berwinkowa

• Bialoberezka

• Bialogora

• BialyKamien

• Blyszczywody(includedintoMokrotyn)

• Bolechow

• Bolehowce

• Brody(32volumesdated1794-1884)

• Bronica

• BrzegiDolne

• Brzezany(12volumes)

• Buda(includedintoWysoka)

• Busk(5volumes)

• Cholojow

• Chorocowa

• Chyrow

• Czajkowice

• Dobra

• Dobrohostow

• Dobromyl(16volumes)

• Dobrzanica(includedintoUszkowice)

• Dolhopol

• Dolina(10volumes)

• villagesofDolinaarea(includedinto

Lopianka)

• Drohobyczwithsuburbs(81volumes)

• villagesofDunajowvicinity

• Dynow(3books1780-1825)

• Engelsbruk

• Falkenberg

• Falkenstein

• FolwarkiWielkeandFolwarkiMale

• GajeStarobrodskie

• Gerynia(includedintoWitwica)

• Gleboka

• Gliniany(8voumes)

• GrodekJagiellonski(11volumesdated

1797-1880)

• Halicz(10volumes1753-1886)

• Holowy

• Hoszow

• Hoszow(includedintoStankowce)

• Hrusatycze(includedintoStrzeliska)

• Hubice

• Huczko

• Jagielnica

• Jaroslaw(50volumes1792-1892)

• Jasien

• Jasienica

• JasienicaSolna

• Jaworow(9volumes1792-1893)

• Jozefow

• Kalusz(7volumes1758-1822)

• KamionkaStrumilowa(21books)

• Katyna

• Kimirz

• Kniahinin(4volumes1801-1885)

• Kniazpol

• Kobasz

• Kolomyja(30volumes)

• Kolpiec

• Komarno

• Korostow

• Kotacin

• Krakowiec

• Krasnoila

• Krechow

• KropiwnikNowyandStary

• Krystynopol(7volumes1792-1883)

• Kulczyce

• Kulikow

• Kurowice

• Kuty(18volumes1781-1888)

• Kwaszenina

• Lacke

• Liskowate

• Liszczyny


• Lisznia

• Lopianka

• Lodyna

• Lopuszanka

• Lopusznica

• LubyczaKrolewska

• Makow

• Mariampol(3volumes1807-1855)

• Migowo

• Mizun

• Modrycz

• Mokrotyn

• MokrotynwithSmerekow,Przedrzymichy

andBlyszczywody

• Muzylowice

• Nadziejow(includedintoLopianka)

• Nahujowice

• Nanow

• Narajow

• Neudorf(includedintoBolechowce)

• Niedwedza

• Nojdorf(includedintoZawidowice)

• NoweMiasto(1volume)

• Obersdorf

• Olesko(3volumes1798-1882)

• Orow

• Paprotno

• Plebania

• Polana

• Potylicz

• Powitno

• Prochnik(14volumes1814-1874)

• Przedrzymichy(includedintoMokrotyn)

• Przemyslwithsuburbs(56volumes1799-

1894)

• Przemyslany(11volumes1816-1881)

• Radziechow(2volumes1827-1874)

• Raniowice

• RawaRuska(12volumes1796-1882)

• Rodatycze

• Rogozno

• Rozenburg

• RozenMalyandRozenWielki

• Roztoki

• Roztoczki(includedintoWitwica)

• Rudawka

• Rudki(4volumes)

• RybnowithSlobodka

• Rybotycze

• Rymanowwithneighbouringvillages(6

volumes1782-1888)

• Samborwithneighbouringvillages(69

volumes)

• Sielec

• Smereczna

• Smerekov(includedintoMokrotyn)

• Slobodka

• Smolnica

• Smolno

• Sniatyn(volumes1791-1832)

• Sokal(volumeswithindex)

• Solec

• Sopotnik

• Stainfeld

• StanilawithStebnikandKolpets

• cityofStanislawowwithsuburbs(99volumes

1784-1882)

• StankowcewithHoszow

• StareMiasto

• StarySambor

• StarzawaSanocka

• StebnewithDolhopol

• Stebnik

• StrzeliskaNoweandStare

• Sulukow(includedintoLopianka)

• Szmankowce

• Tarnawa

• Tartakow(1volume1817-1883)

• CityofTarnopol(50volumes).

• Trebowla(12volumes1803-1886)

• Truskawiec(includedintoTustanowice)

• Tudiow

• Tustanowice(1802-1889)

• Tyzlow

• Uhnow

• Ulyczno


• Untervalden(includedintoUszkowice)

• UstrzykiDolne(1855-1880)

• Uszkowice

• Warez

• Wierzblany

• WitkowNowy

• WitwicaincludingRoztoczkiandGerynia

• Wojnilow(3volumes1652-1839)

• Wolica

• Wysocko

• Wysoka&Buda

• Wyzniany&vicinity

• Zablotow(3volumes)

• Zaleszczyki(4volumes)

• Zawidowice&Nojdorf

• Zbadyn

• Zbaraz(8volumes)

• Zloczow(50volumes)

• Zolkiew(24volumes)

• Zoltantce

• Zurawno(2volumes)

• Zydaczow(8volumes)

4.TabularegistersforentireGaliciaarrangedbycounties:

Brzezany,Bochnia,Wadowice,Zolkiew,Zloczow,Kolomyja,Lwow,NowySacz,Jaslo

AndbeyondtheseLwow/Lemberrecords,therearemanymoreforahugenumberofGalician

towns.ThelistisdetailedontheGesherGaliciawebsitehere,ascompiledbytheresearcher,and

GesherGaliciaadvisoryboardmember,AlexanderDunai:

OneofMr.Dunai’stranslationsofarecordprovidesawonderfulexampleoftheprecise,and

unexpectedinformationcontainedhere:

Contractofpurchase#124.KaluszApril29,1816

Today,intheendoftheday,betweenarealtyownerEsterGlanzontheonesideandherson

MosesGlanzontheothersidetherehasbeenagreedanddeclarednext:EsterGlanzsellsahouse

#327(whichshehasinheritedaccordingtotheWilldatedIyar5,5567issuedbyherhusbandIzaak

Glancwhodiedbecauseoffire)andaparceloflandwithintheknownboundariesbetweenthe

neighboursOsiasHausnerandDawidLemonim,tohersonMosesGlanzfortheamountof1400

florinswhichshehasreceivedinadvance.

Thiscontracthasbeensignedbywitnesses:BerlFrankforter&JakobRudolf.

AlthoughitwouldbeimpossibletophotographeveryTabularegister,wearestartingtoacquirethe

nameindexestothesebooks,andtheinformationwillbeontheAGDincomingyears.


Polishmagnatelandownerrecords,whichdetailtheholdingsofthesenobles,alsocontainawealth

ofinformationabouttheJewishresidentsofthetowns.Leasingcontractsandinventoriesofthe

Jewswhoworkedforthemagnatesareoftenquitedetailsandcandatebacktothemid1700s.These

documentsareusuallyfoundinspeciallibraries,liketheStefanykLibraryinLviv,andfirstrequire

doingtheresearchtodeterminewhichmagnateownedyourtownduringtheyearsyourancestors

livedthere.Thisisacomplicated—butmanageabletask.

Twomoreexcitingprojectsdebutingsoon:

1. TheGesherGaliciaMapRoomwilldisplayhigh-resolutioncadastralmaps,offeringyouthe

abilitytozoominforacloselookatyourancestralshtetl.

2. Our“VoicesofGalicia”webpagewillbeadedicatedmemorialtosurvivorsoftheShoah.We

willdisplayactual,full-lengthvideotestimoniesofsurvivorsfromGaliciantowns,taken

fromtheShoahFoundationcollection.Ourmemberswillbeabletosponsoratestimony

soitcanbeviewedbyanyoneonlineandthewordsofaneyewitnesstohistoricalevents

occurringinthattownwillbringhistoryalivetoaworldwideonlineaudience.

Gliniany&Belz-examplesofclose-upmapviewsfromthesetwotownswithcaptions

Ofcourse,allofthisworkrequiresfinancialsupport!Althoughwehaveastrongcorpsof

volunteers,includingourtirelesswebdesigner,BrookeSchreierGanz,whocreatedtheprogramfor

theAllGaliciaDatabaseanddesignedthenewwebsite,wemustcoverthecostsofthedifferent

researchersweemployinEasternEurope.Howcanyouhelp?Theanswerissimple.Becomea

member!

GesherGaliciaisamembershiporganizationwithannualdues,whichincludeasubscription

to“TheGalitzianer,”ascholarly,quarterlyjournalfocusedonGaliciacoveringtopicsofinterest

toJewishfamilyhistorians.(Membersandnonmemberscontributearticlesandsuggestionsfor

articlesonavarietyofsubjectsonGalicianhistoryandsociety,travelexperiences,photos,research

results,adviceonobtainingrecords,andstoriesfromtheirownGaliciafamilyhistory.)

Soontherewillbeamember’sonlyresearcharea,providingrecordimages,accesstokeyword-

searchablearticles,andtheGesherGaliciaFamilyFinderwhereyoucanlocateothersresearching

yourtownsandnames.


Weinviteyoutojoinusandtodonatetotheprojectsthatmeanthemosttoyou.(ClickJoinGG

onourwebsitehomepage:www.GesherGalicia.org.)Yourcontributionsenableustomaintain

ourfree-to-alldatabasesandcontinuefundingresearch.Andyoucancontributetoongoingtown

projectsor–ifyoudon’tfindyourtownrepresented–youcanfundyourtown’sprojectsandbe

awardedmatchingfundsfromourgrantprogram.Wefeelasenseofurgencywiththisresearch

becauseatanytimearchivalaccesscouldchangeorrecordscouldbedestroyedinfloodsorfire.

Rightnow,whilethearchivesarecooperativewithJewishresearchers,weneedtotakeadvantage

ofthesituationandgetasmuchdataaspossible.Eachdaywehearofaresearchbreakthrough

someonehasmadeusingourresources.Perhapsitwillbeyou!

WelookforwardtotakingyourfurtheronyourGalicianjourneybackintime,andforwardintime

todiscoveringnewrelativesthroughouttheworld.

PamelaWeisberger

PamelaWeisbergerispresidentandresearchcoordinatorforGesherGalicia,thespecialinterest

groupforpeopleresearchingtheirJewishrootsinGalicia.SheisalsoprogramchairfortheJewish

GenealogicalSocietyofLosAngeles,andwasaco-chairofthe2010IAJGSInternationalConference

onJewishGenealogy.ShehastraveledthroughoutEasternEuropeconductingresearchinPolish,

Ukrainian,AustrianandHungarianarchiveswithaspecialtyinnewspaperresearchandcadastral

maps.Sheregularlyspeaksatinternationalvenuesongenealogicaltopicsandisaprofessional

researcher.

PamelacuratedtheIAJGSFilmFestivalsfrom2006-2010andwasprogramchairfor“LimmudLos

Angeles2012”.Shewroteandproducedthevideos“IRememberJewishDrohobycz,”andthesatirical

lookatgenealogicalresearch,“WhoCaresWhoYouThinkYouAre?”

Pamelaisdocumentingherfamily’shistoryforoverthirtyyears,holdsaB.A.fromWashington

UniversityinSt.LouisinEnglishandEducationandanM.S.fromBostonUniversityinBroadcasting.

[email protected]

www.GesherGalicia.org

www.search.geshergalicia.org


Introduction

InaHolocaustSurvivors’familyalbum,characterizedbyalackofhistoricaldepth,beginningwith

myparentsmarriageinGermany,1945,aftereachof themhad lost theirpartner thereweresome

strangephotographsofayoungmanwearinguniforms,onOrientalbackground.Mostcuriouswas

thephotographofthesamepersonwithagroupofuniformedmenwearingturbans,andacamel.

Myuncle(standingthirdontheright),SzymonSchrencelduringhisserviceinAnders’Army

ThephotographwastakeninIndia.

Itwasfoundthemanwasmyuncle,mymother’sonlybrother,borninLviv.

WhatwasaPolefromLvivdointheFarEast?

MymotherandherbrothersurvivedthehorrorsoftotaldestructioninLviv,eachinhisway(ofsome

150,000Jews,only300remained).Mymother,Bronya/BranislavaoftheSchrencelfamily,hadlosther

firsthusband,fledfromtheGhettoandfoundrefugewithalocalfamily,whereshewasemployedas

aservant.Herbrother,SzymonSchrencel,wasasoldierintheSovietArmy.Whenthearmyretreated

fromLvivuponNaziinvasion,Szymon,atankcrewman,retreatedwiththem.Sincethen,theyhad

losttouchwitheachother.

OnlyafterthewardidmymotherfindoutherbrotherwasaliveandlivinginIsrael.

My Journey in the Footsteps of Anders’ Army

By:Dr.EliBrauner


Theorientalphotographsgavenopeacetothegenealogicalresearcherinme.Relatives’explanations

thatthephotographwastakeninIndiacorrespondedwiththeturbanswornbythesoldiers.Howdid

SzymonSchrencelendupinIndiaandlaterPalestine?

Overtime,adecisionwasmadetosetoutonanewgenealogicalresearchthatwouldhelpunravel

themystery.

Furtherconversationswithfamilymembersrevealedmyuncleservedasasoldierinamilitaryunit,

whicharrivedinPalestineduringthewar.Surprisingly,thesoldiersspokePolish,andwereknownas

“Anders’Army”.

ResearchGoal

Thisresearchhadatwofoldgoal:toprovideabriefaccountoffamilyhistory,bitmostlytoserveasa

guidetogenealogicalresearchersseekingtofollowfamilyeventsinthetimeandsituationdescribed

inthisarticle.Hence,firstofall,thegoalistolistresearchtoolsandrelevantapplications.

Thesetwogoalswillbeaccompaniedbyathirdgoal:toenrichthereaderswithdetailsofanimportant

historicalchapterinthehistoryofestablishingtheJewishDefenseForce,andtherescueofJewswho

hadsurvivedthehorrorsofSovietregime.

Fromtheabove,itseemsthatAnders’ArmyhadindeedspenttimeinIndia.Thatishowtheoriental

photograph(showingmyunclewithIndiasoldiers),themotiveforthisresearch,wasconnectedto

Anders’Army.TheinevitableconclusionwasthatIhadtolookforinformationwithbodiesholding

documentsaboutAnders’Army.

MappingFactsandData

Any research, including genealogical research, begins with mapping the research and setting its

boundaries.First,researchquestionsarisesuchas“Whatisthegoalofthisresearch?”“Wherearethe

researchmaterialstobefound?”“Wherewilltheinformationcomefrom?”“Whoistobeincludedin

theresearch?

Theresearchquestionwas“DidmyuncleactuallyserveinAnders’Army?”Andifhedid,Isoughtto

confirmitbylocatinghismilitaryrecord,whileleaningontheassumptionthat,Iwouldalsofind

additionalinformationaboutthemanandhislife.

Anders’Army

WładysławAnders(August11th1892–May12th1970)wasaPolishArmyGeneralduringWorldWarII,

commanderofwhatisknownas“Anders’Army”1.

WładysławAnderswasbornin1892inavillagenearWarsaw,studiedintheRigaTechnicalUniversity

andservedasanofficerintheRussianTsaristarmyofWorldWarI.Afterthewar,Andersjoinedthe

1) "Władysław Anders", based on Wikipedia the free Encyclopedia.


armedforcesofthenewlyindependentPoland,andfoughtasabattalioncommanderagainsttheRed

ArmyinthePolish–SovietWar(1919–1921).Inthe1930s,AnderswaspromotedtoGeneral.

WiththeoutbreakofWorldWarII,onSeptember1st,1939,Anderswasincommandofacavalrybrigade.

ThePolishcavalrywerehardlyamatchtoGermanArmedForcesandhadtoretreat.Anderswaslater

takenprisonerbySovietforcesandwasjailedlaterintheinfamousLubyankaprisoninMoscow,

interrogatedandtorturedbyNKVD.

Anders destiny changed after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Anders was released by the

SovietswiththeaimofformingaPolishArmytofightalongsidetheRedArmy.Anderswasappointed

commanderofthisnewarmedforce,whoseformaltitlewasthePolishIICorps,butwasknownas

“Anders’ Army” which consisted of Polish civilians and soldiers who had been released from the

GulagsinSiberia,KazakhstanandotherregionsintheSovietUnion.

WhenAndersfirstinspectedhistroops,hefoundweak,hunger-stricken,raggedmen.Ofsome

1.5 million Polish citizens, including over 200,000 Polish prisoners of war deported from Soviet-

occupiedPolandby theNKVDto theGulags,onlyafewpeoplesurvived.Andersrehabilitatedhis

soldiersandturnedthemintoanorganizedarmy.Polishrefugees,women,childrenandtheelderly,

andthesoldiers’familiesaccompaniedAnders’Army,andwerefedwiththesoldiers’fieldrations.

Negotiation between Stalin, Churchill Polish forces enabled Anders’ Army with its 100,000 soldiers

andtheaccompanyingcivilianrefugeestomakeitswaythethroughthePersianCorridorintoIran,

whichwasthenunderBritishinfluence.InIran,Anderstrainedhismen.ThealliesgaveAndersthe

missionoffightingintheItalianFront.AfterafewmonthsinIran,Andersledhistroopstowardsthe

MediterraneanonhiswaytoItaly.

IraqandTurkeyrefusedtoallowthetroopspassage,andAnders’armyandhisrefugeeswereforced

totravelbyseaviaKarachi(thenIndia,nowPakistan)toPortSaidinEgypt,whichtheythenleftby

train,reachingPalestineonFebruary18th,1943.

JewsjoinedAnders’ArmyonhisjourneytoPalestine,andwiththem716“TeheranChildren”.When

they arrived in Palestine, some 3,000 Jewish soldiers deserted and remained in Palestine as illegal

immigrants. Those soldiers joined the Jewish resistance movements which operated here during

thestruggleagainsttheBritishmandate,thusstrengtheningtheJewishdefenseforces.Someofthe

desertersjoinedtheBritishArmy.

OneofthesoldiersinAnders’ArmywasMenachemBegin,wholaterbecamePrimeMinisterofIsrael,

whowasreleasedfromlaborcampsinthenorthSovietUnion.WhentheyarrivedinPalestine,Begin

obtainedpermissionfromAnderstoleavetheirmilitaryunitsandbecamechiefcommanderofthe

“Irgun”inthesteadofYa’akovMeridorwhowascommandingthe“Irgun”afterthechiefcommander

DavidRazielhadbeenkilledinIraq.

Anders’Armyturnedintoamajorcombatforce.In1944theyarrivedinItaly,whereheparticipated

intheBattleofMonteCassinoon17-18thofMay1944.TheabbeywascapturedbyAnders’armyafter

theAllies'threefailedattemptswithheavylosses.Lateron,Anders’Armyengagedinbattlesonthe

AdriaticcoastcleansingthePoValley.Anders’ArmyliberatedthecitiesofAnconaandBologna.In

theoutskirtsofBologna,acemeterywasbuiltforthePolishsoldierswhohadbeenkilledinthose


battles, in addition to the Monte Cassino cemetery. Andres received honorary citizenship in both

citiesasatokenofrespectforhisactions.

AfterthewarAnderslivedinEngland,thoughhehadneverbeenmadeaBritishcitizen.Heopposed

thecommunistPolishgovernmentandregardedhimselfapoliticalexile.Hewasoneoftheleaders

ofthePolishcommunityinEngland.Anderspassedawayin1970.Athisrequest,hewasburiedin

themilitarycemeteryinMonteCassinonexttohissoldiers.Oncethecommunistregimefell,Anders

becameanationalPolishhero.Hereceived33wardecorationsin10differentstatesincludingthe

AmericanLegionofMeritdecoration.

InthebeginningofmyresearchIfounddetailsaboutAnders’ArmyinPalestine.

“IntheirfirstencounterswiththeEretzYisraelpeopleinIranandinIraq,andwiththeirrelatives

and acquaintances in Palestine, the possibility arose to immediately leave the Polish Army on its

anti-SemitismandintegrateintotheJewishsettlements…butatthesametime,summerandautumn

of1942,theGermanArmywascloseatthegatesofPalestine,andduetothegravityofthesituation,it

seemedinappropriatetoleave…

When the danger of German invasion under Rommel’s command decreased, the Jewish “Yishuv”

Authoritiespreparedforabsorptionof JewishsoldiersfromAnders’Army.Theheadof "Aliya" in

theHistadrut,IsraelKarmi,offeredthehelpofthecooperativesettlementmovement(“Hahityashvut

Haovedet”) in theabsorptionof thesoldiers,providingthemwith identitycards,clothing,Hebrew

namesandmainly,recruitingthemtotheJewishunitsoftheBritishArmy,ortothe“Notrim”(Jewish

PolicemenintheBritishPolice)ortothe“Hagana”.

SoonbeforetheHighHolydays(“YamimNoraim”)of1943,Anders’soldiersweregivenleave,which

wasusedtorecruitthemtotheundergroundorganizationsandtheBritisharmy.InOctoberofthat

year, the number of deserters reached a peak. Altogether there were 3,000 Jewish deserters from

Anders’Army.”2

WhoWereAnders’Soldiers?

Everymodernresearcher’sfriendis,naturally,theInternet.IstartedanintensiveInternetsearchin

ordertofindinformationaboutthosemysterioustimesfollowingtheagreementbetweenthePolish

government-in-exileandtheSovietregime.

Theagreement,leadingtothereleaseofthousandsofPolishprisonersfromtheGulagsandremote

laborcampsallovertheSovietEmpire,allowedthemtoresumetheirPolishidentity.Thispopulation

did not only include Polish soldiers who had been captured, or Polish citizens who had lived in

territoriesconqueredbytheSoviets,butalsomanyJewswhohadbeenexiledbytheNazistoSoviet

territory,andthus,theirlivesweresaved.

Intheendof1939andthebeginningof1940,therewerestillsomeJewslivingoutsidetheGhettos.

SomefledtotheSovietUnionintheeast,andtheGermanswereinterested,asitcorrespondedwith

NaziGermany’sracistinterests.TheGermanshad“encouraged”JewishmigrationbydeportingJews

totheSovietUnion,whereasthelatterobjected.Germany,inanattempttoavoidconflictwiththe

Soviets,ceased.

2) Dov Levin, “Anders’ Soldiers”, Et-Mol (June 1993) Vol. 18, 5 (109).


InJune1940,even“Kosher”JewishrefugeeswerearrestedanddeportedfromLvivandneighboring

communities.Therefugees’deportationtookplacethroughoutthemonthofJuneintoJuly1940.The

highlightwasonJune29th,whencomprehensivesearcheswereconductedallovertheWestUkraine

andBelarusian,ineverycommunitywhereevenonerefugeewasliving.Hundredsofthousandsof

refugees,mostlyJewish,butalsoPolish,werearrestedanddeportedinthatAktion.Accordingtoan

officialPolishsource,some100,000peoplewerearrestedonlyinLviv,andthecitybecameaghost-

town.

TheNKVD3preparedformassivedeportations. Ithad listsofcandidates,arrestprocedures,public

placesweredesignatedforsearchesandkidnapping,hundredsoftrainsandthousandsofwagons

were prepared, and destinations were set for deportations. Prison staff and guards escorting

deportees'convoyswererecruitedandinstructedofwhattodowiththedeportees.Theprisonersand

thedeporteeswerespreadalloverthevastregionsofSiberia,NorthEuropeanRussiaandKazakhstan.

TheSovietUnionwasnotpreparedfortheabsorptionofsomemillionrefugees,whohadarrived

fromPolandtoSiberia’sconcentrationcamps.Refugeeswereofferedachancetobuildtheirown

livingaccommodations.

ThewarbetweentheSovietUnionandGermanybrokeinJune1941.Itwasthenthatthesituationof

Polishdeterioratedconsiderably.Manyweresavedbytheclemencyof1941.OnAugust12th1941,The

SovietUniongranted“amnesty”to“Polishcitizenswhosefreedomwasdeprivedaswarprisonersor

forotherreasons”.Twodayslater,onAugust14th,1941,anagreementwassignedinMoscowregarding

theformationofthePolishArmedForces.Mostrefugeeswereinaterriblestate.Theywerereleased

fromtheirimprisonment/exileplaceswithnothingtotheirname,hungerstricken,sickandwearing

rags. More than anything, they wished to get out of the harsh climate in the north and reach the

neighboringrepublicsofthesouth,becauseoftheirwarmerclimate.

ThePolishArmy,stationedUzbekistaninthesummerof1942,“attracted”thousandsofJewsandPoles

attemptingtofleetotheevacuatedunits.TheseunitsmadetheirwaytotheeastandreachedIran,

IndiaandevenPalestine.4

WhereWouldIFindInformation?

Fromthispoint,theissueofmappingbecamecomplex.

• WoulditbeavailableinthearchivesofSovietgovernmentorarmy?

• WoulditbeavailableinthearchivesofthePolishgovernmentandarmy?

• WoulditbeavailableinBritisharchives?Afterall,negotiationsfortheestablishmentofAnders’

Army were held in London, and agreements were signed in 1942 by General Sikorsky, Prime

Ministerof thePolishGovernment inExileandIvanMaisky,Sovietambassador inLondon, in

thepresenceofWinstonChurchillandBritishForeignOfficediplomatAnthonyEden.TheArmy

operatedaspartoftheBritishArmy:thePolishIICorps.

• Woulditbeavailableintheresistancegroups’archivesinIsrael?ManyofAnders’Soldiershad

desertedandjoinedtheresistancegroupsoperatinginPalestine.

3) The ministry of Interior Affairs was actually the former secret police of the former Communist Regime, In theformer Soviet Union (Editor's note). 4) Joseph Litvak, Jewish Refugees in the soviet Union 1939 – 1948, (Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Institute of Contemporary Jewry, 1988).


Hadtheresearchreachedadead-endalreadyatthatpoint?

ItwasclearthatpreliminaryresearchhadtobeconductedinordertolocatethedetailsaboutAnders’

Armyandthesoldiers’personalfiles.

The www.kresy-siberia.org website engages in all Polish citizens who had left the Soviet Empire

afterthe1941amnesty.ThewebsitecontainslistsofthosewhohadjoinedGeneralAnders,arrivedin

Iranandmovedonfromthere.SomejoinedthedifferentBritishunits;therearealsovarioussources

for the research of the history of the Polish nation in World War II. No fewer than 18 sources of

informationpertainingtoPolishsoldiersinWorldWarIIwerefoundinthewebsite.Thequestionwas

wheretostart.

Inasituationlikethat,oneisrequiredtofocusandmakealistofsearchpriorities.However,asearch

inthewebsite’sforumyielded1,798messages.Therewasonlyoneoption–toconsultandexpertwho

wouldsiftthroughthesourcesandidentifytheonesthatwouldberelevanttofindingdetailsabout

thesoldiersofAnders’Armyandrankthemaccordingtotheirorderofimportance.Butwherewould

Ifindsuchanexpert?

The inevitable stop of any Jewish genealogical research is the JewishGen website – an amazing

Americanorganizationseekingtogatherallpossiblesourcesofinformationaboutthehistoryofthe

Jewishpeople.Specialinterestgroups(SIG)operateinthewebsite’sframework,whichhaveexperts

onaparticularregionorissue.Asearchrevealedthatamongthediscussionforums,thereisagroup

engaging in Jewish communities in Britain: JCR-UK – Jewish Communities and Records - United

Kingdom.

AquestionpostedtothegroupregardingwhereIcouldfindAnders’Armydocumentsbroughtabout

extensiveresponses.AIGexpertspointedtothefollowingsources:5

1. Sikorski Archives - 20 Princess Gate, London SW7 1PT, Great Britain. Where it was stated: The

majorityofthedocumentsheldbytheArchivesrelatetothePolishGovernmentinFrance(Angers),

inGreatBritain(London)andthePolishArmedForces.

2. MinistryofDefense(PolishSection)-DR2c,BourneAvenue,Hayes,MiddlesexUB31RF,England;

3. TheNationalArchives-OfficersorSoldierswhoseservicesendedbefore1921.

RuskinAvenue,Kew,Richmond,Surrey,TW94DU.

4. RegimentalHeadquarters-OfficersandSoldiersoftheFootGuardsRegiments

WellingtonBarracks,BirdcageWalk,London,SW1E6HQ.

5. ArmyPersonnelCentre-OfficersandSoldierswho’sregularorreserveserviceendedafter1997

HQSecretariatDisclosuresSection1.

MailPoint520,KentigernHouse,65BrownStreet,Glasgow,G28EX.

6. PMA(ewc)IM1b,Room5,Building248a,RAFInnsworth,Gloucester,GL31EZ

Officerswhoseserviceendedin1920orlater.

5) All of the following records are to be found in the Public Records Office (PRO). The archives include millions of documents from the days of the British Empire. Not long ago, the archive posted some of the documents, which do not invade privacy, online (Editor’s note).


Airmenwhoseserviceendedin1928orlater.

7. ThenationalArchives,RuskinAvenue,Kew,Richmond,Surrey,TW94DU

Officerswhoseserviceendedin1920orearlier.

Airmenwhoseserviceendedin1928orearlier.

8. MinistryofDefense,APCDisclosures5(Polish)

Building28B,RAFNortholt,WestendRoad,Ruislip,MiddlesexHA46NG.

FindingDetailsofMyUncle,SzymonSchrencel’sMilitaryService

Anoutcomeoffindingtheabovesourcesofinformationwasissuingnotarizedcertificatesofthe

familyrelationshipandpostingpaymenttothosebodieswhichrequestedpaymentforthesearch.

Thesenotarizedcertificateswereattachedtoaseriesofletterssenttotheabovelistedbodies,asking

fortheinformation.

At thesametime,anappraisalwasmadeas towhere Iwouldbemost likely tofind therequired

information.Indeed,inresearch,apparently,onecannotrelyonapproachingonesourceofinformation/

archiveonly;thesearchiveshavetodealwithnumerousrequests,andthereisnoguaranteethatone

wouldgetaresponse,orbenefitfromameticuloussearch.Anappraisalwasmadetherewasafair

amountoflikelihoodtheinformationwouldbefoundinaspecificarchive,andthebestwouldbeto

visitthearchivepersonallyandsearchfortheinformation.

Appraisingtheabovelistedsourcesofinformationandconsultingexpertsledtotheconclusionthat

thechancesoffindingtheinformationinthePolishInstituteandSikorskyMuseuminLondon.This

estimatewasbasedonthemuseumcontainsmaterialspertainingtothetwomajorcommandersof

thePolishArmedForcesintheWest:GeneralSikorskyandGeneralAnders.

When the war had ended, and the Communist Polish Government was formed, most Poles who

hadservedinthePolishArmedForcesintheWestandwerePolishcitizenschosenottoreturnto

theircountry,whichwasnowbehindthe“IronCurtain”.ThatishowalargePolishcommunitywas

formed in exile. One of their first goals was to collect all available information about the Polish

struggle,organizeitandenableresearch,includingmaterialspertainingtothePolishArmedforces.

Thiscollectionofmaterialswasstoredinanespeciallyacquiredprivatehouse,wheretheSikorsky

Museumnowresides.

Afterthefallofthecommunistregime,themuseumhascontinuedtoactasaresearchfacilityanda

culturalcenter.

Andso Iheaded toLondon.Avisit in themuseumled to theconclusion thepeople inchargeare

amazinglykind,butresearchpossibilitiesareratherlimitedduetolackofcomputerizedmaterials

andindices.Itwaspossibletoreadthroughkeymaterials,butnottoengageinseriousresearch.Itwas

agreedtheInstitutewouldtrytotraceinformationandwouldcostme£30.

Afterashortwhile the institutewrote “Regrettably,NoinformationhasbeenfoundaboutSzymon

SchrencelasoldierinAnder’sArmy”.Thisroutehadended,andallIcoulddowastowaitforresponses

fromtheotherbodiesIhadapproached.


Onebyone,repliesarrived,allexpressingsorrowfornotbeingabletofindtherequiredinformation.

Hadthegreatinvestmentoftimeandaconsiderableamountofmoney,reachedadead-end?

And then,onMay5th, 2009a replyarrivedfromtheBritishMinistryofDefense,APCDisclosures5

(Polish)attheRAFBuilding–markedNo.8inthelistofpotentialarchivesforresearch–theletter

openedwith theMinistry’sgladlyconfirming thefollowingdetailsaboutLanceCorporalSzymon

Schrencel:bornNovember24thinLviv,Poland.

The letter confirmed the details of his parents, my grandparents, and included an interesting and

surprisingpieceofinformation:duringhismilitaryservice,myunclewasmarried...hereisatopicfor

futureresearch…andtheevidenceofthesignificanceoffamilyresearch,asthispieceofinformation

mayopenaroutetoawholeunknownbranchofthefamily.

It was also found that Szymon had served in Anders’ Army for a short time, from April 1942 to

November1942’andhadnotdesertedlikemanyothers,butdischargedhonorably.Itwasconfirmed

thatwhenhewasaPolishcitizen,hewastransferredtotheSovietUnionwiththeretreatofSoviet

forces,andjoinedthePolishArmedForcesbasedontheSoviet-PolePactknownas theSikorsky-

MaiskyAgreement.

The document also reveals that Szymon Schrencel had crossed the Soviet-Iranian border, was

stationedinIran,wherehisunitwasunderBritishcommand.AfteramedicalexaminationonApril1,

1942,hewasdeclaredunfitformilitaryserviceandwasdischargedonNovember21st,1042.

TheRAFreplyreaffirmedastoryhewouldtellaboutdroppingbombsfromairplanes.Themedical

certificateattachedtotheletterlistedthemedicalreasonsforhisdischarge,aswellashospitalsin

whichhehadbeentreated.

Thestoryendswithanothersurprisingdetail:theBritishauthorityannouncedthatSzymonSchrencel

waseligiblefortheWarMedal(1939–1945)whichhadneverbeenclaimed.Itwasstatedthatifthe

familywishedtoreceivethemedal,aformhadtobefilled.Ofcourseitwasimmediatelyfilledand

mailed.Afterashortwhile,apackagearrivedwiththemedalinit.The

TheBritishWarMedalAwardedtothefamilyofLancePrivateSzymonSchrencel


Epilogue

Genealogicalresearchisoftenperceivedasaquestforgettingcriticalinformationasbirth,marriage

anddeath,andtheconstructionofafamilytree.Indeed,thisistheheartofsuchresearch.However,

itisalsoimportanttolearndetailsofthefamily’sdailylife,orelsetheresearchendsupinatable

andnothingmore.Whenweenrichthefamilytreewithdetails,wepaintitwithintensevividcolors.

Thetreehasleaves.Recordsbecomecomplexfigures.Wecanlearnabouttheirstudies,occupations,

incomeandtaxes,buildingtheirhouses,relationshipswiththeirneighbors,relationshipswithinthe

familyandtheirconsequences,andobviously,theirmilitaryservice,whichmatuncoverunknown

details.

Indeed,theresearchdescribedherhasyieldedcriticalinformationthatwasunknowntothefamily

aboutasignificantfamilymember.Themanwaspaintedinnewcolors.Itwasfoundhowhehad

survivedtheHolocaust,andatthesametime,asisthecaseinsuchaninvestigation,achapterinthe

historyoftheJewishandPolishpeopleaswellasWorldWarIIunraveled.

Theresearchdescribedherepresentsapracticalaspectofintroducinganinterestingfamilystory.

TheresearchsetsthesteppingstonesforgenealogicalresearchaboutAnders’Army.

Itismyhopethisresearchwillhelpmanyotherslocatedetailsabouttheirfamilymemberswhohad

servedinAnders’Army.Itmayalsomotivatetheidentificationofotherissueswhichwillenrichany

familyresearch.

Dr.EliBraunerhasanM.A.degreeinPublicAdministrationfromtheHebrewUniversityinJerusalem,

andaPh.DinthefieldofNonProfitOrganizations.

Dr.Braunerhasbeenanintensivegenealogicalresearcherforsevenyears.Whenhestartedhehadbut

afewdetailsabouthisfamily,andnowhasafamilytreewiththousandsofdetails.Hespecializesin

complementaryresearchofthedailylivesoffamilymembersandthehistoryoftheirhousing.

Eliismarriedandhasthreedaughters.

[email protected]


ThisarticlepresentstwoimportantdecodingprojectsrecentlyconductedinthecityofBrodyinEast

Galicia,todayintheUkraine.Thedecodingworkwasdonewiththesupportofthe“GesherGalicia”1

organizationheadedbyMs.PamelaWeisberger.

Thefirstproject,whichendedin2011,engagesindecodingtheJewishcommunity’scivilregistryin

the19thcentury.Theworkincludedregistrationofbirths,deaths,marriagesanddivorces.Some75,000

registryentriesweredecoded,andasearchengineallowingforfreeaccesstotheinformationwas

constructed.

Thesecondprojectnearing itsend (2012)has todowithdecoding tombstones in the “new”Brody

cemetery.About6,000tombstoneswerephotographed(somefrombothsides);threequartersofthose

are readableand were decoded.All tombstoneswere catalogued (location – GPS coordinates; row

and serial number; tombstone position – headstone/gravestone/broken; and reading ability). This

information,aswell,willsoonbeonlineandaccessibletoall.

BrodywasacitywithaJewishmajorityofsome80%.Itreacheditsthrivingpeakinthefirsthalfof

the19thcentury,whenitwasafreetradecityintheeasternmostendoftheAustro-HungarianEmpire.

BrodywasfamousforitsKloiz“BeitMidrash”andRabbis,themostfamousbeingRavYechezkiel

Landa,andRavShlomoKluger.

Brody–ACitywithAJewishMajority

Brody,acitywithaJewishmajorityattheeasternmostpartofGalicia,isnowapartoftheUkraine

(Photograph1).

1) http://www.jewishgen.org/Galicia/index.html

Decoding Civil Registry and Mapping the Brody Community Cemetery

By:Immanuel(Ami)Elyasaf


Photograph1:GaliciaMap

Whenlandtransportwasbasedonhorsesandcarriages,Brodywasasignificantpassagewaydueto

itstopographicaladvantages,sinceitislocatedinthecenteroftheeastEuropeanplain,inajunction

ofroadsleading(north,south,eastandwest)tothemajorcitiesofLeipzig,Moscow,Danzigandtothe

BlackSea.Hence,BrodywasacrossroadsandaJewishtradecenter.

After the first partition of Poland in 1772, and Austria’s invasion of Galicia, it became clear that

customratesbetweenRussiaandAustriaweretoohigh,thuscausingthepricesofgoodstoriseand

theresidentstocomplain.Hence,in1773,BrodywasremovedfromtheGaliciancustomszoneand

becameafreetradearea.AbolishmentofcustomsresultedinastatewheretradeinBrodyexceeded

allofGalicia’strade.

UponNapoleon’svictoryandtheimplementationoftheTreatyofSchönbrunn(orVienna)2,Austria

lostitsentirecoastline,andBrodywastheonlyopenrouteforthetradebetweeneastandwest.

Brody’s Jewsstatuscanbe seen inTable 13: thenumberof Jews increased from7,627 in 1764 toa

peaknumberof19,060in1849.LatertherewasagradualdecreaseinthenumberofJewsto7,200in

1939.Eventssuchas“SpringofNations”,WorldWarIandwavesofimmigrationtothewestplayeda

significantroleinthechangesinthenumberofJewsinthecity.

2) Treaty of Schönbrunn (or Vienna) was a peace treaty made between France and Austria on October 14th 1809. The treaty was signed after the Austrian defeat in the Battle of Wagram which resulted in heavy casualties for the Austrians, and thereby forced them to sign that harsh treaty. Austria had to surrender Tirol and Salzburg to Bavaria, West Galicia to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and Tarnopil to the Russians as well as other territories which were surrendered to France. (Editor’s note). 3) “Brody”, Pinkas HaKehillot, (Jerusalem, 1980) Volume II.


%oftheentirePopulationJewsYear

7,627176486%14,105179988%16,392182086%16,000183087%16,159184077%19,060184984%17,627185281%15,138186976%15,316188072%11,854190068%12,1501910

7,2001939Table1:JewishpopulationinBrody

Mostofthecity’sresidentsearnedtheirlivingfromcraftsandtrade.Trademostlysupportedexport

andimportpassingthroughBrody.

BrodywasfamousforitsRabbisoftheKatzenelbogenfamily,Babad,Rokach,Horowitz,Kristianpoller

andmanymore;scholars,“dayanim”(religiousjudges)and“maggidim”.AmongthefamousBrody

KloizscholarswereRabbiHaimZonser,RabbiEphraimZalmanMargolisandthe“NodaBiyhudah”.4

DecodingtheCivilRegistry

AbouttheCivilRegistry

UponthefirstpartitionofPoland(1772)andthepublicationofJosephII’s“EdictofTolerance”,defining

the demands from Jewish communities and subjects of the empire, the Austrian administration

demandedthatJewshavefamilynamesandkeeprecordssuchasthepublicregistry.Theserecords

werehandwritteninlarge,respectablebooks.TheyhavebeenpreservedandcanbefoundintheLviv

archives.

ThepublicregistrywassavedonmicrofilmbytheMormons.Table2containsall theinformation

availableaboutBrody.

Theprojectdescribedinthisarticle,isaboutthedecodingofalltheBrodyrecordsfoundintheLviv

Archives.Therecordsincludeinformationaboutbirths,deaths,marriagesanddivorcesintheJewish

communityofBrodybetween1815and1861.Records’officialsinLvivmaintaintherearenoavailable

recordsofBrodyfromearlierorlaterperiodsduetothedestructionofarchivesinwars.

TherecordsarehandwritteninGerman;someinGothicscript(Photograph2).Thequalityofwriting

changesovertime.Evidenceofthiscanbeseenonthepageswheredecodersleftnumerousquestion

marks, in contrast to pages that were all clear, with hardly any question marks on them. A small

4) Aviv Meltzer, An Eternal Light: Brody, in Memoriam (Ramat Gan, 1994), herein: ”Ner Tamid”, p. 67.


numberofrecordsweredestroyedduetomoistureandinappropriatemaintenance.

Mormonmicrofilmingmissedafewpages(whereasotherswerephotographedtwice).Mostofthe

missingpageswerelocatedinLviv.

Thepagestructuredependedonthetypeofregistration(births,deathsandsoforth),andchanged

over time. If, in thebeginningsome30namesofdeceasedpersonswerecrowdeduntoonepage,

attheendoftheperiod,eachrecordofthedeadspreadovertwopagesandthenumberofdeaths

perpagedecreasedto10–15.However,towardstheendoftheperiod,eachrecordcontainedsuch

additional information as the names of both parents in birth records, names of spouses in death

records,commentsandsoforth.

The archive year begins on November 1st and ends on October 31st the following year. An annual

summaryoftherecordsispresentedaftertheOctober31strecord.Someoftherecordshaveserial

numbers.Serialnumbersbeginat“1”everyNovember1st.

OntheDecodingProjectandItsFindings

Thedecodingprojecttookplacein2009–2010.Itwasprecededbynumerousfundraisingactivities,a

processofobtainingthephotographs,writingamanualforthedecodersandrecruitingadecoding

team.Thedecodingteamincluded12researchersfromNorthAmericaandSouthAmerica,Europe

andIsrael.Thegoalwastodecodenames,dates,places,housenumbers,andsignificantnotes.Notes

thathavenotbeendecodedwereminor,suchas thenameof thedoctorwhodeterminedtimeof

death,orthemidwifeandsoforth.

Photograph2:ApageoftheBrodyCivilRegistry

Theprojectfindingsareavailableatthe“GesherGalicia”website5andaresupportedbyauserfriendly

searchengine.Eachrecordhaslinkstoitssources(Table2).ItispossibletoapproachtheLvivarchives

orthevariouscentersoftheMormonChurchandaskforaphotocopyoftherequestedpage.

5) http://search.geshergalicia.org


Table2:BrodyCivilRegistry

Civilregistryinformationreflectsmanyfactsandmaybeofusenotonlyforgenealogicalresearchers

(Table3):

• Birthoftwins.

• Percentagesofnewborndeaths.

• Womenwhodiedinlabor.

• Yearswithhighdeathrates(choleraepidemics–1831,1848and1855).

• Lifeexpectancy.

• Percentagesofmarriagesanddivorces.

Birth Death Marriage Divorce totalrecords

dates records dates records dates records dates records

LDS#[1] Item Vol.[2] p. from to from to from to from to

2405310 5 701-1/11 187 7-Nov-1815

31-Oct-1819

3,264 5-Nov-1815

30-Oct-1819

2,561 29-Nov-1815

4-Oct-1819

127 5,952

2405310 6 701-1/12 188 1-Nov-1819

30-Dec-1826

5,287 4-Nov-1819 28-Dec-1826

191 5,478

2405310 7 701-1/13 176 2-Nov-1819

30-Dec-1826

5,933 5,933

2405310 8 701-1/14 83 01-Jan-1827

16-Mar-1829

1,530 09-Jan-1827 08-Jan-1833

81 27-Jul-1827

28-Jan-1831

8 1,619

2405310 9 701-1/15 304 17-Mar-1829

30-Jul-1831

4,393 4,393

2405311 1 701-1/16 201 18-Mar-1829

21-Jan-1833

2,713 27-Dec-1830

25-Aug-1871

622 14-Jan-1821

1872 34 3,369

2405311 2 701-1/17 335 1-Aug-1831

31-Dec-1837

4,927 4,927

2405311 3 701-1/18 285 02-Nov-1831

31-Oct-1840

7,619 7,619

2405311 4 701-1/19 352 1-Jan-1838

14-Nov-1844

5,241 5,241

2405312 1 701-1/19(cont.)

307 1-Nov-1844

30-Sep-1848

4,351 4,351

2405312 2 701-1/20 667 1-Nov-1840

31-Dec-1854

11,117 11,117

2405313 1 701-1/20(cont.)

32 27-Dec-1854

18-Feb-1855

116 116

2405313 2 701-1/21 566 1-Oct-1848

4-Aug-1855

6,284 6,284

2405313 3 701-1/22 374 19-Feb-1855

30-Jul-1857

1,752 1,752

2405314 1 701-1/22(cont.)

102 31-July-1857

8-Feb-1858

431 431

2405314 2 701-1/23 472 04-Aug-1855

31-Mar-1861

3,829 3,829

2405314 3 701-1/24 396 10-Mar-1858

11-Nov-1860

2,164 2,164

2405315 1 701-1/24(cont.)

59 4-Nov-1860

29-Mar-1861

322 322

Total 5,086 35,993 37,841 1,021 42 74,897

*LDS and Item numbers refer to Mormon microfilm.**Volume is the Number of Volume in Lviv Archive.

***


Years Births Deaths **Marriages **DivorcesMiscarriage/

Death***

1816-1820 4038 3373 161 0 340

1821-1825 3686 4159 122 2 630

1826-1830 3487 2792* 95 9 424*

1831-1835 4917 6032 91 13 1208

1836-1840 4280 3745 61 2 833

1841-1845 4294 3892 55 8 796

1846-1850 3980 5037 38 1 658

1851-1855 3425 5368 37 5 1009

1856-1860 3892 2870 76 0 685

1861-1865 192* 165* 130 0 42*

1866-1870 132 0

Table3:Numberofbirths,deathsmarriages,divorces,miscarriagesand

deathsduringorafterchildbirt

*RecordsofdeathsfromJanuary1,1827toMarch16th,1829andbirthsanddeathsfromApril1stonaremissing.

**Unlikelynumbers,possibleexplanation–notallcouplesbotheredtoinformtheauthoritiesofmarriagesand

divorcesperformedbythecityRabbi.

***Thereportednumbers,bothbirthsandmiscarriagesornewborndeathsbeforeanamewasgiven.Nooption

wasexaminedofdualregistryofthesamenewbornbothonthebirthspageandonthedeathpages.

BrodyCemeteries

TheBrodycommunityhasexistedsincethe16thcentury6.

Threecemeteriesoperatedinthecity(Photograph3)7

1. Theancientcemetery–nearthesynagogueinthecenterofthecitybetween1600–1625.

2. Theoldcemetery–inthecenteroftown,todayafootballcourt,between1625–1830.

3. Thenewcemetery–inthenorthofthecity,between1830-1941.

Of the three cemeteries, only the last one was preserved after the war, and is documented in the

presentproject.Dr.NathanMichaelGelberarguedthattheancientcemeterynearthesynagoguehad

beenusedonlyforafewyears.8

In the appendix of the Brody Book9, “From the Ancient Cemetery” (1699 -1841)”, he copied the old

cemetery’sbookswhichhehadfoundin1912,andincommentnumber1there,hewrotehehadrelied

6) N.M Gelber, Arim VeImahot BeIsrael: Brody, (Jerusalem, 1955), herein, "Gelber", p. 13. 7) Gelber, p. 47. 8) Ibid. 9) Ibid p. 336.


onapreviouscopyof1778,whichhadalsoreliedonold,lostrecords.Theoldesttombstoneisfrom1625.10

In1935GelebrfoundouttherecordshadbeenlostinWorldWarI.

Professor Dov Sadan, born in Brody, tells that engineer Ernst Mach11 took pictures of the

cemetery, and these photographs are kept by Rabbi Joseph Leiner-Parvari. I have tried to locate

them in the past year, but they are neither with his son nor with any of second generation

Brody families. Perhaps Mr. Parvari, who was one of the editors of the Brody Yizkor Book12,

depositedtheminsomearchive.TwophotographsfromthiscollectionareintheBrodybook.13

Sadan14tellsaboutarumorheheardinpostWorldWarIIPalestine,pertainingtotheoldcemetery’s

fate.TherumorsaidtheoldcemeteryhadbeendestroyedbyaJewappointedbytheSoviet

administration(AftertheMolotov–RibbentropPact)totendtotheaffairsoftheJewsinBrody,and

thathehadbuiltaparkonthecemetery,whilesomeofthetombstonesweretransferredtothenew

cemetery.Todaytheplaceisafootballcourt.

Photograph3:TheBrodyCemeteries

In1996,Dr.NeilRosenstein,Dr.BenSolomowitzandRavDovWeber,alloftheU.S.A.initiatedaproject

10) Ibid, Footnote 1. 11) Dov Sadan, MiMehozot Hayaldut (Tel Aviv, 1981) herein “Sadan – Mehozot Hayaldut”, Dov Sadan, Mima'agal Haneurim (Tel Aviv, 1981), Dov Sadan, Ir Va’em Be’einiei Baneiha, (Tel Aviv, 1981), here in “Sadan – Ir Va’Em”, pp. 143 – 144. 12) Meltzer, “Ner HaTamid”. 13) "Gelber", table no. 5 in his book. 14) Sadan, “Ir Va-Em” p. 143.


ofphotographinganddocumentingthecemetery.Informationaboutthisprojectwasuploadedtothe

JewishGenwebsite15

Sincephotographywasdoneonfilm,whichmeantcomplexandharddecodingwork,the“Gesher

Galicia”steeringcommitteedecidedtoreturnandphotographthetombstonesofthenewcemetery,

andthistimeitwasdonedigitally,andincludedtherecordingofeachtombstone’slocation(including

GPScoordinates).

Thedecodingproject tookplace in2012andwasprecededbyfundraisersandphotographing the

tombstones.

TheNewCemetery

Thecemeteryislocatedinthenorthofthecityona200X500metersareaandissurroundedbya

fence;woodssurrounditonthreesides(west,northandeast).Intheeasternpartofthecemetery,there

isamonumentinmemoryoftheBrodyJewskilledintheHolocaust(Photograph4).Theinscriptions

onthetombstonesareontheirwestside,meaningapersonstandinginfrontofthetombstoneand

readstheinscriptionislookingeast,andtheinscriptionfaceswest.Thecityisinthesouth.Adirtroad

separatesthecityfromthecemetery.

Noofficialbodycaresforthecemetery.Inthesummer,vegetationgrowswild,andtheplaceisfilled

withmosquitoesandotherpestswhichmadethephotographycrew’sworkveryhard.Someofthe

photographsrevealthatnaturalfiresarerathercommonthere.

Photograph4:MemorialinmemoryoftheJewsKilledintheHolocaust

15) http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Brody/brody_cemetery_project.htm


Photograph5showsageneralviewofthecemeteryfromsouthtonorth.

Photograph5:Generalviewfromsouthtonorth

Photograph 6 presents the locations of all the photographed and documented tombstones in the

currentsurvey.Theledgerclustersthetombstonesaccordingtorows,wherebyL1-10representsrows

1–10.TheSmarkrepresentsaclusteroftombstoneswhichcouldhardlybeassignedtoaspecificrow,

sotheyweremarkedseparately.

Photograph6:Mapofgravesinthecemetery


Mosttombstonesarereadable,butmostlikely,inthenortheastarea,therearegravestonescovered

bymud,andthesamemaybetruefortheareainthecenterofthecemetery.

PhotographingtheTombstonesandFindingsintheField

TombstoneswerephotographedbyMr.AlexDenisenkoofLviv,whoprovidesJewishgenealogical

researchservicesintheUkraine,andguidestouristsinthelocalJewishcommunities.Fromthespring

of2011untilNovember2011,Mr.Denisenkomethodicallyphotographedthecemetery,accordingto

rowsandblocks.Tombstoneswithinscriptionsonthebackwerephotographedfrombothsides,and

talltombstoneswerephotographedtwice.

Tombstonesare2meterstall(seephotographs7,8)andareusuallydividedintothreeparts:theupper

part is decorated in meaningful engravings such as hands in a blessing gesture for a “Kohen”, a

washingcup(“netilatyadayim”)foraLevy,andlionsforimportantfigures,rabbisandphilanthropists.

Manyofthewomen’stombstonesweredecoratedwithcandlesorfruittrees.Themiddlepartofthe

tombstonepresentstheengravingofthedeceased’sname,“Yichus”anddateofdeath.Thebottom

partisusuallydedicatedtoaeulogywiththeacrosticofthedeceasedperson’sname.

Photograph7Photograph8TheTombstoneofRavMeirBenRavYechiel,MichalKristianpoller,AvBeithDinBrody,Died1886

ThetombstoneofRavYechiel,MichalsonofRavMeirKristianpollerAvBeithDinBrody,Died1863

*

*ThisRabbiMeiristhegrandsonofRabbiMeirKristianpollerthefirstAvBeitDinBrodyinthisdynasty,died5545(1785).


SincetheobligationtohaveafamilynamewasdecreedbyAustrianadministration,mosttombstones,

areonlyengravedwith thedeceasedperson’snameandthenameof thefather,withoutafamily

name.Familynamesusuallyappearedonthetombstonesoftherespectablefamilieswhohadhad

familynameshundredsofyearsbeforesuchasRappaport,Horowitzandsoforth.“Cohen”and“Levy”

areusuallyengravedwithaprecedingdefinitearticle“TheCohen”etc.Thefamilynamecommonly

appearsofthebackofthetombstoneaswellastheGeorgiandateandinscriptioninlocallanguage.

Asformarriedwomen,thetombstonehashernameandherfather’sname.Thehusband’snameand

thefamilynameaftermarriageappearonlyonasmallpartofthetombstones.Thedateofdeathis

alwaysinHebrewaccordingtotheJewishcalendar.SometimesthedateappearsinGematria,and

interwovenintoaversewhichismeaningfultothedeceased.Men’sandwomen’sgraveswereusually

separated,exceptformembersoffamilieswhohadboughtgraveswhilestillalivefortheallfamily

memberstobeburiednexttoeachother,soasoncouldbeburiednexttohismother,andahusband,

nexttohiswife.

Thereareanumberofdoublecapacitygraves,mostofthemliterallythesamegrave,whereafamily

memberwhohaddiedlaterwasadded.Theonetombstone(notdouble)carriesthetwonamesand

twodatesofdeath.

OnDecodingandFindings

Thedecodingworklastedaboutfourmonths.Theresearcherwashelpedbyateamoffourpeople,for

translatingnamesintoforeignscript,andtranslatingHebrewdatesintoGeorgianones,authenticating

materialsandorganizingthefiles.Theinformationwillsoonbeuploadeduntothe“GesherGalicia”

website(seefootnote5),andtheJewishGenwebsite.16Of8,130photographsof6,175tombstones,4,580

were perfectly readable (74%), 1,510 were either broken or impossible to read (25%) and about 80

tombstoneswereimpossibletoreadduetothephotographyquality(1%).

Someofthetombstones’inscriptionscouldnotbereadforavarietyofreasons:somearebroken,

somearecoveredbyfungi,somehaveerodedbynatureandsomeweredamagedbyman.Asforthe

lattergroupoftombstones,itisevidentthatsomeweredeliberatelybrokenordamagedbyshooting

ordebris,somewerestrippedoftheirmetalsigns,andothersdamagedbyHebrewreaderswhohad

attempted toclean the inscriptionsanddestroyed them17or theyhaderasednamesandhonorary

titleswithoutdamagingtherestoftheinscription(Photograph9).

16) http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Cemetery/ 17) It is recommended that families and researchers seeking to restore their family members’ tombstones consult with experts specializing in the restoration of old tombstones. Careless cleaning with chemicals may cause irreparable damage to the tombstone. The activity has to be suited to the type of stone and its condition.


Photograph9:Atombstonewherethefather’sname

wasscratchedwithaknifebyaHebrewreader

Table4showsthenumberoftombstoneswithreadableinscriptions.Asmentionedbefore,thenew

cemetery started operating in 1830. There are a few older tombstones, which had probably been

relocatedfromtheoldcemeterytothenewone.EvidenceofthatcanbefoundinSadan’sstatement.

Itislikelytherearemoreancienttombstones,buttheyhadnotbeenerect,butratherleveledonthe

groundortotallyunreadable.

YearsTombstones1826-184060

1841-1850104

1851-1860119

1861-1870144

1871-1880221

1881-1890462

1891-1900966

1901-1910991

1911-1920505

1921-1930494

1931-1941386

Table4:Tombstonesaccordingtoyear


Itisinterestingtocomparethedatainthistableandthedeathsrecordsintheregistry(Table2).Since

theothertableendsin1861,themostinterestingresearchinformationisthatoftheCholeraepidemic

1n1846–1850.Thecivilregistryreports5,037deaths,whereasinthetenyears1841–1850thereare104

tombstones.Perhapstheexplanationisthatpeoplewerethenburiedinmassgraves,ornotombstones

wereplaced,ortheyweremadeofcrispstonethatdidnotlast

TheTombstones

Thetombstonesmaybeclassifiedintodifferentcategories:gender,socialandoccupationalstatus,

yearsandsoforth,andsowecanlearnfromthetombstonesaboutthecity’sresidents.Thisisatopic

foradditionalresearch.Manytombstonesareunique,andIwouldliketopresenttwoexamples:one

hasexceptionaldecorationsandtheotheristhelasttombstoneinthatcemetery:

Photograph10:ThetombstoneofMalkaBat-YitzhakBabad–traveledtotheLandofYisraelandreturned.

ThistombstoneforMalkaBat-YitzhakBabad(diedDecember10th1834).Shetraveled,sotheydecorated

hertombstonewithaboat(Photograph10)

Photograph11:TombstoneofMosheBenShmuelFrankel,May1,1941–thelasttombstone.


ThetombstoneforMoshebenShmuelFrankel(DiedMay1st1941)isthelasttombstoneinthecemetery.

There is no doubt that they continued to bury the dead in that cemetery, except there were no

tombstones.AccordingtotheAshkenazicustomabroad, tombstonesareplacedaboutayearafter

death,meaningthistombstonewasprobablyplacedonthegraveinthespringof1942.

Tounderstandthefullmeaningofthistombstone,andthededicationofwhoeverbuiltit,wemustnote

thatOperationBarbarossabeganonJune21st1941,andGermanyinvadedtheSovietUnion,including

territorieswhichweretransferredtotheSovietsacordingtotheMolotov–RibbentropPact.10days

later,onJuly1st,1941,GermansinvadedBrodyandinthespringof1942theyalreadygatheredtheJews

inGhettos.Ayearlater,onLagBa’Omerof1943Brodywasdeclared“Judenrein”.

Therearetwotombstonesfrom1940andonlythreefrom1941,comparedtoafewdozenperyearin

theyearsbeforethewar.

Conclusion

AsadescendantofthreegenerationsoftheRabbisofBrody,theKristianpollerfamily,Ihaveinitiated

the twoprojectsdescribedabovesoas touncover thegenealogicalaspectof this importantcity,

whichhasalreadybeendiscussedinnumerousarticlesandbooks.However,thisinformationwas

ratherneglected.

Theproductofthisresearchisavailabletoallandmayserveasgroundsforacademicresearchinthe

domainsofsocietyandart,andforpeoplewhosearchfortheirroots.

To succeed in the decoding work one needs a dedicated team and work methods. The team was

recruitedfromthecity’sresearchers’pool,andsoitisimportantthatresearchersregisterinJGFFon

theJewishGenwebsiteandlist thenamesofthetownsinwhichtheyareinterested.Theworking

methodsincludeinstructionstodecoders,thetoolsforpredictingthemeetingofdeadlines,appropriate

databaseconstruction,identificationofteam’sstrongpointsandweaknessesandprovidingproper

solutionsinthecourseofwork.Thistopicisworthyofanotherarticleinthefuture.

Acknowledgements

Mygratitudegoestothedecodingteaminthetwoprojects.Theirnamesare listedinthe“Gesher

Galicia”Website.

IwouldalsoliketothanktheGesherGaliciamanagementforthesupportandjointthinkingduring

bothprojects.

Immanuel(Ami)Elyasaf(Kristianpoller)–PhysicistinthefieldofElectrooptics,worksasaproject

managerinaHi-Techfirm;livesinRehovot,Israel.Mr.Elyasafhasbeenengagingingenealogical

researchfor20years.HisresearchincludeshisrootsinGaliciaandHungaryandengagesinthousands

ofnamesfromthe11thcenturytothesedays.Informationisavailableat:

http://sites.google.com/site/elyasaffamily.

Inthecourseofresearchinghisfather’sfather’sfamily–theKristianpollerfamilyofRabbisoriginating

fromBrody,Galicia,theauthorinitiatedtwoprojectsfordecodingtheBrodycivilregistryinthe19th

centuryanddecodingthetombstonesinthe“new”Brodycemetery.Theinformationisavailableat:

http://search.geshergalicia.org,[email protected]


The Town of Yahil’nytsya1 Memorial Website

By:AmnonAtzmon

ThetownofYahil’nytsya(formerlyPolandnowintheUkraine2)ismyfather’splaceofbirth.MyfatherimmigratedtoIsraelintheearly1930s,andsincehehadpassedawaywhenIwasveryyoung,andmyrelativeshadnotprovidedanyinformation,Ihadnotheardmuchaboutthetownuntilrecently.

Thisarticlepresentstheinsightsgeneratedfrommyresearch,whichengagedinthedocumentationofthecommunity–theplace,thepeopleandtheeventsconstitutingitslife.AllthiswasdonetohelpthosewhoresearchGaliciaorthosewhodocumentittosetupamemorialwebsiteforoneofthetownsthathadbeendestroyedintheHolocaust,asatoolforresearchingtheJewishworldofourfamily,aworldthathadperished.

My research started when I tried to organize a meeting of Yahil’nytsya survivors on HolocaustMemorialDaynearthetown’smemorialintheNahalatYitzhakCemetery,TelAviv.

Ashortlistofsurvivorswasthebeginning.Stepbystepmoresurvivorswereadded,astheinformationwaspassedaround.Ifoundthetownspeople,whohadbeensaved,andtheiroffspring,membersofthesecondandthirdgeneration.Imadeafilewiththeirpersonaldetailssoastobeabletocontactthe survivors and their families. I sent them all invitations to attend the memorial service of theYahil’nytsyasurvivorsinthecemetery.Foroveradecade,myfriend,AviSchneebaumandIhavebeenorganizingthesememorialservicesforthetownspeoplewhowerekilledintheHolocaust.

Avi,ahistorianbyeducation,whoseoccupationisinthefieldofprinting,hadshownmeadecodedcollectionofphotographshekept.Tofindallthosenames,Aviwouldasksurvivorstoidentifypeopleinthephotographs,andsowiththequestionshehadasked,hegotmostofthenames,andourlistoftownspeoplewasenriched.Thedecodedphotographsareonthewebsite.

Chapter1–CollectingSurvivors’Testimonies

Istillhadnoideawhatthisresearchwouldbelike.IknewIneededevidencetopreserveandrememberthosewhohadlivedinthecommunityandthecommunity’slifestyle.Testimoniesofsurvivorslivingamongstusconstitutedthefirststep.Ibelievedresearchofmaps,recordsanddocumentswouldcomeafterthestageofrecordingthe

1) The town Yahil’nytsya is in the Ukraine. In the past it was under Polish rule and was called Jagielnica. 2) Yahil’nytsya is in the Tarnopil County, Province: Chortkiv East Galicia.


testimonies.Sadly,mostpeopleoftheoldergenerationhadpassedaway.Thosestilllivingamongstuswere16–18yearsoldduringtheHolocaust,meaningtheyhadunderstoodtheevents,andinmostcasesIcouldrelyontheirmemories,asthetraumaisengravedinthevictims’hearts.

Ihavecompiledafilewiththedetailsofalltheadultsconnectedtotownspeopleandarrivedatthenumberof330people(Ilistedmen,women,ages,namesoffamilymembersandcontactinformation).Thesepeopleconstitutetheremainsof44familieswhohadlivedinthetown.AmongthemIfound14livingsurvivors.Therearethreewrittentestimoniesofsurvivorswhohadpassedaway.Therestofthetownspeople’sfamilieshadperishedintheHolocaust,withnotrace.

ItraveledthecountryfromEinHaMifratzinthenorth,throughJerusaleminthecenterandtoBe’eriinthesouth.Irecordedsurvivors’testimonies.Atfirstthesurvivors“couldnotremember”detailsandevents.Inourattempttorejectthe“donotremember”claims,Iaskedsuchinformativequestionsas“Canyoutellmeaboutthewatersupplytoyourhome?”Soonmemoriesreturnedanddetailswereprovidedaboutthelocationsofwaterbarrels,wellsnearthehomes,watermanagementonShabbatandmanydetailsaboutthedailylife,allaroundtheissueofwater.Survivorsprovideddetailsabouttheirlives.Thesewerebitsofinformation,picturesofmemories,briefdescriptionsofeventsandstoriesabouttheirfamilies–notalwayscomplete.Withthedetailsprovided by the survivors, I could try and reconstruct the life in the town before the Holocaust.This insight led me to phrasing questions about the various life domains: community life, youthmovements, holiday customs, public figures, school memories about teachers and friends, familyevents and services. Eight domains of questions were determined, which were divided into sub-questions,soastogetasmanydetailsaspossibleandenrichthetown’sstory.InsomecasesIhearddifferentdescriptionsandstoriesaboutthesametopic. Ididnotrejectoneversionforanother,butratheracceptedthemboth.Irealizedsurvivorshadrememberedthesameeventfromdifferentperspectives.Variationsaddedinformation,andsoweendedupwitharatherrichdescriptionofavividtown,withmanyfacesandasituationwhereeveryoneisright…

Chapter2–WhatWastoBeDonewiththeInformation?

Havingcollectedthetestimoniesofallofthesurvivorsknowntous,thematerialsaccumulatedhadtobesorted.Iwantedtosharethewealthwiththesurvivors,withthemembersofthesecondandthirdgenerationsandwithresearchersandotherpeoplewhomaybeinterested,anddidnothaveanypersonalpartinthestoryofthetown.Iknewwewantedtopreservethematerials.

The big question was: how was the information to be preserved?

Iwillnotwritemuchaboutthesignificanceofvalueofpreservation.Ithoughtthosevalueshadtoberelevanttothemembersofthesecondandthirdgenerations.Hence,whenwefacedtwopreservationoptions–towriteabookinmemoriamofthetownortoconstructanInternetwebsite,wechosethelatter.

Awebsitehasitsadvantages;itisforeveravailabletoall,anditscostismuchcheaperthanthatofpublishingabook.WethoughtifthewebsitewastranslatedintoEnglish,itwouldbeaccessibletosecondandthirdgenerationrepresentativesallaroundtheworld.


Isoonfoundmyselfimmersedindeepresearchseekingtobuildamemorialsiteforthetown.Wehaveprobablybeenright.Morethan10,000visitorshavereviewedthewebsite,andthemeanpageentryisseven.

Chapter3-TheYahil’nytsyaWebsiteIsOnline

OnceIhaddecidedtobuildthewebsite,Ialsodecidedtogetsomehelp.Ithoughttheprojectwouldbeofsomeeducationalvaluetotheeducationsystemandwasprovenright.IapproachedMs.YaffaLehavi,principaloftheRa’anaanOstrowskiHighSchool,communicatedmythoughtsandideas,andimmediatelygainedapartner,willingtorealizemyideas.IaskedMs.Lehaviforhelpintwodomains:buildingawebsiteandtranslatingitscontentsintoEnglish.ShereferredmetoMs.SimchaSidon,coordinatorofcomputerscience.Iaskedthembothtosuggestastudentwhocoulddotheworkvoluntarily.RoyBajaio,alovely15year-oldboy,builttheYahil’nytsyawebsitemaintenancesystemthatoperatessmoothlybyusingafreehostingservice.

Asstatedearlier,theschoolvolunteeredtohelpwithtranslation,andagroupofthegiftedstudentstranslatedsomeofthematerialsintoEnglish,butnotbeforeItalkedtothemaboutthewebsiteandthetown,Yahil’nytsya,anditsdestructionintheHolocaust.TheWebsiteisactiveandcanbeaccessedin:http://users6.nofeehost.com/Jagielnica/

Chapter4–WhatisontheWebsite?

TheTownofYahil’nytsya’sGeographicalLocation

Yahil’nytsya is located in East Galicia (today the Ukraine), about 120 kilometers from Lviv, southsouthwesttoTernopil;fromthere,some60kilometerstothesouthtothetownofChortkiv,and10kilometerstothesouthisthetownofYahil’nytsya.ThetownislocatedonthebankoftheCzerkaskaRiver.Amainroadpassesthroughthetown,aswellasarailwayfromnorthtosouth

MapwiththetownofYahil’nytsyaonitReadersareinvitedtovisitthe“NeighboringTowns”section,whichincludesalistofsome70townswhichhostedabout

100Jewishinstitutions.Quiteafewofthemwereliterally“erased”.


OnthemapwecanseefourStarsofDavid(“MagenDavid”)andtwocrosses.Along“snake”ofsettlementsliesfromthetownnorthward,andtheyareallconnected.Yahil’nytsyaislocatedinavalley,andthereisaneighborhoodtothesouthofthevalley(today)calledNagorzanka.Inthecenterofthatneighborhood,standsthePalaceofCountLanckoronski

Rynek–theCenterofYahil’nytsya(Yahil’nytsyawebsite)

CountLanckoronski(I)andtheMansion

Inthecourseofcollectingtheevidence,survivorskepttellingaboutCountLanckoronski.IdecidedtoresearchthehistoryofCountLanckoronskiandhisconnectiontothetownandtheJewishcommunitywhichhaddevelopedintheplace.Oneofthemansionsownedbythecount’sfamilywasinaplacecalledLanckorona,andhencethenameofthisnoblefamily,whoownedthetownofYahil’nytsya.

TheLanckoronskifamilywasaPolishnobilityfamilybasedinPolandinthe14thcentury.In1425twobranchesofthefamilywerecreated:theolderone,“Jagielnicka”,andtheyoungerone–“Wodzislaw”.3

Yahil’nytsyaismentionedinPolishRoyaldocumentsin1488.Itwasgiventhestatusofatownin1517,anduponPoland’spartitionin1772,itbecameatownunderAustrianrule.

TheLanckoronskifamilybecamewealthybywieldingestatesreceivedfromtheking.Merchants,debt collectors and Jewish craftsmen helped the noble family mange their estate. The family, inturn,wasinterestedintheJews’work,soalargeinterdependentgroupofJews(”Minyan”,“Mikveh”,Synagogue)gatheredaroundthemanor,andsosmalltownships,orintheirJewishname“Shtettles”developedaroundtheManor.CountLanckoronskiwasadescendantofthe“NewChristians”(followersofmessiahclaimantJacobFrank).4

3) A town in that name near Lviv. 4) “New Christians” refers to all Christians who had been pagans or Jewish in their past, and accepted the Christian Faith and were baptized. Jacob Frank, a messiah claimant, also claimed to be the reincarnation of of the self-proclaimed messiah Sabbatai Zevi, was an anti-Talmudist and led his followers unto a new religion different from Judaism, called Frankism. Frankists converted to Christianity in 1759, but in fact, they rejected Christianity as well. After his death in 1791 they integrated into Christian communities (Editor’s note).


Thelastofthemanor’scountswasKarolLanckoronski(4.11.1848–15.7.1933).

Due to the family’s high status and the political-economic relationships between Poland and theAustro-HungarianEmpire,KarolwasappointedamemberoftheViennaParliament.HebuiltacitypalaceinVienna,engagedinartcollectingandbecameapatronofartists.Healsotraveledaroundtheworld.

ThereisnoevidenceofhiseverhavingvisitedthetownofYahil’nytsya.Thetownwasmanagedbyhisrepresentatives.Theestatemanagementkeptameticulousarchivewithreceiptsforpayments,contractsanddifferentnotationspertainingtothemanagementofthemanor.Familydocumentsandthoseofthemanorarekeptinthefamily’sarchivesinKraków,andcopiesarekeptintheCentralArchivesoftheHistoryoftheJewishPeople(CAHJP)inJerusalem.

With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Count Lanckoronski’s art collection was seized andtransportedtoahidingplaceinGermany.HermannWilhelmGöring5wasanotoriousartplundereralloverEurope.HeseizedtwooftheLanckoronskipaintingsandappropriatedthem.ThePalaceinYahil’nytsyawasevacuatedandturnedintoatobaccofactory.InVienna,theLanckoronskipalacewasburntduringthewarandtheheadquartersoftheAustrian“Motorola”companyarenowbuiltonitsruins.6

CountKarolLanckoronskiandhisdaughter,KarolinaLanckorońska

5) One of the leading members in the Nazi Party, commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe (Air force), was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials. He was sentenced to death by hanging, but committed suicide (Editor’s note). 6) http://www.wawel.krakow.pl/en/index.php?op=36 http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karol_Lanckoro%C5%84ski http://www.poland.pl/archives/ww1/article,,id,284221.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_Lanckoronski


Yahil’nytsyaJews

Jews settled in Yahil’nytsya at the beginning of the 18th century. Rabbi Dovid, author of “BrachotDavid”(David’sBlessings)wasthetown’sfirstRabbi.SonsoftheSahpirafamilyfollowedstartingwithRabbiZvi,hisson,RabbiIsrael,hisgrandson,RabbiShmuelZe’evandhisgreatgrandson,RabbiZvi.Atthebeginningofthe20thcentury,RabbiMenachemMelamedservedasthetown’srabbi.7

Atthebeginningofthe20thcentury,theJewishYahil’nytsyapopulationwas1366.MostJewsmadetheirlivingthroughtrade,peddlingandreligion-relatedoccupations.IntheperiodbetweenthetwoWorldWars,andbecauseofthepoliticalandeconomicchangesinPoland,manyofthecommunitymembersimmigratedtotheUnitedStates,othercountriesinEuropeandothercitiesinPolandsoastofindasaferfutureforthemandtheiroffspring.Thetownagedfast,andmostofitsyoungstersleft.Inthatsameperiod,townspeopleexperiencedpoverty,butthecommunitymaintainedinstitutionsinitsattempttoalleviatetheJews’suffering.Movementssuchas“HapoelHaMizrachi”,“Achdut”and“HashomerHazair”werefounded.AJewishschoolwasestablishedinYahil’nytsya,whereteachingwasconductedinHebrew,andanotherschoolwasestablishedbyBaronHirsh. Jewishsocialandculturalassociationslike“Tarbut”alsooperatedinthetown.8

DuringtheHolocaust,manyJewsfromtheneighboringtownsfledtoYahil’nytsya.WiththeadventofSovietregime,thetownhadsome2000Jewsfromothertowns,whereasbeforetheHolocaustthetown’spopulationwas1,066.

TheGermanoccupationoftheSovietUnionin1941resultedinthebanishmentofJews,arrestsbytheGestapo,tortureandkilling.Otherswhowerecraftsmen,hadtoworkfortheNaziwarmachine.

Youngpeople,includingwomen,wereforcedtoworkinKaochuckplantationsintherubberindustry.ThoseJewshadacollectivekitchen,andsincetherewasnoghettointhetown,theycouldsmugglefoodoutoftheirworkplaceandcaredforeachother.

AJudenratwasappointedinYahil’nytsyaanditsmembershadpermanentconnectionswithJudenratsinotherplaces,andthatishowtheywereinformedaboutwhatwashappeningoutsidethetown.TheJudenratobeyedGermanorderstohandoverjewels,goldandfurstotheGermans.Jewswhorefusedtocomplywerekilled.

TheJews’majorsufferingwasduetotheUkrainianscollaborationwiththeNazis.“Aktions”beganintheautumnof1942-1943.MostJewswhowerecaughtweresenttoBelzecexterminationcamp.Othersescapedorwereshotinfarms,mainlybecauseUkrainiansturnedthemin.Afewfoundrefugein

7) Significant in formation about the town’s rabbis can be found in Rav Meir Wonder,Meorey Galicia: Enciklopaedia Le’Chachmey Galicia – Toldoteyhem VeKorot Yemeyhem shel Chachmey Galicia Mi’shnat 1772 Ve’Ad LaShoah, (Jerusalem, 1978) 6 Vo. In my site commemorating the shtetl of the shtetl Yahil’nytsya I paid attention to the rabbis of the town, and realized that “Kosher” (of food). Divirces and “Eruv” were the main issues they dealt with. 8) A unique story appears on the website under the link “The Book of Harvest”.On the eve of Purim, February 22, 1939, the Principal of the Hebrew school in Yahil’nytsya, the poet Avraham Dov Werbner, assembled his students instructing each of them to compose an essay on a subject of their choice. The essays were bound together and sent to the United States to Moshe Herzog, philanthropist and chairman of the Yahil’nytsya Landsmanschaft Committee, on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Many years later the manuscript was rescued by an alert Jew who retrieved it from a rubbish bin. The manuscript was brought to Israel. Reading these essays amazes the reader as the pupils expressed deep thoughts (we have to remember that Hebrew was not their mother tongue).


farmsuntilthetownwasliberatedbytheSovietsinMarch1944.

Conclusion

ThisarticlebrieflydescribestheconstructionoftheYahil’nytsyamemorialwebsiteanditscontents.Thesitecontainsagreatdealofmaterials:descriptionofthetown,communitycustomsofdailylifeandofholidays,storiesoffamiliesandindividuals,memoirs,photographs,documents,sourcesforcommunityresearchwhichhavenotyetbeenexhausted,amemoriallistoftownspeoplekilledintheHolocaust,alistofsurvivorsandmore.

Here are a few insights from the data collection stage to the stage of uploading materials to thewebsite:

The journey for locating the survivors and their offspring was fascinating. Survivors providedinformation about their families and friends, and they made sure to make contact and provideinformation.Thesurvivorshavetaughtmeagooddealaboutmanyfamilieswhohadlivedinthetownandwerelost.

ListingsurvivorsinanExcelfile,andthenrecordingtheirtestimonieshelpedorganizethematerialsandprocessthem.Eachsurvivor’sinformationandstorywasrecorded.Ihavetriedtomakethemtalkinanumberofways,amongthemaskingquestionsaboutthetiniestdailylifedetails,whichwasratherfruitful.Thismethodprovedtobeusefullateron,astestimonydetailsweredividedaccordingtodomainsandthenamesofthewitnesses.

Survivors had witnessed and remembered events from different perspectives. I have realizedsurvivorsrememberbitsandpiecesbetterthantheentirestory.Perhapsthishastodowiththeirpasttrauma,thetimedistance,andtheirwishtolivetheirlifewithoutthetroublingmemoriesinterruptingtheirdailyroutines.

Successfulcooperationwiththeeducationsystemledtotheconstructionofa“living”Internetwebsitewhichcanbeupdatedatanytime,whichisaccessibletoall,andI,forone,preferitoverabook.

Ihavealsolearntthatwhenconstructingawebsite,onemustbecarefulandnotuploaddatatoafreehostingservice,asiftheservicestopsworking,youlosethewebsiteandhavetoreconstructit.

AmnonAtzmon,borninIsrael,married,fatherofthree,retiredfromtheI.D.F.AmnonusedtoworkinabankandhasadegreeinCriminology,SociologyandPoliticalSciencefromBar-IlanUniversity.AmnonistheheadofRa’ananabranchofthe“IsraelgenealogicalSociety”.HelivesinRa’anana.

[email protected]


Galicia – Selected Web Pages

SearchengineofGesherGalicia

http://search.geshergalicia.org/www.search.GesherGalicia.orghttp://sites.google.com/site/elyasaffamily/There:http://sites.google.com/site/elyasaffamily/galician-familieshttp://sites.google.com/site/elyasaffamily/brody-datahttp://sites.google.com/site/elyasaffamily/biegeleisenhttp://sites.google.com/site/elyasaffamily/kristianpoller

DirectoryforGaliciaisnowfull-text

www.genealogyindexer.org:http://genealogyindexer.org/directoriesSearchablepage:http://genealogyindexer.org/?PHPSESSID=e27f2dd2a474b835d8f13008f121c425

Krakowandvicinity(halfpartfreeandhalfpartpaid)

http://www.shoreshim.org/en/default.asp

JewishHistoryinGaliciaandBukovina

http://www.jewishgalicia.net/http://galiciantraces.com/blog/http://jewishwebindex.com/ukrainian_shtetls.htm

MiriamWeiner’swebsite:DocumentationandArchivesinPoland

http://www.rtrfoundation.org/Archdta1.html

JewishShtetles:http://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/city/jagielnica/http://www.polishroots.comhttp://www.kresy.co.uk/galicja.html

PicturesuploadedbyPolishfriendsofJewswhoperishedintheholocaust(partarewithexplanationswho’swhointhepictures,someareunknown)

http://www.zydzipolscy.pl/


Instructions for writing articles to be published in“Sharsheret Hadorot”

ArticlesinEnglishshouldacceptedbasedonthefollowingcriteria: • Articlesaresuitableforthe“SharsheretHadorot”magazine.

• Articleshavetoengageinresearchmethodsandmethodologyofgenealogicalresearch.

• HistoryofGenealogy.

• Auniqueinvestigationofanevent/photograph/document.

• Thearticlemustbeoriginalandcomposedbytheresearchers.

• Thearticlehasnotbeenpublishedelsewhere.

• Articlesandtheirtranslationswillnotbepublishedelsewherewithouttheexpressedconsentof

the“SharsheretHadorot”editor.

• Theeditorhastherighttodetermineifandwhenanarticleispublished,basedonprofessional

editorialconsiderations.

• ArticlesshouldbesubmittedinWordforWindowsdocumentsasanattachedfile.

• Spacesbetweenlines–1.5lines.

• Spacingbetweenparagraphs–1.5lines.

• Wordcombinations–thewriterhastousefullwordswithoutshortforms(suchasU.S.orU.K.).

• Writersshouldnotadddiacriticmarks.

• Photographsshouldbesentasjpgorgiffiles.Theeditorreservestherighttopublishphotographs

accordingtoneed.

• Tables–shouldbeaddedintothebodyofthearticle.

• Length–thearticleshouldbe6–12pageslong.Theeditorwillconsidersplittingalongarticleinto

twoparts,ifthearticleisofspecialinterest,allincoordinationwiththewriters.

• Foreignfamilynames shouldbewritten inHebrewand in their foreign languagespelling (e.g.

.(Gorenshtein/Gorenstejnגורנשטיין

• Namesofplaces shouldbewritten inHebrewand in their foreign languagespelling (e.g.רובנה

Rowno/Rivne).

• NamesofPlaces(geographical/political)shouldbewrittenaccordingtothestatetowhichthey

belongedinthediscussedperiodandtoday(e.g.Rowno,thenPoland,nowUkraine).

• Font:“David”inHebrewand"TimesNewRoman"inEnglish.

• Quotesfrombooks/articleswillbewrittenininvertedcommasfromthebeginningofthequote

toitsend.Thequotedpartwillappearinanewparagraph,butthefirstwordswillbewrittenafter

threespaces.

• Referencesshouldbewrittenasfollows(examples):

• Attentionhastobegiventothecomponentsofthereference,spacesbetweenwords,commas,full

stops,invertedcommas,underline,bracketsandcapital lettersinEnglishwhenwritingnames,

placesandsoforth.

• References–shouldbewrittenatthebottomofthepageandwillcarryanumericalidentification

onthesamepagewheretheitemtobeexplainedappears.

• Book:AnitaShapira,YigalAlon:NativeSon,(UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress,2008)pp.52–80,


• “Shapira”.

• Anumberofwriters:AnitaShapira(Editor),MotiGolani,“TheHaifaTurningPoint”–Britainand

theCivilWarinIsraelDecember1947–May1948”inAStateEvolving(Jerusalem,2001)pp.7–13.

• Article–DaphnaZimhoni,“TheMandateGovernmentandtheStatusofReligiousGroupsinIsrael”,

Cathedra,80,(Jerusalem,1996)pp.150–175,“Zimhoni”.

• Anewspaperarticle:NetaPeleg,“Karmiel:AJewish-Arab-Americanencounter”,“YediotKarmiel",

p.46.

• Repeating References at the bottom of the page with the identical mark on the page

“Shapira”/"Zimhoni",pp.28–59.

• Interviews:Nameoftheinterview,dateoftheinterviewanditsplace:InterviewwithRabbiYust

Meir,Haifa21.4.2008.

• Archives–thenameofthearchive,itslocation,thenumberofthedocumentasitislistedonthe

documentorinthearchive.

• Internetsites–fullURL.

Writersareinvitedtopresenttheirquestionsanddiscussanyissue.

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