Finding Your Jewish Roots in Galicia:
A Resource Guide
by Suzan F. Wynne
[Out of print]
The definitive work on Galician-Jewish
genealogical research. This book organizes what is known about Galicia Jewish record searching and other resources
to assist genealogists in tracing their Jewish Galician roots. Such resources include archival collections of Jewish
vital and other records; geographic, visual and language aides; books; documents related to the Holocaust; and
articles about travel and research in specific towns by members of Gesher Galicia, the Special Interest Group for
Jewish genealogy. The book directs you to: addresses of archives, researchers and translators; organizations that
hold important resource information; and travel agencies that can assist with organizing individual and group travel
to Poland and Ukraine. A highlight of the book is the newly formatted and revised Galician Gazetteer which until
now has only been available on microfilm. The Gazetteer is a compilation of more than 1,000 communities where Jews
lived in the 1870s and the administrative districts of each community. The inclusion of this valuable resource
is designed to aide readers in identifying their place of origin and pinpointing whether vital records have survived.
8½" x 11" 240 pp.
hardcover $39.95
Table of Contents
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Introduction
Organization of This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Special Note about Geographical References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Chapter 1: Galicia: Its History and Jewish Life
Brief Geopolitical History of Galicia and Its Territory. . . . . . . . . .1
1768-1795 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
1795-1918 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
1918-Present. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Krakow: Special Status. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Jewish Life in Galicia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Socioeconomic Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Jews and the Liquor Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Population and Emigration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Jews as Town and City Dwellers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Organization of the Jewish Community. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Taxes on Jews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Jewish Religious Observance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Marriage As the Cornerstone of Jewish Society . . . . . . . . . . 12
Surname Acquisition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Chapter 2: Jewish Vital Records
Historical Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Present-Day Organization and Location of Vital Records . . . . . . . . . 17
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Background: Fate of Eastern Galician Vital Records. . . . . . . . 17
Background: Fate of Western Galician Vital Records. . . . . . . . 18
What Do the Records Look Like?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Where to Find Vital Records for Eastern Galicia. . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Where to Find Vital Records for Western Galicia. . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Holdings of the LDS (Mormon) Family History Library . . . . . . . . . . 36
Chapter 3: Information in Sources Other Than Vital Records
Strategies for Finding Information in Sources Other Than Vital Records . 38
Census Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Notary Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
School Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Military Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Holdings of Specific Repositories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Ivano-Frankovsk Archives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Ukraine Central State Historical Archives in Lviv . . . . . . . . 42
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People . . . . . . 45
Jewish National and University Library. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Jewish Historical Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Chapter 4: Holocaust-Related Sources
Yizkor Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
JewishGen Yizkor Book SIG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Pinkas Hakehillot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Sources for Yizkor Books and Pinkas Hakehillot . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
National Yiddish Book Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Holocaust-Related Institutions and Collections . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Yad Vashem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Ukraine, Record Group 31. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Poland, Record Group 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Specific Town Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Other Holocaust-Related Materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Accounts of the Holocaust in Galician Towns and Cities . . . . . . . . . 58
January 1940: Radiogram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Chapter 5: Other Books and Resource Materials
General References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Jewish References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
General Historical References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Jewish Historical References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Geography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Biographical Compilations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Socioeconomic References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Historical Travel Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Modern Travel Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Bibliographic Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Language Aids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Pre-World War I Directories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Photo Collections and Video Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Geography and Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
U.S. Library of Congress and National Archives Resources. . . . . 69
Chapter 6: Additional Resources
World Wide Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
JewishGen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Gesher Galicia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Sites by Individuals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Organizations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Jewish Preservation Committee of Ukraine. . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
New Cracow Friendship Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
þnyatyn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Judaic Studies in Krak¢w. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Translators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Research Services and Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Postcards from Ukraine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Chapter 7: Travel Tips and Notes
Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Ukraine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
First-hand Reports on Travel in Ukraine . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Visiting Ancestral Towns in Ukraine: A Report by Miriam Weiner76
Recent Travel in Ukraine by Susan Gelber Cannon . . . . . . 79
Another Brief Travel Saga by William Fern . . . . . . . . . 80
Chapter 8: Indexes to Selected Books and Collections
Town Name Index to Pinkas Hakehillot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Town Name Index to Le Toledot ha-Kehillot be Polin . . . . . . . . . . . 83
United States Passenger Lists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
United States State Department Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
State Department Records Reveal Eighty-Year-Old Family Drama by Saul Lindenbaum85
Chapter 9: Notes about Particular Towns
Eastern Galicia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Western Galicia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Appendix A: Pronouncing and Recognizing Your Polish Town and Family Names
Polish Pronunciation Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Rules of Polish Grammar Useful for Genealogists. . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Appendix B: Sample Letter to Polish Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Polish Date Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Appendix C: Synagogues and Cemeteries
Surveys of Polish Jewish Cemeteries and Synagogues . . . . . . . . . . .100
Eastern Galicia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Western Galicia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Appendix D: Examples of Vital Records
Galician Documents in the 18th and 19th Centuries. . . . . . . . . . . .105
Appendix E: United States Government Sources
U.S. State Department Records: Protection of Interests of
U.S. Citizens in the Decimal File (RG59). . . . . . . . . . . . .110
U.S. Emergency Passport Applicants, 1919þ26. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110
Appendix F: Documents about Krak¢w Jews: 18th and 19th Centuries
Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
Records of Births, Marriages and Deaths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123
Censuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123
Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People. . . . . . . . . .124
Jewish Historical Institute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124
National Archives in Krakow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124
Selected Books on the History of Krak¢w Jewry. . . . . . . . . . . . . .124
Appendix G: Galician Towns and Administrative Districts Where Jews
Lived in 1877. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182
Index to Towns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .184