Finding Your Jewish Roots in Galicia: A Resource Guide
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