A Guide to Jewish Genealogical Resources in Israel
Table of Contents

Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
About the Israel Genealogical Society. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
How to Use This Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
  Why Look for Roots in Israel
  Advance Preparation is the Key to Success
  When You Arrive in Israel
  Long Shots

Part I: Location of Genealogical Information by Resource
Yad Vashem Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
  Hall of Names. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
     Pages of Testimony
  Library. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
     Yizkor Books
     Holocaust-Related Materials
     Genealogies
  Central Archives of the Holocaust and Jewish Resistance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
     Arolsen Records
     Extraordinary Commission
     Holocaust Survivor Testimonies
     World Gathering of Survivors List
     Other Resources
  Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
  Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
  Selected Collections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
     Diamant Collection
     Family Papers
     Germany
     The Netherlands and Germany
     Poland
     Argentina
     General Information
Jewish National and University Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
  Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
  Department of Manuscripts and Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
  Microfilm Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
     Pinkassim
     Vernadsky Library (Kiev) Manuscripts
     Montefiore Censuses of the Jews of Palestine
     Name Changes
     Family Trees
  Catalogue Hall, Circulation Desk and Reference Room. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
     Telephone Directories
     Hebrew Subscription Lists
     Reference Books
     Publications
  Main Reading Room for Jewish Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
  Map Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
  Oral History Division. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Dinur Center Institute for Advanced Studies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
  Institute for the Study of Dutch Jewry
Israel State Archives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
  Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
  Ottoman Empire Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
     Nefus (Population) Registers, 1878-1917
     Ottoman Administration, Miscellaneous Records, 1870-1922
     British Consular Records, 1838-1914
     German Consular Records, 1842-1939
  British Mandate Period (1918-1948) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
     Records of the Chief Secretary's Office, 1918-1948
     Land Registration and Land Settlement, 1920-1948
     Palestine Government Migration Department, 1920-1948
     Department of Health, 1919-1948
     District Administration, 1920-1948
  Records of the State of Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Jewish Agency Search Bureau for Missing Relatives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
  Holocaust Correspondence File
  Israeli Citizen Database
  Recent Russian Immigrants
Central Zionist Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
  Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
     1939 Census of the Jews of Jerusalem
     Access Aids
     Electoral Records
  Archives of Institutions Department. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
     "Illegal" Immigration (Aliyah Bet)
     Youth Aliyah (Aliyot Hanoar)
     British Army Enlistees
     Recruitment and Demobilization Offices
     Jewish Supernumerary Police (Notrim/Guardsmen)
     Mikveh Yisrael Agriculture School
     Gymnasia Herzlia
     New Immigrant Registers
     Other Potentially Useful Sources
  Reading Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Chevrot Kadisha (Burial Societies). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
  Largest Jerusalem Chevra Kadisha
  Oldest Chevra Kadisha
  Difficulties
  Tip for Cemetery Visits
  Resource
Jerusalem Municipality Historical Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
  Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
  Ottoman Period (until 1918). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
     Mukhtar Registers
       Alter Berenblum's Ledgers
       Todros Warschawski's Ledgers
       Aharon Hochstein's Ledgers
     Montefiore Censuses (Jerusalem Only)
     Lists of Inmates of the Moshav Zekenim ve-Zekenot ha-
       Meuhad (United Home for the Aged)
  British Mandate Period (1918-1948) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
     Archive of the Vaad ha-Ir, 1918-1931
     Elections to Vaad HaKehilla--Electoral Registers
     General List of Jerusalem Jews Age 18 and Older, 1928
     Lists of Those Receiving Palestinian Citizenship
     Municipality of Jerusalem Elections
     Other Sources
  Collection of the Old Yishuv (Pre-State Israel) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
     Sephardic Community Records
       Lists of Residents
       Accounts
     Other Jewish Communities
     Ashkenazi Community
     Organizations and Institutions
  State of Israel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
     Voter Registration Lists (1951-1988)
     School Archives
Ben-Zvi Institute (Yad Itzhak Ben-Zvi). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
  Library
  Archives
  Institute for the Research of Eretz Israel
  Ben-Zvi Institute for the Study of Jewish Communities in the
East
Miscellaneous Jerusalem Sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
  Keren Kayemeth Leisrael. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
     Golden Books
     Computerized Photographic Archive
  Joint Distribution Committee--Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
  Chamber of the Holocaust (Marlef HaShoa). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
  Center for the Study of Italian Jewry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
     Family Trees
  Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
     Library
     Archives
Selected Sources Outside of Jerusalem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
  Beth Hatefutsoth: Douglas E. Goldman DOROT Genealogy
Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
  Diaspora Research Institute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
  Landsmanschaftn Societies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
  Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
  Latvia and Estonia Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
  Tel Aviv Municipal Archives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
  Haifa Municipal Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
     Record Groups and Archival Collection
     VAAD Hakehilla (Committee of the Community)
     VAAD Hadar Hacarmel
     Neve Shaanan VAAD
     Har Hacarmel VAAD
     Other Record Groups
       Municipal Departments and Associated Institutions
       Personal, Family and Nonmunicipal Organizations
     Maps, Photographs and Books
  Resources in Beersheva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
  Jewish Legion Museum of the Ministry of Defense (Beit
Had' Dudmim) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
  Israel Labor Archives (Archion Ha'Avodah) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Part II: Location of Genealogical Information by Type
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Best Source for Finding Relatives in Israel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Telephone Directories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Immigration/Emigration Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
  Immigration in the Ottoman Period (until 1918)
  Immigration in the British Mandate Period (1918-1948)
  Immigration in Modern Israel
  Emigration from Israel
Name Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
  Ottoman Period (until 1918)
  British Mandate Period (1918-1948)
  Modern Israel
Census Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
  Best 19th Century (Ottoman) Sources
     Montefiore Censuses
       Mukhtar Registers
     Ottoman Censuses
  British Mandate Census Records
     Best Source for Jewish Residents
  Modern Israel Census Records
Birth Records. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
  Ottoman Period (until 1918)
  British Mandate Period (1918-1948)
  Modern Israel
Death Records. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
  Ottoman Period (until 1918)
  British Mandate Period (1918-1948)
  Modern Israel
Marriages and Divorces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
  Ottoman Period (until 1918)
  British Mandate Period (1918-1948)
  Modern Israel
Court Records. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Part III: Appendixes
Appendix A. Yizkor (Memorial) Books in the Library at
Yad Vashem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Appendix B. Genealogies in the Library at Yad Vashem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
Appendix C. Genealogically Useful Collections in the Yad
  Vashem Archives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112
Appendix D. International Tracing Service Records at Yad
  Vashem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119
Appendix E. World Gathering of Holocaust Survivors (1981) List
  of Birth Places. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
Appendix F. Genealogical Material at the Central Archives 
  for the History of the Jewish People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133
Appendix G. Files on Germany and The Netherlands at the 
  Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171
Appendix H. Register and Record Book Holdings at the 
  Jewish National and University Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173
Appendix I. Toledoth Israel-Bibliography Held in the 
  Jewish National and University Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177
Appendix J. List of Private Archives, Family Records, 
  Family Trees and Genealogies at the Jewish National and
University Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181
Appendix K. Montefiore Censuses at the Jewish National and
  University Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183
Appendix L. The 19th-Century Montefiore Censuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .184
Appendix M. Reference Books Useful for Genealogists at the 
  Jewish National and University Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Appendix N. Surnames in Sources at the Jewish National and
  University Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .200
Appendix O. Resources at the Dinur Center Institute for the
  Study of Dutch Jewry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206
Appendix P. Chevrot Kadisha (Burial Societies) Listed
  in 
  1994 Israeli Telephone Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211
Appendix Q. Landsmanschaftn in Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214
Appendix R. Hebrew, Cyrillic and Old German Alphabets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .228



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