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Bucovina (See also Bukovina
The Russian Empire got its name only in 1721, when Peter I adopted the title of Emperor and renamed the Tsardom of Muscovy to the Russian Empire Russland). Source: "A History of Ukraine" authored by Paul Robert Magocsi in 1996. Today, Russia has a total population of 146.9 million, making it one of the largest countries in the world. On March 13, 1881, the Tsar was assonated and just about a year later the pogroms began. Someone had to be blamed! Why not the Jews? Beginning in 1883 an exodus of Jews, and other minorities, began. Could you blame them? Thank God they had the courage to leave. Jews in Russian Lands "But to the best of my knowledge, a Jew could not carry out any administration position whatsoever within the Russian Empire Territories. He couldn't own the land either. All available for the distribution land has been distributed amongst the Russian noble class following divisions of Poland, or land has been already owned by Lithuanian or Polish noblemen, and real estate was Crown's property." From a posting by Alexander Sharon http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~casey1/CP-Russia.pdf Pogroms in Russia of 1881 Berezovka, Ukraine - April 4 Ben Gurion University Library in Israel
Has a periodical published in Hebrew from around 1917 to around 1925. Called "Reshumot" in contains memoirs, reminiscences, eye witness reports of pogroms, etc. Another, even better, resource, is the periodical "He-avar" (the English language table of contents transliterates it as Heawar). It was published by the Association for the Historical Study of Russian and Ukrainian Jewry. Volume 21 has the index for volumes 1-20. The periodical appeared irregularly until about 1976. Many volumes have abstracts in English. The contents are straight history, book reviews, memoirs, correspondence, biographies, etc. It is a treasure house! Map located at The entire immigration from the Russian Empire (that would include Poland and Finland) in 1880-1910 years counted about 2 million people. It was almost pure Jewish immigration - more than 80% immigrant each year were Jews. Before 1880, this percent was around 10%, after 1910 percent fell to 30 ... then 50% according to a submission to JewishGen by Dr. Roman Tunkel on 2/25/1999 where he asked why? There were more than a dozen emigrant control stations established by Germany along its Russian border. In "Fame, Fortune and Sweet Liberty", an excellent book on the "Great European Emigration" published in Bremen in both English and German, the authors write: "Health inspections stations were set up at points where the Russian and Prussian railroad lines met, and all emigrants were required to use the special trains or cars, which were now often uncomfortable". On June 22, 1941, the German army invaded Soviet territory. They did not enter alone - small units of SS and police, some three thousand men in all, were also dispatched on special assignments. Their task to kill the Jews on the spot - Jews, but not only Jews; communists, Gypsies, political leaders, and the intelligentsia were also killed. Order police battalions, Waffen SS units, the Higher SS, and Police Leaders also carried out the mass executions. Additional commentary can be found at Today, with the latest developments in Russia, the estimated 600,000 to 2 million Jews know little of Jewish life and what is left and it is becoming less stable as it becomes more tied to personal relationships between powerful Jews and the Kremlin. There are 240 Jewish congregations registered with Russia's Justice Ministry. There is a more descriptive detail in Bernard Horwich's "My First Eighty Years" (excerpts available at: Russia's Czar Nicholas I in April 1835, created the 'Pale of Settlement'. At least one third of Russia's Jews were forced to live in the Pale. The pale of Settlement was a demarcated area in Russia beyond which Jewish settlement and permanent residences were forbidden. The only exceptions were merchants of the first guild, doctors, lawyers, members of the free professions and several other Jewish groups of insignificant size. The Pale encompassed fifteen provinces in the Polish Kingdom, Lithuania, Byelorussia, Bessarabia, Kourland and most of Ukraine. See Leonid Smilovitsky, "Revival of the Historiography of Byelorussian Jews 1992 - 1995" Leonid Smilovitsky smilov@netvision.net.il The Pale remained Russian policy until 1917 when the Bolshevik Revolution removed it from law. The Jews within the Pale were 11.6% of the Russian population (4,899,300) Jews. Articles about the circumstances surrounding the pogroms can be found at http://www.friends-partners.org/friends/absent.html http://www.iea.org.il/blueprint/PAGE005.HTM "Beyond The Pale" - an exhibition on the Internet Dictionary of Period Russian Names - List of Cities Directory of 25 Russian Pale Provinces Pale of Settlement - Map and Articles in The Jewish Chronicle (London) describing pogroms in Russia, May 1881
Project Kesher - recognizing the
need for a person-to-person exchange with the Jewish community in the
former Soviet Union, Project Kesher arranges Jewish home stays
and contact with leaders in Jewish communities in Russia and the
former Republics.
Russia On The Web Russian Administrative Divisions Russian Pale, Past and Present Jurisdictions An excellent site to find information about most European countries is at and type in the name of the country you wish to research in the search field. This site is a great source to find information for almost every European country. Another valuable site to help find a person, maps, etc. is Global Gazetteer is a great web site. It is a directory of 2,880,532 of the world's cities and towns, sorted by country and linked to a map for each town. A tab separated list is available for each country.
1903 Russian Business Directory - translated version available at www.jewishgen.org/belarus "A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire" - authored by Alexander Beider Buy from Amazon.com "A World of Secrets" - authored by Leonard H. Berman. The Gilded Age in Europe and in America is the backdrop to the dramatic events that will reveal the secrets they hid to survive. Marta Birkov suckles an infant whose mother is sentenced to be hanged for complicity in the Czar's assassination. Jonah Chernov agonizes over his twin sister's fate. Secretly, his sister is being spirited away in a coffin to Copenhagen. Available from author at 21 Chathan Drive, Voorhees, NJ 08043. $20 plus $5.00 shipping "Atlas of Russian History" - authored by Martin Gilbert and published in 1993 by Oxford University Press in New York ISBN 0-19-521061-1 "Book of Memories" - a number of veterans and researchers collected and verified the names, vital data and causes of death for Jewish members of the Red Army and Soviet Navy. The
Brokgauz & Efron Encyclopedia - originally edited and published from
1890-1907 by the German Brokgauz and the Jewish Efron (with others too).
The information and perspective of the online encyclopedia reflect this
timeframe. That is what makes this encyclopedia useful to
genealogists. There are purportedly around 50,000 subjects. The
encyclopedia is in Cyrillic, however there is a machine translator of
Russian to English and this can give a sense of the content. "Brothers Ashkenazi" - authored by I. J. Singer and published by Forum Books in 1936 and by World Publishing Company of New York and Cleveland in 1963 "The Cantonists: The Jewish Children's Army of the Tsar" disturbing accounts of the Tsars' boy warriors - authored by Larry Domnitch and published by Devora. Cantons were areas in Russia, where Peter the Great established barracks to house Jewish children and others who were press-ganged into his army. Some children could be exempted -- those studying at yeshiva and those who were married. This caused many under-age marriages. "Carved Memories: Heritage in Stone from the Russian Jewish Pale" - authored by David Noevich Goberman Buy from Amazon.com "Common Places; Mythologies of Everyday Life in Russia" - authored by Svetlana Boym and published in Cambridge, Massachusetts by Harvard University Press in 1994 "Evreiskaya Encyclopedia" - (Russian Jewish Encyclopedia) - printed in the Russian language and produced in St. Petersburg between 1908 and 1916. There are sets at YIVO; the Library of Congress and at Dropsie in Philadelphia.
"Dispelling Myths, Book Shows Jewish Role
In Soviet War Effort" - authored by Lev Krichevsky. It took a
group of veterans and researchers 10 years to collect and verify the names,
vital data and causes of death for Jewish members of the Red Army and Soviet
navy who died during WW II "Istoriya Khazar"
- Artamonov's Russian-language book - released by Gosudarstvennyi Ermitazh,
Filologicheskii Fakul'tet SPbGU. This 549 page book covers the history
and culture of Khazar kingdom. "Jewish Roots in Ukraine and Moldova: Pages from the Past and Archival Inventories" authored by Miriam Weiner
"The Jews of Moscow, Kiev and Minsk: Identity, Anti-Semitism, Emigration" - authored by Rozalina Ryvkina - The Jews of Moscow, Kiev and Minsk:... "Khaklaim Yehudiim Bearvot Russia" (Jewish agriculturalists on the Russian Steppe), published in Tel Aviv 1965 is a major source of information about Jewish agricultural colonies. "Knopf Guides. St. Petersburg". published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. in 1995 is a fantastically rich and colorful tour guide of the Russian city. "The Penguin Historical Atlas of Russia" - authored by John Channon with Rob Hudson and published by Penguin Books in 1995. (Timeline, maps plus a synopsis of major events in Russia's history with many pictures. "A Travel Guide to Jewish Russia & Ukraine" - authored by Ben G. Frank and published by Pelican Books. Useful information for the Jewish traveler. Describes the Jewish communities the author encountered as he traveled in the footsteps of a twelfth century rabbi and includes numerous photographs and an index. "Ruska" - authored by Edward Rutherfurd and published by Ballentine Books Edition in New York in 1991 ISBN 0-8041-0972-9 "Yevreiski Zemlyedeltsi" (Jewish Agriculturalists) - authored by Nikitin and published in St.Petersburg, 1887 General Russian Information
All Russian population didn't have common civil rights and freedoms by constitution. Each of the Russian crown subjects have certain amount of rights that depend on their age, gender, estate (class), religion, place of residence, occupation, marital status, property ownership, etc. But these rights undergone constant changes in Imperial Russia and it is difficult to formulate in short what civil rights had Meshchane (m. singular) or Meshchanka (f. singular). From a posting to BelarusSIG by Vitaly Charny on 4-3-02 Anti-Defamation League - Alexander Axelrod is in the Moscow office. Archives ArcheoBibliobase information system on archival repositories in the Russian Federation, maintained in Moscow under the direction of Patricia Kennedy Grimsted in collaboration with the Federal Archival Service of Russia (Rosarkhiv). This site offers links to addresses and other contact information for : Federal Archives under Rosarkhiv; Archives under Federal Agencies other than Rosarkhiv; Local State Archives in Moscow and St. Petersburg - and is available in English Metrical Records - see my Lithuania page under the title of Archives for further information Archives - State Archive of Ancient Bills - Military Records - The RBVIA serves as the centralized archive for military records of the Russian Empire, consolidating the holdings from various pre-revolutionary Russian military archives and other repositories throughout the former Soviet Union. RGVIA retains documentation produced from the activities of highest, central, and local military administration and military agencies of the Russian Empire from the end of the seventeenth century until March of 1918. Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Voenno-Istoricheskii Arkhiv (RGVIA) For records from 1918 - 1941 ... Rossiyskiy Gosudarstvenniy Voyenniy Arkhiv English translation ... (Russia, 125212 Moscow KGB Archive National Library of Russia National Library of Russia The Russian Archive is your link to ALL archival collections found in Russia's archives, libraries and museums, including those recently declassified and open to all scholars. State Archives BLITZ They do research in Russia and have special privileges into the archives. The cost is $80 for a preliminary search whether they find anything or not. I haven't explored this particular page in any depth, but it looks pretty interesting. Business Directory (see Vsia Rossia below) Byelorussians in Russian Federation
There are approximately 1,206,000
Byelorussians in Russia as of 1993. There is a large community in the
Komi Republic (27,000 currently live in Komi, the republic's fourth largest ethnic community after Russians, Komi and Ukrainians. and approximately 12,000 Byelorussians in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). Komi is a republic in the Russian Federation. It was an autonomous republic of the USSR from 1936 to 1991. It occupies a large portion of northeast European Russia, bounded on the east by the Ural Mountains and extending slightly north of the Arctic Circle. the Pechora river flows through the middle of the republic. It has a population of about 2.2 million and its capital is Syktyvkar. The Komi (Zyrien) people, whose language belongs to the Permian subgroup of the Ural-Altaic family, comprise about 23 percent of the population, Russians nearly 58%. Cantonist The Russian Tsar, Peter the Great, devised the Cantonist system. Tsar Nicholas Pavolovich (1827-1855) used this system as a vehicle to force Jewish children to accept baptism. More information available in "Kantonisten" - written in Yiddish by Abraham Lewin. See also "The Cantonists: The Jewish Children's Army of the Tsar" - authored by Larry Domnitch and published by Devora Publishing. "The entire Jewish community was responsible for the fulfillment of draft quotas and would suffer a penalty if the quotas were not met, it fell to the leaders, who were often rabbis, to decide who could stay and who had to go to the army. In the most notorious cases, kidnappers - the Yiddish word is khapers - were hired to do the unpleasant work, sometimes seizing boys as young as eight or nine. "Mostly all cantonists became Christians, they were orderly baptized. Many returned to the big cities such as St. Petersburg to continue their service in Czar's guard regiment. Some of them settled later in Finland (which was a part of Russia as well) and many among them "converted back" to Judaism. Cantonists had to serve for 25 years after reaching the age of 25, so it is not surprising that many forgot their Jewish ancestry and were only vaguely reminded by triggered memories of special events. Alexander II abolished the Cantonist system in 1856. It was established by Peter the Great in 1742. It's main purpose was to try to assimilate Jews into Russian society. During the reign of Nicholas I (1825-1855), some 50,000 Jewish children and 20,000 Jewish adults were snatched from their homes. Kahals, or government-authorized Jewish community councils, were made responsible for ensuring that quotas were reached. "Chappers," who were often Jews, were paid per child to abduct the victims. Some khal members stopped at nothing to enrich themselves. Rich Jews got Kahals to find "volunteer" recruits of similar age to replace their own sons. Census - the 1897 Census of the Russian Empire was recorded on January 28, 1897. Center For Research and Education "Holocaust" - established in Moscow in December, 1991. It is aimed at creating of documented history of the Holocaust in the former USSR. Alla Gerber, a writer and a member of Russian parliament, is president of the Center. Chornaya Kniga (The Black Book) - Soviet era - http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/translations.html
Cities of Russia Click on the area of interest on the map above to get a list of hyperlinks to the cities in the area Colonies - Status 1858-1900 Communist Period - remember the 'cold war'? There is a fascinating exhibit, highlighting the Soviet Union's skillful use of propaganda throughout the Stalin years entitled "The Commissar Vanishes" at Cossacks - source of Military uniforms of the Cossacks
Cyrillic Keyboard Here is a page on Cyrillic handwriting - http://www.colby.edu/library/collections/ Databases On-Line A searchable database, titled "Phoenix Project" and created by Professor John Garrard, Professor of Russian Literature at the University of Arizona, is available at The first phase of this project is a list of more than 12,000 persons 14 years and older who were required by the Nazis to obtain photo identification cards in order to live in the Brest ghetto. Dr. Garrard plans to recover Holocaust victims' names and as much information as possible about them and their families. The database includes direct hyperlinks to the original source documents as retrieved from the archives, which are stored in scanned image files. The Brest passport photos are not digitized and are available at Yad Vashem and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. See also Deliveries To Russia and other European Countries - Meest-Boston delivers US dollars, sea and air parcels, food parcels, equipment and electronics, letters and small packages to Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Poland and other countries. More services are available Department of Jewish History and Culture - Institute For National Relations and Politology Of The Ukrainian Academy Of Sciences - Dr. Alexander Zaremba is a chair of the Department East European Genealogical Society East Europe Genealogical Web - volunteer genealogists have set up a network of web sites to help answer the sometimes daunting questions about research in different countries. Most European countries and information about each are available at Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia - executive director is Rabbi Avrohom Berkowitz GenConnect Boards - many links here for Russian information and other countries, as well Genealogical Search Site - In order to receive best results of genealogical search in Russia one has to know exact spelling of surname in Cyrillic letters - there are thousands of Russian surnames and many of them sounds alike. The surnames may change while transliterating to a great extent. Therefore, the best way is to try to find people with similar or sound-alike surnames and talk with them - that way one can find out how his/her ancestors were called in Russia. When you enter this site, click on the English hyperlink if you cannot read Cyrillic Jewish Agricultural Colonies in Russia Set up in the 1920s, partly as a way of turning Jews without trades or professions into productive occupations, partly as a way of harnessing the enthusiasm of young Jews who had been inspired by ideas such as A D Gordon's or Borochov to become pioneers, as an alternative to their emigrating to Eretz Yisrael. Indeed, in the late 1920s, amid setbacks and trouble in mandate Palestine, some chalutzim did return to Russia believing they would be taking part in building a socialist Gan Eden. Unfortunately, some met a grim fate at the hands of Stalin. One settlement attained fame in the song "Zhankoye" in the Crimea ("not far from Simferopol,") The above information was taken from a posting by Charles Pottins in a JewishGen posting of January 14, 2002 Sources for the Jewish Agricultural Colonies, located at various times in Southern Russia, Bessarabia, Podolia and the Crimea, are relatively hard to find in one resource. This site is an attempt to gather as much data about the individual settlements, the points of origin of these settlers and to recount their stories. http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine #20 Agricultural Village - located in the Katrinislaw area of Dneteprevoski Jewish Autonomous Republic In 1934, Stalin designated 13,900 square miles as an official Jewish homeland. Thousands of loyal Jewish Communists worldwide made the difficult trip to establish a thriving Jewish center next to the Chinese border. This bizarre story is told in a documentary by Yale Strom. Open City Communications - 1 212 714 3575; E-mail Opencity@aol.com Jewish Cemeteries of White Russia Jewish Communities Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS Vaad-Federation of Jewish Organizations and Communities Idud Hasadim Moscow Federation of Jewish Organizations & Communities The Russian Jewish Congress Jewish Family
http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/ Jewish Genealogical Research in Eastern Europe
Warren Blatt has answered many questions you want answers to at Jewish Heritage Society (Moscow)
An excellent site, in English for the most part, for researchers (note the English hyperlink on the left side of page in small print ) and http://www.jewish-heritage.org/starte.htm Sergei Malichin offers his free services to attempt to answer any questions that you might have about the Moscow region. Sergei lives in Moscow. His e-mail address is: skomarov@narod.ru JewishGen ShtetlSeeker Locate your town (shtetl) - http://www.jewishgen.org/shtetlseeker/loctown.htm Jewish Problem In the Principality of Moscow
http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/ Jewish Tavern Scene
http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/ Kazan
Much of the following information was obtained from the April 13, 2001 issue of the KHAZARIA.COM NEWS and is attributed to Kevin Brook Khazaria, a world power in eastern Europe that flourished as an independent state from the 7th to the 11th centuries. In the 9th century, the Khazarian royalty and nobility, as well as a significant portion of the Khazar Turkic population, embraced the Jewish religion. After the fall of the Khazarian Empire in the 10th century, they dispersed throughout what became Russia, Poland and Lithuania. They mixed with Sephardic Jews as offering safe haven and later mixed with arriving Jews from Germanic and European areas, becoming what we think of now as Eastern European Jews. The word Kagan comes to our lexicon from the Chussar Nation which was located between the Black and Caspian Seas. The leaders of the Chussars were called Kagans. Some time in the 5th Century, the "Big Kagan" of the Chussars decided to unify the nation by imposing a single religion. After consultation with Clergy of the 3 religions, he decided that the Jewish religion was the one for them (the aristocracy). The Princes (Kagans) became Cohanim. When the Attila the Hun invaded their territory, the Chussars moved West (most to Hungary) some to Russia. The ones that arrived in Russia adapted the Russian way of life but not the religion. (for more on that, read the book "The 13th Tribe). You'll find that a Russian Cohen will most likely be called Kagan or Kaganowicz. From a posting to JewishGen by Arie Wishnia on 1/28/04 You can learn more about the Khazars at Kevin Alan Brooks web site Khazaria.com is a resource for Turkic and Jewish History in Russia and Ukraine. The site offers a free subscription for their e-mail newsletter The Khazaria-announce list will help you to learn all about the religions, languages, burial practices, arts and crafts, agriculture, horticulture, military affairs and immigrations of the Khazars. And there is much information available in the new Alexander Beider book on the "Origin of Ashkenazic Names" The list mainly consists of occasional mailings of information in the following categories: 1.) reviews and announcements of new books and articles in the subject area; 2.) news about relevant new conferences, television programs, museum exhibitions and discoveries; and 3.) news about significant updates or additions to the Khazaria - the Jewish Kingdom of Khazaria in the twelfth century. On the banks of the Don, recently, were discovered Khazarian dishes bearing the word 'Israel' in Hebrew and a new Khazar fortress, next to the one at Sarkel, has also been announced and excavations are underway on the banks of the big reservoir of Tsimlyansk. The Khazars are generally viewed as a Turkic-speaking people. The Khazar kingdom was an important regional power that controlled the steppe lands and several important rivers -- the Volga and the Don. An active north-south trade existed through the kingdom. Exiles, including persecuted Jews, were welcomed to the Khazar country. It has been argued by one Murad Magomedov (Makhachkala) that the first political centers of Khazaria were located in Dagestan (Balanjar and Samandar) and after that, probably from the second half of the 8th century onwards, in Itil on Volga delta. He did not agree with the interpretations of some colleagues who put forward the idea of some early (from the middle/the second half of the 7th century) center of Khazaria between Don and Dnieper, during that time it was the Bulgars of Kubrat who controlled this area. Some of the burials in this region (Voznesenka, etc.) dated from the end of the 7th century to the first decade of the 8th century, could mark the western frontier of the Khaganate. The kingdom was destroyed in 965 by Prince Svyatoslav of the Rus, but a small Khazar state might have still existed around Itil until the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Russia. To some, the Caspian Sea remained called the 'Khazar Sea' long after Khazaria disappeared. Itil
(Atil) was the capital of the Khazars and was considered the 'jewel' of the Volga, the white city of Al-Khazar, where all religions cohabited in peace, where each minority was judged according to its own laws.
At its height, the Khazar State and its tributaries controlled much of what
is now southern Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan and
large parts of Russia's North Caucasus region. The king (Kagan) possessed a big city that spreads on two banks of the Volga (Itil). They (the Khazars) are all Jewish, wrote the Arab ambassador Ahmed ibn Fadian in 922.
For further information see the December 30, 2008 issue of Khazaria News "A thousand years ago, Khazaria, ruled by Turkish converts to Judaism, was the superpower of the age, spanning lands from the Ukraine to Kazakhstan. In the 10th century, its cities were destroyed by the Rus, the Scandinavian raiders who formed the original nobility of Russia; with little physical evidence of its existence, Khazaria faded into legend. In September 2008 two Russian archeologists found the capital of Khazaria, in Astrakhan's Samosdelskoyee ruins. They uncovered several layers of ruins, including a Golden Horde town and a Bulgur city. Beneath them were the remains of a Khazar metropolis burnt down in the 10th century; the Rus set fire to Itil in the 960s. The ruins, a city bisected by riverbeds with a central island citadel of fired brick, match written accounts of Itil. Only the kings used brick, noted the archeologists. A specialist of the Khazars, Constantin Zuckerman who is the director of the Centre of Byzantine Studies at the College of France, thinks that the Khazars were of partially Israelite ancestry and had, over time, lost elements of their observance of Judaism. Zuckerman also thinks that the earliest that the earliest Khazars were partly of Finno-Ugric origin, like the Hungarians and after coming southwest they assimilated the Barsil people and resettled in the Caspian Sea region. The Khazars did not reach the Tran Caucasus before the 7th century. Jewish exiles had an impact upon Khazaria's governmental system, religion and way of life, and Byzantine-Khazar relations deteriorated after the Khazars converted to Judaism, a religion that the Byzantines did not tolerate. Zuckerman feels that the real conversion of the Khazars to Judaism took place in the year 861 rather than earlier. The early Rus look to Khazaria for inspiration and designate their king as a Kagan, just like the Khazars. 'The Russians are then the emulators of the Khazars' summarizes Constantin Zuckerman. A number of reference books are mentioned in this issue and should be of interest to anyone studying the Khazar Nation. A page is currently under construction, thanks to the information supplied by Kevin Brooks, a noted authority and author of several books and articles on the subject. Kevin Brook's site has references to Khazarian Given names commonly found in Jewish families There is a khazaria-announce group at Yahoo which makes it easy to participate in e-mail discussions, coordinate events, share photos and other files and more. To learn more about the khazaria-announce group, please visit Photographs of the Turkic-Jewish bricks from Sarkel fortress containing engravings of Khazarian Turkic Tamgas (tribe symbols) Bibliography of Khazar Studies Informational link - There are Regional Special Interest Groups that have Khazaria information and links. The site includes links to Bohemia-Moravia SIG, Denmark SIG, German-Jewish SIG, Hungary SIG and Stammbaum - German SIG at
"Istoriya Khazar" - 2002 Classic Hermitage
Edition. ISBN 5846500323. Initially published in 1962, the 549
page book covers the history and culture of the Khazar kingdom with special
attention paid to archaeological discoveries, especially those at the Sarkel
fortress on the lower Don. Its coverage of the histories of the
histories of the Huns, Avars, Sabers, Khazars and other medieval tribes is
comprehensive but it reflects the status of research four decades ago.
"Jews of Khazaria: Book Review" "Two-tiered Relexification in Yiddish: Jews, Sorbs, Khazars and the Kiev-Polessian Dialect" - authored by Paul Wexler and published in 2002 by Mouton de Gruyter. Wexler claims that Yiddish was created when Judaized Sorbs first relexified their language to High German between the 9th-12th centuries; by the 15th century, the descendants of the Judaized Khazars also allegedly relexified their Kiev-Polessian (northern Ukrainian and southern Belarusian) speech to Yiddish and German. Yiddish thus uses a mixed West-East Slavic grammar, according to Wexler. "The Wind of the Khazars" - authored by Marek Halter and translated from French by Michael Bernard. Published by The Toby Press. This historical novel tells two stories. One in the present, is about a writer named Marc Sofer who is researching the Khazars and the second story is based on a true incident that took place toward the end of the kingdom in the years around 955. These books, along with over 180 other books on countries and subjects of possible interest to you is available by clicking here > Jewish Genealogy
Khazars at Clio - a historical and
cultural agency in Paris, France.
Khazarian Historic Maps - maps of the Khazar Kingdom from 300 C.E. to 1000 C.E. Other sites of interest in studying Khazars WJC: Jews in Russia Homepage of the Institute for Jewish Studies in CIS Jewish Heritage Society, Moscow Association of Jewish Studies Students, Moscow center for University Teaching of Jewish Civilization "Sefer" Russian Jewish Congress ... and so much more Languages - Baltic and Slavic Languages http://www.slavophilia.net/language.htm Letter Writing Guide to Archives http://www.halgal.com/archivesineurope.html List of Jews reported killed or wounded in the Russo-Japanese war
(1905) may be viewed at:
Maps Note: a fabulous source for maps of almost any country and region of the Russian Empire and the former Soviet Union can be found at the Maps of Russia and the FSU site below. 1941 Maps of Russia 1942 Maps of Russia showing the "Eastern Front - Map of German gains on" 1944 Map of Balkans, Carpathian Mountains Terrain Map Map of Old Russia - The Growth of Russia in Europe, 1300-1796 (And Partitions of Poland) in color http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/reference/ Maps of Russia - Maps of Russia and the FSU (Former Soviet Union) Republics - be prepared to stay online for quite some time, if you want to see one of the largest collections of different types of maps. This site is fabulous and offers a huge variety of maps that include such titles as Bukovina Maps; Ukraine Maps and Distances; Ex-USSR map; Maps of Europe in different eras; Russian Far East Maps; Belarus Maps; Ukraine Maps; Kazakhstan Maps: Georgia Maps; Tajikistan Maps; Crimea Maps; Uzbekistan Maps; Azerbaijan Maps; Kyrgyzstan Maps; Moldova Maps; Turkmenistan Maps; Armenia Maps; Caucuses Region Maps; Baltic States Maps including Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia; and more at Map of Volhynia Guberniya - Old Maps of Russia - source for many maps of not only Russia, but Russian areas in the past Scanned Maps Measurement of Land Desyatina is 1.09 hectares or 2.07 acres Military (Russian)
"Jewish Role in Soviet War Effort" -
authored by Lev Krichevsky honors the memory of Soviet Jewish soldiers
during WW II who died defending their country. It took ten years to
collect and verify the names, vital data and causes of death for Jewish
members of the Red Army and Soviet navy who died during the war. The
book - seven volumes about 500 pages each - contains nearly 100,000
individual entries. An estimated 200,000 Soviet Jews died on the
battlefield, in captivity or of wounds received - but information could not
be found on many of these casualties, so they aren't listed in the book. In
the search box of this site, type in Jewish Role in Soviet War Effort http://www.yivoinstitute.org/downloads/Military_Service.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Empire
Cossacks - source of Military uniforms of the Cossacks Jewish Military Conscription - during the late 18th century, a sizeable Jewish population came under Russian authority. From 1794 until 1827, Jews were exempt from conscription. This was a privilege they had to pay for, (as did some other social groups) at the rate of 500 rubles per recruit. But the privilege was extended to Jews for negative reasons: they were considered to be cowards, weaklings, and religious fanatics as well as potential spies. When Nicholas I came to power in 1825, he believed that Russia's problems could be solved through the militarization of civil society. Nicholas published a law that replaced the traditional head tax with 25 years of compulsory military service for young Jews. Jews (among others) would be 'improved' through the strict discipline and subordination in a rigid hierarchy of the military, with miserable results. Standard terms of service, in those days, were 25 years. According to the law, Jews were to enjoy absolute religious freedom while serving in the army. But in fact, conscription was used to force conversion. The forced conversions were demoralizing enough for the Jewish communities, but the story gets worse. Jewish communities had the right to chose who to send as recruits (4 recruits per 1000 males). Like Russian serf communes, they sent off trouble-makers, but they also sent children: approximately 50,000 out of the 70,000 Jews conscripted during Nicholas I's reign were between the ages of 6 and 18. The government had given them a debilitating choice: either send young fathers and heads of households, which would further disrupt the already deeply shattered communities of the Pale, or send their children.
In 1861, Jews were allowed to serve both in the elite Guards units and they were allowed to become non-commissioned officers. In 1874, Alexander introduced universal conscription, which was supposed to apply equally to everyone. Exemptions could be had for some categories of students, others could buy their way out. French Jews enjoyed greater equality in the military, but most Western European Jews served in equivalent circumstances. But the good times wouldn't last. When Alexander II was killed by terrorists in 1881, his reactionary and deeply anti-Semitic son, Alexander III and grandson, Nicholas, used this as an excuse to resume Universal Conscription, however, and Jews served. Perfunctory conversion for career purposes was rare, but not unknown among offices. However, some Jews found ways to buy their way out of the draft or pay for substitute recruits, which, were, of course, interpreted negatively to mean that Jews were 'shirkers'. In fact, although Jews equaled 4.13% of the population of the empire, they made up 5.73% of the military at the turn of the century. The above is based on Michael Stanislawsi, 'Tsar Nicholas I and the Jews' published by The Jewish Publication Society of America in 1983 and 'The Russian Jew Under the Tsars and Soviets' authored by Salo Baron and published in New York by Macmillan in 1964. Joan Neuberger contributed this on August 17, 1995. Russia required all male Russian immigrants in USA and Canada to register at a Russian Consulate during WWI. Not sure if they did the same during the Russo-Japanese War. These can be located through the American Society of Germans from Russia Historical Society Military Records - The RBVIA serves as the centralized archive for military records of the Russian Empire, consolidating the holdings from various pre-revolutionary Russian military archives and other repositories throughout the former Soviet Union. RGVIA retains documentation produced from the activities of highest, central, and local military administration and military agencies of the Russian Empire from the end of the seventeenth century until March of 1918. Mark Conrad Russian Military Site Approximately a half a million Jews served in the Red Army, and many volunteered for service at the front. A total of 161,000 Jews received medals and awards for bravery. One hundred and forty Jews were awarded the highest Soviet decoration - the Golden Star and the honorary title of "Hero of the Soviet Union". An estimated 200,000 Soviet Jews died on the battlefield, in captivity or of wounds received at the front - but information could not be found on many of these casualties. Moscow
History of Moscow Religious Jewish Community http://www.ticketsofrussia.ru/religion/judaism/mcs/Hiseng.html Moscow - there is a new Jewish cultural center that was recently opened (2001). Mikhail Kunin is the center's director. There are nine million people living in Moscow of which there are a minimum of one million Jews. More than 40 percent of Moscow's 250,000 Jewish community make up the professional classes in the city. Marina Roscha synagogue is located in Moscow. Photo of synagogues - Pale of Settlement - that area that the Russians determined where Jews could live. To make sure that the Jews stayed within that arbitrary boundary, Jews were issued papers that clearly stated they were Jews. To this day, a Russian passport still indicates that a person is a Jew. Most emigrating Jews had no identity papers 100 years or more ago. They snuck out of Russia (or other countries) and got to a port. That was it! If they had money for a ticket, no one cared if they were named Itzkowitz or Jones. The US took in any immigrants who were healthy and had just a few dollars. If they had an internal Russian passport, it was not good for much outside Russia.
In tsarist times, throughout the Soviet era, and even now, an "internal" passport (propiska) was issued to virtually every Russian resident. Such passports were needed by Russians and Ukrainians and those of other resident nationalities (Germans, Poles, etc.) to get on a train, to visit another town of city or to establish residence in another town or city, to gain entry into educational institutions, to sign a lease, buy a business or a property, to obtain employment, to get married, etc.. Newsgroup, Russia - news and posts from Russia. About a quarter of the posts are in Russian. alt.current-events.russia Newspaper of Russia Petersburg Jewish University (PJU) was established in November, 1989.and offers many publications dealing with Jewish themes.
Photographs of Russia - http://www.tifft.com/russia.html Pogrom - over 700 pogroms broke out in the Pale of Settlements in 1905-1906. "Megilat Hatevakh" - a book, in Hebrew, which lists some of the pogroms that took place during the Civil War in Russia (C. 1918-1921) - authored by A.D. Rosental, Jerusalem-Tel Aviv, published by "Khavurah" in1927 . The Pogroms of 1903-1906 Rabbis of the Russian Empire - "Common poor people without cataclysms of wars, pogroms, hanger, etc. and with general restrictions on residence and travel (not only for Jews, but for most of Russian Empire population) lived and died in the same towns. Sometime they moved to nearby town (marriage, etc.). Their trades and small business people learned at home and use it in the same place." RAGAS (Russian-American Genealogical Archival Service) FEEFHS U.S. Representative: Patricia Eames, Director RAGAS RAGAS originally was a joint US-Russian activity with a main Moscow office supported in the Washington, D.C. area by volunteers from a U.S. National Archives support group. The volunteers served as a clearinghouse and intermediary early on. Now, according to U.S. Director Pat Eames, "The Russian-American Genealogical Archival Service (RAGAS) is an independent, self-supporting organization for assisting persons with a USSR/Russian Empire background in obtaining information concerning their ancestors from archives in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Estonia. Red Star
During WWII and as well before and after, the Red Star ("Krasnaya Zvezda") was the official daily newspaper of the Soviet Army. Red Star was a central newspaper of Ministry of Defence of the USSR. It was issued from January 1924 and wrote about Red Army news also during WWII. You may look for the old samples of this newspaper in libraries, or write to a museum of WWII, or look for a list of people, that worked in that newspaper. Elina Smirnova in a posting. Researching Russian Roots Research in
Ukraine and Belarus Revision Lists (Russian Reviskie Skazki) There were ten Reviskie Skazki taken in the early 20th century. Taxation and conscription were the ultimate reason. Some Reviskie lists are available in the Ukrainian Archives, but they represent only those areas that were once in the Russian Empire. Rubles In 1895 to 1905, the average monthly worker could purchase 1 sheep for 4 rubles; 1 bushel of wheat for 1 ruble, 51 kopeks; 1 bushel of Rye for 1 ruble and 18 kopeks or for 64 kopeks, he could buy a bushel of Barley. Rusnaks (aka Rusyns/Carpatho-Rusyns)
"Our People" written by Paul Magocsi Russian Consular Records
From 1898 to 1922 for Russians and East Europeans accessible at
1902 map of Russia's Polish Provinces - http://feefhs.org/maps/ruse/re-polan.html Russian Genealogy Resources on the Internet
Also other countries and subjects http://www-personal.umich.edu/~cgaunt/russia.html Russian Genealogical Forum The site is in Russian Russian Interest Group (RIG) The JGS of Greater Philadelphia - http://www.jewishgen.org/jgsp/RIG.htm Russian Jewish Congress Vladimir Goussinsky was the former President, but has recently resigned and living in Spain. Russian-Jews
Russian Era Indexing of Poland Project http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/ Russian Language Programs
Links to many Russian Language informational sites Russian State Historical Archive, St. Petersburg http://consortium.ruslan.ru/spb/assoc_csha.html http://www.mtu-net.ru/rrr/russia.htm http://www.reports.calligraphy-mvk.ru/content/view/344/199/lang,english/ Russian Transliteration System http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~taies/lc.html Teach your computer to read Russian. Forget all the problems of different Russian codings and Russian fonts; all you need is easily downloaded from this site. Rzhev Located in
the Tver oblast ( http://www.traveljournals.net/explore/russia/map/m4196636/rzhev.html 1911 Movie of
Rzhev on YouTube. If link doesn't work with your operating system,
do a search on You Tube for Rzhev, Russia Samovars
The Lower East Side Restoration Project - a large collection of old and antique Jewish items besides samovars Search telephone numbers, addresses in Russia for free at The main cities of Moscow region, and Kiev region are included and offers a free search of telephone numbers and full addresses, for both business and private listings. Another site for Moscow & St. Petersburg White Pages Russian Search Engine (In Russian) Search Engines for Russia Sher's Russian Index - a huge conglomeration of even more web links to help you research Russia, and includes a Learner WWW Guide Soviet Union - Chornaya Kniga (The Black Book) http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/translations.html Topics in Soviet Civilization - Stalinist Culture in Russia 1928-1997 - a seminar by Professor Gregory Freidin which includes many recommended readings about the subject and Internet links Translating The Bucknell Russian Program - here you will original materials on the history of Russia, the Russian language, and lots of links to information about every other aspect of the Russian life and society. "In Their Words, Volume 2: Russian, the guide to translating Russian language documents - authored by Jonathan Shea and William Fred Hoffman Translation Service - a commercial site offering many language translating programs Translating Services - Click Here Teach your computer to read Russian. It would be of great help if you are able to read and write a bit of the Russian/Cyrillic words, but how do you find an easy way to learn the language? Just in case you didn't think of it, contact a nearby university or college's foreign language department. They may offer to write letters and translate letters into English. A nominal fee is usually charged. VAAD - a secular Jewish organization of which Roman Spector, is a leader. Vsia Rossia (Russian Business Directory) - can provide loads of information for learning about names, families, occupations, etc. These directories will be of great help in anyone's research. Here is information on the 1895 All Russia Directory Further Reading: For more information about Russian Business Directories, see: The article "Russian Business Directories", by Harry Boonin, in Avotaynu VI:4 (Winter 1990), pages 23-32. The lecture "Russian Business Directories", by Ted Gostin, at the 15th Annual Summer Seminar on Jewish Genealogy, July 14-19, 1996, Boston. Printed lecture notes including a directory inventory are available in the Seminar's syllabus, pages C-44 thru C-49 (available from JGSGB) and an audio tape of the lecture is available (from Vital and Marriage Records From Greek Catholic and Orthodox Parishes in Former Austrian Galicia, Former Malo Rus, Ukraine, Poland, and Belarus (former Byelorussia) available through The Mormon Family History Library (FHL) Jewish births, deaths, marriages, and divorces in the Russian Empire were recorded in synagogue ledgers. Here are some examples of the information that was recorded and how it appears in the records. Russian headings and entries were often accompanied by ones in Hebrew, either on the same page or on an adjacent page. WW II Through Russian Eyes - an exhibit of World War II as seen through Russian Eyes is a fabulous exhibit was on display at Balboa Park in San Diego, California. An on-line tour is available at My wife and I saw this exhibit and kept the exhibit brochure in a display, along with the Russian Army medals given to me by my half brother's wife during our trip to Ukraine in August, 1995. One of the medals was awarded to my brother Moshe for bravery at Stalingrad. Yizkor Books
Cities and Shtetls
I would suggest to the researcher of the following sites, to also check the other two Baltic Country sites, including Estonia and Lithuania, as well as Poland and Belarus and Russia as there may very well be some cross references as the country borders changed many times between wars. Since the Soviet Union (USSR, CCCP) is no longer, the republics decided to change the names of some of their cities back to their pre-Soviet titles. ShtetlSeeker - this site gives variant spellings of towns and villages, as well as map co-ordinates Russian Cities on the Web - Traveling to Russia or within Russia? Get information on your destination from the many links shown on the site. Andropov (New name: Rybinsk)
http://www.angelfire.com/sc3/soviet_jews_exodus/English/ Anna A town in Voronezh Oblast. Actually there are two with this name. http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/S2385.html Balabanovka Lipovets Uyezd Kiev Guberniya. 1907 Lists available Bedzin Principal town of the area known as Zaglebie (Zaglembye), of ex-Russian Empire. Area is adjacent to ex-Prussian and Austro-Hungarian Imperial borders. Belaya Tserkov Located in the Vasil'kov Uyezd, Kiev Guberniya Belozer'ye Cherkassy Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Borova Located in the Vasil'kov Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Borshchagovka Skvira Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Boyarka Zvenigorod [ka] Uyezd (district) Kiev Guberniya Brezhnev (New name: Naberezhnye Chelny) Brovki Skvira Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Brusilov Radomysl' Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Cetatea Alba - Odessa Oblast (province)
Located in southernmost Ukraine. In Turkish it is known as Akkerman and in Russian as Belgorod-Dnestrovsky. There is a lot of historical information available at Chelyabinsk Jews first came in large numbers to this city around WW II, when Stalin moved large arms factories here from Nazi occupied parts of the Soviet Union. Today, there are about 10,000 Jews who have long been active in the economic life of the city. The old synagogue was closed during the Communist ear and Jewish religious life was virtually absent until the past five years. Now in 2001, a new synagogue was recently dedicated, and was heralded as being an example of rare cooperation between rival Jewish groups and local politicians. A Jewish Community Center is being planned near the synagogue, which can house 300 worshipers, according to Yakov Oks, a local construction magnate. The Lubavitch Rabbi Meir Kirsch now runs a day school for 50 Jewish children as well as a Yeshiva. Chernenko (New name: Sharypovo) Chernobyl Radomysl' Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Chigirin Located in the Vasil'kov Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Chubintsy Skvira Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Dabrowa (Dombrowa) Principal town of the area known as Zaglebie (Zaglembye), of ex-Russian Empire. Area is adjacent to ex-Prussian and Austro-Hungarian Imperial borders. Dashev Lipovets Uyezd Kiev Guberniya. 1907 Lists available Dymer Located in
Kiev Guberniya Eigengrund Located near the agricultural village #20 Ekaterinoslav
Index to Surnames from
Ekaterinoslav and surrounding towns. Erki (Yerki) Zvenigorod [ka] Uyezd (district) Kiev Guberniya Fastov Located in the Vasil'kov Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Georgiu-Dezh (New name: Liski) Gorky (Gorki (New name: Nizhni(y) Novgorod)
During the communist period, the city went back to its original name of Nizhni Novgorod. It was named Gorky in honor of the author between 1935 and 1990.
It is approximately 250 miles east of Moscow. Gornostaypol' Radomysl' Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Gorodishche Cherkassy Uyezd Kiev Guberniya
Headkaca There was a Jewish presence Il'intsi Lipovets Uyezd Kiev Guberniya. 1907 Lists available Ivankov Radomysl' Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Jonava (Yanovo) Located in the Kovno Uyezd. In JewishGen's ShtetlSeeker, there are Yanovo's/Janowa's in Belarus, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and Russia. There are also many towns named Janow in Poland, including a Janow Podlaski and a Janow Lubelskie. There is even another Yonavo in Lithuania other than the one in Kovno Uyezd - today it is called Jokavai. Ada Green offered a listing of Jonava Societies and Associations associated with the JGSNY Cemetery Project in a message to the JewishGen Digest group on December 10, 2000 - Message No. 4 Kaligorka Zvenigorod [ka] Uyezd (district) Kiev Guberniya Kal'nik Lipovets Uyezd Kiev Guberniya. 1907 Lists available Kalinin (New name: Tver) Kaliningrad This strategic part of ex East Prussia, is situated alongside the Baltic shores and is separated from the rest of the Russian mainland by Lithuania and Latvia, or Belarus. There is some talk in Russia about the restoration of the town's original Prussian name, Koenigsberg, as it was done already with renaming Leningrad, Sverdlovsk and several other towns in Russia. Kaluga The synagogue hopefully will be returned to the Jewish community according to Rabbi Berel Lazar, one of Russia's chief rabbis and who is also the Chairman of the Rabbinical Alliance of the CIS. His e-mail address is rabbinical@fjc.ru Kamenka Located in the Voronezh oblast (= Guberniya). Kamenka means 'stone' and there are probably 50 towns with this name in Russia. Another one - Kamenka in Moldova, on the Dnestr river. Kamenka Voronezhskoj Guberniya is approx 90-100 km South of Voronezh. Kazennaya Located in the Vasil'kov Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Khabarovsk Khabno Radomysl' Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Kharleevka Skvira Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Khlystunovka Cherkassy Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Khudiki Cherkassy Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Kiev This is the only city in the Russian Empire (now in Ukraine) where the traditions of the medieval ghetto were completely preserved. Telephone numbers; full addresses for both business and private and search capabilities. (See also Ukraine) Shalom
Aleichem Kievskie
Guberniskie Vedomosti is an old Russian official newspaper.
Microfilms are available in the Harvard University Library in Boston. Voters List for elections of State Duma in 1906, 1907 and 1912 of Kiev Guberniya in Harvard Library Kirov (New name: Vyatka) Kislovodsk Viktoria Lanovaya is the president of the Kislovodsk Jewish Community and the Jewish Agency coordinator for this spa town which has about 200 Jews. It is about 45 minutes west of Pyatigorsk. Kitaugorod Lipovets Uyezd Kiev Guberniya. 1907 Lists available Korolyov Located near Moscow. Korsun' Kanev Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Koshevata Located in the Tarashcha Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Kostroma Jews still live in this town (July,2001) according to a JTA news item that stated that 'unidentified arsonists placed wooden planks against the side of the synagogue and set them ablaze.' "But synagogue employees noticed the fire and helped bring it under control." Kuibyshev (New name: Samara) http://www.edwardvictor.com/Kuibyshev.htm Kupel Located on the eastern border of
Volhynia Guberniya. Currently Kupel is located in the Rivenska Oblast (near the Zhytomyrska Oblast border) Rokytnyansky District. Leningrad (New name: St Petersburg - see below) Les'ki Cherkassy Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Lipcani (Lipkany, Lipkamya, Lipcan) A town located 128.8 miles N of Lipki Skvira Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Lobachov Located in the Tarashcha Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Lysyanka Zvenigorod [ka] Uyezd (district) Kiev Guberniya Makow There was a Jewish presence Malachovka Located in the Moscow area is a still functioning shtetl synagogue. To get to the synagogue, you would be dropped off on a main road, and then have to walk quite a distance on a dirt road. The synagogue was built in 1932 and has never been empty. There is a Minyan every Shabbat with sometimes as many as 30-40 people. Malin Radomysl' Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Maslovka Kanev Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Matusov Cherkassy Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Mezhirich Cherkassy Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Mironovka Kanev Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Mogilev In a catalog publication offered by Avotaynu in June, 2000, the front cover had a reproduction of Irving Berlin's WW I Draft Registration Card on its cover and he answered that he was born in Mogilev, Russia Mokievka Cherkassy Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Monastyrishche Lipovets Uyezd Kiev Guberniya. 1907 Lists available Moscow Region
This site offers telephone numbers and full addresses for both business and private telephones and also has search capabilities. Moscow - on May 16, 2001, the gilded Star of David was restored to view on the dome of the capital's main synagogue, the Grand Choral Synagogue. The dome and star graced the Choral Synagogue for a short time in the early 1890s, when Czar Alexander III bent to the will of the Russian Orthodox Church and ordered them taken down. This decree started a period of persecution for the Moscow Jewish community. Thousands of Jews were evicted from the city between 1892 and 1897, and the Jewish population of Moscow dwindled from 26,000 to a mere 5,000. The Choral Synagogue was closed down. It was re-opened in 1906, but for the past century, it has had only a plain roof. According to legend, the church's opposition to the dome in the 1890s began after the then mayor of Moscow saw the dome, thought it was an Orthodox church and crossed himself. Pinchas Goldschmidt was Moscow's Chief Rabbi. Rabbi Adolph Shayevich, (Rabbi Berel Lazar is also considered the Chief Rabbi) Chief Rabbi, and the Mayor of Moscow together laid a cornerstone for a new Jewish community center. A second synagogue, Marina Roscha Synagogue, which burned down in 1994, has also been restored. The Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, has offered city funds to help pay for a replica of the Western Wall to be built outside the synagogue. The wall will become part of the new Jewish community center adjacent to the synagogue. This information is attributed to an article by Lev Gorodetsky (JTA) Bolshaya Bronnay Synagogue - A brief history of the Jewish religious community in Moscow can be found at http://www.ticketsofrussia.ru/religion/judaism/mcs/Hiseng.html Izmailovo Synagogue - located in Moscow, is a carpeted room and built-in to the side of a sports stadium and holds former Mountain Jews as members. The Rabbi is Mark Pinkhasov, a Mountain Jew from Derbent, Russia. Motovilovka Located in the Vasil'kov Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Myslowice Located near Katowice of Gorny Slask (Oberschliessen) on the Czarna Przemsza River was actually known as the point where all three Empires (Prussia, Austro-Hungarian and Russian) have met. Nikolaevka Kanev Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Odessa Jews settled here in the latter years of the 18th century. There were six Jews there when the Russians captured it from the Turks. It is not impossible that some/all of these Jews were Sfardim. Odessa was an important port and it is also possible that Jews from Constantinople or Greece or Bulgaria, or even Persia, Bukhara etc., were among the traders in later years. From a posting to JewishGen on Oct. 8, 2002 by Michael Bernet MBernet@aol.com Ol' shanaya Zvenigorod [ka] Uyezd (district) Kiev Guberniya Ol'shanitsa Located in the Vasil'kov Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Ordzhonikidze (New name: Vladikavkaz) Orlovets Cherkassy Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Ostrov Located in the Vasil'kov Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Pavoloch Skvira Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Perm Jews have lived here for many years Petrograd (the name for St. Petersburg in 1930) Pleskachevka Cherkassy Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Pyatigorsk Reuven Margulis (I don't know if we are related -- yet!) is the head of the Jewish Agency for Israel. Located in southern Russia which still has about 66,000 Jews. Pyatigory Located in the Tarashcha Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Raygorod Cherkassy Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Rssava Kanev Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Rostov - (Rostov on Don) 'Rostover' is an adjective for the two towns with this name - one of these is Rostov on Don and is located 25 miles from the mouth of the Don river which empties into the Sea of Azov. The other Rostov is south southwest of the city of Yaroslav. A significant group of Litvaks emigrated from Kaunas Guberniya in the 1870s and 1980s to Southern Russia - in a chain of migration, many ended up in Rostov-on-Don, which was still outside the Pale of Settlement. There is a Jewish woman who will help with genealogical research. Contact David Hoffman DBH12345@aol.com for further information about having her help you in your research. http://www.jewishfamilyhistory.org/Rostov.htm http://www.chabad.org/centers/default_cdo/aid/117886/jewish/Jewish-Community-of-Rostov-on-Don.htm http://www.ncsj.org/AuxPages/090904JTA_Rostov.shtml Rotmistrov Cherkassy Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Russkaya Vol. Cherkassy Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Ruzhin Skvira Uyezd Kiev Guberniya
Rabbi Israel Friedmann was the patriarch of the Ruzhiner, later Sadagorer, dynasty of Hasidic Rabbis. He moved to Sadagora, Austria (now Sadgura, Ukraine) in the mid 1800s. Historical account: Ryazan Located 180 Kilometers southeast of Moscow, there are nearly 2,000 Jews living in this city, according to Leonid Reznikov a resident. The restored synagogue building, which dates from 1903, was returned to Ryazan's Jewish community in 2000. It has been slated to open its doors in the fall of 2001 to serve as a Jewish community center. The federation of Jewish Communities plans to send a rabbi to lead High Holiday services. In a news article in the Forward (Volume, CV, No. 31.355) dated August 24, 2001, it was noted that arsonists gutted the synagogue in this provincial city last week. There was recently an "incident" at a Jewish school where 15 youths, armed with chains, broke furniture, smashed windows and destroyed children's drawings on Sept. 17, 2000. Five teachers and 25 students between the ages of 6 and 13 were at the school during the raid. Ryzhanovka Zvenigorod [ka] Uyezd (district) Kiev Guberniya Sagulovka Cherkassy Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Shotok Kanev Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Shpolya Zvenigorod [ka] Uyezd (district) Kiev Guberniya Smela Cherkassy Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Smolensk The final Partition of Poland was 1795. That portion annexed by Russia became the Pale Of settlement. Smolensk was outside of the Eastern Borders of the Pale, and thus not part of the pale. However, in 1891, many Jews living east of the pale were forced to live within the Pale borders. This probably included residents of Smolensk. From a posting by Larry Gaum Sokolovka (currently Justingrad) Located in Kiev Guberniya. "Sokolievka/Justingrad" - authored by Leo and Diana Miller and published in English in New York in 1983 Sosnowiec Principal town of the area known as Zaglebie (Zaglembye), of ex-Russian Empire. Area is adjacent to ex-Prussian and Austro-Hungarian Imperial borders. St. Petersburg (see also Leningrad, Petrograd) Petrograd was the name for St. Petersburg in 1930) it's old name was restored to St. Petersburg in 1991. This is the city that was built by Peter the Great in 1703 on the marshes of the Gulf of Finland. Peter knew to invite Jews who could help him i.e. financiers, doctors, contractors and industrialists, and so 'real Jews' came to St. Petersburg even though it was out of the Pale of Settlement. Why were Jews living in this city? "After the partitions of Poland, when huge areas of Jewish settlement became included in Russia, Jews were required to stay in this area and were prohibited to live in the rest of Russia. As is well known, this area was called the 'Pale of Settlement'. Obviously there were exceptions. Jews had talents that were needed by the government and they and their families sometimes with the payment of substantial fees, were given special written permission to live in the otherwise prohibited areas. This is where the expression, which has come into the English language, 'Beyond the Pale', has come from. Perhaps, people will want to tell why their families were permitted to live in St. Petersburg, if they know. Of course, after the Revolution, all of this changed and people had no location limits." From a posting by Joe Fibel Today it is Russia's cultural capital and the home of 100,000 Jews. After the February Revolution in 1917, there were about 2000,000 Jews living in the city before WW II. "The Jews of St. Petersburg: Excursions Through a Noble Past" - authored by Mikhail Beizer and published by the Jewish Publication Society - offers the intimate and detailed look of an insider. "To the Heritage" - authored by Malcolm Bradbury - a masterpiece of history and the modern city published by Overlook Press Arts and Crafts Center run by the St Petersburg Public Organization of Jewish veterans of War Baron de Gunzburg Synagogue - the only functioning synagogue in St. Petersburg EVA - a welfare organization, Pavel Rubinchik pastes photographs of the many places in Eastern Europe where mass shootings of Jews took place during WW II and have no memorial. Rubinchik is chairman of the St. Petersburg Society of Jews - Former Prisoners of Fascist Concentration Camps and Ghettos. The museum is located at 58 Moika Embankment; Phone: 311-2368 and is open Monday through Friday from 10 to 5; tours in English must be booked in advance. Grand Choral Synagogue - 2 Lermontrovsky; Telephone-fax: 011-7-812=113-6209 is the only synagogue in the city and was built in 1893. The Rabbi is Menachem Mendel Pewzner. It is also called the Safra synagogue as the banker and philanthropist helped fund the restoration of the main sanctuary. The synagogue has an all male choir and the main service is Ashkenazic. A service for Georgian Jews takes place in another room and a Hasidic service is held in a side structure in the courtyard. Hermitage - 34 Dvortsovaya Embankment: Telephone: 311-8446; open Tuesday through Sunday 10:30 to 5 JDC - is building a $10 million center near the Chekalovskaya Metro station which will house the Jewish University, Hillel, welfare organizations, a sports center and a cultural center. Jewish Cemetery - first one was established in 1802 Jewish Community Center - head of the center is Alexander Frenkel Jewish Heritage Center aka Petersburg Judaica - founded in 2000. Director is Valry Dymshitz.5 St. Isaac's Square; Telephone: 314-4034;
Photos of Petersburg, Karelia and the North-West of Russia Russian Ethnographic Museum - 4/1 Inzhenernaya; Telephone: 313-4420 - tours of the entire museum are for groups of seven or more. Open Tuesday through Sunday 10 to 5. The museum holds Jewish artifacts made of fabric, wood and other materials. There are Torah finials and Hanukkah menorahs as well as besamim (spice) boxes are held in the vault and tours can be arranged on Monday and Saturday at 2 for groups of three or more and must be booked in advance. Russian Museum - 2 Inzhenernaya; Telephone 314-3448; Open Monday 10 to 5, Wednesday through Sunday 10 to 6- E-mail info@rusmuseum.ru State Museum of the History of Religion - 14 Pochtamtskaya; Telephone: 312-3596; tours: 311-0495 and is located opposite the main post office near St. Isaac's Square. Room 6 is devoted to the "religion of ancient Israel." There is also a display of mainly nineteenth century Jewish ritual objects, including Torah finials and Hanukkah menorahs shown along with unrelated objects from the ancient Near East. Open daily, except Wednesday Telephone numbers and full addresses for both business and private and also has search capabilities. Starovichi Radomysl' Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Stavishche Located in the Tarashcha Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Stepantsi Kanev Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Sverdlovsk (New name: Yekaterinburg) Kiev Guberniya Teleshovka Located in the Vasil'kov Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Terekhi Radomysl' Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Tetiev Located in the Tarashcha Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Todorovka Lipovets Uyezd Kiev Guberniya. 1907 lists available Trushki Located in the Vasil'kov Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin) Located 20 miles south of St. Petersburg. Visitors en route to the palaces in this area pass the spot where a monument in the form of a kneeling, weeping woman serves as a Holocaust Memorial. A broken Star of David completes the monument sculpted by Vadim Sidur and was erected in 1991. The Monument to the memory of victims of WW II Tula There is a Jewish Community Center recently dedicated that houses a Hesed welfare center, Synagogues, a cultural center and a Jewish Agency for Israel center. The facility includes both a Reform Temple and an Orthodox synagogue. Ulyanovsk (New name: Simbirsk) Ustinov (New Name Izhevsk) Vasilevka Lipovets Uyezd Kiev Guberniya. 1907 Lists available Velikie Golyaki Skvira Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Vinograd Zvenigorod [ka] Uyezd (district) Kiev Guberniya Vladimir (Wlodzimierz in Polish and Volodymyr in Ukraine) Located in the Vladimirskaya Oblast and is on the Lug river Vokhgel't Skvira Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Volodarka Skvira Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Volynya - (Volhynia) This was a Guberniya in the Russian Empire, but as such, it was larger than a county or district and can be best described as a province. There is no town of Volyn anywhere in the region. Zhitomir was the administrative center, or capital of the Guberniya, but in Soviet times the Guberniya was reduced in size. Zhitomir became the center of a separate Zhitomir oblast, or province, and Volhynia was reconstituted as a separate oblast with Lutsk as its capital. From a posting by Marco Carynnyk on JewishGen 4/3/02 Voronoe Located in the Tarashcha Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Voroshilovgrad (New Name: Lugansk) Vyazovok Cherkassy Uyezd Kiev Guberniya
Yaropovichi Skvira Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Yaroslavl A Jewish community was founded in the 19th century and in 1876 there were about 430 Jews. Yekaterinopol Zvenigorod [ka] Uyezd (district) Kiev Guberniya Yekaterinoslav Located in southern Russia. Many of the population originally came from Lithuania and were settled in this farming community, due to Russian efforts to resettle around the middle 1800s and later periods. Yevpatoriyahttp://www.edwardvictor.com/Yevpatoriya.htm"Return to Yevpatoriya" - connect to Youtube.com and then do a search for this wonderful short movie with this titleZagorsk (New name: Sergiev Posad) Zastyenok (Russian) - (Zascianek - Polish) A village where most of the population were "petty" gentry --- people who were descended from nobility, but were, in fact, as poor as the local peasantry. Zhabotin Cherkassy Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Zhashkov Located in the Tarashcha Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Zhivotov Located in the Tarashcha Uyezd Kiev Guberniya Zozov Lipovets Uyezd Kiev Guberniya. 1907 Lists available Zozovka Lipovets Uyezd Kiev Guberniya. 1907 Lists available Zvenigorod [ka] (Uyezd (district) Located in the Kiev Guberniya Professional Professional Jewish genealogist researchers recommended by the Jewish Heritage Society are listed below. I have no knowledge of the abilities of any of these gentlemen or of the Jewish Heritage Society and am not responsible for any recommendations or services Anatoly Chayesh (St. Petersburg) chayesh@pop3.rcom.ru Vitaly Nachmanovich - 23/1 Odesskaya ul., Apt. #43 Moscow 11303 Russia jgsm51@glasnet.ru Vladimir Paley 51 Nikoloyamskaya St. Moscow 109004, Russia paley@mail.ru or jgsm51@glasnet.ru Dmitiri Panov Russia, 109518, Moscow, ul. Grayvoronovskaya 17, #269 proband@glasnet.ru All comments, suggestions, and inquiries should be sent to the Jewish Heritage Society at heritage@glasnet.ru You might also want to check the following site for additional names and information about professional Russian genealogists http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/6121/page1e.htm Armenia Much of the original Armenia is now the area of Kurdistan in Turkey. However, from the seventh to ninth centuries the Arab conquerors called by the name Armenia a province which included entire Trans-Caucasia, with the cities Bardhaa, now Barda in the present Soviet Azerbaijan, where the governors mostly resided, and Tiflis (now Tbilisi, capital of Georgia). The province is also sometimes called Armenia in eastern sources. The Khazars were sometimes credited with Armenian origin: this is stated by the seventh-century Armenian bishop and historian Sebeos, and the Arab geographer Dimashqi (d.1327). In the 13th to 14th centuries the Crimea and the area to the east were known as Gazaria (Khazaria) to western authors, and as Maritime Armenia to Armenian authors. The term Armenia often included much of Anatolia, or otherwise referred to cities on the Syrian-Mesopotamian route (now Turkey, near the Syrian frontier) such as Haran (Harran), Edessa (Urfa), and Nisibis (Na\ibin). More information and maps can be found at Books and CDs are available on this country and other genealogy subjects at Amazon.com link by clicking here > Jewish Genealogy Azerbaijan azerbaijan has been independent since 1991 and lies between Russia nad Iran on the Caspian Sea. Much of it is dominated by the Caucasus Mountains.Despite the loosening up of restrictions against Jews, 27,650 Azeri Jews have emigrated to Israel since 1989. Books and CDs are available on this country and other genealogy subjects at Amazon.com link by clicking here > Jewish Genealogy Mountain Jews are a Jewish people of not more than 150,000 worldwide who owe their name to the fact that, until recently, they and their ancestors had been living for at least 12 to 15 centuries in the mountainous Caucasus region between the Caspian and Black Seas. Most are dark-complexioned. Mountain Jews of Azerbaijan - an interesting article in the Philadelphia Inquirer of July 27, 1997. Contact the newspaper archives directly. Another article appeared in the Spring 2002 issue of the B'nai B'rith magazine. There are two main groups of "Azeri" Jews in Azerbaijan. One group is comprised of Caucasian Mountain Jews who have been in the area for many centuries and speak a language called "Judeo-Tat" which is partly based on northern Iranian. The other group is formed by Ashkenazim who came to Azerbaijan during the nineteenth century. There were an estimated 17,300 Jews in
Azerbaijan at the end of 1993. The rate of immigration from Azerbaijan to Israel
was high: 2,625 left Azerbaijan for Israel in 1992, and 3,133in 1993. Information, and maps can be found at During the first years of the Soviet regime, the Tats had to change their language to conform to the Latin alphabet instead of preserving the Hebrew letters. A decade later, in 1938, they were made to use the Cyrillic alphabet. Also, during the late 1930s, many Tat Jewish cultural institutions were shut down as well as some synagogues. Despite Soviet efforts to assimilate the Tats, they have managed to preserve many of their old traditions and there has been very little intermarriage. Some Georgian and Bukharan* Jews also live in Azerbaijan. Jewish Community of Azerbaijan Baku Baku is the capital of Azerbaijan. In Baku there are 'ten or fifteen' Jewish organizations, including Zionist and youth groups and an Azerbaijan-Israel Friendship Organization, and there are three Synagogues. The largest and oldest synagogue is for 'Mountain Jews'. The other two synagogues are used respectively by the Ashkenazim and Georgians. The rabbis are locally educated. In 1987, Hebrew courses were allowed to be offered in Baku and now Hebrew can be studied at two high schools and at the University. There are five Jewish schools in Baku and Quba and a Baku community newspaper. Mikhail Agarunov, President of the JGS in Baku, Samed Vurgun Street 96-58, 370022, Baku, Azerbaijan; Phone 994 12 387 328 or 7 095 129 45 78 Fax: 095 161 2106 Baku's Archive - Archive of Azerbaijan was visited by Ilya Zeldes ilyaz@iline.com She explained in a posting of 12/29/01 on JewishGen Digest that "the search was unexpectedly successful! Not only did I receive dozens of documents from their files (over hundred of pages!), but it allowed a search of a local Jewish cemetery and quite a few burials were found, some of which had no idea about before! Moreover, several photographs of the burials were provided, too!" The search in the archive found a file with documents about my grandfather's will, description of his property, family lists, school records for my uncle, etc. Photographs of tombstones provided many dates, Jewish names and so on. If anyone is looking for information from Azerbaijan and would like to hear more detail of how to do a search there, please contact me privately." Azerbaijan Embassy address: Stroiteley Prospect I. Baku. The above information was offered by N Fatouros to JewishGen Digest Jews of Bukhara
There is a family genealogy site at http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/ that has information on the Jews of Bukhara. The author, Jeffrey Mammon, is a direct descendant of the great rabbi Yosef Maman who revived Sephardic Judaism in Bukhara. In addition to the family tree information, there are included photos and other related links. The Jews of Bukhara site at
Be prepared to stay online for quite some time, if you want to see one of the largest collections of different types of maps. This site is fabulous and offers a huge variety of maps that include such titles as Bukovina Maps; Ukraine Maps and Distances; Ex-USSR map; Maps of Europe in different eras; Russian Far East Maps; Belarus Maps; Ukraine Maps; Kazakhstan Maps: Georgia Maps; Tajikistan Maps; Crimea Maps; Uzbekistan Maps; Azerbaijan Maps; Kyrgyzstan Maps; Moldova Maps; Turkmenistan Maps; Armenia Maps; Caucuses Region Maps; Baltic States Maps including Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia; and more Quba A city in Azerbaijan to which most Mountain Jews can trace their roots. It is a two-hour drive north of Baku and is a town split by the Gudialchai River; on one side live Shiite Muslim Azeris and on the other 4,000 Mountain Jews. Before the Russian Revolution of 1917, Quba boasted 13 synagogues and was renowned for its Jewish scholarship. In reading Hebrew prayers, they use a unique pronunciation drawn from both Sephardic and Ashkenazi sources. They have their own Kaddish (prayer for the dead), drawn from ancient Aramaic sources. A death is strictly marked with prayers and a traditional Mountain Jew meal with family and friends on the first through seventh days (Shiva), on the 30th day (Shloshim) and on every anniversary. Birobidzhan Books and CDs on this country and other genealogy subjects are available at my link to Amazon.com by clicking here > Jewish Genealogy The Jews came to this region near China in the late 1920s, lured to this uninhabited Siberian forests and mosquito infested swamps by a mixture of communist ideological fervor and their dream of a Jewish homeland. This was an area that Josef Stalin encouraged settlers to establish a Jewish Autonomous Region. The plan was to develop a community that would keep alive traditions such as the Yiddish language and Jewish songs and dances. But religion itself, and all that reminded one of the Jewish religion was not allowed. The regions first synagogue in seven decades was opened in 2004 in this city of some 77,000. Out of 190,000 living in the autonomous region there is an estimate 5,000 who believe they are Jewish - at least their father was Jewish. At one time there were up to 46,000 Jews, but many obviously didn't stay long. Foreign Jewish leftists were among the early inhabitants including a Jewish-American commune. Dan Kofman heads the Beit Tshoova Jewish Community. Khabarovsk - Stalin had proposed creating a socialist homeland in Birobidzhan, a 45 minute drive from Khabarovsk. Today, Stalin's Birobidzhan experiment is known as Stalin's Forgotten Zion. There is a least one Jew still living in the town. His name is Jacob Gurevitch who was born in the Bronx but grew up in Khabarovsk because his parents decided to return to Russia in 1932. There are somewhere between 2,000 to 6,000 Jews out of a total population of 80,000. The last synagogue burned down in the 1950s. There is a new synagogue in in Birobidzhan, the capital city of the Jewish Autonomous Region established by Stalin in 1934. The purpose to establish the autonomous region in Russia's Far East was to divert Soviet Jews from going to Israel. In the early years, Yiddish culture flourished, attracting more than 40,000 Jews from all over the world. In 1948-49, the Yiddish schools were closed, the theater was shut down and many actors executed. The state library's extensive Judaica section was burned. Bucovina Click here for the Bucovina page Chechnya Books are available on this and other genealogy subjects at my Amazon.com link by clicking here > Jewish Genealogy There are practically no Jews left in Chechnya, but there are some 11,000 Jews eligible to immigrate, living across the border in the Russian Republic of Dagestan. Nearly all of the Jews live in the cities of Makhachkala and Derbent, far from the fighting, and each city has one synagogue. About 250 to 300 Jews emigrate from there each year. The remaining Jews are all elderly or ill. Georgia Books are available on this country and other genealogy subjects at my link to Amazon.com by clicking here > Jewish Genealogy Georgia - a former Soviet republic. Tbilsi is the capital city where most of the 10,000 - 12,000 Jews live and where they have enjoyed relative tolerance. Jewish Community of Georgia The following is an excerpt from a letter from the Deputy - "In the Georgian State Archives we keep the records (census lists, history, activity, etc) on the Jewish people who as known are living in Georgia (Caucasus) from the old times and they retained their language, religion, food, culture and so on." "As we see on the existing genealogical Web sites, data about the above-mentioned Jews are lacking and assume that the information is wanting." Deputy chairman of the Archival Department of Georgia is Tskhinvali - in 1992 there was a growing Jewish community of more than 2,000 people in the city of 30,000. That number has dwindled to about 15. Abkhazian Region Sukhumi (the capital of the region) is home to some 120 Jews. Alexander Glusker is the chairman of Sukhum's Jewish community Kazakhstan Jewish Congress of Kazakhstan Kurdistan Arbil - there was a Jewish presence in this town Moldavia (Moldova, Modova) Books are available on this country and other genealogy subjects at my link to Amazon.com by clicking here > Jewish Genealogy An area of Russia which is now known as Moldova. The name comes from the Besarab family which were the local potentates during the later middle ages. It lies between the Prut and the Dnestr rivers and the Black Sea. Until 1812, it was part of the Ottoman Empire. During the 19th century, it was part of the Russian Guberniya after 1873 but became independent around 1919 until it became part of Romania in 1918 to 1940. From 1940 to 1991 it was in the USSR (Moldavian SSR). Today, the northernmost part is in the Ukraine. Prior to 1859, this former principality was under Ottoman rule, but later merged with Bessarabia and Bukovina. Moldavia and Wallachia also merged to form Romania, also in 1859. It became a Republic of USSR from 1924-1991. It is located in the northeast part of Romania and has a total population of 4.5 million. The Moldovan Jewish Community in the principal city is Kishinev (Chisinau) of 800,000 numbers today about 15,000 Jews - 39% are elderly. Jews have lived in Moldova since the 15th century. The Jewish community were victims of a pogrom in 1903, but the greatest devastation resulted during the Holocaust, when 300,000 Jews lost their lives to the Nazis. Many of the survivors have emigrated to Israel, leaving the poor and elderly behind. Region in Romania - So if you are searching for Bessarabia, Bessarabien, or Moldova, you are at the right place for it is known as Moldova today - a region of today's Romania. Bessarabia Duma Voter Lists
The first installment of the
Bessarabia Duma Voter Lists -- now online at http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Romania/ This first installment includes over 5,500 transliterated names from Note: Not
every man of 21 and older could be a voter - you would have to pass one
of four types of "tsenz" - limitations. The Bessarabia Duma Voter Lists Database is available at
General Moldova is one of Europe's poorest countries
Beltsy - Greensboro, North Carolina Federation leaders and the Jewish community of Beltsy have created an English/Russian collection of memories publication from elderly members of each community "One People One Heart: The Beltsy Greensboro Connection" ISBN 1-931840-99-7 Additional information: Greensboro Jewish Federation, 5509-C W. Friendly Ave., Greensboro, NC 27410; Tel: (336) 852 5433 Bessarabia Guberniya - Briceni County - Region / District Studies Coordinator is Irwin Kaufman - http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/regions.html Brichany - "Britshan: Britsheni ha - Yehudit be Mahaisit ha Mea ha Aharona (Brichany: Its Jewry in the First Half of Our Century) Bricheva - there is a Yizkor Book Byelorussians in Moldova There are approximately 20,000 Byelorussians in Moldova as of 1993. Chisinau (Kishinev, Kischinew, Kiscinev, Kishinef, Kishinev, Kishiniv) http://www.jewishgen.org/ShtetlSeeker/loctown.htm In 2005, there were 18,000 Jews. There is a recently built Kishinev Jewish Campus - a gift from the Jews of Toronto, Canada. Kishinev is known for a 1903 pogrom that spurred Jewish migration from the Russian Empire to the U.S.. Forty-nine Jews were killed and more than 500 were injured on April 6-7 - the beginning of Easter -- when angry mobs rampaged through some of the city's poorest quarters. Kishinev vital records project is progressing Birth records from 1829 and 1890 as well as a list of births from 1885 to 1888 ready to be sent to JewishGen very soon. These are the records of over 4800 births. These records are from the years 1829 to 1897 and include birth, marriage, divorce and death records. (Not all years are included and most are birth records.) Contact is Robert Wascou robertw252@aol.com FHL microfilms contain Birth records for: An almost complete list of the victims of the 1903 Easter Kishinev Pogrom is available at the Kishinev ShtetLinks page http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~ajhs_pb~r!!1071 Dubossary This town has, at different times, been part of Russia, Romania, Ukraine, Bessarabia and the Soviet Union. Each article in the Yizkor book is written in Hebrew and in Yiddish. Contact Ellen S. Aven. There are Regional Special Interest Groups that have Russian Empire information and links. The site includes links to Bohemia-Moravia SIG, Denmark SIG, German-Jewish SIG, Hungary SIG and Stammbaum - German SIG at There is a Yizkor Book with the beginnings of an English Translation http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/dubossary/dubossary.html Dumbraveny (Moldova) Information may be available at http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/translations.html Falesti
There is a Erste Filishter Society (an organization of immigrants Gibany (Ghiban, Ghibanu) - It is now part of the city of Cahul. Places in Moldova |
Books
Click to enlarge Map of Russia in 1914
When Nicholas died in 1855, (there was celebration throughout the Pale), and his son, Alexander II repealed some of the worst laws, including dumping the Jewish conscription laws. In 1856, he exempted Jews from the military and he abolished the recruitment of young children and military service generally was reduced to 15 years.
Moscow Synagogue
Place | Latitude | Longitude | Altitude (m) | Altitude (ft) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
46N | 28E | 155 | 508 | |
46N | 28E | 155 | 508 | |
47N | 28E | 137 | 449 | |
47N | 28E | 154 | 505 | |
47N | 28E | 154 | 505 | |
47N | 28E | 154 | 505 | |
47N | 28E | 137 | 449 | |
47N | 28E | 140 | 459 | |
47N | 28E | 140 | 459 | |
47N | 28E | 140 | 459 | |
45N | 28E | 176 | 577 | |
47N | 27E | 162 | 531 | |
47N | 27E | 162 | 531 | |
46N | 28E | 88 | 288 | |
47N | 28E | 255 | 836 | |
47N | 28E | 255 | 836 | |
47N | 28E | 255 | 836 | |
47N | 28E | 129 | 423 | |
47N | 27E | 140 | 459 | |
47N | 27E | 140 | 459 | |
47N | 28E | 161 | 528 | |
48N | 27E | 240 | 787 | |
48N | 27E | 240 | 787 | |
48N | 27E | 240 | 787 | |
46N | 29E | 121 | 396 | |
47N | 28E | 314 | 1030 | |
47N | 28E | 176 | 577 | |
47N | 28E | 176 | 577 | |
47N | 28E | 176 | 577 | |
47N | 28E | 87 | 285 | |
47N | 28E | 87 | 285 | |
47N | 28E | 197 | 646 | |
45N | 28E | 70 | 229 | |
48N | 27E | 159 | 521 | |
47N | 27E | 142 | 465 | |
47N | 27E | 142 | 465 | |
47N | 28E | 125 | 410 | |
47N | 27E | 142 | 465 |
Last modified: Thu Jan 18 22:00:05 2001
Presentation Copyright 1998-2000 by Falling Rain Genomics, Inc.
Jewish Cultural Society of Moldova
Kishinev 277068, Moldova
Kalarash - "The Book of Kalarash in Memory of the Town's Jews, Which Was Destroyed in the Holocaust" -
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/translations.html
Kaminka (Kamenka Voronezhskoj, Camenca) - located on the Dniester River in Moldova. there is a remnant of an "Ohel" (a small building customarily built over the grave of a Chasidic Rebbe) in the Jewish cemetery. There is one remaining Jew in the town as of 10/29/00 according to a posting by Abraham Heschel on JewishG
en.Khotin - There is a Yizkor Book "Sefer Kehillot Khotin" published in English under the title of "The Book of the community of Khotin" and edited by Shlomo Shitnovitzer - published in Tel-Aviv in 1974
Kishinev - (Kessinow, Chisinau in German) - there was a pogrom in 1903 which received exceptional attention from the press in other countries, much to the embarrassment of the Tsarist regime - not that much was done by the regime to curb the anti-Semitic passions that had flared.
Forty nine Jews were killed and thousands left homeless after Jewish homes and businesses were torched by angry mobs. According to historians, the pogrom was sparked by false claims that Jews used Christian children's blood to make matzo.Chaim Bialik wrote a well known poem about the pogrom, which one can read on the Internet as "In the City of Slaughter." It was learning of this particular pogrom that impelled Theodore Herzl to try to find an asylum for persecuted Russian Jews.
Kishinev was annexed to Russia in 1812. It was the center of a rich agricultural region, and its development was enhanced when a railroad was built during the 1870s. Until WW II about 40% of the population was Jewish. The town's present rabbi is Zalman Abelsky. This information was obtained from a posting by Naomi Fatouros on August 30, 2002 on JewishGen Discussion Group.
Kishinev County - Region / District Studies Coordinator is Roberta Solit - http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/regions.html
Lipkany - (Lipkani, Lipkamya, Lipcan) a town located 128.8 miles N of
Chisinau in Moldova. Once located in Romania, later Bessarabia, and eventually in Russia.
Contact Mike Glazer glazer@physics.ox.ac.uk if you are interested in photographs of Lipkany
"Lisrod U-Lesaper" (To Survive and Tell); "Kehillot Lipkany; Sefer Zikaron" The Community of Lipkany; Memorial Book) -
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/translations.html
Maps 
Most books, CDs, etc. can be ordered through my link to Amazon.com by clicking here > Jewish Genealogy |
Map of Austria's Bukovina - this map shows the borders of Bukovina, when it was a crown land of the Austrian empire (1775 to 1918). Population figures are based on the census of 1910.
http://members.aol.com/LJensen/map1910m.html
Map of Northern Moldova - scroll down to end
http://www.personal.ceu.hu/students/97/Roman_Zakharii/maps.htm
Maps of Russia and the FSU (Former Soviet Union) Republics - be prepared to stay online for quite some time, if you want to see one of the largest collections of different types of maps. This site is fabulous and offers a huge variety of maps that include such titles as Bukovina Maps; Ukraine Maps and Distances; Ex-USSR map; Maps of Europe in different eras; Russian Far East Maps; Belarus Maps; Ukraine Maps; Kazakhstan Maps: Georgia Maps;
Tajikistan Maps; Crimea Maps; Uzbekistan Maps; Azerbaijan Maps; Kyrgyzstan Maps; Moldova Maps; Turkmenistan Maps; Armenia Maps; Caucuses Region Maps; Baltic States Maps including Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia; and more at
http://users.aimnet.com/~ksyrah/ekskurs/maps.html
Oknitsa County - Region / District Studies Coordinator is Nathan Edeson
http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/regions.html
Olomouc -
Orhei (Orgeyev, Org(h)eyev, Orhaiv
A Memorial to the Jewish Community of Orhei) has updated material available
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/translations.html
Phone Codes - Ex USSR Phone Codes for Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Byelorussia, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Uzbekistan - you not only will see the phone code for each town (loads slowly) but also the proper spelling of the town name |
ROM SIG covers the Moldova area
www.jewishgen.org/romsig
Click on Links where you will find a list of maps for Romania, Transylvania and Moldova. In addition to many other helpful sites and a photo gallery, there is a link to the Jewish Community of Moldova.
Sculem - present day Sculem is in Moldova, but in 1908 was in Romania
Szerewci (Horishni Sherivtsi) Sherivtsi was in Russia's Bessarabia Guberniya, even though it is located close to Chernivtsi. Horishni Sherivtsi, which is close to Chernivtsi - about 11 km north, was in Austria's Bukovina.
Teleneshty - "Pinkas Teleneshty" (Yizkor Book of the Jews of Teleneshty of Bessarabia) -
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/translations.html
Tiraspol (Terespol) - located in southeast Moldova - not far from Kishinev. There was a pogrom around 1903.
Uriw - a town in Bessarabia (Moldova today). The Romanian name is Orhei, and the Russian one is Orgheyev.
Uzbekistan - there is a
Jewish community of Bukhara, a Silk Road city inUzbekistan. As you might imagine, the community is very small at this point, but it is one of the oldest continuous Jewish communities in the world. There are still two synagogues there.
Unknown Uzbekistan
Yedintsy (Yedenitz Edenitsi, Yedincy, Moldova (Bessarabia) - a fund raising project has been initiated to translate the Yizkor Book for this shtetl
http://www.JewishGen.org/JewishGen-erosity/YizkorTrans.html
Moravia 
Alexander Beider, who is the author of two groundbreaking studies of Jewish surnames ("A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire" and "A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the kingdom of Poland") essentially found that Jews from Bohemia and Moravia - the modern Czech Republic -- 'played an exceptional role" in the establishment of the vast Jewish civilization that spread out across what is now Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. "Historians have yet to appreciate the large influence played by the Czech Jews on these later settlements", he says. More information about Beider's books can be found at
http://www.avotaynu.com
A fund raising project has been initiated to translate the Yizkor Book for this area
http://www.JewishGen.org/JewishGen-erosity/YizkorTrans.html
Beginner's Guide to Austrian-Jewish Genealogy - you need to type in ausguide.html at this site
http://www.jewishgen.org/bohmor/
Bohemia-Moravia Special Interest Group web site at
http://www.jewishgen.org/bohmor
The page is updated frequently and contains lots of resources.
Ceska Trevova (Truebau) - this place name exists in both Bohemia and Moravia and was often prefixed by "Bohmisch" or "Mahrisch" in order to distinguish it (now 'Ceske/Ceska' and 'Moravske/Moravska')
Getting Started with Czech-Jewish Genealogy
http://www.jewishgen.org/bohmor/czechguide.html
GemeindeView - the beginnings of a web-based encyclopedia commemorating all of the Jewish communities that once existed in the Bohemia-Moravia region
http://www.jewishgen.org/bohmor/gemeinde.htm
"Jewish Sights of Bohemia and Moravia" - this books reviews the history of Jewish settlement in the Czech Republic and examines the history and character of Jewish ghettos, synagogues and cemeteries in the region. Published in 1991
To join with over 270 current members of this SIG, subscribe at http://www.jewishgen.org/listserv/sigs_add.htm
Map of Moravia -
http://uk2.multimap.com/
Post Offices of Former Austrian Territories - includes Base post offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bohemia, Hungary, Levant, Lombardy, Mantua, Moravia, Silesia, Prague, Poland (Galicia), Venetia and Yugoslavia - all places are in alphabetical order, with provinces prefixed
http://www.kitzbuhel.demon.co.uk/austamps/pobook/main.htm
Siberia 
Administrative map of Siberia from the PCL collection, University of Texas at Austin
ftp://ftp.cs.toronto.edu/pub/mes/gifs/siberia.gif
Pictures from Cyberia (Siberia) including the six-day, 9,446 km journey from Moscow to the Pacific Ocean
http://www.friends-partners.org/oldfriends/
mes/russia/siberia/main.html
Pictures of Siberia - includes images of Lake Baikal and "Stolby" National Park
http://www.feht.com/wcp/ws/
The Real Siberia - the on-line version of the travelogue of British journalist John Foster Fraser's adventurous 1901 journey from Moscow to Vladivostok, through Manchuria and into Mongolia
http://www.friends-partners.org/oldfriends/mes/
books/fraser/siberia.htm
Russian Cities on the web
www.city.ru/
"Siberian Refugee Camps" searches "Index of the Repressed," a database of Polish citizens sent to refugee camps in Siberia. The database is at
http://www.indeks.karta.org.pl/wyszukiwanie_zaaw.asp
"Soviet Gulags" searches for people who were interned or died in Soviet gulags, 1935-1955. The database it searches is in Russian and is located at
http://www.memo.ru/Search/search.htm
Western Siberia:
Novosibirsk, Omsk, Tomsk, Altai, Yamal Peninsula
http://www.friends-partners.org/oldfriends/mes/
russia/siberia/west.html
Central Siberia:
Krasnoyarsk, Baikal, Irkutsk, North Pole, Khatanga, Sayans, Tuva, Kyzyl
http://www.friends-partners.org/oldfriends/mes/
russia/siberia/centr.html
The East of Siberia:
Chita, Kolyma (Gulag), Yakutsk, Magadan
http://www.friends-partners.org/oldfriends/
mes/russia/siberia/east.html
The Far East of Russia:
Khabarovsk, Magadan, Vladivostok, Sakhalin, Chukotka, Kamchatka
http://www.friends-partners.org/oldfriends/
mes/russia/fareast/main.html
Trans-Siberian Railway - the six-day, 9,446 km journey from Moscow to the Pacific Ocean - photos
http://www.friends-partners.org/oldfriends/
mes/russia/siberia/trans.html
Angarsk - there is a Jewish presence in this town.
Chita - there is a Jewish presence in this town.
Irkutsk - A provincial Siberian city of 675,000 that holds Siberia's oldest synagogue - the former Soldiers Synagogue originally built by retired Jewish soldiers of the Tsarist army. Political exiles from Poland began to settle in Irkutsk at the end of the 19th century. Others came from the Pale of Settlement, the band of the Russian Empire where Jews were allowed to live during czarist times. They took up the fur trade, a profession that transformed them into wealthy merchants. Their wooden, ornate houses still stand today.
The Irkutsk Synagogue* and its matzo oven were built in 1881 from locally donated money. The Orthodox community is led by Rabbi Dovid Dorokhov, an Irkutsk native and convert to Judaism. There is an interesting article of the town, written by Adam B. Ellick, that appeared in the American Jewish World (Minneapolis) on April 11, 2003.
A fire ravaged the oldest synagogue in Siberia in the later part of July, 2004, leaving Irkutsk without one in this city of 675,000. There are between 7,000 to 10,000 Jews. The synagogue's outer walls were left standing, but much of what remained of the interior was severely damaged by water used to extinguish the flames. Arson was ruled out according to Olga Sosna, president of the Irkutsk Jewish Community Center. She also stated that most of the synagogue's documents were rescued from the building. The synagogue was one of the few that remained open during most of its 120 year history, except for a short period between 1934-1947 when it was closed by authorities.
Pudino
Ulan Ude -
There is a Jewish presence in this town.
http://www.jdc.org/p_fsu_rus_ps_build_tubshat.html
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-3874234.html
Yekaterinburg -
Eastern Russian city in Siberia. There is a Matzo Bakery in this city with about 3,000 Jews.
A New York Times article about this city. Do a search for
Yekaterinburg Jew
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=940DE1DF113BEE3ABC4A53DFBF668383609EDE
http://www.jewukr.org/observer/
Tajikistan 
"From Tajikistan to the Moon" - authored by Robert Frimtzis. At the age of ten, Robert left his town of Beltz Bessarabia (now Moldova) and escaped to Tajikistan. His is a dramatic story of escaping Soviet anti-Semitism and growing up in Tajikistan. He finally was able to emigrate to the U.S. where he became an electrical engineer without finishing high school. With an engineering degree, Robert contributed to the success of Apollo and Surveyor lunar explorations among other feats.
There is only one synagogue, a 100 year old Shul, in this Central Asian country's capital, Dushanbe. The Mayor is Makhmadsaid Ubaidulaev, who combines his post as the head of the Tajikistan Parliament with the mayor's job. There are about 500 Jews - most of them elderly, many of them poor.
Duchene's Jewish population is only a fraction of the once-numerous community, which was made up of indigenous Bukharan Jews and a large number of WW II refugees, Ashkenazi Jews' from European parts of the Soviet Union. Lev Levayev is the president of the federation of Jewish communities of the former Soviet Union and head of the World Congress of Bukharan Jews.
Abe Dovid Gurevich is the Tashkent, Uzbekistan based chief of Chabad-Lubavitch emissary.
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