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St. Petersburg – California Kristin Nute enute@igc.org or Elena Tsvetkova blitz@peterlink.ru SOURCES
FOR JEWISH GENEALOGY |
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SOURCES
FOR JEWISH GENEALOGY Blitz
– Information Center located in St. Petersburg and California has been
providing research and genealogy searches in the archives of the Former
Soviet Union. In fulfilling
the assignments from our many clients Blitz has gained a wealth of experience
in working with the archives and other institutions and has developed
a knowledge of what information is available
and where it can be found. Blitz
has provided many Jewish genealogy searches and has also researched
Jewish subjects in the Russian Empire for a number of authors.
The following is a description of some Russian sources of Jewish
information that have been particularly productive. Primary
documents relating to Jews are held in regional archives. These records include Synagogue registers of
births, marriages and deaths; family lists and materials of Jewish censuses;
registers of draftee appointments; lists of landowners and other official
filings. Many Archives located in the regions of the former Jewish pale
(pre-1917) suffered much damage during World War II. Not all Archival
collections survived. After the collapse of the USSR in the 1990s, the
Archives of former provinces of the Russian Empire were suddenly in
different countries: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, etc.
Access to these files has become more difficult because of new
Archive requirements and rules of the various new countries. BLITZ
can access some local Archives but works most often with sources available
in the Central Archives as well as published sources in St. Petersburg. The main provincial newspapers (Provincial Records)
contain information regarding court affairs and actions; lists of persons
elected to city government and public positions in Jewish communities;
lists of recruits; advertisements regarding
auctions and lists of persons who acquired them; publications regarding
incidents, events of cultural life, activity of Jewish charitable organizations,
trade advertisements, etc. Another
good source are lists of recruits (draftees
and those who avoided compulsory military service).
Information about all young men of the appropriate age (21 years
old) who were subjected to military service was regularly published
in local newspapers. Sometimes lists of draftees contained some personal
information about them and in some cases, about their parents. Lists
of persons who had a right to be electors to the State Duma were published
in the central provincial newspapers during the election years of 1906,
1907 and 1912. Only taxpayers
had the right to vote. However,
all persons paid taxes for something, so
it turned out that almost everyone in the entire province was included
in such lists. These lists were compiled according to tax qualifications
and it is possible to find out what kind of taxes the person paid, such
as, property, apartment rental, handicraft duty, state service, etc. From this information, we can often guess a
persons social status and occupation.
Very
detailed trade directories were published in the Russian Empire prior
to 1917. For example: yearly issues of the address-calendar of the Russian
Empire - "All Russia" directory; All South-Western Region;
the provincial and city publications.
BLITZ uses such publications during the preliminary search and
finds these sources particularly useful in obtaining information about
members of families their names and patronymics, businesses and addresses. Working
with the Russian State Historic Archives located in St. Petersburg may
also provide positive results. Fond 821 contains a collection of documents
of the Department of Sacred Affairs for Foreign Religions. Inventories to this Fond list
a number of files with documents on the Judaic religion and persons
of this faith. These materials
include lists of synagogues, prayer houses, rabbis and other clergy
in various provinces of the Russian Empire. Also
interesting are individual files of this Fond which concern claims from
various persons in a particular province regarding government refusal
to open synagogues, prayer houses and cemeteries or closing those which
existed before; claims for abuses of rabbis and members of religious
administrations. There are documents concerning elections, and
some position confirmations. The
significance of these files lies in the fact that they include petitions
sent on behalf of Jewish communities and contain the signatures of almost
all members. Fond
1292 contains files concerning the recruitment by draft offices
of the entire Empire. Fond 1284 contains files
concerning property ownership including land plots in different provinces
of the Russian Empire. Documents concerning Jews may be found in this
Fond. Fond 20 contains documents of the Department
of Trade and Manufacturing of the Ministry of Finance including inquiries
of owners and renters of companies or even stores located in various
provinces. Fond 18 contains many files of the Department of Manufacturing
of Interior Trade with lists of local merchants. As a rule, not only
the merchants are listed but also members of their families as well.
An example of this information is illustrated by the following entry: Kuna,
Mot Shamovich. Wife,
Freida. One
son. Trade
of different goods. Merchant of the 3rd guild in the city of Mogilev
(Podolia province). From
the entry above, we are able to learn names, family composition and
business for a specific year. This information is useful in selecting
the sources and directories for additional research. Below
is a list of surnames of merchants of the cities and districts of Mogilev
and Jampol, both in the Podolia province, as listed in documents of
such files (Russian State Historic Archive - Fond 18).
If you are interested in more information from a surname listed
below, please apply to Blitz (see contact information below). |
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| Artsianov Baraap
Beizak Belfer
Bezin Blank Blankova Blatshtein
Blushteik Bondarovskii Chatskii Cherkas Diogot Eizenshtein Enzenshtein Fishbert Fishkop Fridman Fridmanova Galitsov Galitsova Galperin Geler Gertsenberg Gertsenbergova Gervits Ginesen Goldenberg Gologorskii
Goltsman Gorvits Grinbarg Grinberg
Groinom
Gru |
Iarugskii Idelsonova Izrailiant Izrailianta Kalantyr Kandel Kandeliova Kharash
Khusydova Kogan Kuna Landa Lapovitskii Lashin Levenson Levites Lipovetskii Monimor Monishor Nishiiskii Parnas Parnasova Parnisova
Pirim Pisarevskii Potsner Rabinzon
Radovich Rafailovich
Rafalovich Rafalovicheva Rashkovskii Rokeekh Rozinshtein Rubinshtein |
Sendin Serbin Servenov Shats Shim Shoslovadikova Shvarts Silantiev Stroganov Temis Trakhtenberg Tselniker Urinis Uripisova Valshtein Vereta Vernikov Versta Vilshteinova Volshtein Volzhenson Vulokh |
We
recommend research in the Russian State Historic Archive in St. Petersburg
not be delayed. To our great
sorrow we were informed that the Russian State Historic Archive will
soon be closed for a long time. Although there is no exact date yet,
the archive is expected to close sometime in 2004.
The building now housing the archive was the Ruling Senate
and the Holy Synod before the Revolution.
They are now being returned to the Government.
The length of closure will depend upon the readiness of the
new building being constructed for the Archive. The new building will
be NorthEast of the city off the Ladozhskaia
metro station. The documents
will be packed, then moved and organized. There are about seven million
files and this process will take a long time. So, the documents will
not be accessible either for researchers or anyone for many years.
The Central Archive of the Russian Empire is still open and can be
accessed for genealogy research. BLITZ
has had good results researching Jewish families in another archive
located in Moscow, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, which
contains a large number of documents in Fonds of Police and Gendarme
Administrations. Many Jews participated in revolutionary activities,
were members of different parties and non-legal societies in the late
19th-early 20th centuries. Such persons were under supervision or
trial and it is possible to obtain rather complete information about
their origin and family composition from the personal files and other
documents available in this Archive. Of
course, listed above are just a few sources of information about Jewish
families. Selection of the most suitable sources depends upon the
initial information and particularities of a particular family history.
Each search will be designed depending upon the specific request and
initial information. Unlike
genealogy research in Western countries, in Russia it is usually not
possible to immediately focus on obtaining a birth certificate or
death certificate. In most
cases, such certificates simply do not exist or there is insufficient
information as to location, date, even names to know where to start
looking. Blitz
begins its research with a preliminary search which uses readily available
sources such as the “All Russian” directory as well as other sources
to see if the family can be found.
Once mention of the family is found, the research can become
more focused. This type of research often yields a more detailed
outline of the family history, rather than just names and dates of
births, marriages and deaths. For more information about Blitz or would like to undertake a search, please contact Kristin Nute enute@igc.org or Elena Tsvetkova blitz@peterlink.ru. |
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