Archive of Announcements
- Posted November 17, 2001. Tony Hausner writes "The Skala Benevolent Society (Skala Podolaska) has recently released a video "Skala on the Border." This video gives a history of this Jewish community from the 15th century through the holocaust. For further information, contact Tony Hausner. Please note that I am not involved in the production or distribution of this video, and am only posting for member's information. This video is produced by a non-profit organization."
- Posted October 24, 2001. The SRRG web site is now operating on the new server on ShtetLinks. In the process of moving the site, many links were brokern. The process of fixing all broken links has begun but is not complete.
- Posted March 21, 2001. Recently, Gesher Galicia (GG) formulated new guidelines for Research Groups. SRRG, as currently constituted, does not satisfy those guidelines. ShtetLinks will only sanction SRRG if it abides by the GG guidelines. Thus, there is a bit of an impasse, which hopefully will be resolved in on-going policy discussions involving Gesher Galicia, ShtetLinks, and SRRG. Because of the uncertainty over the fate of SRRG, work on the web site is suspended pending a resolution of this matter.
- Posted January 29, 2001. JewishGen is moving some of its computers. This has broken a great number of links in our site. These links will be fixed, after our site is moved. Sorry for the inconvenience
- Posted October 21, 2000. SRRG is pleased to announce our first regional event. On Wednesday, October 25, 2000, SRRG member and scholar Abraham J. Heschel will present an interactive lecture on the growth of Hassidism in SRRG shtetlach. The lecture will be held at the Center for Jewish History in New York City. If you would like to attend and have not already signed up, please e-mail Joan Baronberg asap. If you would like to organize a SRRG event in your locale, please be in touch with Joan.
- Posted October 14, 2000. Jurek Hirschberg and Carole Feinberg point out an excellent web site that contains a glossary of abbreviations and terms found in the Polish gazetteer "Slownik Geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego I Innych Krajow Slowianskich" ("Geographic Dictionary of the Former Kingdom of Poland and Other Slavic Lands"). This will be helpful in translations of town names and other references. There is also a listing of the LDS microfilm numbers of the towns in this very thorough gazeteer.
- Posted August 29, 2000. Thanks to SRRGers Carole Feinberg, Renee Steinig and Schelly Dardashti for bringing to our attention and recommending the following resource. Here is a summary of their very helpful comments. The SLOWNIK GEOGRAFICZNY( Slownik geograficzny Krowlestwa Polskiego i innych krajow slowianskich_) is a magnificent resource. Everyone should take a look at it. I do not know Polish but made my way through it looking at the list of abbreviations in front of book. It is on microfilm and can be ordered by your local Family History Center. It is a 15-volume work available at a number of research libraries, including...CA - Berkeley, Stanford, Hoover Institute, DC - Library of Congress, IL - Newberry Liby, U of Chicago, IN - Indiana Univ., MA - Harvard, UMass-Amherst,, MI _ U of Michigan, NJ - Princeton, NY - SUNY-Buffalo, NY Public Liby, OH - Cleveland Public Liby, The newsletters of the Chicago-based Polish Genealogical Society of America and of other Polish-American genealogical societies regularly print translations of entries from Slownik Geograficzny. To check if the entry for your town has been translated, see the Periodical Source Index (PERSI), in which many of those newsletters are indexed. PERSI is available online to Ancestry.com subscribers, on CD-ROM, and at research libraries. The Allen County Public Library, which maintains PERSI, will provide copies of articles for a fee. See www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/periodicals/persi/about.htm for more information. The Polish Genealogical Society of America web site offers additional info on Slownik Geograficzny, as well as FHL film numbers, translation help, at www.pgsa.org/slownik_eng.htm Translations of some town entries are available at www.pgsa.org/townindx.htm
- Posted June 23, 2000. Renee Steinig, Shtetl Leader for Tolstoye4850 (commonly known as Tluste), has compiled a list of 286 burials in two Tluste landsmanshaft plots at Mount Zion Cemetery (Maspeth, New York). Burials occurred between 1900 and 1996 on grounds owned by the First Tluster Brothers Benevolent Association and the Young Tluste Society (Honest Brothers).
- Posted May 24, 2000. Israel Pickholtz has just returned from a visit to East Galician cemeteries. He reports on the cemeteries in Lwow, Zalosce, Zbarazh, Tarnopol, Perehinsko, Rozniatow, Dolina, Bolechow, Rozdol, Brezdowicz, Skalat, Grimaylow, Stanislawow, Nizniow, Buczacz, Lysiec.
- Posted May 9, 2000. Here is a note from Chuch Weinstein about ShtetLinks usage that shows the success of the SRRG endeavor. "I thought I would share with you some interesting statistics about our project, as I know at least some of you wonder if anyone is paying attention. In the month of April, ShtetLinks had over 150,000 hits, representing some 9876 individual visitors, of whom 1541 visited ShtetLinks more than once. Lodz continues to be, by far, our most popular site, with
Suchostaw Region Research Group, Krakow, Riga, and Zmigrod rounding out the top 5 individual sites on our server. Aside from JewishGen, our top 5 referring sites are google.com, yahoo, altavista, and excite. We are pleased to be listed on so many referral lists. Eight new sites were reserved in April, and 3 new sites, Hotin, Ukraine, Urechye, Belarus, and Seirijai, Lithuania went on line. See you all at ShtetLinks!"
- Posted May 2, 2000. In honour of YOM haSHOAH and in love and remembrance of our murdered ancestors see the list of Transports to Belzec, 1942.
- Posted April 30, 2000. A friend of SRRG recently suggested the following book now listed the SRRG Bibliography but want to call special attention to the pages he cited for our shtetlach. JUDENRAT: The Jewish Counctils In Eastern Europe Under Nazi Occupation by Isaih Trunk. Stein and Day Publishers, New York, 1972.
Borszczow - pages 16,40,41,302,307
Buczacz - pages 419,513
Czortkow - 40,41
Kopyczynce - 362
Ozierany - 319
Skalat - 27, 395, 406, 424, 426, 427,449, 513
Tluste - 406
- SRRG member Carole Feinberg would like everyone to know about a new on-line discussion group. "Our area of interest is Borislav, Drogobych, Sambor and vicinity, also in Eastern Galicia. There should be several members of SRRG who also have relatives from our area." Information for joining the discussion group can be found at the bottom of the page for Special Interest Groups.
- Denise Azbill would like to call the attention of all SRRGers to a new and exciting project of the Skala Benevolent Society of Belle Harbor, New York. In cooperation with the American Friends of Beth Hatefutsoth, the SBS is putting together a video documenting 500 years of Jewish life in Skala. With an unusual collection of photos, documents and letters, preserved since World War II, and interview material from the shtetl's survivors, we will all be able to be a witness to the story of Eastern European shtetl life, through the eyes of one shtetl. This video will be a remembrance for those who perished and an inspiration for generations to come. Anyone with an interest in this project or materials to submit is urged to contact the Skala Benevolent Society, 226 Beach 135th Street, Belle Harbor, New York, telephone number 718-945-0253. Please help this project become a reality!
- The port of Hamburg, Germany, was the embarcation point for 40% of Eastern Jewish immigrants, according to JewishGen. The port authority maintained lists of emigrating passengers between 1850-1934, and the city is now in the process of computerizing these lists to upload to the internet. These lists contain the emigrant's town of origin. They are indexed by year and the first letter of each passenger's surname. The lists have been microfilmed and are available through local LDS Family History Centers. According to the Hamburg project site, enterprising shipping agents fanned out across Eastern Europe to drum up business and actually led emigrants to Hamburg, where they stayed in large holding facilities awaiting departure.
- Dear SRRGers, I would like to make a suggestion for when you have a little spare time. Do a little reading in the Yizkor book from any SRRG town near yours (go to the SRRG shtetl page and then to the Yizkor book to see what has been translated). I am finding that there is mention of many names and families in neighboring towns. For example, in reading some of the Khoroskov Yizkor book, I have seen people from Chortkov, Husiatyn, and Trembowla mentioned by name. Joan
- Israel Pickholtz, our indefatigable Skalat Shtetl Leader, is organizing a project to purchase all 30 books of Skalat records held in the Warsaw Archives. Please see http://www.geocities.com/pikholz/archives.htm for full information about this remarkable undertaking.
- Denise Azbill highly recommends: "Tales of the Old World and the New by Chone Gottesfeld, a must-read for
Suchostaw area researchers. Mr. Gottesfeld was born in Skala in 1886 and in these memoirs, he describes his childhood in Skala, and tells wonderful, humorous tales of his family and various people living in his shtetl. He goes on to describe his mishaps and adventures as an immigrant to the United States in 1910, and then a haunting visit he made back to Skala in the late 1930s. The book is a stirring, fascinating peek into pre-WWII Jewish shtetl life. Mr. Gottesfeld was a writer for the Jewish Daily Forward in New York City for many years. This book was originally written in Yiddish, but has been translated into English. Tne English version can be obtained through inter-library loan. It's a wonderful book."
