65TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION CEREMONIES IN MEMORY OF THE BIALYSTOK GHETTO LIQUIDATION

Click HERE for more information about the Ceremony in Bialystok on 18 August 2008

Survey of Jewish Cemeteries in the Grodno Guberniya of Poland

Enter Here

The Museum of Family History
HONORING AND PRESERVING THE MEMORY OF OUR ANCESTORS
FOR THE PRESENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS

Pages of Interest for BIALYGenners

Yale Strom, Famous Klezmer Artist

http://www.yalestrom.com/

Work by Israel Beker z"l (son of Bialystok), Famous Israeli Artist

Click HERE for Ada Holtzman's Homage to Beker (Hebrew and English)

NEW: PINKOS BIALYSTOK INDEX OF PEOPLE

NOW ONLINE

UPDATED: TRANSLATION OF "PINKOS BIALYSTOK" HAS STARTED

the definitive history of the Jewish Community of Bialystok

A JEWISHGEN YIZKOR BOOK PROJECT 

NEW YIZKOR BOOK TRANSLATION

"THE STORIES OUR PARENTS FOUND TOO PAINFUL TO TELL"

by Rafael Rajzner & Henry R. Lew

Read Article about the Book and Translation

See Index of SURNAMES

INDEX OF YAHRZEIT CARDS FROM BIALYSTOKER CENTER IN NEW YORK CITY NOW ONLINE

Read about the project and the database and then search the index here

1895

1903

VSIA

ROSSIIA

BIALYSTOK REGION RUSSIAN BUSINESS DIRECTORIES FOR 1895 and 1903 NOW ONLINE

Read about the project and the directories here

Click on the year to search 1895 and 1903 Directories

THE BASICS

Discussion Forum

RESOURCES

 Archival Records

Holocaust

Research Projects

Translations

Bialystok Great Synagogue - burned to ground by Nazis on June 27, 1941

We welcome you to and thank you for your interest in the BIALYGen SIG, the Bialystok Region Jewish Genealogy Group.

The primary function of BIALYGen is to facilitate cooperation and discussion amongst Jewish researchers interested in the Białystok region of Poland. This includes the city of Białystok and nearby towns and villages currently in Poland that were formerly in Grodno Gubernia when these towns were under Russian rule.

BIALYGen was formed on July 23, 2003, when 40 researchers met at The 23rd International Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Washington, DC, USA and committed to the following objectives:

1. Sharing research and experiences

2. Commemorating our Ancestors and their lives

3. Cooperating on projects of value to all researchers

To this end, the goal of this website is to share information and data amongst Jewish genealogists interested in the Bialystok region and to provide the most up-to-date inventory of information about our ancestors lives and the Jewish history of the region where they lived from the 16th Century. 

The Fifth Annual BIALYGen SIG Meeting was held Monday, August 18, 2008 at the 28th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Chicago. See the PowerPoint Presentation

This website starts with the basic information:    

• How to contact BIALYGen

• How to participate 

• Finding out What's New?

• Exchanging ideas via our Discussion Forum

• Finding your town or village, the town coordinator for you town, and the type of information available for your town

• Finding links to other useful websites 

And then provides more details on available resources and those provided by our members under the following categories: 

• Archival Records -- Records available for BIALYGen towns in Archives worldwide

• Articles & Features -- Contributed articles about life in and the history of the BIALYGen region

• Cemeteries -- Information and photos for Cemeteries in the BIALYGen region and Landsmanschaft plots in countries to which our ancestors immigrated

• Databases -- BIALYGen and external databases of interest to researchers

• Holocaust -- Information and links to information about the Holocaust in the BIALYGen region

• Maps -- Maps and links to maps of the BIALYGen region

• Photo Album -- Contributed photos of family, towns, events, and travel in the BIALYGen region

• Publications -- Bibliography of books and other publications, including short synopsis where available

• Research Projects -- BIALYGen sponsored research projects

• Translation Projects -- BIALYGen sponsored translation projects

• Yizkor Books -- Information and links to information about Yizkor Books for BIALYGen towns

The specific goals of BIALYGen as determined on July 23, 2003 are:

1. Gain access to Jewish records in the National Historical Archives of Belarus in Grodno, create an inventory, and create useful indices.

2. Translate and index vital records not yet indexed by JRI-Poland.

3. Acquire and index non-vital Jewish records available at the Bialystok branch of the Polish State Archives and other sources, e.g. Business directories, old newspapers.

4. Acquire maps and photos from NARA and other sources for shtetlach in BIALYGen region.

5. Acquire and index records of the Bialystok Hebrew Gymnasium.

6. Search repositories in Israel for records applicable to the BIALYGen region and index those records.

7. Indexing of Cemeteries in Poland and in other countries where Landsmanschaften burial plots exist.

Our effort to bring together all the available information for the Bialystok region depends first on the substantial efforts of others who have worked diligently to find, catalogue, translate, and place on the web the historic evidence for the BIALYGen region. This includes JRI-Poland, JewishGen, Belarus SIG, Ada Holtzman and her cohorts in the Zchor.org website, Tilford Bartman's Zabludow website, Andrew Blumberg's Bielsk Podlaski website, Gary Mokotoff and David Gordon's Jalowka website, and others.

The success of BIALYGen depends on all researchers with an interest in this area. More needs to be done. Please contribute your expertise, your time, and your funds to help us all succeed. Click on the buttons Research Projects, Participate, Towns, and Translations for more information. Or, contact Mark Halpern, BIALYGen Coordinator or Sidney Zabludoff, BIALYGen Research Coordinator about how you can help.

From the beginning of the 1800s to the Holocaust, Bialystok was a prominent Jewish City. The Jewish share of the population for most of that period ranged between 50 and 75 percent. Among major cities of Poland, Bialystok clearly had the highest percentage of Jews. While Vilnius (Wilno) was considered the "Jerusalem of the North," Bialystok was a major "entrepreneurial zone" for Jews. Even so, Bialystok had the largest number of Synagogues per capita in Poland while the region has one of the oldest Synagogues in Tykocin and had the famous wooden Synagogue in Zabludow.

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