Ben's Brody Photos

Brody Metrical Books
(Photos taken by Ben Solomowitz)
Copyright © 2000 Ben Solomowitz

Front of Metrical Book The German script reads:

Vol. II.
Birth and Marriage Book
of the Brody Metrical District

Births from 1 November 1819
until end December 1826.
Marriages from 4/11 1819 until 8/12 1826.

A 19th-Century Metrical Book
from the Lviv Archive

Back of Metrical Book, with Seal

The Austrian Eagle is at the center of this wax seal. The multicolored cord was typically part of the binding of such metrical books (i.e., books containing vital records). This strategem prevented anyone from removing a page or adding one that was not officially recognized by the government.

Seal from the Back of a Brody Metrical Book

Judenrat Seal This seal and its cord, from a Brody Metrical Book listing Jewish births and kept by the Judenrat in the Brody ghetto, literally sealed the fate of the Jews there. The cord, as was customary, was still part of the binding. Now, by preventing any pages from being surreptitiously removed from the book, it ensured that the names of all the Jews born in Brody were known to the Nazis. Had it been possible to remove any pages undetected, some of the Jews whose names were recorded might have been saved.

Seal of the Judenrat on a Brody Metrical Book