Bielsker Bruderlicher Unterstitzungs Verein

The Bielsker Bruderlicher Unterstitzungs Verein (BBUV) landsmanshaft was founded on April 13, 1888 on Chrystie Street in New York City. It's mission was declared to be benevolence, mutual aid to members and general outside welfare work. In 1890 the group purchased its first cemetery plot at Washington Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. Also in 1890 the BBUV created a Sick Benefit Fund to aid its members. The Loan Fund was organized in 1903. In addition to aiding its members and providing for a proper Jewish burial the BBUV maintained an active social life as evidenced by souvenir journals from anniversary banquets. According to the WPA Yiddish Writer's Group Study (1938), the BBUV had 12 members at its founding in 1888. In 1938 there were 300 members, of whom 20 percent were American born.

The Bielsker Bruderlicher Unterstitzungs Verein purchased burial plots in Washington Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY and Mt. Lebanon cemetery in Queens, NY. Some members of the BBUV were laid to rest on the burial society plots located in these cemeteries. Phone calls to the cemeteries may help you locate ancestors or relatives.

There have been variations in the spelling and abbreviation of the verein's name. Six of them and their sources are:

Bielsker Brüderliche Unterstützungs Verein - May 26, 1888, Certificate of Incorporation
Bielsker Bruederlicher Unter. Ver. - June 16, 1912, Gate at Washington Cemetery
Bielsker Bruederlicher Unterstuetzungs Verein - January 24, 1924, Loan Fund's 20th Anniversary Banquet Souvenir Journal
Bielsker Bruederlicher Unterstitzungs Verein - April 22, 1928, 40th Anniversary Banquet Souvenir Journal
Bielsker Bruderlicher Unt. Verein - Date unknown, Gate at Mount Lebanon Cemetery
Bielsker Bruderlicher Untershtitzungs Verein - YIVO Archives

For a discussion on the spelling variations, click here.

In addition to helping its members, the BBUV sent aid to residents and survivors in Bielsk, including during WWI and WWII. This advertisement is from page 2 of the January 15, 1915 edition of the daily New York Yiddish newspaper Di vahrhayt (The Truth). It speaks of famine in Europe due to the war and calls on people from Bielsk and the surrounding areas to attend a meeting about sending aid.

The BBUV was affiliated with the United Bielsker Relief, which was organized in New York after World War I by Bielsk Podlaski landsmanshaftn. Other organizations that belonged to United Bielsker Relief include Bielsker Ladies Auxiliary, Workmen's Circle (U.S.) Bielsker-Orler Branch 438, and the United Jewish Appeal. Its purpose was to provide assistance to Jews from the town. United Bielsker Relief was also active in relief work (see here and here) for Holocaust survivors, and in philanthropic work in Israel.

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research holds records of the Bielsker Bruderlicher Unterstitzungs Verein in record group 1046. These materials include souvenir journals (which themselves contain a history of the organization, member lists, photos, memorials and advertisements), membership directories and financial records. You can visit YIVO to examine these materials and search for your ancestors.

Photo copies of pages from souvenir journals can be viewed from the links below.

Certificate of Incorporation, 1888

Souvenir Journal of the Loan Fund's 20th Anniversary Banquet, 1924

Partial journal of dues payments, 1926

40th Anniversary Banquet Souvenir Journal, 1928 (includes a scrollable list of over 800 names in the journal)

50th Anniversary Banquet Souvenir Journal, 1938

History

Membership Directory, 1949

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