Selected Bibliography

Periodicals

• Rom Sig news : Jewish genealogical special interest group for Romania (Toronto, Ontario : Rom-Sig, 1992-), ISSN: 1084-3221
  A newsletter that covered such areas as Bessarabia, Bukovina, Máramaros, Moldavia, Transylvania, and Wallachia. (now defunct)

Books

Kishinev: Genealogy

• None known.

Moldova: Jewish Genealogy

• Jewish roots in Ukraine and Moldavia: pages from the past and archival Inventories, by Miriam Weiner. (New York and Seacaucus: YIVO and Miriam Weiner Routes to Roots Foundation: 1999), ISBB 0-9656508-1-2. USHMM - Library Stack DS135.U4 W45 1999
  
  Contains comprehensive inventories of Jewish records in Moldovan archives and civil registration offices.
  Read about it at Routes to Roots

Moldova: Jewish Cemeteries

• Carved memories: heritage in stone from the Russian Jewish Pale, by David N.(David Noevich) Goberman, introduction by Robert Pinsky ; essay by Gershon Hundert. [New York: Rizzoli, 2000], 167 p. : ill., maps ; 30 cm. ISBN: 0847822567. USHMM - NB1880.U38 G63 2000
  
  Publisher description
  125 Pictures and explanations of carvings on Jewish tombstones from West Central Ukraine, West Ukraine and Moldova, most of which were destroyed by the Nazis or later as part of a program in the Soviet Union to elminate vestiges of religion in society. Includes a bibliography.)
• Jewish tombstones in Ukraine and Moldova, by David N.(David Noevich) Goberman, (=Added t.p. in Russian: Evreiskie nadgrob'ia) ; [translated from the Russian by L. Lezhneva ; editor of English text, Lynne Hulett], text in English and Russian, 263 p., N 7415 .S5 v.4
  
  Another Institute project is the publication of a photo album entitled Gravestones of the Destroyed Jewish Cemeteries in Moldova, by D.N. Goberman. During the 1950s, Goberman, a pioneer in the field of researching Jewish gravestones, managed to photograph gravestones in the cemeteries of the largest Jewish communities in Moldova: Kishinev, Beltsy and Argeevo. Later, these cemeteries were destroyed. Goberman is not only a folk art investigator, but an artist as well. His pictures, thus, are notable for their original artistic vision and particular expressiveness. Accompanying the photographs is an article by the author on the creative work of the Jewish folk artists of Moldova.
  The book lists information for the following Moldova towns:
  -4716 2819 Calarashi/Kalarash/Calarasi Targ/Kelarasz/Kelerash Tyrg/ in Kalarash Raion
  -4722 2851 Orhei/Orgeyev in Orgeyev Raion

Go to top

Articles

Moldova: Jewish Genealogy

• "About the Russian Archivest's Soul," by Vlad Soshnikov. Avotaynu 14:3 (Fall 1998), p. ?.
  
  The author offers practical advice on how to introduce yourself if you ever personally visit an archive in Russia, Ukrain, Boldova, or Belarus. The discussions of the vital records available for Moldova (Bessarabia) is not dated in the sense that most of these records can be access without visiting the arhives themselves. Other record types, such as the revision lists (censuses) and lists of town dwellers may still require onsite or research through correspondence. He gives a detailed list of census records for Belarus that can still be very useful if your research takes you in that direction.
• "Jewish Genealogical Research in Moldova," by Vlad Soshnikov. Avotaynu XVI:3 (Fall 2000), p. 22.
  
  For being so short, this article mentions a surprisingly large variety of genealogical records that can be found in the former province of Bessarabia, now the Republic of Moldova. There are also several interesting comments on the origin of Jews in the region.
• "Moldovan Ancestry Research," by Lolita Nikolova and Sally Goodman. Avotaynu XIX (Spring 2003), p. ?.
  
  A description of the state of Jewish genealogical research for Moldova (Bessarabia) in 2003. The authors focus on how best to access and use records found in Kishinev -- whether it be through on site research, correspondence with the archivists, or through the Internet.
• "Travel to Bukovina and Moldova," by Ruth B. Gavis and Irwin A. Kaufman. Avotaynu 15:? (Winter 1999), pp. ?-?.
  
  Contains the account of two visits made by Gavis to the Moldova National Archives in Kishinev in 1997 and 1998. It gives some tips on how best to get access to the archives and what services you can expect to get once you are there. [Some services, such as photocopying, have been added since the publication of this article. pm]

Go to top

Romania: Genealogy

• "Archival Sources for the Genealogy of Jewish Colonists In Southern Russia in the 19th Century," by Dimitry A. Feldman (translated from Russian by Patricia Eames). Avotaynu VI:1 (Spring 1990), p. 15.
  
  The author discusses the political and economic factors of the early 18th century that resulted in the creation and populating of agricultural communities in three southern provinces of Russia, namely, Bessarabia, Ekaterinoslav and Kherson. A product of these initiatives were lists of the people who worked on the farms, the top leaders, and a list of ownders of homesteads. These deocuments are held in The Russian State Archives of Ancient Acts (RGADA) in Moscow.
• "Ashkenazi Surnames Appeared…Quite Soon," by Marcel Bratu. ROM-SIG News, Vol. 5, No. 4, Summer 1997, p. 31-34.
• The formation of the Transylvanian Jewish and Romanian identity: a comparative view, by Ladislau Gyémánt. [access to the article requires a subscription to the journal]
  Journal information: Studia Hebraica I, edited by Dr. Felicia Waldman)
• "Historical and Demographic Background Of Jewish Family Research in Romania," by Ladislau Gyémánt. Avotaynu 19:?, Fall 2003), pp. ?.
  
  The author provides a summary of how the people of Bessarabia have repeatedly been the victims of political and military machinations of its neighbors. Because Bessarabia was populated mostly by Romanians, Romania claimed it was theirs, whereas the greater powers of the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and finally the Soviet Union each controlled th region for their own geopolitical reasons. This tumultuous history clearly accounts for some of the rich kinds of records (tax rolls, land records, etc.) found in the archives and the frequent gaps in the records. There is also much information here specifically about the origin, rise, and decloine of the Jewish population in Romania in general.
• "History of the Sudits of Romania," by Robert S. Sherins, M.D. ROM-SIG News 5:3 (Spring 1997)
  Online version (on JewishGen, accessed August 3, 2006)
• "Immigration of Romanian Jews up to 1914," by Joseph Kissman. YIVO Annual of Jewish Social Science 1947-48, pp. 160-179. YIVO Ref
• "The Jews from Romania: An Historical Destiny," by Ladislau Gyémánt. ROM-SIG News, Vol. 3, No. 3, Spring 1995, pp. 9-13.
  
  Summary article by a professor of Jewish history who is also an active genealogical researcher.
• "The Jews of Roumania from the Earliest Times to the Present Day" and "The Situation of the Jews in Romania since the Treaty of Berlin," by Elias Schwartzfeld. American Jewish Yearbook 1901-2, pp. 25-87, YIVO Ref DS 101 AJ 1901-02
• "The Jews of Transylvania: Historical and Statistical Preliminaries," by Ladislau Gyémánt. ROM-SIG News, Vol. 3, No. 2, Winter 1995, pp. 3-5. Summary article.
• "Onomastic Derailments: Irregular Surnames," by Marcel Bratu. ROM-SIG News, Vol. 5, No. 3, Spring 1997, p. 28-29
• "Origins of the Jews of Romania and Their History up to the Basic Rules of 1831-32," by Dan Regenstreif. Avotaynu 8 (Summer 1992)
  
  Basing his article on documents stored in the Jewish Museum of Bucharest, the author reviews evidence of the presence of Jews in greater Romania (including Bessarabia) from well before the time of Jesus. He reviews the factors that caused the Jewish population in Romania to grow and decline in following centuries.
• "Researching Jewish Romania On Site," by Paul Pascal. Avotaynu XI (Spring 1995), p. ?
  
  The author relates his experiences of doing document reserach in community archives in Romania and doing cemetery research in inner Moldova (not Bessarabia) -- especially the Iasi area. He describes the Sudits ("foreign nationals living in Romania under the protection of their country of origin") and their importance to the study of the Jews of Romania.
• "Researching Jewish Romania On Site," by Paul Pascal. Avotaynu XII (Spring 1996), p. ?.
• "Revisiting our Romanian Roots," by Rick Bercuvitz. Avotaynu, Vol. 9, No. 4, Winter 1993, p. ?.
• "Romania: The Sudits and Other Jewish Discoveries," by Paul Pascal. Avotaynu XI:1 (Spring 1995), pp. 8-14.
  
  This article is about doing genealogical research onsite in inner Moldova (not Bessarabia) and offers helpful insights on personal naming convensions, census records and lists of foreigners in Romania --- especially in the Iasi region.
• "Romanian Holdings at the Diaspora Research Institute," by Carol Clapsaddle. Avotaynu VI:2 (Summer 1990), p. 13.
  
  Discusses several collections of Bessarabian documents in the Diaspora Research Institue at Tel Aviv University such as the bequest of Arieh (Leon) Mizrachi and the Archive in Memory of the Jews of Bessarabia and the Wachtel-Einhorn Archive, of value primarily to members of that family.
• The Romanian Jewry: Historical Destiny, Tolerance, Integration, Marginalisation, by Ladislau Gyémánt (Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies, No.3 /Winter 2002 p. 98).
• "Romanian Records at the Holocaust Memorial Museum: Research Strategies for Records Still Held in Romania," by Irene Saunders Goldstein. Avotaynu IX:4 (Winter 1993), pp. 18-19.
  
  Discusses the microfilm holdings of USHMMS of records from Romanian archives related to Romanian Jews -- mostly post World War II records. It mentions 15,000 frames of records from Kishinev but doesn't say what they are. The article also advises one to do personal research by using the mayorship offices of individual towns in Romania, though it is not indicated whether these tips apply to research in Moldova as well.
• "Selected Sources on Romania at the Central Archives of the Jewish People," by Carol Clapsaddle. Avotaynu VI:1 (Spring 1990), p. 15.
  Sources in Israel for: Bacua, Braila, Bucharest, Lasi.
  
• "Sephardic Surnames in Romania," by Marcel Bratu. ROM-SIG News, Vol. 5., No. 1, Fall 1996, p. 21-22
• "Sources for Jewish Genealogical Research in Romania," by Ladislau Gyémánt. Avotaynu XII:3 (Autumn 1996), pp. 8-11.
• "The Surnames of the Later Ashkenazi Jews in Romania," by by Marcel Bratu. ROM-SIG News, Vol. 4, No. 2, Winter 1996-97, p. 5-7
• "The Surnames of the First Ashkenazi Jews in Romania," Marcel Bratu. ROM-SIG News, Vol. 4, No. 4, Summer 1996, p.23
• "Genealogy and History Sources of Jewish Genealogical Research in Romania (18th-20th Centuries)," by Ladislau Gyémánt. Avotaynu XIII:3 (Fall 1997), pp. 42-48.
  
  The author accounts for the variety and sporadic existence of genealogical records in Romania by explaining the policital, social and economic history of the region. He discusses mostly the records for Moldavia and Wallachia and Transylvania and briefly touches on Bukovia and Bessarabia.
• "Sources of Jewish Genealogical Research in the Romanian Archival System," by Ladislau Gyémánt. Avotaynu XIV:3 (Autumn 1998), pp. 22-28.
  
  The author discusses the archival system for greater Romania and how it can be best used for Jewish genealogical research. He points out that Bessarabia has "its own specific archival organization," but this is beyond the scope of his article and he does not elaborate on it further.
• "Sources of Research for Jewish Genealogy in Transylvania," by Ladislau Gyémánt. Avotaynu XI:2 (Summer 1995), pp. 29-30.
• "The Sudits of Romania: Invited and Privileged Guests?", by Stela Maries. [Three-part series, translated and edited by Burno Segal.] ROM-SIG News, 4:3 (Spring 1996), p. 3-9; 4:4 (Summer 1996), p. 5-10; and 5:1 (Fall 1996), p. 8-16.
• "Where to Find Jewish Genealogy Research Materials in Romania," by Ladislau Gyémánt. Avotaynu, Vol. 12, No. 3, Fall 1996, p. 8-11, and ROM-SIG News, Vol. 6, No. 4, Summer 1998.

Go to top

Internet Resource Pages

• Center Genealogy Institute. (upated August 2005)

Go to top

Guides to Archival Resources

• Archives and manuscript repositories in the USSR: Ukraine and Moldovia, by Patricia Kennedy Grimstead. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988, v. <1 > : map ; 25 cm. ISBN: 069105391X (v. 1). USHMM - Reference Collection CD1735.U4 G75 1988
• Moldova National Archives, Chisinau, records, [microform], Master copies 24 microfilm reels ; 35 mm. Protection copies 24 microfilm reels ; 35mm.
  
  Contains various documents relating to internment of Jews in several ghettos in Romania and Bessarabia; administration of the Chisinau ghetto (including census information); the ghetto in Balti; the ghetto in Soroca; activities of the police in the Chisinau ghetto; disposal of Jewish property; deportations of Jews from Bessarabia to Transnistria (Ukraine); and executions of Romanian Jews. USHMM - Archives RG-54.001M; Acc. 1993.A.0064
• War crimes investigation and trial records from the Republic of Moldova, 1944-1955. Original records 3.5 linear ft. User copy 127 microfiche. Finding aid; located at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives reference desk. USHMM - reference desk
  
  Contains electrostatic copies of documents related to criminal investigations into war crimes and enemy collaboration in Moldova and Transnistria.

Go to top

Videos

• The Jews of Kishinev [videorecording] / a documentary by Michael Kloft. Berlin : Chronos Film, 1992. 1 videocassette (52 min.) : sd., b&w, col. ; 1/2 in. USHMM - ask at Reference Desk
  
  This documentary traces the history of the Jews of Bessarabia, a once-flourishing Jewish community that has now vanished. The film documents the pogroms of Czarist Russia, the persecution, deportation to Romanian ghettos, and systematic murder of Jews during the Holocaust, and shows the reasons for the exodus of the last Jews from the former Soviet Republic of Moldavia.

Go to top

If you know about some interesting readings concerning Kishinev, please contact Ariel Parkansky to include them on this section.