Welcome to Rohatyn!

This page was created in loving memory of those who lived and died there, of those who ventured out, and especially those who left that legacy for us, their descendants.

Where is Rohatyn? Known today as Rogatin, a major town in the Ukraine, Rohatyn is located 69 kilometers SE of L'viv at longitude 49° 25´ and latitude 24° 37´. From 1792 until 1919 it was in Galicia, a province of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire...then from 1919 until 1945 it was part of Poland .....and then it became part of the Ukraine.

Nearby towns with Jewish Populations circa 1900, include (alphabetically), Berezhany (14mi E), Bobrka (20 mi NW), Burshtyn (10 miles S), Bolshovtsy (17 miles SSE - with its own KehilaLinks site at http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Bilshivtsi/), Bukachevtsy (13 mi SSW- with its own KehilaLinks site),
Knyaginichi/Knihynicze (7mi W) oct 2013, Narajow (10mi NE), Peremyshlyany (17 mi N) , Podkamien (6 mi WNW: not the big jewish town near Brody), Podgrodzie (1900: 1058/60), Stratin (5 mi NE, 1900: 694/113), Novyye Strzelishcha (12miNW) , Zuravno (19 miles SW). For much more information on these towns click here

Two Great Sources First, the descendants group founded in 2009 by Dr. Alex Feller of Chicago at https://sites.google.com/site/rohatynjh/rsrg. Alex has a wonderful collection of files. And also Marla Raucher Osborn's web page for Rohatyn Jewish Heritage at www.rohatynjewishheritage.org

New Projects We are collecting original vital records and pertinent documents...to make them available to our fellow researchers. We are hoping to make the Archive ordering process easier....and next, working with Gesher Galicia, we have hired a researcher to inventory Rohatyn documents in the Lviv Archive; targets include the Cadastral Maps, which link places to names and school records.

Genealogical Records: Although many records were destroyed over the course of two world wars, researchers have found much that remains. For instance, the entire 1870 tax rolls are available. Search our Index of Vital Records. Or see our Summary of all the Records Available . And check out the vital record indexes from the 1800s from the Polish Archives which are available on-line (see JRIP below).

Two Other MajorSources ofRohatyn Genealogical Information:

I hope you will find this page interesting and helpful. Click on my name below to contact me if you have any questions or information to add. As with any genealogical research, this is an evolving project!
Signed, Phyllis Kramer,
New York, NY & Palm Beach Gdns, Fla.
V.P., Education, JewishGen, Inc.
Copyright © 1999. Page updated March 2019. Since April 2001 you are visitor #

This site exists because of your Jewish Gen-erosity. Your tax deductible donation to JewishGen makes these services possible. We spent a lot of time organizing this information so that your genealogical search might be more rewarding....and you can reward us -- just click on Jewish Gen-erosity.

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Table of Contents: Rohatyn: Genealogy and Photographs

Major Sources for History, Photographs and Maps

• JewishGen's Rohatyn Page-- maps and town history and links to yizkor books, nearby towns, researchers and more!! A great place to start and understand the history.
• Pinkas Hakehillot Polin: History of Rohatynfrom the Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities Oct2011
• A Brief History of Rohatyn
• Maps: Maps of the area are plentiful and important, as the boundaries changed with each conquering government. If your family came from the Rohatyn area, keep in mind that the spellings of all names and places often changed along with the governments and official languages.
  • Rohatyn Street Map dated 1943 donated by Howard Steinmetz, translated from the Ukrainian by Donia Shwarzstein (very detailed)
  • Cadastral Map for Rohatyn created by Jay Osborn Jan2013
• Photographs of Rohatyn....Past and Present - including the cemetery and the holocaust memorial donated by Joan Krotenberg, Linda Cantor, Phyllis Kramer, Herman Skolnik, Howard Steinmetz & Kuba Glotzer.
• A comprehensive List of Online Holocaust Sites - With Query Directions Jan 2019

The Latest Websites and Travelogues by the Osborns and others

• A new website for Rohatyn Jewish Heritage from the Osborns May 2016
• Rohatyn in the Spring of 2011The Osborns
• Rohatyn Photographs taken in 2012The Osborns
• Photographs taken in 2013The Osborns
• Synagogue Photo Marla Osborn says there were 3 or 4 Synagogues on Walowa St behind Halitskaya Mar2013
• Rohatyn today: website created by Ukrainian student Roman Zakharri
• The Cemetery Project September2013

Rohatyn Families and Genealogy

• A Memorial to Howard Steinmetz November 2010
• Rohatyn Google Discussion Group. This is a fascinating group; I would suggest anyone seriously interested in Rohatyn Jewish Genealogy join this informative, active group. Here's the address: https://sites.google.com/site/rohatynjh/rsrg or click here. And here's the discussion list link http://groups.google.com/group/rohatyn-shtetl or click here. 6/09
• Rabbi Eliezer Horowitz by Eliezer Makovsky, Jerusalem, April 2012
• The Eichel, Lindner & Mauer families with Photographs by Phyllis Kramer
• Rohatyn's Kahal in 1938 with Photographs by Howard Steinmetz
• The Faust Family Kappella (photograph, 1912) by Alexander Feller
• Jack Glotzer's Familyby Bea Glotzer
• !!!There's room for your family photographs and ancestral information here!!

Rohatyn Vital Records

• Summary of all the Records Available from the sources listed below
• Rohatyn House Number Project by Alex Feller. Find the house number from this table then check the map belowJan2013
• Search our Index of Vital Records: over 1200 listings from the 1800s! 10/08
• Rohatyn Vital Records The JRIP (Jewish Records Indexing- Poland) Project at the Warsaw Archives has unearthed thousands of Rohatyn Records from 1859-1898...and the Index is available on the Internet! Just key in your surname and Rohatyn!

Rohatyn Business Directories and Other Genealogical Records

• The 1891 Business Directory
• List of Rohatyners Sent to Siberia, 1916from the Joint Distribution Committee Oct2011
• War Refugees From the Area 1914 from Logan Kleinwak's Business Directories, compiled by Nancy Siegel
• The 1923 Business Directory
• School Records from 1926.
• List of Businesses around the Marketplace before WWII.
• Military Records from WWII
• FindMyPast: Britain, Enemy Aliens and Internees, World Wars Sept 2016
• 1939 German Minority Census Find folks living in Germany by the town they were born in! Feb 2016
• World War II Draft Records The 1942 "Old Mens Draft" included hundreds of Rohatyners born 1877-1897. Oct 2011

Rohatyn and Rohatyners in the New York Metropolitan Area:

• Rohatyn Immigrants to New York 1892-1924. Abstracted from the Ellis Island site.
• 
  
• New York Cemetery Lists Online! Query over 2 million names from Mt Hebron, Mt. Zion and others. 2010
• Landsmanshaften: Four New York City Landsmanshaften and one in Israel
• Rohatyn Gravestone Information and Tombstone Photographs on JewishGen's Burial Registry: Four Rohatyn Landsmanshaften plots are searchable and the project to add tombstone photographs is complete! Just click on this link and put in rohatyn as the town!! 12/2011
• Landsmanshaften Update for New York City by Marissa Brostoff Aug 2008

Towns Around Rohatyn

• Many marriages were arranged between folks from neighboring towns. When you check JewishGen's Family Finder, keep these town names in mind. This following list includes
  1. the current spelling of the town
  2. the distance and direction from Rohatyn
  3. the number of surnames researched on the JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF),
  4. the population in 1900 and
  5. a clickable link to the JewishGen Communities Database for the town with much additional information

• Berezhany (14mi E), , JGFF 222 surnames, 4,712 Jews in 1880
• Bobrka (20 mi NW), JGFF 141 surnames, 2500 Jews in 1900 and with its own KehilaLinks site)
• Bolshovtsy/Bolshevsky (17 miles SE), JGFF 71 surnames, 2,256 Jews in 1900 (has its own kehilalinks site at http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Bilshivtsi/)
• Bukachevtsy (13 mi SSW) JGFF 66 surnames, 1200 Jews in 1900 and with its own KehilaLinks site)
• Burshtyn (10 mi S), JGFF 102 surnames/1,216 Jews in 1900 and a commentary by Robin Steel & Wendy Rubler
• Knyaginichi/Knihynicze (7mi W). JGFF 31 surnames, 648 Jews in 1880
  • Knyaginichi/Knihynicze Photos, cemetery information and manifestsOct 2013
• Narajow (10mi NE), JGFF 44 surnames; 1,088 (in 1880), 775 (in 1921) Jews
• Peremyshlyany (17 mi N), JGFF 132 matches; 2934 jews in 1900
• Stratin (5 mi NE), , 31 JGFF/593 Jews (in 1880), 155 (in 1921)
• Novyye Strzelishcha (12miNW) JGFF 50 surnames, 1597 Jews in 1900
• Zuravno (19 miles SW), JGFF 73 surnames, 2,197 (in 1880), 865 (in 1921) Jews and with its own KehilaLinks site)

Rohatyn and Other Wonderful Treasures of JewishGen:

• Basic Information about the Shtetl..... There's a lot to offer on JewishGen...the town, its history, and links to vital records and other databases and yizkor books and more....!!!
• Find Other Researchers looking for your Surnames & Towns!! . Do you have roots in Rohatyn? Would you like to connect with others researching the same community? Click here to search the JewishGen Family Finder database (JGFF). Use the current town name of Rogatin, Ukraine. You may need to register, but i promise you, its painless, and by registerring, others will find you…so it’s worth the few minutes!!
• A Special Group for People with Roots in Galicia -- Gesher Galicia
• Want Information on Other Shtetls? --just click to go to the directory of Shtetlinks at JewishGen
• Teach your Children about Rohatyn with this Lovely Book "Gooseberries to Oranges" about memories of Rohatyn

The Holocaust in Rohatyn

• The Rohatyn Yizkor Book The cover page is above. JewishGen volunteers have translated much of this memorial book. Just click on this link to view the book in english.
• The Table of Names from the Rohatyn Yizkor Book available online thanks to JewishGen volunteers.
• Yad Vashem to view over 4 million Pages of Testimony
  • Rohatyn survivors in the Dolny Slask Region Mar2013
• JewishGen's Holocaust Databasewith over 2 million entries

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A Memorial to Howard Steinmetz of Rohatyn

In November of 2010 we lost a wonderful friend. Howard Steinmetz. We are a small band of Rohatyn researchers...and Howard was, in many ways, our leader, our mentor, our friend. Our group began through JewishGen….and then grew into a Google Group. Today it is worldwide..Paris, Rio, Jerusalem, Buenos Aires, San Francisco, Chicago, Berkeley, New York. We’re drawn together genealogically, our families are interrelated but not close.

Howard shared his Rohatyn memories, conversations, photographs and documents, and helped us to make the connections and respect the past. Each of us understood the value of Howard’s memories and papers. And we’re pledged to preserve them.

He will be sorely missed.

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A Brief History of Rohatyn

Rohatyn was a wonderful town. It was located 60 kilometers from Ivano-Frankovsk and 69 kilometers from Lvov. There was a Jewish community in Rohatyn as far back as the 16th Century.

The following is a brief Timeline of the political scene over time and which country ruled Rohatyn

Most of us associate Rohatyn with Galicia, 1772 through 1918; Galicia was then a province of the Austrian Hungarian Empire. The map below shows Galicia, and Rohatyn's place in it.

Some interesting facts on the population in Rohatyn follow.

• In 1867 the Jews received all rights of citizens of Austria-Hungary.
• In the Census of 1900 Rohatyn appeared with a population of 7201, including 3217 Jews (Israelisch), 2073 Griech. Katholisch and 1274 Rom. Katholisch. Later, the
• Business Directory of 1923 shows that Rohatyner Jews were not illiterate farmers, but included many tradesmen and well-educated professionals.
• In 1939 there were 2233 jews in the Ukrainian Rogatin.
• And finally, the Yizkor Book (see below) shows that Rohatyn was a small but modern and vibrant town; the avenues were wide and tree-lined, the businesses were flourishing and there were museums, libraries and a movie theater.

The following paragraph was adapted from a note by Ukrainian Roman Zakharii:
Galicia was occupied by Poland in 1349. Before that it was an independent Ruthenian (what we call now Ukrainian) principality. A century before that it was part of Kievan Rus, union of Ruthenian principalities with capital in Kiev. Kievan Rus collapsed in early 13 th century with the invasion of Tatars and Galician principality existed as independent and the most powerful state in the area. In 1340 s, there was a war between Galicia and Poland over the Cherven lands of the Lublin area, and Polish king Kasimir won it and conquered all Galician lands, incorporating them into the Polish kingdom; Galicia was formed into so called Wojewostwo Ruskie (in English Rus/Ruthenian voivodship). The name Galicia was applied after these lands were incorporated into Austria in 1772. Rogatin is the Russian name for Rohatyn, which is not used anymore. It was used only on Soviet maps after World War II until 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed. In Ukrainian it is Rohatyn, just like in Polish, German and Yiddish.

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Rabbi Eliezer Horowicz

Eliezer Makovsky, from Jerusalem, sent us this brief record of the Rabbi's family: Eliezer (Elazar ben Issachar Halevi) served as the town rabbi in the 1850s and 1860s. He had a 5 children:

• His dauther Sara married Avraham Schnee from Sokal.
• His dauther Beila marriel rabbi Yehoshua Heshel Teomim-Frenkel rabbi of Naraiov and Lubachow.
• His son rabbi Efraim Fishel was the rabbi of Mariampol
• His son rabbi David was the rabbi of Stanislaw
• There was one more son

His book can be accessed here: see here for his book Devar Halacha (in Hebrew): http://hebrewbooks.org/166

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The Cemetery Project

JewishGen Family Finder

Do you have roots in Rohatyn? Would you like to connect with others researching the same community? View the hundreds of folks who are researching their ancestral town of rohatyn. Maybe some are looking for the same surnames as you are!
Click the button to search the JewishGen Family Finder database.

If you are not already registerred with JewishGen, please do so. It's free and painless! and that way you can add the surnames you are researching to the list, so that others can find you!! Go to this web address: www.jewishgen.org/jgff/ and enter Rohatyn in the town search box.

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List of People sent to Siberia from Rohatyn

FindMyPast: Britain, Enemy Aliens and Internees, World Wars

• First name(s)- Last name - Birth year - Birth place - Document details - Year range
• 
  
• Rachela Aufrichtig 1884 Rohatyn Internees at Liberty in the UK, As-Bae 1939-1942
• Karl Bloch 1913 Rohatyn Internees at Liberty in the UK, Bin-Blo 1939-1942
• Leib Brodbar 1881 Rohatyn German Internees Released in UK, Bohrman-Bud 1939-1942
• Golda Fischer 1913 Rohatyn Internees at Liberty in the UK, Fel-Fisch 1939-1942
• Samuel Gelbard 1910 Rohatyn Internees at Liberty in the UK, Ga-Gez 1939-1942
• Israel Koretz 1880 Rohatyn Internees at Liberty in the UK, Kohne-Koz 1939-1942
• Marjam Plagmann 1878 Rohatyn Dead Index - Wives of Germans, Nicht-Plunn 1941-1947
• Perl Pollak 1880 Rohatyn Internees at Liberty in the UK, Poll-Pra 1939-1942
• Gisela Rohatyn 1906 Lemberg Internees at Liberty in the UK, Reu-Rop 1939-1942
• Moses Rohatyn 1878 Lemberg Internees at Liberty in the UK, Reu-Rop 1939-1942
• Sigmund Rohatyn 1905 Lemberg German Internees Released in UK, Rei-Rose 1939-1942
• Sigmund Rohatyn 1905 — Germans Interned in the UK, Ro-Ry 1939
• Philipp Andreas Rosenberg 1904 Rohatyn Internees at Liberty in the UK, Rosa-Rosenf 1939-1942
• Breine Scheiner 1913 Rohatyn Internees at Liberty in the UK, Sap-Schei 1939-1942
• Samuel Scheiner 1910 Rohatyn German Internees Released in UK, San-Schmic 1939-1942
• Marks Shapiro 1883 Rohatyn Internees at Liberty in the UK, Se-Sie 1939-1942
• Regina Silber 1898 Rohatyn Internees at Liberty in the UK, Sig-Sixt 1939-1942
• Perl Vogelfanger 1872 Rohatyn Internees at Liberty in the UK, V-Vz 1939-1942

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NYC Rohatyn Landsmanshaften:
Past and Present

The Jews from Rohatyn must have been an organized and fervent group. I have located four separate Landsmanshaften organizations, founded in the late 1800s in New York City and one in Israel. The following are the details and the founding officers.

1. The Independent Rohatyner Young Mens Benevolent Association (IRYMBA) . On the Certificate of Incorporation, dated 1903, in Manhattan, the purpose is stated: to voluntarily aid and assist the distressed and needy members of the said corporation and their families. To advance the social intercourse among its members, morally, intellectually and physically".

   I believe that this society is the same as The Independent Rohatyner Sick and Benevolent Society which was founded June 18, 1896. The founding certificate was signed

   • Max Leichtling,
   • Wolf Bernstein
   • Sam Bernstein
   • Tewel Nirenberg
   • Adolph Gutharz,
   all citizens of the US and residing in New York City. The directors were
   • George Klein, 307 East 4th St.,
   • Jacob Gutharz, 154 Norfolk Street,
   • Jacob Gottlieb, 91 Willet Street,
   • Jake Sheriff, 231 Broome Street and
   • Isaac Brumberg, 139 Delancy Street.
   This society is still in existance. I took the photo of the front stone above at the Beth Israel Cemetery in New Jersey.

   A few years ago I visited with the President, Herman Skolnick, who was born in Rohatyn. A lovely man who has since passed on. His wife still lives in Brooklyn, and his son Michael Skolnick, is still active in the Society, along with Yossi Benjamin, the Recording Sec. About 35 members still pay dues. This society maintains gravesites at Beth Israel, in Woodbridge New Jersey and "Old" Montefiore, in St. Albans, New York. Thanks to Herman Skolnick, all the names in these landsmanshaften plots are in a database you can query on-line. To get a list of over 1500 names from the IRYMS and the RYMS Landsmanshaften plots in the New York City area, just send me an email with the subject "Rohatyn Landsmanshaften";to send your email, click here. The list contains the names of the folks buried in 2 landsmanshaften plots inBeth Israel and Old Montefiore. There is another landsmanshaften plot for the Independent Rohatyners Young Mens Benevelent Society at Mt Hebron. This plot is not included in the database.

   The following names were contained in the Golden Jubilee Fiftieth Anniversary Banquet of the IRYA in 1953 at the Broadway Central Hotel, in various sections, including a memorial.

   • Alter, Max; Alter, Emil; Anderman, S; Apfelberg or Appelberg, Dr. Isidor; Appleby, Dr S.M.; Appleton, Steve; Axelrad, Joseph and Axelrad, Louis and Axelrad, H
   • Bader, A. and S. and H. and Z.; Barban, O; Bender, J; Benjamin, J and M; Berg, S; Bergstein, David and Jos. and Sylvia; Bergman, H; Bradus, I; Berman, Joseph and Mrs. J; Blau, S; Birnbaum, H; Braverman, H; Brief, M; Braver, Harry and Mrs. A.
   • Cohen, A. O. and Cohen, Nathan; Cohen, Mrs R. Hochman
   • Danzig, Harry; Dickler, I. And Mrs. R.; Drooks, C
   • Eichel, I and Dr. B. and Harry; Eichler, Mrs. S
   • Falk, Carl; Farkas, David; Faust, Max and Jac and Joseph (Chr Banquet Committee); Fishman, Jack (chr Cemetery, 1953); Frede, D; Freewald, I; Fried, Jacob; Friedman, Hyman (Trustee 1953); Fuchs, A.
   • Gerstler, S; Gilbert, Max; Gire, I; Glansburg, I. And Mrs. Pepi; Glasser, Sam; Goodman, S; Goldmark, Joseph; Granowitter, Max and J. and M.; Greenberg, A; Gross, S and Sol; Grunstein, A.E.; Guttstein, H
   • Hader, David (Trustee 1953); Hader, Irving and George and J.; Hammer, Morris and Martin and Max and Mrs. Morris; Handsman, P.; Hass, J. and P.and Dr. N; Hertz, Dr. A.; Hirsh, A. and L. and Mrs. L.; Hochman, Harry; Hochwald, Louis (Trustee, 1953) and G.; Hochdorf, G; Honig, Sam; Honig, Becky; Hulkower, Rabbi and Isack
   • Katz, Ben (VP, 1953); Katz, Seymour (Finl Secr, 1953); Kessler, Mrs. A; Kissilow, Mrs Rose; Kisilof, Harry; Kupersmidt, B. and J.; Kupersmith, Mrs P.
   • Latterman, L; Levenson, H; Levinter, L; Lewenter, Dr. I.; Lieber, A; Laufer, L; Lichtenbaum, N; Loew, D
   • Mark, J and M; Markfield, Alfred and Charles and H. and Max and S; Margolies, Max; Martin, H; Milstein, D and I; Mittman, R and Joseph; Meyer, Max; Moscowitz, H; Mostel M and L
   • Nachwalter, Morris (President, 1953); Nacht, Leo; Nashofer, J
   • Pantzer, C; Parnes, M
   • Reidlich, Ph.; Reiner, S.; Reiter, L and Sol; Roller, Irving (treas. 1953); Rosdol, S; Rosen, A; Rosenberg, H; Rothberg, S
   • Saltz, David (Hospitaler, 1953); Saltz, Max and Sual and D. and Eli and Iz and Irving; Schechner, Dr. S. H.; Schier, H; Schine, Louis; Schildkraut, M; Schnapp, S; Schpeichler, Louis; Schwartz, Sol and Louis and Marcus H and Joe and Albert; Schwartz, Morris (Rec.Secry 1953); Sholler, Louis; Shmarak, L.; Stander, P; Suslak, J; Stern, Frank; Sussman,S. and Mrs. C.
   • Teichler, Harry; Teichler, D; Totfeld, S; Turkish, H
   • Weinstock, A. and H; Weintraub, W; West B.; Willig, J; Windkler, H
   • Zahler, H.; Zucker, H; Zweibel, J

   The minutes of this Landsmanshaften are at YIVO in New York City (Record Group 1082). They cover the years 1953 to 1977, and I believe they are written in Yiddish.

2. The Rohatyner Young Mens' Society (RYMS) wasestablished in 1894. Another organization chartered in New York by our immigrant ancestors, primarily for social reasons but also for mutual assistance in a new land. The RYMS also functioned as a burial society.

   To get a list of over 1500 names from the IRYMBA and the RYMS Landsmanshaften plots in the New York City area, just send me an email with the subject "Rohatyn Landsmanshaften"; to send your email, click here. The list contains the names of the folks buried in the two RYMS landsmanshaften plots inMt. Hebron and Mt. Zion, as well as those plots which were purchased and reserved. The source of the RYMS information is Alvin Edelstein, the Cemetery Chairman of the Rohatyner Young Men's Society. Alvin inherited this position from his late father-in-law, who held it for over fifty years.

   If you want to search the full list of Rohatyners buried in Mt. Hebron cemetery online, go to http://www.mounthebroncemetery.com/search.asp, click on Search, and then just key Rohatyn in the town name field. Second and third generation Rohatyners still meet annually in New York City. I'm proud to say that I am a member and have attended meetings.

   Pictured at the left is Mt. Hebron plot, and at the right, Mt Zion plot; both cemeteries are in Queens (New York).

   Alvin Edelstein transcribed the names on the Mt Hebron posts, as follows: Monument I: Rohatyner Young Men's Society, Inc. Organized May 19th, 1894. Officers, 1942: J. Eichel, President, M Leichtling, Vice Pres, M. Tabak, Rec. Sec’y, LB Bochner, Fin. Sec’y, C Kanfer, Cashier, MA Hulkower, Guard, Trustees:B Hirschenfang, C Rosenzweig and A. Weber.

   The second monument reads: Rohatyner Young Men’s Society Committee: Chaim David Nierenberg, Ex Pres and Chairman, Beresh Mayer, Eliezer Blumenreich, Dov Zvi Leichtling, Yitzhak Blumenreich, Benjamin Hirschenfang, Yosef Zvi b’reb Chaim, David Nierenberg, Mechl Schechter, Yitzhak Hilkever, Chaim Bernstein, Yehezkel Kanfer, Mordechai Helfman, and Moshe Altman.

   The Banquet Committee for the Golden Jubilee

   
   and this photograph from 1950:
   

   Photographs from Rohatyner Meetings

   Can anyone identify the participants??
   
   

   The Rohatyner Young Men's Society members

   The following lists members of the Rohatyner Young Men's Society, from a number of documents from their 50th Anniversary Banquet, held at the Central Plaza Hotel in NYC on December 20, 1947, a 1946 meeting, a 1950 request for contributions for the UJA Israel housing campaign, 1 1953 Installation of Officers, and a 1999 memorandum.
   • Albert, Martin W.Bernstein, H. and Abraham J. and Ch.;
   • Berlin, J.; Bernstein, A.J.and Charles and Harry (Trustee 1950); Bookspan, H; Bochner, Larry;
   • Davidson, Sam (Trustee 1950, President 1956) and J. and Sidney;
   • Edelstein, Alvin (Cemetery Chair 1999), Eichel, Ch and H and Jack;
   • Goldworm, Max; Gross, Morris;
   • Hader, Abraham and Sara and Moses and Elcia; Halpern, N.; Hammer, I.; Handsman, L; Hass, Wm (Vice Pres 1950,1956) and Nathan H (Physician 1950); Hirschenfang Alex (President 1950) and Benj; Hulkower, M.A. and Isaac (President 1950), and Julius and Wm M. and Sam B;
   • Kanfer, Charles (Cashier 1950, 1956); Kimmel, Benj; Klinger, Ch. A.; Kimmel, Benj; Klinger, Ch A;
   • Leichtling, Henry M (President 1953); Lindner, Ch; Leichtling, Henry; Lewenter, Dr. I (Physician -1950);
   • Marks, J; Meadow, L; Nachwalter, Shirley; Niedel; Nierenberg, J and N;
   • Packer, Anne; Printz, Max J.(Hospitaler 1956); Passweg, Ch;
   • Rittenband, M. J.; Rosenzweig, Chas (Cemetery Chair 1950) and Stanley (Recg Secry 1999);
   • Schaffer, S; Schor, Mrs. ; Shere, S; Spiegler,Beatrice (VP 1999), Springer D and J and M;
   • Tabak, Max (Recording Secry 1950), David (Trustee, 1950, Treas-1999); Thaler, M and Jerome and Mrs S. J.; Teitelbaum, Mrs;
   • Waldstreicher, Abr; Weber, Abe (inner guard 1950); Weiss, Saul and Nat; Wiederkehr, Louis S.(financial secry 1950,1956) and Ph. And Gertrude (Finl Secry -1999); Willig, H; Winston, I;
   • Zweibel, Wm (VP 1950);

   All the minutes of Rohatyner meetings of the first 50 years, or so, were meticulously hand written (in Yiddish) and preserved, and were given to YIVO in New York, for their use and further preservation. You can locate these records (1928-1964) and the memorial book at YIVO (Record Group 1016).

3. The Chebra Tiferas Israel Anshei Rohatyn Benevolent Association, founded February 1, 1895, was organized for social and benevolent purposes. The following were the nine original trustees:
   • Louis Fidelbaum, President
   • Godel Birben, Vice President
   • Sice Warten, Financial Secr
   • Israel Warner, Treas.
   • Kassiel Lang, trustee
   • Harry Taback, trustee
   • Samual Wald, trustee
   • Abraham Fuchs, Sgt at Arms
   • Pinkus Wald, Marshal.
   The certificate was signed B. Schencter, Sigmund Sindef, and another name I cannot recognize.

4. The First United Rohatyner & Sokolover Society was founded July 7, 1897. The office purposes listed were "worshipping and assisting the members and their families in case of sickness and distress while in good standing". The founding officers were:
   • Elias Gutherz of 138 Pitt Street
   • Aaron Gruker of 144 Clinton Street
   • Tobias Senders of 93 Attorney Street
   • Joseph I. Gottlieb of 91 Willet Street, and
   • Juda Gottlieb of 30 Clinton Street.
   The Annual Meeting was to be held the second Tuesday in January.

5. Israel Landsmanshaft: Israel has the Association of Rohatyn Jewry, which has 200 active members. In 1998 this last society wrote to the Mayor of Rogatin to request permission to place a monument in the town. They also wanted to clean up and fence in the old and "new" cemetery sites and the two areas of mass graves (from the Aktions of 1942). These areas are all neglected. The mayor responded positively. By 1999 the Israeli society collected enough money to erect the monument. If you are interested, questions and/or checks can be sent to Israel % Fishel Kirshen, 34 Yonathan Street, Zahala, Tel Aviv 69081. The Israel society is also adding names to the memorial of war dead at the Mt. Hebron cemetery.

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Last Call for Landsmanschaften?
Aid Societies Fold as Old-Country Ties Fade

from the Forward.com, Mon. Aug 25, 2008
By Marissa Brostoff

GUARDIAN: Rohatyner cemetrey chair David Reich (above) worries that gravesites will suffer if the aid society that oversees them folds. For the members of a century-old Jewish fraternal society, the organization’s breakup has literally turned into a fight over graves. The Rohatyner Young Men’s Society is one of the last of the landsmanschaften, benefit societies formed at the turn of the past century by groups of townsfolk who had emigrated from Eastern Europe. Thousands of landsmanschaften once dotted American cities with Jewish immigrant populations, but the few that remain are now struggling to plan their own demise.

Several generations removed from its point of origin, Rohatyner, as members call it, may have outlived the conditions for its existence. Its dispersed constituents, the great- and great-great-grandchildren of the group’s founders on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, do not socialize outside of biannual dinners and no longer need the organization as a dispenser of loans and medical help. Instead, like other landsmanschaften in their final stages, Rohatyner now primarily functions as a burial society and will likely soon cease to be even that.

“The normal life of an organization like that is, it goes from having all kinds of social activities to something like an annual banquet, and the last thing to survive is the burial benefit,” said Robert Kestenbaum, who, as an officer of the Yiddish cultural and political organization Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring, has seen the decline of dozens of landsmanschaften. “And that’s where the really sad stuff comes in.”

A vote conducted by mail last month suggested that most Rohatyner members are resigned to closing the group’s doors for the last time. Of the 32 households that voted — many members belong to the organization along with their families, and indeed several extended clans stretch through the association — 24 favored disbanding.

But those who oppose disbanding feel strongly that they may lose not only a link to the past, but also a plot in the cemetery. Rohatyner owns land in two Jewish cemeteries in Queens where, according to the group’s treasurer, 72-year-old Alvin Edelstein, about 850 society members are buried. Another 100 graves remain open. Enrollment in the organization entitles an individual to a heavily subsidized burial, an increasingly pressing concern for Rohatyner’s aging membership....

According to Kestenbaum, when landsmanschaften break up, their gravesites can become stuck in limbo. In New York State, unless a disbanding society deeds its graves back to the cemetery or to the families that plan to use them, those plots, by law, must remain empty. “There are thousands of graves in New York that under current statutes can never be used,” Kestenbaum said.

This is not the first time that the issue of burial has raised uncomfortable questions for the group. Ten years ago, the organization voted to seal its ranks permanently — even excluding members’ children from joining — because of a lack of cemetery space.

These concerns mark the distance from the organization’s halcyon days, which members say lasted from its establishment in 1894, when the group’s founders named it for their hometown of Rohatyn in what is now western Ukraine, through the World War II era. (The town also lent its name to its most famous son, investment banker Felix Rohatyn.) In 1900, Rohatyn was a lively community of 7,000 people, about half of whom were Jewish. According to the town’s page on the Web site JewishGen, it spawned no fewer than four landsmanschaften in the United States and Israel.

“My father was a failed grocer during the Depression, and he would put on a suit when he went to the meetings,” recalled Bernard Hulkower, the group’s 80-year-old president. “It was a big deal.” As members became more prosperous, Rohatyner directed its budget away from aid for members and toward charitable donations to such Jewish organizations as Hadassah.

“We eat, we give to charity and we bury people,” Edelstein said. What to do with the money that remains in the group’s coffers is a matter that will have to be dealt with if the organization breaks up. According to Hulkower, $160,000 remains, and some members want the money given away; others, however, believe that it should be divided among them.

For now, arguing about whether, and how, to disband appears to be Rohatyner’s one remaining group avocation. “There’s been talk about disbanding for at least 10 years,” said Robyn Katz, who is Edelstein’s niece and, at 50, one of the group’s youngest members. And arguing about the cemetery is not a new pastime in the society. Katz’s late grandfather once worked the group into a tizzy by posing the perplexing question of whether a member who already buried one wife in the Rohatyner plot could bury a second wife there, as well. “Everyone discusses it; it gets very heated,” Katz said. “It’s very philosophical. And then my grandfather said: ‘Well, this is what I told him already. One spouse per plot.’ He had already decided!” If this summer’s vote turns out to be definitive, those conversations may be about to come to an end.

“There’s a general feeling that we’re not going anywhere,” Hulkower said. “The next meeting should be the last.”

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1939 German Minority Census: Folks born in Rohatyn and environs

Most of the German 1939 minority census has been indexed and you can research surnames **and towns**. I put in my ancestral Polish and Austrian towns and was able to search Jewish people living in Germany in 1939 who were born in that specific Polish or Austrian town, getting their birth date, maiden name and location in 1939. Of course you can search by surname too.

The description is at http://tracingthepast.org/minority-census. It reads: "Currently, the searchable data includes persons who can be proven to have perished in the Holocaust, those who were born prior to 1903 (+110 years ago), and others who deceased prior to 1984 (+30 years ago). Of the approximately 410,000 original entries, about 275,000 (or around 67%) of the "Minority Census" are available here online... Tracing the Past is honored to have the opportunity to share this research tool online. " and the index can be searched here:

http://tracingthepast.org/minority-census/census-database

The folks born in ROhatyn and nearby and living in Germany in 1939 included:

• Akselrad, David 7/20/1886
• Berger, Jacob 6/19/1884 Bukaczowce
• Brull, Rosa nee Brull 7/15/1857 bukaczowce
• Einstoss, Simon 10/16/1864
• Eisenberg, Henriette 4/26/1903
• Essenfeld, Ettel 1/13/1886 Bolszowce
• Feld, Binem 8/12/1886 Birsztyn
• Fuhrman, Abraham 4/17/1886 Bolszowce
• Guttmann, Ella nee Dickmann 4/16/1893 Bukaczowce
• Guttmann, Mendel 1/16/1890 Bukaczowce
• Haber, Maria nee Wohl 4/8/1903
• Holler, Abraham 5/16/1881 Bukaczowce
• Honig, Osias 9/15/1890 Konkoliniki
• Hutt, Perl nee Silberdrall 11/2/1881
• Kiesler, Markus 3/12/1897 Bolszowce
• Kirschen, Perla nee Stern 5/8/1863
• Lieblich, Juda 11/26/1890
• Lieder, Josef 7/11/1881 Bukaczowce
• Lieder, Rosa 1/2/1889 Bukaczowce
• Liettich, Philipp 1/28/1875
• Nagelberg, Bernhard 7/2/1887 Bukazowce
• Reinhartz, Sara nee Drucks 6/20/1891 Bolszowce
• Reiter, Israel 8/19/1892
• Stern, Aron 3/2/1889 Bursztyn
• Stolz, Markus 1/22/1877
• Wachtel, Jakob 3/15/1876
• Wachtel, Toni nee Akselrad 10/23/1882 Bukaczowce
• Wohl, Dreizie nee Wachtel 1/1/1873
• Wohl, Szaje 5/5/1878

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