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Search for Jewish Communities Search for Jewish Communities, using various search criteria. The results will display each community's historical names and jurisdictions, and a link to further information and resources about that community.

Search for places by name Search all localities in Central and Eastern Europe, using various search criteria. The results will display each locality's latitude and longitude, the distance/direction from a reference city, and links to maps.

Search for places by location List all localities within a certain distance of a given latitude / longitude coordinates.

The JewishGen ShtetlSeeker:

Country	USBGN Code	# of Localities	# of Synonyms	Total # of Placenames	Gazetteer Date
Albania	AL	3,780	9,942	13,722	1990
Armenia	AM	1,238	1,628	2,866	1996
Austria	AU	14,023	1,955	15,978	1962
Azerbaijan	AJ	4,704	6,394	11,098	1997
Belarus	BO	11,955	5,156	17,111	1996
Bosnia-Herz.	BK	21,786	1,936	23,722	1997
Bulgaria	BU	6,370	14,349	20,719	1987
Croatia	HR	9,475	3,023	12,498	1996
Czech Republic	EZ	16,406	7,322	23,728	1955
Estonia	EN	5,323	4,643	9,966	1996
Georgia	GG	4,882	2,617	7,499	1996
Germany	GM	78,318	4,248	82,566	1960
Greece	GR	11,487	10,020	21,507	1960
Hungary	HU	15,893	3,732	19,625	1993
Kazakhstan	KZ	9,906	6,238	16,144	1970
Latvia	LG	4,849	4,550	9,399	1995
Lithuania	LH	6,865	10,322	17,187	1994
Macedonia	MK	1,897	1,163	3,060	1996
Moldova	MD	1,753	4,138	5,891	1996
Montenegro	MW	2,759	613	3,372	1996
Poland	PL	44,482	11,605	56,087	1988
Romania	RO	18,054	11,080	29,134	1976
Russia	RS	148,124	55,117	203,241	1996
Serbia	SR	10,335	4,227	14,562	1996
Slovakia	LO	4,977	1,989	6,966	1955
Slovenia	SI	3,336	1,669	5,005	1996
Tajikistan	TI	2,160	1,354	3,514	1970
Turkey	TU	38,322	21,547	59,869	1984
Turkmenistan	TX	1,170	735	1,905	1970
Ukraine	UP	25,771	17,710	43,481	1996
Uzbekistan	UZ	3,575	1,958	5,533	1970
TOTAL		514,934	219,455	734,389

The JewishGen ShtetlSeeker is a database containing the names of all localities in the 31 countries of Central and Eastern Europe, plus all of the former Soviet Republics, and Turkey.  The data is based on the U.S. Board on Geographic Names databases.

For each locality, the search results will display:

• The place's name(s), with the native name in bold.
• The coordinates — latitude and langitude.
• Links to maps (see Mapping Functions, below).
• Country — the country in which the locality is located today.
• Distance/Direction from reference point.
• 10 miles radius — a link to display all places within a 10 mile radius.

The U.S. Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) provides geographic names information from the Geographic Names Database (GNDB).  GNDB foreign geographic names information is used to prepare country gazetteers of feature names approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (USBGN).

Feature coordinates provided in the GNS are sufficiently accurate for map finding purposes.  However, these coordinates were derived from map sources of varying scales and accuracy.  Some coordinates were read by hand to the nearest minute; other coordinates were entered reading to the nearest second.  While due care was taken to read and enter coordinate data as accurately as possible, GNS coordinates cannot be considered accurate in an absolute sense.

There are known errors in the databases.  If you suspect there are errors in the results of your searches, please contact Michael Tobias.

JewishGen Communities Database:

The USBGN data used by the ShtetlSeeker is a great tool, but it has several drawbacks as a shtetl (Jewish community) locator, namely:

• it lists too many places, the vast majority of which did not have Jewish any population.
• it does not contain any historical or jurisdictional information, which could help identify the correct locality — especially problematic when there are dozens of localities with the same or similar names, and when country borders have changed.
• it does not contain Yiddish town name synonyms.

The JewishGen Communities Database uses a different set of data, which has been compiled by JewishGen.  This database contains information on over 3,500 Jewish communities in Eastern and Central Europe, together with Jewish population figures, historical town names and jurisdictions, inset maps, and links to JewishGen resources.  Click on the JewishGen tree icon in front of the each town name for additional information about that Jewish community.

For more information, and a comparison of the “JewishGen Communities Database” and “JewishGen ShtetlSeeker”, see the page About the JewishGen Communities Database.

Mapping Functions:

In the ShtetlSeeker, we display maps via links to MapQuest, Expedia, MultiMap, and Google Maps.  Once a map is on screen, you can zoom in and out as you wish.

In the JewishGen Communities Database, we display inset maps, from both MapQuest and Google Maps.  You can switch between the two maps by clicking on the radio buttons beneath the map.  Within the Google Map, you can zoom and pan using the mouse.

Release Notes:

• JewishGen ShtetlSeeker – Release Notes – July 2005.
• JewishGen Communities Database – Release Notes – August 2006.

Last Update: 16 Sep 2007   WSB
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