+----------------------------------------------------------------------+ TRACING JEWISH ANCESTORS: WHERE IS THE "OLD COUNTRY" LOCATED TODAY? A directory of the 25 Russian Pale gubernii (provinces). +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ A JewishGen InfoFile By Bernard I. Kouchel bkouchel@jewishgen.org I. WHERE DID THEY COME FROM? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Between 1880 and 1924, one-third of Eastern European Jewry left their homes, and more than 90% came to the United States. Of these, about 75% were from the Russian Pale, an area to which Jews were confined by law. The Pale consisted of the 15 western provinces of European Russia and the 10 provinces of Congress Poland. Another 18% of these Jewish immigrants came from the Austria-Hungary regions of Galicia, Bukovina and Hungary. About 4% arrived from Romania. II. WHERE IS THE "OLD COUNTRY" LOCATED TODAY? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The following chart lists the gubernia, its capital city and that city's current name and country. Example: *Kovne (city) formerly within Kovne (gubernia), is presently known as Kaunas (city) in Lithuania (country). +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | THE RUSSIAN PALE -- PAST AND PRESENT JURISDICTIONS | +-------------------------------+-------------------------------+ | RUSSIAN PALE 1835-1917 | EASTERN EUROPE since 1991 | |-------------------------------|-------------------------------| | Gubernia Capital | City Name Country | | (Province) City | | +-------------------------------+-------------------------------+ | Bessarabia Kishinev Kishinev Moldova | | Chernigov Chernigov Chernihiv Ukraine | | Cherson Cherson Kherson Ukraine | | Grodne Grodne Grodno Belarus | | Kelts (CP) Kelts Kielce Poland | | Kiev Kiev Kyiv Ukraine | | Kolesh (CP) Kolesh Kalisz Poland | | Kovne *Kovne Kaunas Lithuania | | Lomze (CP) Lomze Lomza Poland | | Lublin (CP) Lublin Lublin Poland | | Minsk Minsk Minsk Belarus | | Mohilev Mohilev Mogilev Belarus | | Pietrkov (CP) Pietrkov Piotrkow Poland | | Plotzk (CP) Plotzk Plock Poland | | Podalia Kamenets Podolsk Kamianets-Podilskyy Ukr. | | Poltave Poltave Poltava Ukraine | | Rudem (CP) Rudem Radom Poland | | Shedlitz (CP) Shedlitz Siedlce Poland | | Suvalk (CP) Suvalk Suwalki Poland | | Taurida Simferopol Simferopol Ukraine | | Varshe (CP) Warsaw Warszawa Poland | | Vilna Vilna Vilnius Lithuania | | Vitebsk Vitebsk Vitebsk Belarus | | Volin Zhitomir Zhytomyr Ukraine | | Yekaterinoslav Yekaterinoslav Dnepropetrovsk Ukraine | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ In short, it may be helpful to learn the history of name and boundary changes in the area where you suspect that a person lived. Many boundaries and place names have changed constantly over the years. Always verify them in historical atlases or genealogical texts pertaining to the area. For a brief history of Poland/Russia in the last 200 years, w/color maps: http://www.polishroots.org/genpoland/polhistory.htm. More maps: http://feefhs.org/maps/RUSE/MAPIRUSE.HTML III. MISCELLANY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - The plural form of gubernia is gubernii. - To view a related outline map, and further descriptions of each of these gubernias and regions, see the "Provinces and Regions" section of the JewishGen Eastern Europe FAQ at: < http://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/eefaq.html#REGIONS >. - Some Pale gubernii and city names listed above are spelled as transliterated from Yiddish. You may see the names spelled very differently in source documents. - CP: CONGRESS POLAND (Kingdom of Poland): part of Poland occupied by the Russian Empire, 1815-1918. The 10 gubernii (1867-1917): Suwalki, Lomza, Plock, Warszawa, Siedlce, Lublin, Radom, Kielce, Piotrkow and Kalisz. Today, all in east-central Poland (except northern Suwalki, which is today in southwest Lithuania). - GALICIA PROVINCE (Empire of Austria-Hungary): An historic region, now in southeastern Poland and western Ukraine. The Polish section covers RZESZOW and the greater part of KRAKOW areas; the Ukraine section includes LVOV, IVANO-FRANKOVSK and TARNOPOL oblasts (provinces). - BUKOVINA or BUCOVINA PROVINCE (Empire of Austria-Hungary): An historic region that is now shared by Romania and Ukraine. The main Ukraine city is Chernovtsy. Romanian cities include Suceava and Botosani. IV. GUBERNII OUTSIDE THE PALE: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - KURLAND or COURLAND: now within Latvia. - ESTLAND: now within Estonia. - LIVLAND or LIVONIA: an historic region, comprising the present-day areas of northern Latvia and southern Estonia. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ Fact sheet compiled for Jewish Genealogical Society of Broward Co., POB 17251, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33318. Copyright 1990-2005 by Bernard I. Kouchel Used with permission. ----------------------- [1990, rev. 23Jun05] +----------------------------------------------------------------------+