Proposal
Czyzewo, Poland Yizkor Book
Project Name. Translation of Czyzewo Yizkor Book
Project Leader
Jennifer L. Mohr
JewishGen Yizkor Book Project Manager: Lance Ackerfeld
Project Synopsis
How long Jews have lived in Czyzewo is not clear. However, in 1820 there were 800 Jews in the town, and the old cemetery was completely filled. The town was known for its excellent quality tsitses (the undergarment with tassels worn by orthodox Jews), which were in great demand in Poland and Russia.
In 1961 former residents of Czyzewo published a 603-page yizkor book (1206 columns), Sefer Zikaron Czyzewo (Czyzewo Memorial Book), Editor, Szymon Kanc, Tel Aviv, former residents of Czyzewo in Israel and the USA, 1961 (H,Y). Translated chapters are now online at http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/Czyzew/Czyzew.html. This project will support the translation of the remaining 425 pages.
Key Audiences
Jewish genealogists seeking to trace their roots in this town constitute the primary audience for the material. However, the material has the potential to be of broader interest to scholars specializing in Jewish history and society in this region.
Project Importance
Yizkor books are unique sources of information on once vibrant towns, primarily in central and eastern Europe, whose Jewish populations were destroyed in the Holocaust. Written after World War II by émigrés and Holocaust survivors, yizkor books contain narratives of the history of the town, details of daily life, religious and political figures and movements, religious and secular education, and gripping stories of the major intellectual and Zionist movements of the 20th century. The necrologies and lists of residents are of tremendous genealogical value, as often the names of individuals who were taken to extermination camps or shot in the forests are not recorded elsewhere. Usually written in Hebrew or Yiddish, these important books are not accessible to most users, who cannot read these languages. Thus, the translation of these books into English unlocks this information to many more researchers all over the world. The JewishGen Yizkor Book Project received the award in 2002 for outstanding contribution to Jewish genealogy by the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies.
Czyzewo was on the Warszawa-Bialystok railroad line. Ciechanowiec, Wysokie Mazowiecki, and Zaremby Koscielne are neighboring towns with which Czyzewo had commercial ties. The Germans occupied the town on September 7, 1939. On September 10, 1941 the ghetto was created, and in November 1942 it was liquidated. All Jews who were still alive were taken to Zambrów or Auschwitz.
Project Description
Approximately 425 pages remain to be translated and put online at http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/Czyzew/Czyzew.html. To accomplish that JewishGen will raise the funds to continue using the excellent translator who has been with the project since its start. The project coordinator will select the order in which to translate the chapters and will work closely with the translator to ensure a grammatically correct and idiomatic translation. Specific tasks the project coordinator will perform include proofreading, editing, and preparing the work for submission to the Yizkor Book Project.
Estimated Cost. $15,500
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Updated 2 Aug 2009 by LA