Pinkus Zhetel: Zetel Memorial Book

Project
Pinkus Zhetel: Zetel Memorial Book

Project Name Translation of Pinkus Zhetel: A Memorial to the Jewish Community of Zetel

JewishGen Yizkor Book Project Manager: Lance Ackerfeld

Project Synopsis:

This project is being initiated in order to fund the translation of the 482 page Yizkor Book for the community of Zetel (Dzyatlava, Belarus). Zetel is also known as Zdzięcioł, Dzyatlava, or Zhetel. The book is written in Hebrew. The goal is to provide a complete English translation of the book to JewishGen and the translation will be placed online at: http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/Dzyatlava/Dzyatlava.html

In addition to the translation of the text, the volume contains numerous illustrations and photographs to illuminate the Jewish history of Zetel.

Key Audiences

Jewish genealogists seeking to trace their roots in Zetel constitute the primary audience for the material. However, the material has the potential to be or broader appeal to scholars interested in Jewish History and culture in this region. Researchers looking for information on the Zdzięcioł Ghetto, Dzyatlava Ghetto or Zhetel Ghetto (in Yiddish) will find valuable information here as will historians and Holocaust researchers.

Project description

This project is intended to result in the translation, from Hebrew to English, of the Zetel yizkor book. The Project Coordinator will work closely with the translators 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. The resulting translations will be posted, as they are completed, on the Yizkor Book Translations site at Jewishgen.

Project Importance

Yizkor books are unique sources of information on once vibrant towns, primarily in central and Eastern Europe, whose Jewish populations were obliterated in the Holocaust. Written after World War II by émigrés and Holocaust survivors, yizkor books offer narratives of the history of the town, experiences of residents and details of their daily life, and harrowing stories of life and survival under Nazi rule. The necrologies and lists of residents are of tremendous genealogical value, as the names of individuals who were killed in the ghetto or died in the forests are often not recorded elsewhere.

Estimated Cost

The estimated cost of the project is $10,000. JewishGen will be responsible for paying the translator, and donations to the fund will be tax-deductible for U.S. citizens.