Molchad', Belarus

Proposal
Molchadz (Maitchet), In Memory of the Jewish Community

Project Name Translation Sefer zikaron le-kehilat Meytshet, (Molchadz, In Memory of the Jewish Community)

Project Coordinator
Myrna Brodsky Siegel

JewishGen Yizkor Book Project Manager: Lance Ackerfeld

Project Synopsis

This project is being initiated in order to fund the translation of the 460-page Yizkor Book for Molchadz. This book is almost entirely written in Yiddish and Hebrew with English translation of the Table of Contents and Pictures (which was not completed). The goal is to provide a complete English translation of the book to JewishGen.

Molchadz (a/k/a Maitchet) currently is located in Belarus 86 miles WSW Minsk, 23 miles SW Slonim, 19 miles SE Baranovichi. The book was edited by Benzion H. Ayalon, Purblished in Tel Aviv in 1973 and written by survivors and former residents of Molchadz in Israel and Abroad. Discussion and mention of the Rabbis of Molchadz, memoirs and personal anecdotes of life in the shtetl as well as experiences as partisans or hiding during the war. There are also various photographs and maps appearing in the book. Translated portions of the book are currently online at http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Molchadz/Molchadz.html

The original book is actually online at the NY Public Library at the following link: http://yizkor.nypl.org/index.php?id=1184

Key Audiences

Jewish genealogists seeking to trace their roots in Molchadz as well as those who want to read the stories of Holocaust survivors from that area.

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 Yiddish, Hebrew, or both, these are not accessible to a wider audience. 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.

Currently, there is little information available to the English-speaking world regarding Molchadz or its Jewish community. With the destruction of the Jewish community, the information in this yizkor book constitutes nearly all of its documented history. This project will result in the creation of the primary English language source of information for anyone doing research on the town and its Jewish community.

Project Description

This project is intended to result in the translation, from Yiddish and Hebrew to English, of the Molchadz yizkor book. The Project Coordinator will direct a fundraising effort for the translation and secure the services of the professional translators. The Project Coordinator will select the order in which to translate the book text and 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.

Estimated Cost

Currently the estimated cost is $2,000.