Serock, Poland Yizkor Book

Proposal
Serock, Poland Yizkor Book

Project Name Translation of “Serock, Poland Yizkor Book”

Project Coordinator
Howard B. Orenstein

JewishGen Yizkor Book Project Manager: Lance Ackerfeld

Project Synopsis

This project is being initiated in order to fund the completion of the translation into English of the 736 page Yizkor Book of Serock, Poland published in 1971. The goal is to provide a complete translation of this book to JewishGen. The translation appears online at: http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/serock/serock.html

Key Audiences

Jewish genealogists seeking to trace their roots to Serock and its region constitute the primary audience for the material. However, the material has the potential to be of broader appeal to scholars interested in the region or specializing in Jewish history and society. In particular, as has been the case with other such books, Polish gentiles with an interest in the Jewish community of Serock or the general history of Serock will likely take interest in the book.

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 died in the forests are not recorded elsewhere.

Prior to the outbreak of WWII, Serock had a Jewish community of approximately 3,500 souls. The community was wiped out and was not reconstituted after the war. Survivors, descendents of survivors, as well as descendents of those who emigrated from Serock prior to the war are known to exist in Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia and other places. This Yizkor book is the major formal source for documented history of the town, and 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

As funds become available, all Yiddish and Hebrew pages that are not already translated will be translated into English. To accomplish that JewishGen will hire a professional translator. The translator will likely be Pamela Russ, a prolific translator, and who provided the translation of most of the sections of the book that have already been translated at no cost. Pamela agrees to provide the sections already translated by her as her own donation to the project prior to the commencement of the funded translation.

In the event that there should be a plethora of funds, and a single translator cannot contain the workload, additional translators may be hired as well.

The project coordinator will select the order in which the chapters will be translated and will work closely with the translator to ensure a grammatically correct and idiomatic correct translation. Those who donate money to the project will be given the opportunity to select the chapters of interest for priority in translation. Specific tasks the project coordinator will perform include proofreading, editing, and preparing the work for submission to the Yizkor Book Project.

Estimated Cost

Completion of the translation of the remaining 60% of the book is currently estimated to cost $10,000. This estimate will be revised and refined as the project progresses.