Proposal
Lithuania - Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities Yizkor Book Project
Project Name. Lithuania - Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities Yizkor Book Project
Project Leader
Barry Mann
JewishGen Yizkor Book Project Manager
Lance Ackerfeld
Fax: 1-909-259-7005
Project Synopsis
This is an unusual yizkor book. Most yizkor books are for an individual town or a limited number of towns surrounding a larger town. The Pinkas Hakehillot - Lita covers all Jewish communities in Lithuania since their inception and final destruction during the Holocaust. The geographical, historical, cultural and economic background for each community, including a description of the relations between the Jews and their neighbors in each town, how each Jewish community was murdered, who survived and where mass graves are located, is in essence, an invaluable source for researchers seeking to trace their roots in Lithuania.
The Pinkas Hakehillot - Lita was written in Hebrew, edited by Dov Levin and Joseph Rosin, published by Yad Vashem in 1996, includes 748 pages and covers 603 Jewish communities in Lithuania. To date about 100 pages, including the detailed table of contents, and 31 Jewish communities have been translated and are online on the JewishGen web site at: http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/Pinkas_lita/Pinkas_Lita.html. This project has been initiated in order to raise funds to translate the remainder of this invaluable book from Hebrew into English by a professional translator.
Key Audiences
Jewish genealogists seeking to trace their roots in Lithuania 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 Lithuania.
Project Importance
Yizkor books are unique sources of information on once vibrant towns, primarily in central and eastern Europe, whose Jewish populations were destroyed during the Holocaust. Yizkor books contain narratives of the history of the towns, 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 history of these communities is of tremendous genealogical value. 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 .
Project Description
The book, Pinkas Hakehillot - Lita, edited by important scholars Dov Levin and Joseph Rosin, totaling 743 pages, and covering 603 Jewish communities in Lithuania should be made available online to researchers. Thus, in order to continue to translate additional entries from Pinkas Hakehillot – Lita, JewishGen will hire a professional translator. The project coordinator will decide on the order in which entries from the book will be translated, will work closely with the translator to ensure an accurate yet idiomatic translation, and will prepare the material for submission to the Yizkor Book Project.
Estimated Cost: $5,000
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Updated 1 Sep 2009 by LA