Proposal
Sanok, Poland Yizkor Book
Project Name. Translation of Sanok, Poland Yizkor Book
Project Leader
Mark D. Salik
JewishGen Yizkor Book Project Manager: Lance Ackerfeld
Project Synopsis
Sanok is a small industrial town in the Bieszeady mountain region, in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains. It is in the Rzeszow Province, in southeast Poland. The town was settled by Jews in the 16th century, who were prominent in a number of industries. The population also included respected doctors and lawyers. Hasidism was influential in Sanok and Zionism became active from the end of the 19th century. In 1921, 4,067 Jews formed 42% of the total population of the town; in 1939 their number had risen to over 5,000.
This proposal is to translate the yizkor book: Sefer Zikaron le-Kehilat Sanok ve-ha-Siviva (Memorial Book of Sanok and Vicinity), E. Sharvit,ed., Jerusalem, Former Residents of Sanok and Vicinity in Israel, 1970. The book contains 686 pages in Hebrew and Yiddish. To date the table of contents, the surname index, a 20 page section on Bukowsko and 2 pages on “Some Sanok Characters” have been translated by volunteers.
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.
Situated on the west of San River, Sanok was occupied by the Germans in 1939 while the region to the east was Soviet-occupied until 1941. A number of Jews crossed into the Soviet zone, many forcibly so, and were exiled into the Soviet interior. However, the vast majority of the Jews of Sanok, like those of the neighboring towns, perished under Nazi persecution. On September 10, 1942 most of the Sanok Jews were deported to the Zaslaw concentration camp, from which 4,000 were then sent to the Belzec death camp.
Project Description
Approximately 660 pages in Hebrew and Yiddish, remain to be translated and placed online at http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/sanok/sanok.html. To accomplish that JewishGen will hire professional Hebrew and Yiddish translators. 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. $24,750
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Updated 22 Sep 2009 by LA