News Archive

In case you missed this on yesterday's Ukraine SIG Discussion List, I have posted my report about the IAJGS Conference on the Ukraine SIG website. It is under the 'About Us/Ukr-SIG Newsletter' menu item. In addition to reporting on Ukraine SIG events at last month's IAJGS Conference in Paris, France, the report includes some information about Yad Vashem searching and Father Patrick Desbois' Yahad - in Unum that may be helpful to you.

Ron

Ron Doctor (rddpdx@gmail.com)
Coordinator, JewishGen Ukraine SIG
www.jewishgen.org/ukraine
where Jewish genealogy is personal

Congratulations to Amira Hemme for getting her new KehilaLinks website for Nikolayev (now Mikolayev) online. Here is what she wrote:

Hello Fellow Genealogists and friends:

The KehilaLink for Mykolayiv (Kherson Province) is active at last!

Many of you submitted photos and/or family stories. Others helped in many ways - from helping with translations, to helping me understand what is involved in creating a web page, to providing moral support. Still others have expressed an interest in seeing the results when the website is active.

I have to say that this has been a very challenging project - it took over six months to get it all together. And I could not have done it, it would have never turned out as wonderful as it did, if I didn't have your help and your support.

If you see anything that needs to be updated or corrected, please let me know, and I'll pass it along to the webmaster.

This is the link: Mykolayev KehilaLinks Website

Enjoy and keep in touch.

Amira (ahemme@aol.com)

This is an extract concerning Ukraine of the full report:

We are pleased to welcome the following webpages to JewishGen KehilaLinks:

Kul'chiny (Kulchin), Ukraine
Created by David Winer
Webmaster: Jerome Blafer
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/kulchiny/
~~~

Pokatilovo (Pokitilov), Ukraine
Created by Sylvia Walowitz
Webpage Design by KehilaLinks volunteer Ronald Miller
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/pokatilovo/
~~~

Yampol (Iampil'), Ukraine
Created by Sylvia Walowitz
Webpage Design by KehilaLinks volunteer Ronald Miller
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/yampol/
~~~

The following webpages are 'orphaned' and are available for adoption.

Borzna, Ukraine
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/borzna/borzna.htm
~~~

Good News!:

Balta (Balte), Ukraine
Adopted by Sergio G Rosarios
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/balta/
~~~

Correction of the May issue:
Dr., Leah Teicher adopted the Rivne (Rovno), Ukraine webpage

KehilaLinks webpages recently updated:

Volochisk, Ukraine
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Volochisk/Volochisk.html
~~~

Susana Leistner Bloch, VP, KehilaLinks, JewishGen, Inc.
Barbara Ellman, KehilaLinks Technical Coordinator

Another Ukraine SIG improvement: we have restructured the InfoSheets page
on the Ukraine SIG Home Page. You can now select these wonderfully
informative how-to lessons by category, including areas such as databases,
indexing, research and more.

Be sure to take a look at
http://www.jewishgen.org/Ukraine/RES_Infosheets.asp.


Linda Cantor
Ukraine SIG Communications and Discussion List Director

Dear Ukraine SIG Friends,

This is an updated extract from the annual report Ukraine SIG submitted to JewishGen for 2011-2012. It outlines our progress toward SIG revitalization during the past year.

The past year has been devoted to revitalizing Ukraine SIG. We have changed the way Ukraine SIG operates. We are more active in seeking out records, translating them, processing them and making them available. We changed the way the SIG is governed, appointed an entirely new Board of Directors, improved communication, and shifted our orientation from guberniyas (provinces) to towns and districts. We completely restructured our website to reflect our new towns and districts orientation and to make data and information easier to find.

  • We have recruited volunteers as Town Leaders for 143 towns.
  • We have increased the number of KehilaLinks websites for Ukraine towns from 47 to 78 with another 50 pending.
  • Our Discussion List now has 2,876 subscribers, up from 2,650 last year, an 8.8% increase.
  • A new Facebook page supplements our SIG’s Discussion List.
  • In addition to Town Leaders and KehilaLinks Owners we have gone from zero to more than 50 volunteers actively working, including 25 translators to help with Russian, Polish, Hebrew, and Yiddish documents.
  • We created and posted 28 InfoSheets & “How-to” documents. These include two PowerPoint tutorials, one to help Ukraine SIG volunteers create name indexes for Yizkor Book translations, and one to help volunteers index the unindexed fields of the Ellis Island Database.
  • We created an online Language and Skills Survey that has served as a model for other SIGs. It has provided us with a list of eager volunteers who have the skills we need for our projects.

At the beginning of the year, the SIG had no active projects underway. Now, ...

      • We are translating name lists from 4 Russian books and several other sources, including 4 Prenumeranten. Two Prenumeranten lists with more than 1,800 names are done. Two others are in-progress. A 1919 Pogrom list for Trostyanets and a 1748 Census for Vishnevets have been completed. Five other name lists are in-progress.
      • We have acquired and are translating more than 1,300 catalog cards from the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People.
        • We have completed translation of gravestones from the Trostyanets Jewish cemetery and are working on gravestones from Zhitomir Jewish Cemeteries, more than 4,500 gravestones.
      • We acquired, translated and submitted to the JewishGen Ukraine Database more than 3,000 records from the 1795 Ostrog Census.
      • We have indexed the un-indexed fields of the Ellis Island Database records for 4 towns and are working on 3 others.
      • We have begun indexing names and other information on KehilaLinks websites for Ukraine towns. One website is done; 3 others are in-progress.
      • We have created 6 new KehilaLinks websites under SIG sponsorship until permanent owners step forward. We also are helping 4 KehilaLinks website owners update their sites.
      • We have identified, and are translating and cataloging more than 600 data sources on Russian language websites.
      • Vital records with more than 14,000 names for three towns have been translated and are ready for posting. Vital records translations for 3 other towns with more than 3,200 names are in-progress.
      • Extraction of data from Yad Vashem for one town is in-progress.
      • We have guided creation of name indexes for 4 Yizkor Books. The indexes contain more than 7,500 names and have been submitted to JewishGen for posting.
      • We have provided translators for 5 Yizkor Books.
      • We have given presentations about the new Ukraine SIG to the JGSs of Oregon, Washington, and Greater Orlando.
      • We have arranged for a guest luncheon speaker at the 2012 IAJGS Paris Conference, Iryna Serheyeva, head of the Department of Jewish Studies at the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine. She also will give a presentation about resources at the Kyiv Archives. Two other SIG presentations have been accepted by the Conference.

All datasets are being submitted to the JewishGen Ukraine Database, the Yizkor Book Master Name Index, and JOWBR.

It has been a busy year for Ukraine SIG … and there is much more to come.

Ron Doctor (rddpdx@gmail.com)
Coordinator, JewishGen Ukraine SIG
www.jewishgen.org/Ukraine
where Jewish genealogy is personal