Interpretation
Slide 56 of 94
Slide 56

Previous TOC Next

If the information went from one written document to an individual who wrote another record, then we have the problem of handwriting interpretation and must keep in mind the principal language of the person writing the second document. For example, in a letter I received from the Polish State Archives, the name Fishel was transcribed as "Fimel".   There is no such name as "Fimel", but the archivist wrote it because the Russian letter that forms the "sh" sound in the Cyrillic alphabet looks very much like the Cyrillic letter with the "m" sound, when handwritten. The Polish archivists were not familiar with Jewish given names, they copied what they saw as best they could.

Facts can become very confused when they pass through several layers of interpretation; wherever possible, always consult the original source documents. Scrape away the layers of interpretation -- get back to the original source.