Proposal
Eastern Poland Cemetery Project
Project Leader
Nolan Altman
Project Synopsis
The tombstones in 11 cemeteries in Eastern Poland, in the area formerly known as western Galicia, a province of Austria-Hungary until the end of World War I, will be photographed by a Polish researcher, the inscriptions translated, and the data entered into the template for JewishGen's Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR), http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/cemetery/
Key Audiences
In most cases, individual family researchers will be the primary beneficiaries because the project(s) will allow them to create or fill gaps in their family trees and learn something about their families' Jewish heritage. Where vital records may no longer exist, cemetery records are often the only remaining evidence of a person's life. The material has the potential to be of broader interest to scholars and educators specializing in Jewish history and the Holocaust and specifically in the history of western Galicia.
Project Importance
The JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) is a searchable database comprised of individual burial records, tombstone photographs, and descriptions of individual cemeteries. At its launch in July 2003, JOWBR featured 643 cemeteries in 25 countries, with more than 300,000 burial records, and 11,000 tombstone photographs. New cemetery records are added to JOWBR on a regular basis.
Jewish cemeteries throughout the world are threatened with vandalism and even extinction. It is vitally important to preserve information about existing Jewish cemeteries so future generations will have the benefit of this aspect of our cultural heritage. In addition, for many Jews, knowledge of their family history perished in the Holocaust. JOWBR is one of several JewishGen activities that will help families fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle. JewishGen Inc. is an affiliate of the Museum of Jewish Heritage -A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.
This project will expand the JOWBR database by approximately 475 tombstones from the following towns: Debica, Radomysl, Mielec, Majdan Krolewski, Lezajsk, Ranizow, Lancut, Kanczuga, Blazowa, Tyczyn, Desziszow Malopolski. It is possible that more tombstones will be uncovered from the brush when the researcher and his helpers go into the cemetery to photograph the tombstones and in the process have to lift up fallen tombstones.
Project Description
A Polish-Jewish researcher will spend an estimated 8 days in the field photographing the existing tombstones in 11 cemeteries. He will also translate the inscriptions and enter the data into the JOWBR template. The data will be integrated into the JOWBR searchable database at http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/cemetery/
Estimated Cost. $1,371
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Updated 20 Sep 2009 by LA