Shargorod: Document Acquisition and Translation
Ukraine SIG

Project Synopsis

Shargorod is a town that was founded in 1579. The synagogue, built in 1589, is still standing; it has been used for other purposes, but is now vacant. The Jewish cemetery is not photographed or indexed. There are many records of genealogical interest extant for Shargorod. The Town Leader has met with the town’s mayor, Igor Myhaylovich Vynokur, who is Jewish, and is supportive of our proposed projects.

The Shargorod Ukraine town leader has learned of many surviving documents related to the Jewish Community of Shargorod including:

• Shargorod metrical records for the years 1885-1900 have been acquired and we have a translator ready to work on the birth records: 460 pages of data, including 2,363 births, estimated to cost $1,950 for translation.
  Additional Metrical Records – birth, marriage and death records for various years between 1811 and 1917– consisting of thousands of pages of data with an estimate of $15,000 to acquire and translate.
• Census Records: Census records exist for eight separate years between 1834 and 1888; some or all of these must be obtained and translated.
• Yizkor Book: A book of 503 pages, entitled “The Jews of My Longing” by Mordechai Kuper was donated to the Town Leader. It is entirely about the author’s memories and history of Shargorod. There is no other Yizkor Book known for Shargorod. Written in Yiddish, the book has been digitized and is online through the Yiddish Book Center. The Town Leader has had the table of contents translated; we hope to have the balance of the book translated and posted on JewishGen at a cost of $2,500 for translation.
• Shargorod Cemetery Records: There is a very rough, handwritten list kept by an attendant at the cemetery. This list includes only stones from the second half of the twentieth century to date. We hope to obtain this list and enter the information into a spreadsheet, which will be submitted to JOWBR. In addition, we are aware that an individual not currently connected with JewishGen plans to photograph and index the cemetery. We expect to cooperate with that project, so that the information gained can be contributed to JOWBR.

Funds raised for this project will be used to acquire copies of documents and to translate the records, to prepare the datasets for posting to the JewishGen Ukraine Database. The data will be entered into JewishGen spreadsheet template and will be available to contributors well before posting on the JewishGen Ukraine Database. Other records for Shargorod (and other Ukraine towns) are regularly being scanned and uploaded on the internet by Alex Krakovsky. Although these records are free there will be more records available to be translated.

The key audience for this project is people whose ancestors lived in or near Shargorod Ukraine. There are currently 99 researchers researching about 135 connected surnames in the JewishGen Family Finder.

Acquiring, translating, and making available documents and datasets relating to Jews from this town will benefit genealogical researchers and will help provide context for the lives of our ancestors. Many of the records for this area were destroyed in a fire in the Kamenets- Podolsky Archives in 2003, so it is particularly important to document what remains and what may have been restored following that fire.

The project will fund acquisition and translation of the above-mentioned documents. The new datasets will be integrated into the JewishGen Ukraine Database, and appropriate KehilaLinks websites.

We estimate the main project will cost $25,000 to complete this first stage. Additional monies may be requested for the other records as documents become available.