Lithuania Vital Records Database

This database contains Jewish birth, marriage, divorce and death records from Lithuania.

This includes records which were microfilmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah (see Locality Index), as well as non-microfilmed records indexed in archives in Lithuania.

The records during the Czarist period (i.e. those before 1918) were written in both Russian (Cyrillic alphabet) and Hebrew script, although some records are in Russian language only.  The records during the period of Lithuanian independence (i.e. those created between 1919 and 1940) were written in the Lithuanian language, with some Hebrew and Yiddish.

This database currently contains over 300,000 records for 74 towns in Lithuania (see Records Included).

Background

According to the Regulations of 1835 in the Russian Empire, one of the duties of an official state rabbi (a "crown rabbi") was to carry out, solely by his offices, all the rites of circumcision and naming of infants, weddings, dissolution of marriages, and burials "(in populous cities a rabbi could have assistants to carry out those rites)"; to keep metrical books in all its sections and to submit copies of them annually to gubernia authorities, in Hebrew and Russian language.

References:
    - Еврейскяя Энциклопедія Evreiskaia Entsiklopediia [Jewish Encyclopedia] (St. Petersburg: Brokhaus-Efron, 1906-1913). Vol XIII.
    - Levanda Index - KRA, Fond I-49, inventory 1, files 4103, 30048.

Record Format

Birth Records

The birth records typically contain the following information:

• Name of the child.  Surname and Given Name(s).
  Where there are two names separated by a slash ("/"), one is transliterated from the Russian, one from the Hebrew (in the pre-WWI Czarist records); or the second name in square brackets is the Lithuanian nominative form (in the post-WWI records).
• Father's Given Name, Paternal Grandfather's Given Name.
• Mother's Given Name, Maternal Grandfather's Given Name.
• Mother's maiden surname (usually given if mother is not married).
• Date of Birth — Day, month and year of birth, in dd/mm/ccyy format.  (See Notes on Dates below).
• Hebrew Date — Day and month of birth, according to the Jewish calendar.
• Place of birth — Town, Uyezd (district) and Gubernia (province).
• Comments — which may include the status (class) and/or occupation of the father.
• Place registered — the town where the birth was recorded.
• Year — the year that the birth was registered.
• Record — the Registration number of birth (number is proceeded by "F" for female or "M" for male).
• Microfilm / Item — the FHL microfilm number and microfilm item number, if a microfilmed record; or "Not Microfilmed" if not.
• Image # — The Image number on microfilm, if available (this will enable you to locate the record on the microfilm).
• Archive / Fond — The Archive and Fond citation — the source of the birth record.  "LVIA" = Lietuvos Valstybės Istorijos Archyvas (Lithuanian State Historical Archives), in Vilnius; "KRA" = Kaunas Regional Archives.

Here are some illustrations of sample pages of birth registers.  Click on each image for a larger view.

1874 Births, Pumpėnai Two pages: the Cyrillic (Russian language) is on the left side, and the Hebrew is on the right side. The first line is female birth #14: daugher Zlata Gita.  Father: Movshe ZAK, Mother: Lea. Born in Pushalot [Pušalotas] on June 16 [1874] = 13 [Tammuz]. Second line is male birth #19: son Chonel Leib.  Father: Mendel Leibovich MARGOLIS, Mother Feiga. Born in the same place [Pushalot], on June 18 [1874] = 15 [Tammuz], Bris on June 25 [1874] = 22 [Tammuz]. Source: birth records book of Pumpėnai Jewish community of 1874.  LVIA. F.1226., Ap. I., B.594.L. 8v.-9.

1925 Births, Panevėžys During the period of Lithuanian independence (1919-1940), Jewish civil records were written in both the Lithuanian and Yiddish languages. These two pages contain four birth records.  The first is for a female (hence the columns for circumcision are blank), the next three are for males.  Translation is below. Source: Panevėžys archives. Translation of the first two records above: The first line is female birth #1, written on 28/VI [June 28, 1925]: Daughter: Leia.  Father: Yedidia RIKLIS, merchant.  Mother: Rokhel LEVIN-RIKLIS. Born in Panevėžys, on 19/VI [June 19, 1925]. The second line is male birth #5, written on 30/VI [June 30, 1925]: Son: Doniel.  Father: Šolom MANDELŠTAM, [Sholom MANDELSHTAM], bookkeeper.  Mother: Baša [Basha] SOFER-MANDELSHTAM. Born in Panevėžys, on 1/I/1925 [January 1, 1925], Tevet 5685. Circumcision date: 30/VI [June 30, 1925], Tammuz 5685.  Rabbi: Berel ŠPEJER.

The column headings in the original czarist (pre-1918) birth registers are, from left-to-right:

• Number — Sequential birth number for this year.  Two columns: the first one is for females, the second for males.
• Who performed the circumcision.
• Day and month of birth and circumcision — Two columns: Christian / Jewish.
  (Note that the "Christian" date refers to the Julian calendar.  See Notes on Dates below).
• Where was he/she born.
• Name of father and mother.
• Who was born, and what name was given to him/her.

The column headings in the original Lithuanian (1919-1940) birth registers are, from left-to-right:

• Day of record
• Male Number  (Sequential birth number for this year).
• Female Number  (Sequential birth number for this year).
• Name of the born child, the father's occupation, the father's and mother's name, the father's place of residence.
• Date of birth (year, month, day), and birth place.
• Name of Rabbi.
• Circumcision date (year, month, day).
• Notes.

Marriage Records

The columns in the marriage and divorce records database are as follows:

• Marriage Place: Town / Uyezd / Gubernia — The place where the marriage occurred: The name of the town, the uyezd (district), and gubernia (province).
• Marriage Date — The date that the marriage or divorce took place.  Two dates were recorded: The Secular date (day, month and year, in dd/mm/ccyy format — see Notes on Dates below), and the Hebrew date (day and month, according to the Jewish calendar).
• Groom Name / Bride Name — Surname and Given Name(s) of the groom and bride.
  Where there are two names separated by a slash ("/"), one is transliterated from the Russian, one from the Hebrew (in the pre-WWI Czarist records); or the second name in square brackets is the Lithuanian nominative form (in the post-WWI records).
• Groom's Father, Mother & Place / Bride's Father, Mother & Place —
  The given name(s) of each of the party's father and mother, and their place of residence.
• Groom Age / Bride Age — Age (or occassionally, the year of birth) of the groom and bride.
• Comments — Any miscellaneous information about this marriage, divorce, or the parties.
• Rabbi / Witness 1 / Witness 2 — The name of the rabbi, and two witnesses.
• Place Recorded — the town where the marriage or divorce was recorded.
• Year Recorded — the year that the marriage or divorce was recorded.
• Record Type — either "Marriage" or "Divorce".
• Record # — the registration number of the marriage or divorce.
• Microfilm / Item — the FHL microfilm number and microfilm item number, if a microfilmed record; or "Not Microfilmed" if not.
• Image # — The Image number on microfilm, if available (this will enable you to locate the record on the microfilm).
• Archive / Fond — The Archive and Fond citation — the source of the record.  "LVIA" = Lietuvos Valstybės Istorijos Archyvas (Lithuanian State Historical Archives), in Vilnius; "KRA" = Kaunas Regional Archives.

Here are some illustrations of sample pages of a marriage register.  Click on each image for a larger view.

1895 Marriages, Pušalotas: 1900 Marriages, Pušalotas: Translation of the above two records: Jewish marriage records of Pushalotas, 1895.  Record Nr. 7.  Date of marriage: 6th August 1895.  Place of marriage: Pushalotas.  Rabbi: Datkovski and Sluzh.  Witness: Movsha Kremer and Masil. The script on 75 roubles.  Groom: Aizik GALOMBIK, single, 20 years old, from Ligumai community.  Bride: Buna BARABAN, unmarried woman, 22 years old, from Pushalotas community. Jewish marriage records of Pushalotas, 1900.  Record Nr. 1.  Date of marriage: 18th May 1900.  Place of marriage: Pushalotas.  Rabbi: Zalman Dat and Sluzh.  Witness: Ber Berkovich and Movsha Kremer. The script on 75 roubles.  Groom: Abram-Shmuel ZLOT, reserve soldier, single, 26 years old, from Pushalotas community.  Bride: Rokhel GUREVICH, unmarried woman, 25 years old, from Pushalotas community.

The column headings in the original czarist marriage registers are, from left-to-right:

• Number — Sequential marriage number for this year.
• Ages — Two columns: the first one is for the bride, the second for the groom.
• Who performed the marriage.
• Day and month (of the marriage) — Two columns: Christian / Jewish.
  (Note that the "Christian" date refers to the Julian calendar.  See Notes on Dates below).
• Main documents or records between the marriage parties, and witnesses.
• The names of who is marrying whom, and the names and occupations of their parents.

Death Records

The death records typically contain the following information:

• Name of the deceased.  Surname and Given Name(s).
  Where there are two names separated by a slash ("/"), one is transliterated from the Russian, one from the Hebrew (in the pre-WWI Czarist records); or the second name in square brackets is the Lithuanian nominative form (in the post-WWI records).
• Father's Name.
• Mother's Name.
• Spouse — Given Name(s) and surname of surviving spouse, if listed.
• Date of Death — Day, month and year of death, in dd/mm/ccyy format.  (See Notes on Dates below).
• Hebrew Date — Day and month of death, according to the Jewish calendar.
• Cause of Death.
• Age of the deceased.
• Place of death — Town, Uyezd (district) and Gubernia (province).
• Place of residence — The town where the deceased resided.
• Comments
• Place Recorded — the town where the death was recorded.
• Year — the year that the death was registered.
• Record — the registration number of death (number is proceeded by "F" for female or "M" for male).
• Microfilm / Item — the FHL microfilm number and microfilm item number, if a microfilmed record; or "Not Microfilmed" if not.
• Image # — The Image number on microfilm, if available (this will enable you to locate the record on the microfilm).
• Archive / Fond — The Archive and Fond citation — the source of the death record.  "LVIA" = Lietuvos Valstybės Istorijos Archyvas (Lithuanian State Historical Archives), in Vilnius; "KRA" = Kaunas Regional Archives.

The column headings in the original czarist death registers are, from left-to-right:

• Number — Sequential death number for this year.  Two columns: the first one is for females, the second for males.
• Where died and buried.
• Day and month (of death) — Two columns: Christian / Jewish.
  (Note that the "Christian" date refers to the Julian calendar.  See Notes on Dates below).
• Age (of the deceased).
• Illness or cuase of death.
• Who died.

Records included in this Database

The following table contains the inventory of records currently included in this database.  The modern Lithuanian name of each town is followed by the town's Yiddish name, shown in italics and Hebrew characters; and then the town's pre-WWI Russian name, in Cyrillic.

* Vilna uyezd (district), 3rd okrug (sub-district) includes these towns:

Giedraičiai	55°05' 25°17'   28 miles N of Vilna	Гедройцы (Gedroĭtsy).
Inturkė	55°10' 25°33'   35 miles NNE of Vilna	Интурки (Inturki).
Molėtai	55°14' 25°25'   38 miles N of Vilna	Маляты (Maliaty).
Nemenčinė	54°51' 25°29'   13 miles NNE of Vilna	Неменчин (Nemenchin); (inter-war Niemenczyn, Wilno-Troki, Wilno, Poland).
Paberžė	54°56' 25°14'   18 miles N of Vilna	Подберезье (Podberez'e); (inter-war Podbrzezie, Wilno-Troki, Wilno, Poland).

Inter-war Rabbinate Districts:   In independent Lithuania, between the two world wars (1919-1939), Jewish vital records were organized by "rabbinate district", especially after 1926.  These rabbinate districts generally corresponded to the 23 inter-war Lithuanian apskritis (districts), and included:

• Alytus rabbinate district — includes: Alytus, Butrimonys, Daugai, Jieznas, Merkinė, Miroslavas, Nemunaitis, Seirijai, Simnas, Stakliškės, Varėna.
• Biržai rabbinate district — includes: Biržai, Nemunėlio Radviliškis, Saločiai, Vabalninkas.
• Joniškis rabbinate district — includes: Joniškis, Krukiai, Linkuva, Pašvitinys, Žagarė, Žeimelis.
• Kaišiadorys rabbinate district — includes: Aukštadvaris, Čiobiškis, Darsuniškis, Kaišiadorys, Lentvaris, Onuškis, Panošiškes, Semeliskes, Vievis, Žasliai, Žiežmariai.
• Kėdainiai rabbinate district — includes: Ariogala, Baisogala, Dotnuva, Josvainiai, Kėdainiai, Šeta.
• Lazdijai rabbinate district — includes: Kapčiamiestis, Lazdijai, Leipalingis, Rudamina, Veisiejai.
• Raseiniai rabbinate district — includes: Girkalnis, Jurbarkas, Nemakščiai, Raseiniai, Šiluva, Tytuvėnai.
• Rokiškis rabbinate district — includes: Jūžintai, Kamajai, Obeliai, Onuškis, Pandėlys, Panemunėlis, Rokiškis, Skapiškis, Suvainiškis, Svėdasai.
• Šiauliai rabbinate district — includes: Gruzdžiai, Kuršenai, Lygumai, Pakruojis, Papilė, Radviliškis, Šiaulėnai, Šiauliai, Tryškiai.
• Ukmergė rabbinate district — includes: Bagaslaviškis, Balninkai, Gelvonai, Giedraičiai, Kavarskas, Kurkliai, Musninkai, Šešuoliai, Siesikai, Širvintos, Taujenai, Vidiškiai, Ukmergė, Želva.
• Utena rabbinate district — includes: Anykščiai, Debeikiai, Kurkliai, Leliunai, Skudiskis, Tauragnai, Utena, Užpaliai, Vyžuonos.
• Vilkaviškis rabbinate district — includes: Pilviškiai, Vilkaviškis.

Is your town missing?
See below under Project Description and Needs to see how your town's records can appear!

Notes

Notes on Lithuanian Surnames

The Lithuanian language adds specific endings to a surname, which indicate whether an individual is single, married, male, female, etc.  This information can be very helpful when interpreting documents written in Lithuanian.

Lithuanian endings are added to the root of the surname.  Several examples are below:

• For a male, the suffix can appear as “-as”, “-(i)us”, or “-is”.
  KAGAN becomes KAGANAS (“-as” is the usual Lithuanian ending for male surnames).
  However, after a soft letter, such as “ch”, the ending would be “-ius”, e.g. KAGANOVITCH becomes KAGANOVITCHIUS.

• For married women, without exception, the surnames have the ending “-iene”.
  The “-iene” suffix is added to the male surname root, e.g. KAGAN becomes KAGANIENE, KAGANOVITCH becomes KAGANOVITCHIENE.

• For unmarried women, (e.g. a single daughter), her surname depends on her father's surname ending.

  • If it was “-as”, it becomes “-aite”.  KAGANAS and his daughter KAGANAITE.
  • If it was “-ius”, it becomes “-iute”.  KAGANOVITCHIUS - KAGANOVITCHIUTE.
  • If it was “-is”, it becomes “-yte”.  KATCHERGINSKIS - KATCHERGINSKYTE.

Notes on Dates

The "Christian" date used in the Czarist registers refers to the Julian calendar, used by the Russian Czarist government and the Russian Orthodox Church.  The Julian calendar was used in Russia until the Russian Revolution of 1917.  The Gregorian calendar has been in use by the rest of Europe since the mid-1700s, and is used worldwide today.

During the 1700s, the difference between the two calendars was 11 days.  Beginning on March 1, 1800, there was a 12-day gap between the two dates.  On March 1, 1900, the difference became 13 days.  The date difference will become 14 days on March 1, 2100.

For example, 2 July 1856 on the Julian calendar is 14 July 1856 on the Gregorian calendar.  24 June 1882 on the Julian calendar is 6 July 1882 on the Gregorian calendar.

During the period of Lithuanian independence (i.e. 1919-1940), the Gregorian calendar was used.

Acknowledgements

The English translation of the microfilmed vital records for Biržai, Kupiškis, Panevėžys, Pasvalys, Pušalotas, Rokiškis, and Saločiai was done from the original records in the Lithuanian State Historical Archive in Vilnius.  The translation work was paid for by Aaron Roetenberg, Howard Margol, Rokiškis SIG, the Mamolen family and/or the Kupiškis SIG.  The Meister family contributed for Plungė.  Barry Mann donated all the translations for Žeimelis.

The English translation of the Pušalotas vital records that were not microfilmed were translated by Howard Margol from the original records with the help of a Lithuanian translator.  The Kupiškis vital records that were not microfilmed were translated by Ann Rabinowitz.

Records for the towns of Kėdainiai, Molėtai, Pumpėnai, Raseiniai, Širvintos, Vilkija, and Vilna uyezd 3rd okrug were donated by the LitvakSIG.

This introduction was written by Warren Blatt.  Illustrations provided by Aaron Roetenberg and Howard Margol.

Recommendations

Search the records using the Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex as well as the exact name, due to variations in spelling, and because some records were transliterated from Russian only and not Hebrew.

Search these records even if you know your relatives came from a different town.  Our relatives moved around quite a lot, so the records that you are searching for could be in any database.

Project Description and Needs

This project can be very extensive and of great importance due to the extreme value of vital records.  In most cases, the birth record includes the name of the father and the mother, which enables a researcher to go back one more generation.  The marriage record includes the name of the parents and, on many records, the maiden name of the bride.  All vital records provide definite dates, which help to develop a timeline on a family tree.

The English translation of the vital records is being done by qualified translators in Lithuania, working with the original records.  This enables the translations to be extremely accurate.

Because of Lithuania's 100-year privacy law, private researchers are not allowed to view the post-1912 birth and marriage records (a 50-year privacy law applies to death records).  Thru special arrangements with the Lithuanian archives, the post-1912 vital records are being translated and will become a part of this database.

The extent of this database depends entirely upon your help and generosity.  If you donate at a certain level (determined for each town), all of the vital records translations for that town will be sent to you.  The ability to view all of a town's records can oftentimes turn up unexpected and valuable results, which might not be easily seen in a search of the database.  If you are interested in financing the translation for a town of your choice, please contact the co-coordinators of the project – Aaron Roetenberg or Howard Margol.

To contribute to this project, please go to: http://www.jewishgen.org/JewishGen-erosity.