This database contains 544 records of Jews listed in the
“1901 Klyachkin All-Russia Business Directory”, for Bessarabia
and portions of Transnistria (in the jurisdiction of the
JewishGen Bessarabia Special Interest Group).
This database contains records of grocers, haberdashers, manufacturers,
bankers, and notaries who worked in the early 1900s in Bessarabia and
Transnistria, and who were apparently Jewish.
This information was published in the 1901 edition of the Klyachkin
handbook (Клячкина,
Справочная
книга), published in Warsaw by
S. Klyachkin. The handbook includes information on more than
40,000 companies from 2,170 cities throughout the Russian Empire.
Database Contents
This database contains 544 Jewish entries from 31 towns.
We extracted “Jewish-sounding” names listed for the following
cities and towns, all in Bessarabia or the portions of Transnistria
which are in the jurisdiction of the
JewishGen Bessarabia SIG.
No Jewish names appeared in the listings for many towns and villages.
Uezd & Gubernia / Cities (current name in parentheses)
Before WWI —
Bessarabia and Transnistria were part of the Russian Empire
(Bessarabia was its own guberniya, while Transnistria was part
of Podolia and Kherson guberniyas).
Between World War I and World War II —
Bessarabia was part of Romania, while Transnistria was
part of the Soviet Union.
After World War II —
both Bessarabia and Transnistria were part of the Soviet Union.
After the breakup of the Soviet Union —
the independent Republic of Moldova was formed from
most of Bessarabia, while significant portions came under
Ukrainian rule.
In 1990 —
a portion of Transnistria (including the towns of Kamenka,
Rybnitsa, Dubossary, Grigoriopol, and Tiraspol) and
Bendery (which is on the west bank of the Dniester river
and therefore is technically not in Transnistria
i.e.: "across the Dniester river")
declared independence from Moldova;
The "Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic" has not been
recognized by any member of the United Nations.
Place-names have changed since 1901 for many towns and villages,
sometimes on several occasions.
The database shows the present name, county or province, and nation
— "Moldova" or "Ukraine" — for each 1901 locality.
Information about the names for each town during various periods,
and other information, may be found by using the
JewishGen Communities Database.
Database Fields
Each record in this database contains the following information:
Name — Last Name + First Name
(most often, just an initial, if given).
Father — Father's Given Name (just an initial), if given.
Occupation - Russian — type of business,
in Russian (Cyrillic alphabet).
Occupation - English — type of business,
translated into in English —
either “Banker”, “Grocer”, “Haberdasher”, “Manufacturer” or “Notary”.
Size of Business, if given —
“Small”, “Medium” or “Large”.
Merchant’s Guild, if given —
“I”, “II” or “III”.
Town (1901) — name of town, in Russian.
One of the 31 towns in the table above.
Uyezd — The district, as of in 1901.
One of: “Akkerman”, “Balta”, “Bieltsy”, “Bendery”, “Izmail”,
“Khotin”, “Kishinev”, “Olgopol”, “Orgeev”, “Soroki”, or “Tiraspol”.
Gubernia — The Russian province, as of 1901.
One of: “Bessarabia”, “Podolia” or “Kherson”.
Modern Country —
Country that the town is located in today.
Either: “Moldova” or “Ukraine”.
Pages —
Page number in the original directory.
Comments —
e.g:, who in business with; or other information.
For Further Research
Images of the Klyachkin handbook, in .pdf format,
were accessible from various Russian-language websites,
as of February 2016, and may be accessed by searching for
“Клячкина,
Справочная
книга”.
The PDF file is 1,090 pages long.
Starting at page 459 of the PDF (page 882 of the handbook),
the images are in thumbnail and must be enlarged to be read —
but the enlarged images are not particularly legible.
Acknowledgements
Researchers for this project were:
Ala Gamulka — Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genny Imas — New York, NY, USA
Inna Vayner — Fair Lawn, NJ, USA
Jeff Wexler — Los Angeles, CA, USA — Project manager
Thanks to Alexey Perminov for providing the
JewishGen Bessarabia SIG
with a copy of the Klyachkin directory.
