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Tag: jewish genealogy

  • Translation of document from Tarnobrzeg Books of Residents

    I received the following document on May 27th, 2011 via e-mail from the state archive in Kielce (Archiwum Państwowe w Kielcach).
    The document, as written in the mail from the Kielce statearchive, is:

    […]skan dot. Izaka Kalecha z księgi meldunkowej miasta Tarnobrzega

    Meaning the following:

    […]a scan with Izak Kalech as reported in the book of the city of Tarnobrzeg

    The scan comes from the following collection (Thanks to Mr. Moshe Steinberg [m.steinberg -at- utoronto.ca] for the tip):

    Tarnobrzeg PSA Citizen List of delayed Births ,Lwow Wojewodztwa / Rzeszow Province (records in Fond 525 in Kielce Archive Sandomierz Branch)

    This is how the contents of the file appear on the website of jri-poland:
    [table “17” not found /]

    Mr. Witold Wrzosinski (a researcher based in Poland whose website is at http://avanim.pl. He who can be contacted via e-mail: w.wrzosinski-at-avanim.pl) explained me more about this document:
    [slider title=”click here to read what Mr. Witold Wrzosinski sent mee”]

    Dear Gershon,

    this is an entry from “ksiÄ™ga meldunkowa”. It is not a census, it’s a “registration book”. Such books were introduced in various cities and towns in Poland in the second half of the XIXth century. Usually there was one for every street, with all houses and apartments listed along with their inhabitants. The house owners had to write down every birth, marriage or death in the house and the information was regularly collected. These books were official documents, kept by city clerks. They are a great source of information, but not much of them survived.

    Best regards
    Witold Wrzosinski,
    Warsaw, Poland

    As my question in which year this file was added to the book:

    Gershon,

    Such books were often kept for years and updated, but here the document does not seem to contain any updates, so it’s a little different kind of registration book. According to the Polish archives databases, there are four surviving sets of documents from Tarnobrzeg that could fit – a census from 1880 (but it is most probably in Russian, so I would exclude it), a census from 1931/32 (but it’s simply a census, not a “registration book”), a “book of migrations” from 1901-1905 (but it is also most probably in Russian) and finally my type, the “book of the Tarnobrzeg disctrict inhabitants” from 1925. Maybe they have planned to keep it updated and gave up or maybe the idea was different from the beginning – I don’t know. Anyway, all the documents are part of the Fond 525 in Kielce Archive Sandomierz Branch.

    Best regards,
    WW

    and finally regarding the 5th column with ‘Gdzie przynależny’:

    No, it means literally “belongs to” and I guess this applies to either the place he was born in Ulucz), which belonged to the larger district of Ustrzyki or maybe he was still registered in the Ustrzyki district office while living in Tarnobrzeg. Also, the year 1925 is just a guess – I would give it 75% of probability.

    Best regards,
    WW

    [/slider]
    (Please add your comments below or if you prefer, send me a personal mail via this link):

    Transcription: (more…)

  • Translation of an electors list for the the Sejm of 16 Nov 1930

    I received the following document on March 23th, 2010 via post from the State Archive in Rzeszów (Archiwum Państwowego w Rzeszowie).
    The document as written in the mail from the State Archive is about:

    […]Dawida i Chaji Grunes (zapis na liÅ›cie wyborców do Senatu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej 1930 r.), odszukany w zasobie naszego Archiwum w Sanoku w Aktach miasta Sanoka 1792-1950.

    Meaning the following:

    […]Dawid and Chaji Grunes (recorded on the electoral roll of the Polish Senate 1930 r.), which have been found in the Archives of Sanok in the Acts of the city of Sanok 1792-1950.

    There were 5 elections for the Sejm of the Polish Republik from 1922 to 1938. This was for the election of 16 Nov 1930:
    [table “3” not found /]

    (source: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sejm_%28Zweite_Republik%29).
    See also the following article elsewhere on this website: Translation request Polish – English (Grunes, State Archive in Rzeszów (Poland)
    The file with part of the electors list:

    Transcription:
    ABECADŁOWY SPIS WYBORCOW
    do Sejmu / Senatu Rzeczy pospolitej Polskiej
    z miejscowoÅ›ci ……………. gminy …………
    powiatu …………… obwodu gÅ‚osowania ………….
    OkrÄ™gu Nr. ………..
    1930
    [table “14” not found /]

    Translation:
    ALPHABETIC LIST OF VOTES
    to the Sejm / Senate of Poland
    from the village of ……………. municipality …………
    County …………… obwodu gÅ‚osowania ………….
    District no. ……….
    1930
    [table “15” not found /]

  • Translation of extract from the registry of engaged to be married Jews from Brozózow

    I received the following document on May 12th, 2011 via e-mail from the Statearchive in Rseszow (Archiwum Państwowe w Rzeszowie).
    This document is an extract from the registry of engaged Jews with an entry for Kalech-Stieber from Brozozów:

    Transcription:
    Wyciąg z matryk narzeczonych izraelitów
    1885-1937
    [table “8” not found /]

    Translation:
    Extract from the registry of engaged Jews
    1885-1937
    [table “10” not found /]

    Further details on these records: Brzozow PSA B1885-1907 Marriages/Lwow Wojewodztwa / Rzeszow Province (records in Fond 16 in Sanok Archive) (see www.jri-poland.org)

  • Translation of extract from the list of married and unmarried Jewish families

    I received the following document on May 12th, 2011 via e-mail from the Statearchive in Rseszow (Archiwum Państwowe w Rzeszowie).
    This document is an extract from the the list of married and unmarried Jewish families with an entry for Kalech-Stieber from Brozozów:

    Transcription:
    Wykaz ślubnych i nieślubnych rodzin izrael
    [table “7” not found /]

    Translation:
    List of married and unmarried Jewish families
    [table “9” not found /]

    For further details on these records: Brzozow PSA B1885-1907 Marriages/Lwow Wojewodztwa / Rzeszow Province (records in Fond 16 in Sanok Archive) (see www.jri-poland.org)

  • Translation of a document from Tarnobrzeg (possibly census but from when?)

    Update: Check this link (Translation of document from Tarnobrzeg Books of Residents)
    I received the following document on May 27th, 2011 via e-mail from the state archive in Kielce (Archiwum Państwowe w Kielcach).
    The document, as written in the mail from the Kielce statearchive, is:

    […]skan dot. Izaka Kalecha z księgi meldunkowej miasta Tarnobrzega

    Meaning the following:

    […]a scan with Izak Kalech as reported in the book of the city of Tarnobrzeg

    I am wondering whether this is a census or another document type.
    I am also wondering from which year this file is.
    (Please add your comments below or if you prefer, send me a personal mail via this link):

    Transcription: (more…)

  • The meaning of the acronym A.A.C.B. in the Belgian immigration files

    During my research in the Belgian archives, I came across a few files in which a document had the following acronym “A.A.C.B.”:

    Source: Antwerp Immigration File no.175159 (Dorf Wolf – Kapelna Frieda)

    I, as curious as I am always, was wondering about the meaning of that acronym.

    During genealogy research (and I assume that this is true for each research), each small part, can have a significant meaning with implications for the outcome of research. Therefore I try to understand as much as possible of each small element. Thanks to this approach I do learn quite a lot new things about history, culture, politics, etc.

    To get back on topic; I did receive the explanation from the very helpful employees at the Antwerp archives (www.felixarchief.be).
    They told me that A.A.C.B. stands for “Ambtelijke Afschrijving College Besluit” which roughly translated into English means cancelling the citizenship by official decision of the authorities and the file was closed for the person in question.

    The reason for a A.A.C.B. can be one of the following:

    • Someone left the city without announcing to the authorities. If they later on returned after their file was closed, it became harder to get an approval for a second residence permit.
      Many Jews who fled during the World War, had to have their closed (more…)

  • Immigration files in Archives of Antwerp & State Archives of Belgium

    In the courtyard of the Felixpakhuis complex

    I posted a few times in a few newsgroups/forums with as subject Jewish Genealogy a short explanation on the files in the Belgian archives.
    I hope to publish once an article on my blog with more details about my experience in the archives, for the moment being I think it could be useful for other researchers to read the following short explanation according to my view:

    Hi,
    Usually all documents were kept in twofold. One copy stayed in the city/town and the other copy went to the state archives in Brussels.
    In Antwerp you have a few boroughs which have separate administrations and were independent cities/towns . Nowadays these cities/towns are part of Antwerp, the most interesting boroughs for Jews researching their ancestors is: Borgerhout, Berchem and Antwerpen. The archives from the other boroughs besides, Antwerp, are not in the felixarchief (each city could choose whether to save the files or whether to throw them away). (more…)

  • Jews from Antwerp in Cuba

    A while ago I looked on behalf of someone else seek to get more information on why the Cuban authorities allowed Jews from Antwerp to immigrate to Cuba in the 1930’s while they had strict immigration rules.

    Although the Internet has got some interesting pieces of information about the Jews in Cuba, I did not really manage to find details about the episode that deals with the Antwerp Jews in the 1930’s.

    Therefore I sent a message to a newsgroup that deals mainly with Jewish Genealogy (soc.genealogy.jewish) in the hope that I would get somehow more information.

    This post is a means to publish a summary on the responses I got.

    [slider title=”Click here if you would like to read the message I posted to the newsgroup”]
    Date: Fri, Jan 21 2011 5:22 pm
    From: gershon.lehrer@gmail.com (lehrer)

    X-No-archive: yes
    Hello,

    Does anyone know why the Jews were allowed to immigrate into Cuba
    in the 30’s from the previous century?

    Why was an exception made for the Jews whilst I heard that the
    Cuban authorities were very strict to allow immigration for
    white people (does anyone have any source for this claim?)?

    I am mainly talking about the Jews from Antwerp that were working
    in the diamond industry.

    Thank you for your help,

    Gershon Lehrer
    gershon.lehrer@gmail.com
    Antwerp, Belgium

    Searching: DORF, ETSIONI, FISZLOWICZ, GERSTNER, GOLDSTEEN, HART,
    KALLECH, LEHRER, PA(C)KTER, PAKTOR, S(Y)(I)LBERBERG, SAIL, SANDERS,
    SCENIZER, SCHEEN, SJENITZER, SCH(O)NITZER, STORK, TIMBERG, VAN STRATEN
    [/slider]
    I received a few responses which replied to me in the Jewish way, i.e.: they replied to my question with another question. The question some asked was: “Why would the Jews not be allowed entrance if everyone knew that the Jews were being chased by bloodthirsty anti-Semites“. A notorious case was the S.S. St. Louis which was not allowed to disembark its passengers in Cuba or the USA. The USA (then INS) agency restricted immigration very severely during 1920’s and thereafter.

    From the responses it appears that the Antwerp Jews were accepted into Cuba because of their knowledge in the diamond business. During their stay in Cuba they kept their own community and didn’t become part of one of the communities already present (possibly due to the gap in the language and because they intended to stay there only temporary?). After WWII the Jews left Cuba and went back to Belgium. The Belgian state was of course also interested in the diamond business (it seems that Camille Huysmans was one of the big powers behind this Belgian initiative to get the Diamond business back to Antwerp).

    Someone else wrote me that the gangster Meyer Lansky used his connections to the Cuban government, through which he worked out a deal to allow European Jews to land in Cuba.  Visa’s were then bought and entry to the US was granted.

    If you’d like to read more about the history of the Jews in Cuba (including the Antwerp Jews), the following two books do tell the story:

    Some general websites about Jewry in Cuba:

    I’d like to thank the following people for having replied on my request: Burt Hecht, Judite Orensztajn, Sam Lifsh?, Barbara Mannlein, Irene Newhouse, Stephen Denker, Jill Goodman, Helaine ?, Marcel Apsel, Sylvain Brachfeld, Mona Freedman Morris, Joan Parker, Rabbi Moshe Otero, Judy Turbin, Tineke Sjenitzer, Sue Kriloff, Melody Mayes nee Pinkus