the gesher galicia finder edition one

THE GESHER GALICIA FINDER Edition One Fall 1993 3128 Brooklawn Terrace Chevy Chase, MD 20815 USA 301/657-3389 __________________________________________________________________ Vol. 1, No. 1 Fall 1993 1. Coordinator's Corner 2. Index To Meorei Galicia 3. Pinkas Hakehillot & Horowitz 4. Translators 5. Researchers 6. Exhibit (Judaica Treasures From Galicia) 7. Book About Ukraine (“Ukraine: A History”) 8. Brzozow, Przemysl, Sanok, Strzyzow (Yizkor Books/Brzozow Surnames) 9. Buchach & Potok Zloty (Yad Vashem Articles, Etc.) 10. Dabrowa Tarnowska (Visit To) 11. Krakow (Help Offered) 12. Radomysl (Two Towns with Same Name) 13. Tarnobrzeg (Booklet About) 14. Historical Notes (Book: “Poland: A Historical Atlas”) 15. A Success Story 16. Facsimile Of Galician Birth Record 17. Demographic Records of Galicia, 1772-1919 18. Vital Statistics Records from Eastern Galicia Now in Warsaw Archives

The Galician Gazeteer Vol. 1 No. 1 Fall 1993

2

Vol. 1, No. 1 Fall 1993 Coordinator's Corner Well, we have done it at last! With this issue of The Galitzianer, the Special Interest Group (SIG), is officially launched. George Bodner had the "winning" entry for the name of the SIG: Gesher Galicia, or Bridge to Galicia. As of the end of September, we have an international membership of over 100 people. I have long felt that a SIG might help to facilitate the process of obtaining vital records from Poland and Ukraine. Then, too, I noted that many people who wrote to me about Galicia were not submitting their surnames and towns to Gary Mokotoff for inclusion in the Jewish Family Finder. Why, I wondered. I still wonder, but now we will have our own SIG directory of names and places and perhaps this will facilitate connections in a way that has not been possible up to this point. Most people who have joined are interested in traveling to southeast Poland or western Ukraine or both. We need a travel coordinator and some members to serve on a travel committee. If you are willing to serve in either capacity, please write or call me at 301/657-3389. Although a number of members, including me, have been to Poland and/or Ukraine and our collective experience will be somewhat helpful, there is a great deal of work involved in mounting even a small group trip and many decisions that will have to be made. It is not to early to begin planning for a 1995 trip that comes before or after the Summer Seminar in Washington. The most complex aspects of the planning will be arranging for access to vital records and travel to particular towns with guides and pre-arranged transportation. I have acquired a number of travel guides that can be of some help, but we must begin the


3

process of making initial contacts with people and institutions who can pave the way. In Toronto, Bea Cohen volunteered to compile and maintain a directory of the names and towns being researched by members and we enclose the first edition with this newsletter. We have decided to call this directory "The Gesher Galicia Finder". In the first year, we plan to issue periodic updates with each of our quarterly newsletters because this will likely be a major year for growth. In a year we will publish a compilation of the first year's directory and then re-evaluate how often we need to publish interim updates. Bea and I had to make some decisions about about how your towns should be spelled for purposes of this directory. Though not everyone is happy with our decision, we settled on using Where Once We Walked, based as it is on the spelling used by the Board of Geographic Names. While this will provide a standard, the spelling may not have been exactly as you submitted it. Bea has printed out a list of towns as you spelled them cross referenced with the current spelling. Almost all of these towns are in Ukraine. There will be no limit on the number of towns or surnames you submit. I apologize for any confusion which may have been caused by my failure to specify that the SIG will only serve as an information exchange for towns that were in Galicia before 1918. For other geographic regions, the Jewish Family Finder published by AVOTAYNU continues to be your best bet and I encourage you to submit all of your names and towns. I have material that I have been collecting for years in anticipation that someday this SIG would be a reality. Also, many people included interesting information along with their membership applications! Still, I am concerned that we will run out of material for a newsletter, so keep on sending material for future issues. In this issue, I have decided to reprint (with permission) my Summer 1992 article in AVOTAYNU for the benefit of those who did not see it. I have also included some information about records for particular towns that has been sent in to me over the years. The SIG currently has no board of directors, advisory board or operating guidelines. Bea and I have focused on getting out this first directory and newsletter and SIG funds are being deposited in a savings account in my name because our organization


4

is not a legal entity. Please feel free to suggest how you think we should proceed on a more formal basis and, if so, how that should work. I will publish results of the feedback that you submit. Oh, what to do about bulletin boards?!?! My heartfelt plea is to use the bulletin boards only to encourage others to join Gesher Galicia so that we don't kill the "golden goose" before it has had a chance to produce results. The more we grow, the better our collective chances for connecting with good information. Why are so many Jewish records missing for Galicia?! I have long pondered this. Some were destroyed when towns were razed during one of several wars in this century. I believe that in some towns in southern Poland, Jewish records had continued to be stored in synagogues and, when the synagogues were burned by the Nazis, the records were also destroyed. Recent finds by Western scholars investigating the contents of former East German and Soviet archives has offered some hope that missing Polish records will turn up, but, as yet, this has not happened. Perhaps together we can address this issue more systematically. Suzan Wynne, Coordinator 3128 Brooklawn Terrace, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 USA Phone: 301/657-3389 Fax: 202/966-8903 INDEX TO MEOREI GALICIA Rabbi Meir Wunder from Jerusalem has reported completed the fifth and final volume of the Encyclopedia of Galician Rabbis and Scholars through his Institute for Commemoration of Galician Jewry. Volume V has apparently not reached U.S. libraries yet. The series, which began with the 1978 publication of Volume I, offers detailed biographical information about rabbis and their families. Each volume includes indices to family names, towns, a list of yizkor books and bibliographic sources. The Hebrew alphabet is the organizing framework for the volumes. Rabbi Wunder, a true scholar in every sense of that word, compiled these books as a labor of love, with very little financial help. He hopes to publish the books in English so that the information will be more accessible to those of us who are not proficient in Hebrew. Gideon Rath from Philadelphia has translated and published the surname index from Volumes 1-4 in Chronicles, the newsletter of the JGS of Philadelphia. He has given his permission to


5

reprint the names in The Galitzianer. This issue will cover Volumes I & II and the next issue will cover Volumes III & IV. Abend Ackerman Adler Adlersberg Altberg Altein Alter Altfest Altkern Altkraut Altman Altstadt Amarant Antman Apfelbaum Apteiker Apter Aptowitze Arak Asatanowicz Ashkenazi Auerbach Aug Avigdor Babad Backal Bader Baeck Baecker Baer Bak Balchover Balmet Balsam Banis Banner Barabash Barb

Barg Baron Basseches Baumgarten Bauminger Baumol Baurer Begon Berger Berglass Bergman Beri Bernfeld Bernkopf Bernsohn Bernstein Berstein Bertram Bibelman Bick Biderman Bieler Bienestock Bienstock Bierbrauer Bigeleisen Billig Bindiger Birnbaum Bisliches Blandwein Blank Blaugrund Blech Bleich Bleicher Bloch Bloom

Blum Blumfeld Blumenkranz Blumenfeld Bochner Bodek Bombach Bornstein Brachfeld Brand Brandler Brandes Brandris Brandwein Braude Brauer Braunfeld Braunstein Braver Brecher Breisch Breit Breitman Brenner Bresitzer Bretshneider Brill Brinner Brodman Bruckstein Brummer Dachner Dam Damesek Danzig Darlich Darshevitz


6

David Deutsch Deutscher Diamand Dichtwald Dickman Dienstag Diener Dixler Domb Dominitz Dreifuss Drilich Drimmer Drucker Duhl Eberstark Ebner Eckhous Eckner Eckstein Edel Edelstein Ehrlich Eibeshitz Eichenstein Eichhorn Eiger Einhorn Einleger Eisen Eisenbach Eisenberg Eisenstadt Eisland Eisner Elberg Elfenbein Ellenberg Elovitz

Engel Engelmeier Engelstein Englander Englard Episdorf Epstein Erenberg Ermer Ernsberg Etkes Ettinger Even Gaertner Galanti Galler Gartenhaus Gassenbauer Gebert Gebl Gefen Geizler Gelbard Gelbwax Geldwort Gedlzaehler Gelernter Gellis Geminer Gerstel Gertler Gewirtz Gewirtzman Gintzlig Gintzler Ginzburg Glantz Glantzberg Glantzer Glaser

Glass Glatt Glick Gold Goldbaum Goldberg Goldes Goldfeld Goldfischer Goldman Goldreich Goldschneider Goldstern Goldstoff Goldzweig Goldwasser Gotima Gottesdiener Gottesman Gottfried Gottlieb Green (Gruen) Greenbaum Greenberg Greenberg Greenfeld Greenstein Greher Greisman Greiver Griss Grobin Gronik Gross Grossfeld Grossman Grosswax Grumer Gutstein Gutwein Gutwillig


7

Gutwirt Volume II Chalfan Chameides Chanalel Charak Charap Charif Chayes Chiel Chodorov Choiz Haas Haber Haberman Hafter Hager Halberstam Halberthal Halbreich Halperin Hamburger Hammer Hartman Hasenlaug Hasten Hauberger Hauptman Hauser Hasten Hebenstreit Hecht Heilig Heilfur Heiman Heiselberg Heitner Heizler

Held Helfenbein Heller Hellman Hemerling Hene Herbst Herbstman Herman Hermele Hermelein Hershkovitz Hertz Hertzberg Herz Herzog Heschel Hibner Hiller Hirsch Hirschfeld Hirschman Hirschorn Hirschprung Hirschtal Hister HItter Hochbaum Hochberg Hochgelerntner Hocher Hochstein Hochwald Hoffen Hofner Holeschitzer Hollech Hollender Holler Holles Holtzer

Horn Hornberg Horodner Horovitz Horschovsky Huspal Igra Irom Isserles Ittinga Itzinger Orenstein Orschitzer Oster Osterer Saberman Sachman Segal Segner Sehman Seidman Seiger Siegel Sieger Silber Silberberg Silberfarb Silberman Silberschutz Silberstein Singer Sitsamer Somerstein Sonnenschein Suchman Suess Sussman


8

Uhri Ulman Ulmansky Unger Vitales Vitkover Wachs Wachsberg Wachskerz Wachsman Wagner Wagschal Wahl Wahrhaftig Wahrman Wald Waldberg Waldman Walkenfeld Wallach Wallerstein Waltuch Wander Warschauer Warschover Wax Waxberg Waxkerz Waxman Wechsler Weidberg Weiden Weidenfeld Weiger Weiler Wein Weinberg Weinberger Weindling

Weiner Weinfeld Weingarten Weinig Weinles Weinman Weinrib Weinreich Weinstein Weinstock Weintraub Weiselberg Weiser Weiss Weisbach Weissbart Weissberg Weissberger Weissblum Weissbrot Weisser Weisshaus Weissman Weisstein Weiteles Weitz Weitzlen Weitzenblum Weitzfeld Weitzman Wenkert Werfel Wertheimer Westreich Wettstein Wexler Widawsky Wiederker Weiderman Wigler Wilf

Wilk Willer Wilner Wind Winkler Winter Wirt Witkover


9

Witmeyer Wolmuth Zafrin Wohlgelerntner Wolowitz Zichik Woidnik Wolteich Zeldovitz Wolf Wolusky Zlatkes Wolfgang Wunder Zuslak Zusman Pinkas HaKehillot & Horowitz Suzan Wynne Yad Vashem has published a series of volumes describing Jewish communities of areas. There are three volumes on Poland. All three appear to cover towns which were once in Galicia, but have been in Ukraine since 1918. This is puzzling but convenient for those whose towns are mentioned because little is written about Jewish life in many of these towns. George Sackheim translated and published a list of towns mentioned in the now-defunct Search, Vol. 8, No. 3 in 1988. He designated whether the article appeared in volumes on Poland by 1, 2 and 3. In some cases, there appears to be more than one article. Sackheim said that, though the volumes emphasize the WWII period, they provide some history and photos of important Jewish sites and people. Sackheim's translation (or perhaps that of the authors since some books include English-language indices) spell the name of the town as it was spelled by the Austrian government. While not generally a problem for towns in Poland, many towns in Ukraine are now spelled differently in their translitered form. Since there are multiple towns of the same name in Poland and Ukraine, some of the towns listed may not be yours. Also, I'm sure I missed some towns. Towns beginning with the letters A-L are below. Those with M-Z will appear in the next issue. Baligrod 3 Baranow 3 Barycz 2 Belz 2 Belzec 1&2 Bialy Kamien 2 Biecz 3 Bielsko 1

Bielsko Biala 3 Birca 2 Blazowa 3 Bobowa 3 Bobrka 2 Bochnia 1&3 Bohorodczany/Bogorodchany 2 Bolechow 2


10

Bolszowce 2 Borowa 3 Boryszczow 2 Boryslaw 2 Brody 1&2 Broszniow 2 Brzesko 3 Brzezhany 2 Brzeznica Stara 1 Brzostek Brzozow 3 Buchcach 2 Budzanow/Budanow 1&2 Bukaczowce 2 Chodorow/Khodorov 2 Cholojow 2 Chorstikov 2 Chrzanow 3 Chryow 2 Cieszanow 1&2 Cisna 3 Czarny Dunajec 3 Czchow 3 Czortikow/Chortkov 2 Czortowiec/Chortovets 2 Czuduc 3 Dabie 1 Dabrowa 1 Dabrowna Tarnowska 3 Debica 1&3 Delatyn 2 Dobczyce 3 Dobra 1 Dobromil 2 Dobrotwor 2 Dolina 2 Domardz 3 Drohobycz 2 Dubiecko 3 Dukla 3 Dunajow 2

Dynow 3 Dzikow Stary 2 Dzikow 1 Gliniany 1&2 Glogow 1&3 Gologory 2 Gorlice 3 Grabow 1 Grebow 3 Grodziec 1 Grojec 1 Gromnik Grybow 3 Grzymalow 2 Halicz 2 Horodenka 2 Hussakow 2 Ilnik 2 Iwanowice 1 Jankowice 1 Janow 1&2 Jaroslaw 1 Jaryczow 2 Jasienica Rosielna 3 Jasliska 3 Jaslo 3 Jawornik Polski & Szklarski 3 Jaworow 2&3 Jazlowiec 1&2 Jedlicze 3 Jezierzany 2 Jezowe 3 Jezupol/Zhovten 2 Jordanow 3 Kalusz 2 Kamionka Strumilowa 2 Kanczuga 3 Kety 3 Klodowa 1 Kolaczyce 3 Kolbuszowa 3 Kolomoyja 2


11

Kopyczynce 2 Korczyna 3 Kozlow 2 Kozowa 2 Krakow 1&3 Krechowice 2 Krosienke 3 Kroscienko 2 Krono 3 Krukienice 2 Krynica Zdroij 3 Krystynpol 2 Krzeszowice 3 Krzywcza 3 Kulikow 2 Kuty 2 Labowa 3 Lacko 3 Lancut 3 Lanczyn 2 Lesko 2 Lesniow/Lezhanovka 2 Lezajsk 3 Limanowa 3 Lipsko 2 Lomna 2 Lopatyn 2 Lubaczow 2 Lutowiska 2 Lwow 1&2 RESOURCES Translators Ronald Kleinman is a very competent and reasonably priced translator of Polish. You may request a price estimate by sending him with a copy of material you wish to have translated with an

stamped, self-addressed envelope (SASE). He translated some 17th century tax records from Przemysl that were obtained from the Central Archives of the History of the Jewish People in Israel for Suzan Wynne. Mr. Kleinman may be contacted by writing: 10 Greg Lane, East Northport, NY 11731. Nancy Weisman, PO Box 1274, Boston, MA 02104-1274 advertises as doing such tasks as research and photographing in towns and cemeteries in Czech, Poland, Russia and Germany. You might want to call her for more information at 617/739-2797. No Shabbat calls. Genealogy Research Service, PO Box 34-1197, Los Angeles, CA 90034 is apparently run by Poles based in LA. They advertise their translation services including Polish and Ukrainian and say they will do a photo record of places and people. Be cautious since nothing is known of their reliability. SIG member, Mort Perlroth, recommends Piotr Graff who is very reliable and charges 15 cents per word. 18708 Tanterra Way, Brookeville, MD 20833. Phone: 301/924-3523. Fax: 924-3526. Alex Kysym is a Ukrainian who went to England in 1946 at


12

age eight, having spent much of the war in a German camp. While there, he learned Ukrainian so that he can both read and write it. He also has a smattering of Russian. His address: 1355 Tyneburn Crescent, Mississauga, Ontario L4X 1P6, CANADA. He was referred by JGS of Canada members, Mel and Renee Stein. Researchers Laurence Krupnak learned about Gesher Galicia through AVOTAYNU and sent in a packet of information about "The Slavic Connection," an organization dedicated to helping people research their families in East European countries. He is not Jewish and, to my knowledge, has not had experience with researching Jewish families. However, he says he has performed research at facilities within the Polish State Archives system and in Ukraine. He lists an impressive array of records that his organization has found, including census, military and emigration records. Krupnak is able to handle Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Slovak, German and Latin documents. All researchers are members of the National Genealogical Society and the Association of

Professional Genealogists and observe the standards of conduct and code of ethics promulgated by these two bodies. Estimates are prepared for most projects and you can set a dollar limit to get some idea of what can be done for that amount. You would be expected to reimburse researchers for their expenses. 1711 Corwin Drive, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Tel & Fax: 301/585-0117. Avrum Fenson said that while visiting Ternopol, he met a Mr. Shutzman who "does some freelance research for Max Mermelstein, a travel agent in New York who is active in Skala family research. Shutzman found one or two items of personal interest to us." Write to Avrum for more information: 350 Walmer Road, Toronto, Ontario M5R 2Y4. Exhibit Herb Unger sent word about a Traveling Exhibition of Judaica treasures from Galicia at the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora at Beth Hatefutsoth on the grounds of Tel Aviv University in Ramat Aviv. With substantial assistance from Zusia Ephron, a consultant who was the founder and former director of


13

the museum on Kibbutz Ein Harod, the exhibition is being organized from the collection of the Lvov Museum of Ethnography and Crafts. Artifacts include those from the pre-WWII Maximilian Goldstein collection of the region. The exhibit is scheduled to open in late 1994 and will be made available on a limited basis for international circulation to select museums in mid-1995. Write to Virginia Torgovnik, Travel Exhibition Dept., PO Box 39539, Tel Aviv, 61392, Israel. (The Council of American Jewish Museums Newsletter, Vol. 2, No. 1, July 1993). Book About Ukraine Ukraine: A History by Orest Subtelny was published by Toronto University Press in 1988. This 600 + page book throughly discussed the complex history of this country in its various forms over the centuries, with substantial consideration to the role that Jews have played. Most relevant to our purposes, there is a good discussion of Western Ukraine when it was part of Galicia with respect to its economic, social and cultural status in relation to surrounding territories. It is available

in paperback for $29.95 plus postage from Travel Books & Language Center, 4931 Cordell Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814. MAILBOX Brzozow, Przemysl, Sanok, Strzyzow Suzan Wynne has a yizkor books for these towns. The Strzyzow book is a English translation of the original compiled by a cousin. The town of Brzozow is between Krosno and Sanok. Though not indexed by the authors, Suzan has created an index of names appearing in the English language section of the book. Names include: Broff, Dick, Diller, Doppelt, Fass, Feingold, Feit, Fenster, Filler, Freund, Goldfisher, Henig, Honig, Horowitz, Katz, Kintzler, Korn, Kornfeld, Kreitstein, Luflick, Lachman, Lampin, Laufer, Lerner, Levi, Levite, Markel, Markovitz, Nadelschecter, Parnes, Penner, Propper, Rappaport, Reich, Ringel, Roth, Rubinfeld, Salz, Schechter, Scheinbach, Schertz, Schiffer, Schweber, Seelenfreund, Schnitzler, Spindler, Steiglitz, Tag, Teicher, Trachman, Trat(t)ner, Trentscher, Weber, Weiss, Werner, Wilner, Wolfman, Zieler, Zuckerman, and Zwick. There was a Fischel family


14

from this town as well. Send an SASE for information about page numbers for the Brzozow book or for whether a name appears in the other three. Buchach & Potok Zloty SIG member Andrew Bader has English translations of articles from Yad Vashem about the above towns. He has also been in contact with Holocaust survivors from Potok Zloty and has an address for the head of the town's burial society in Israel, as well as a map of the society's burial plots in New York's Mt. Zion, Mt. Judah and Beth David cemeteries. Andrew mentions that he is aware of the yizkor book for Buchach. Write to him at 1508 Diellen Lane, Elmont, NY 11003. Dabrowa Tarnowska Richard Cooper asks if anyone knows anything about synagogue records for this town before 1890...he is also seeking information about the cemetery. "I understand it still exists, although derelict, but when I went there in 1987 and asked [about it], nobody could tell be anything, even though they found me the shul easily enough." A photo of the synagogue follows:

Krakow Shabsa Lis writes: "My father was raised in Krakow between the wars. He and I visited there for 10 days in 1989. I would be glad to refer questions to him...we also visited Belzec Death Camp and the Sienawa, Lesajsk, Khzanow and Lancut cemeteries." See the directory for his address. Radomysl: The province of Galicia had towns that shared the same name. Sometimes they were given extra names to help identify which one was being discussed, but not always. For instance, Fred Wexler's roots were in Radomysl. Under Austria, there were two towns of this name. Fred's town became known as "ab San" (Radomysl by the San River). This town is now in Ukraine. It is differentiated from the town now called Radomysl Wielki which is in Poland and is near the town of Mielec. Tarnobrzeg Gayle Riley has a booklet by the town's Historical Society about Jewish life there. The booklet lists marriage records and the names of high school graduates. Gayle has 77 names from birth records for 1896-1900 and a 19th century registration of


15

citizens. Thanks to Avrum Fenson who submitted a book list on the Holocaust and related topics, with special emphasis on Galicia. Future issues will include more about books, among them those that Avrum mentions. INFORMATION ABOUT RECORDS IN: Biecz, Grzymalow, Kanczuga, Korczyna, Krosno, Lezajsk, Podwoloczyska, Pruchnik, Sanok, Sienawa, Sokolow Malpolski, Tyczyn: Records exist in the USCs for these towns and surrounding towns and villages. Bircza, Bukowsko, Dubiecko, Mielec, Radomysl Wielki, Rybotycze, Rymanow: records are missing. Chyrow, Dobromil, Felsztyn (now Skelevka), Kniaspol, Sambor, and Stary Sambor: These records are missing. Dunajow: Gary Gelber wrote and an older resident replied with general information but there was no mention of records. Gorlice: Ely Maurer (1023 Forest Glen Road, Silver Spring, MD 20901) reported in 1987 that there is an

alphabetical index of births 1904-1921 but no book; deaths: book from 1939-1942; and an index to marriages. The Jews of the town destroyed the records in a vain attempt to protect Jews from the Nazis. Lancut: records were destroyed in a fire. Przemysl: Member Avrohom Krauss Old records for Przemysl which are housed at the regional branch archives in that town cover the following years: Birth: 1876-1883 Marriage: 1827-1876 Death: 1877-1880; 1881-1884 The regional branch published an inventory in 1979. It is probably out of date, but they had Jewish records for Biecz (1850-1937), Bukowsko (1897), Lezajsk (1826-1866), Lesko (1882-1884), Oleszyce (1814-1869), Pruchnik (1834-1876), Tyrawa Wolokska (1937), and Zolynia (1916-1922). Rzeszow: records for the town that are 100 years old are in the regional archives in the town; records less than 100 years old are in the city records office (USC). The regional archives does not appear to have Jewish records for other communities in its


16

region. Tarnobrzeg: Gayle Riley has had success in ordering records by mail. Tarnow: Births and deaths from the 20th century are at the USC. It is not known if marriage records are also there. Estelle Guzik can provide additional information. Ternopol, Zborow & Kozowa: Marty Isserlis says that "Miriam Weiner has obtained vital data (mostly birth records) from archives in Lwow and Warsaw." Wisnicz Nowy: Mort Perlroth has had a prompt and excellent response by mail for records from this town. He is currently trying for records from Bochnia. HISTORICAL NOTES Poland: A Historical Atlas by Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski was published by Hippocrene Books in New York in 1987. The book can be ordered by writing to them at 171 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016. Though the book emphasizes the history of Russia Poland, there are some interesting maps and facts

covering the existence of Austrian-ruled Galicia. Known officially as the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Galicia was formed in 1772 from what had been Lesser Poland and Western Ukraine, according to Pognowski, as a means of "extending Ukrainian claims to land all the way to Kracow." Kracow, itself, was an independent city-state from 1792 to 1831 when it was briefly occupied by Russia. By two years later, Kracow was being ruled by representatives from Russia, Germany and Austria. In 1846, Austria absorbed Kracow as part of Galicia after an abortive uprising by peasants. This separate status of Kracow helps to explains why early birth, marriage and death records from Cracow, which are available through the Family History Library are not in the same columnar format as that used in Austrian Poland, but employ a narrative format instituted by Napoleon which was long-used in Russian Poland. In 1869, German was made the official language of all governmental offices in Galicia, but in 1872, this was revoked and Polish and Ukrainian again were restored as official languages. Polish was the official language used


17

in the universities in Cracow and Lwow. Within Poland, forms designated for the collection of birth, marriage and death information are generally printed in German and Polish. Pognoswki offers some interesting population data from 1874. Three percent of the population was Austrian, 45 percent Polish, 41 percent Ruthenian, and 11 percent Jewish. There were "200,000 public officials ruling over 180,000 Jewish merchants and 220,000 Jewish innkeepers and a mass of undersized Jewish businesses and equally undersized Polish and Ukrainian farms supporting 81 percent of the poulation. Only 400 families had enough land to be considered wealthy. Galicia, the largest province of the Austrian empire paid the highest rate of income taxes in Europe. By 1914, two million people emigrated from Galicia, mostly to the United States" (p. 27). In 1918, Polish deputies to the Austrian parliament declared their independence from Austria which was followed by Austria transferring political control and weapons to the Ukrainian Committee in Lwow on November 3. Within days, war broke out between Poles and Ukrainians

over the territory that had been Galicia. War between ethnic Ukrainians and Poles again broke out after WWII and raged until 1947 when Poland ended the fighting by creating a special area for Ukrainians in the region of Wroclaw and moved ethnic Ukrainians there on a massive scale. A SUCCESS STORY by Jerry Fields Between 1987 and 1989 I managed to overcome the lethargy, disinterest and resistance of my father's relatives and eventually printed a 203 page hard-bound and professionally printed book on the family. My book is titled, The Finkenthal Family History and it is filled with historical documents, copies of ship manifests, biography pages, assorted rembrances and photos. I was born Gerald Finkenthal, but at the age of 13 my parents decided to Americanize the name. Literally looking through the phone book, we came up with the name Fields. During my research, I joined the Jewish Genealogical Society in Los Angeles where I live and at one of the meetings, a new friend


18

suggested that I join a Polish Genealogical group in Chicago to see what they could do to help. One of their newsletters listed the name and address of an archives office in Warsaw where, it was said, were documents from Galicia. I composed a letter and had it translated into Polish and mailed both to the office, not thinking too much of my chances. However, Borszczow where my family came from was small and because the name was unusual, I figured that anyone with that name in the town would be related. Three months later I received a letter in Polish and clearly saw "9 documentow" and "130 dol. USA." After a translator confirmed the contents of the letter, I decided to chance sending them $130, even though it sounded like it might be a scam. Three more months went by and a fat envelope arrived with nine documents pertaining to a total of seven people, most of whom I already knew of from earlier gathered information that family members had supplied. The documents covered the rather narrow period between 1874 and 1882, but included was the birth record of my father's father! I consider those

documents the most important single part of my family tree book. They allowed me to go back two additional generations with birth and death dates, type of occupation and even the house number where they lived. In 1989, toward the end of my two-year task of putting together my book, I began to crave more up-to-date information on Borszczow. So, I ran an ad in the Jerusalem Post in English (not too smart a thing to do!) and a week later received my one reply. Fortunately, the man who replied was proficient in several languages and we quickly struck up a letter-writing and phone-calling friendship. He supplied me with most interesting information on his life there, the city and its inhabitants, life in general in Galicia...all leading up to WWII. He and a lady friend fled the city under threat of extermination and both eventually ended up in Israel. His stories and information made a great addition to the family book. But, just as important, late last year he visited me at my home in California where we had an opportunity to get to know one another and for me to learn even more about Borszczow.


19

FACSIMILE OF GALICIAN BIRTH RECORD Dave Fox has offered the following birth record as an illustration of what such a record looked like in 1905. This record was among those sent to him by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service when he requested records for family members. Expecting only naturalization documents, he was thrilled when the INS sent a large pile of accompanying documents. The copies were in reverse process, i.e., white on a black background. By using a scanner, Dave was able to produce black ink on white background copies. The form is printed in German and Polish. Columns 3-6: Riwka, legitimate daughter of Moses Schaje Fuchs from Dzurow and Chaje Ruchel, daughter of David Mechlawicz and Rencie Hudes from Popielniki. Moses and Chaje were married civilly on August 8, 1905. Column 1 has the date of birth: November 5, 1905. Column 2 is the date the baby was named: November 6. Column 7 includes the name of the godfather: Selig Demmer from Zablotow. Column 8 for comments is blank.


20

ADMINISTRATION OF POLAND The Polish government publishes an map of Poland that sets off the official administrative districts of the country by using different colors. The back of the map lists hundreds of towns with location information. Well marked and easy to use, the map is entitled, "Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa." To order a copy, write to Travel Books & Language Center, 4931 Cordell Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814 USA. Call 301/951-8533 to inquire about the current price. Poland is divided into 49 wojewodztwo (abbreviated woj.). These are roughly equivalent to Canadian provinces or U.S. states. When writing to small towns in Poland, it is best to use these designations in the address because there may be more than one town of that name. The map below will aid you in figuring out in which woj. your town belongs. Because of the complexities of the Polish language, they are to be written follows: woj. bielskie = Bielsko-Biala katowickie = Katowice krosnienskie = Krosno nowosadeckie = Nowy Sacz przemyskie = Przemysl rzeszowskie = Rzeszow tarnobrzeskie = Tarnobrzeg tarnowskie = Tarnow zamojskie = Zamosc The National Archives (Naczelna Dyrekcja Archiwow Panstwowych) structure in Poland is much the same as it is in the U.S. There is a main building located in Warsaw and there are regional archives and branches which include materials pertinent to the region. Genealogical records, such as birth, marriage and death records, stored in the National Archives are generally more than 100 years old. Since most Poles do not read English well enough to handle a genealogical request and because they do not easily understand our handwriting, I advise you to typewrite a letter in Polish. Judith Frazin has compiled a marvelous book to aid you in crafting a letter: "A Translation Guide to 19th Century Polish-Language Civil-Registration Documents. Pages 33-41 is designed to provide


21

phrases that you can use in your letter writing. The book may be ordered for about $25 from 1025 Antique Lane, Northbrook, IL 60062, USA. The Archive and Resource Center of the Polish Genealogical Society of Connecticut has prepared a listing of the regional and branch archives of the main state archives in Poland. Within the area our Galician ancestors came from, there are regional and branch archives in the following places (the town, in bold, comes before the street in Polish addresses): Archiwum Panstwowe w Katowicach, 40-950 Katowice, ul. Jagiellonska 25 Branches: 42-500 Bedzin, ul. Sienkiewicza 33 43-500 Bielsko-Biala, ul. Slowackiego 80 41-902 Bytom, Pl. Thalmanna 2 32-500 Chrzanow, ul. Krakowska 21a Archiwum Panstwowe w Krakowie, 31-041 Krakow, ul. Sienna 16 Branches: 32-700 Bochnia, ul. Kazimierza Wielkiego 31 33-300 Nowy Sacz, ul. Szwedzka 2 34-400 Nowy Targ, ul. Krolowej Jadwigi 10 33-100 Tarnow, ul. Kniewskiego 24 Archiwum Panstwowe w Przemyslu 37-700 Przemysl, ul. PCK 4 Branch: 37-200 Przeworsk, ul. Rynek 1 Archiwum Panstwowe w Rzeszowie 35-064 Rzeszow, ul. Boznizca 4 Branch: 380-200 Jaslo, ul. Lenartowicza 9 Archiwum Panstwowe w Zamosciu 22-400 Zamosc, ul. Moranda 4