Allison’s Story

Before she came to Lost Roots Family History, Allison (not pictured) had already done a great deal of research on her family background. Having known a decent amount of history through stories her parents had told her, she had decided to try her hand at some of the new technological developments in genealogy. Working through websites like Ancestry and Family Search, Allison eventually put together a story of her family that stretched back to around 1880, about 20 years before her grandparents immigrated to America. But although she wished she could go back before this time and discover as much about her family in Poland as she had in the United States, she soon hit brick walls.

Like many people researching their Ashkenazi Jewish family origins, Allison had initially assumed that all records of her family were destroyed by the Nazis during World War II. However, she soon learned that this was not the case—that, in fact, tens of millions of Jewish genealogical records survived the war and are still located in archives throughout Europe. In many countries in Eastern Europe, Jewish birth, marriage, and death records still exist which go back to the early 1800s. Other records such as population registers, city directories, censuses, and military conscription lists provide important details about our family histories in most European countries.

Many people may wish to research their families for themselves. If this is you, read on to discover some of the many resources available that can help you uncover more of your family history than you likely would have imagined.

Ultimately, however, Allison decided that due to the language barrier and her lack of experience in working with European records, she was not in a position to carry out this type of research herself. While her academic and professional background as a professor of law provided her with a vast array of research techniques, she realized the importance of hiring a professional to move beyond her level of skill. As a result of her decision to hire Lost Roots Family History to research her Ashkenazi Jewish family’s past, Allison ended up with far more than she would have been able to accomplish herself. She now has knowledge of six branches of her family going back to the early 1700s, and has connected with relatives she never knew she had.

 

Finding Ashkenazi Jewish Families’ Places of Origin and Original Names

For most Ashkenazi Jewish families in the United States, finding your family’s place of origin and surname before emigration to America is the first challenge in researching your family’s genealogy. If you do not already know where your family came from and what your family name originally was (if your ancestors Americanized their surname) can be big challenges. Without this knowledge, it will be impossible to discover anything about your family before they came to America. Yet finding this information, if you do not already know it, can be a big challenge.

Luckily, immigration to the United States was heavily documented, especially from the early twentieth century. Moreover, many immigrants chose to become U.S. citizens—providing even more documentation. Information on naturalization records can help you identify your family’s original name, while passenger manifests can allow you to determine your family’s location of residence in the old country. Additional sources of genealogical information such as census records and military draft records can help corroborate details, fill in missing information, and narrow down possible ambiguities. Even if these documents cannot be found, or if they do not have the information you need, it may still be possible to locate or at least approximate your family's origins. If all goes well, these resources can provide all the information you need to start uncovering your family in Europe.

Once you have discovered your family’s place of origin and original name, European records dating back two hundred years or more may allow you to trace your family history back farther than you ever thought possible. The nature, extent, and availability of records and online resources depends on which country your ancestors came from, and in many cases on the specific region of that country. Keep reading to learn about some of the vast array of resources in some of the most common countries of origin for Ashkenazi Jewish families.

 

Researching Your Family before Immigration to America

Russia

Many people who grew up in Jewish families—perhaps the majority—were told that their grandparents or great-grandparents came to America from “Russia.” In fact, the majority of the world Jewish population in the year 1900 was living in Russia, so it makes sense that so many American Jewish families originally came from there. However, it is important to understand that “Russia” in this context means the Russian Empire, a territory significantly larger than today’s Russian Federation. In fact, the vast majority of Russian Jews lived in areas that are now outside of Russia—in modern Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Poland. For this reason, understanding the geography of the Russian Empire is critical to Jewish genealogy for families from this region.

There are many historical records of genealogical value for researching Jewish families from the Russian Empire. In addition to standard vital records, various census-like lists—mainly created for military conscription purposes—document the Jewish population of most Russian villages and towns. Additionally, business, government, and police records help complement these official documents. For towns in modern Ukraine and Belarus, records will likely be in Russian for the entire period your family lived there. For locations in Lithuania and interwar Poland, records through World War 1 will be in Russian, while those from the interwar period will be in either Lithuanian or Polish. Researching Jewish families from Russia may be made more difficult due to the inherent challenges of reading old Russian handwriting, the vicissitudes of changing geography, as well as unfamiliarity with the records in general.

 

Poland

As a result of being welcomed and protected by medieval kings, Jews have lived in Poland for hundreds of years. However, an independent Poland ceased to exist in 1795; as a result of a series of Continental wars, the country was split between Austria, Prussia, and Russia. The division of a previously cohesive Jewish community into three separate nations had profound implications for the history of Eastern European Jewry. For greater detail on the history of these Polish boundary changes, read about how to research Jewish families from Poland.

If your family came from Poland, the types of genealogy records available vary depending on which country your ancestral Polish town or city ended up in. In Austrian Poland, known as Galicia, vital records tend to be fairly complete, especially for cities and larger towns, and are complemented by a variety of additional records. Galician records are in German until 1867, then in Polish afterwards (despite the region remaining in the Austrian Empire). In Congress Poland (the portion of Poland controlled by Russia during the 19th century), records tend to be even more detailed, and often provide details such as occupations, maiden names, and towns of prior residence. Records are in Polish through 1867 and Russian afterwards. In Prussian Poland, many genealogy records date back to the early 1800s, primarily in German.

 

Ukraine

Unlike many other countries in the region, Ukraine came into being in the relatively recent past out of a multiplicity of territories. Prior to World War 1, the western portions of the country were part of the Austrian Empire, most of which having been Polish before that. Other portions of Ukraine were controlled by Lithuania and then Russia, while still others had been Ottoman vassals.

When researching Ukrainian Jewish families from Ukraine, it is important to first understand which historical region of Ukraine your family came from. The historical conditions, nature and extent of records, and modern research tools all vary greatly across the country’s various historical regions. For more information, read my page about researching the genealogy Ukrainian Jewish families.

 

Lithuania

Like Poland, Lithuania has been the home of a thriving Jewish community for centuries. As the last nation in Europe to be converted to Christianity (which did not take place until the 14th century), medieval Lithuania was noted for its diversity and religious toleration. The principality expanded greatly in size until it became the largest nation in Europe, controlling much of today’s Belarus and Ukraine long before they became incorporated into Russia.

Much of Lithuania was annexed to the Russian Empire in the 1790s. As a result, when researching Jewish families from Lithuania, most records will be in Russian. A variety of historical records are available in Lithuania. Unfortunately, birth, marriage, and death records tend to be very incomplete in Lithuania. However, other records—largely similar to genealogy resources for other regions of the Russian Empire—are available and helpful.

 

Belarus

Historically, Belarus was a part of Lithuania from the 15th through the 18th centuries. On its incorporation into Russia, significant portions of today’s Belarus were governed as part of the Vilnius province of Russia, thus researching Jewish families from Belarus shares much in common with Lithuanian Jewish genealogy research. Similar records exist for the two countries, including vital records, military conscription lists, police records, and more.

 

 

Special Topics in Jewish Genealogy

Holocaust Research

The worst tragedy to befall the Jewish people, the Holocaust affected virtually every Ashkenazi Jewish family. Even if your family was lucky enough to have immigrated to the United States in the 19th or early 20th century, chances are high that your ancestor had siblings, cousins, and other relatives who remained in Europe.

The Holocaust has been described as the single most documented event in human history. Because records covering different aspects of the Holocaust, including from concentration camps, were created and maintained separately, researching what happened to your family in the Holocaust can be challenging. However, modern databases and research tools allow genealogists to discover the fate of many of their family members during the Holocaust.

 

Language and Handwriting

As has been seen in this overview and will be shown in greater detail in other pages on my website, European borders changed frequently throughout history. As a result, cities and towns have often found themselves in multiple countries throughout their history. Moreover, Jewish families in Central and Eastern Europe tended to be more mobile than their Christian counterparts, moving to other towns, provinces, and even countries to pursue economic opportunity and religious tolerance.

Due to changing borders, fickle language policy, and migration, researching Jewish families typically involves the use of multiple languages. If your family is anything like mine (and it probably you’re your genealogical research will require a knowledge of Hebrew, Yiddish, German, Russian, Polish, and more. While modern tools are available to help, the best way to get the most accurate understanding of your family is by reading and understanding the original historic records. In fact, as I stress in my guide to professional Jewish genealogy, working with primary source documents rather than transcriptions or translations is one of the fundamental principles of family history research.

As English speakers, we are easily able to read historic documents such as the Declaration of Independence. However, for languages like German, Russian, and Hebrew—indispensable languages for Ashkenazi Jewish genealogy—handwriting systems have changed dramatically. Germany officially switched from its old handwriting (called Kurrentschrift) to the modern one in 1940, meaning that Germans cannot read handwriting documents from prior to this date without special training. Similarly, pre-1917 Russian and pre-1948 Hebrew cursive writing present extreme challenges to modern researchers.

By studying the relevant languages and learning to read these historic scripts, we can unlock hidden secrets these documents offer about our families.

Where to Go from Here?

Using the information I share with you on my website as well as other resources, you may be able to successfully unlock your family’s deep past. Genealogy records for Jewish families in Eastern Europe go back to the early 1800s, sometimes even earlier. It is not uncommon to be able to trace Ashkenazi Jewish family histories back to the mid-1700s. However, doing so may take hundreds of hours. Moreover, it requires technical skill, experience, and linguistic ability—not to mention the cultural knowledge, historical background, and professional training to properly interpret genealogical documents and avoid many of the common errors frequently made by amateurs. While this may be the right path for you, you may also wish to take advantage of Lost Roots Family History's extensive professional research offerings.

By hiring Lost Roots Family History, Allison ended up with a vast amount of knowledge of her family. Like many of my clients, she now has family trees spanning ten generations and stretching back hundreds of years. Even more, she has built relationships with relatives she never knew she had, both in the United States and around the world.

Because of Lost Roots Family History’s extensive training and commitment to the highest professional standards of the genealogy field, Allison feels confident that the research results are as accurate as possible. In her own words, “I highly recommend Dr. Grayson for Jewish genealogical research. He is uniquely gifted and talented in the area. You’ll learn more about people, events and understand better than you thought possible from whence you came.”