Finding Jewish Ancestors in Belarus: Difference between revisions

== Introduction to Routes to Roots Foundation ==

Miriam Weiner is a genealogist specializing in the research of Jewish roots in Poland and the former Soviet Union. In her 30+ years of experience in Eastern European archives, she collected vast amounts of information and material. Much of her data was originally published in ''Jewish Roots in Ukraine and Moldova'' and ''Jewish Roots in Poland,'' but is now available online through the Routes to Roots Foundation website. The site includes many resources to help you research your Jewish roots including a town-by-town index/inventory of surviving Jewish records in archives, maps, surname and Holocaust list databases, informative articles, and much more!  

See the [https://www.rtrfoundation.org/admindist.shtml Administrative Districts and Divisions] article on Routes to Roots Administrative to learn more about jurisdictions in the Russian Empire and their modern-day equivalents.  

===Maps of your Ancestor's Town===

Over her 30+ years of working in Eastern European archives, Miriam Weiner collected vast amounts of material that can be searched using the '''[https://www.rtrfoundation.org/newwebsite/lnintro.shtml Surname Databases.]''' There are two surname databases - the Standard Surname Database and the OCR Surname Database. You may also be able to use the surname databases to help narrow down a more specific location for where individuals lived who shared your ancestor's surname.       

   

==== Standard Surname Database ====

*Use the [https://www.rtrfoundation.org/newwebsite/lnsearch.php Standard Surname Database] if you know your ancestor's given name, surname, or town name. This database is comprised of name lists from local historians and heads of Jewish communities, name lists from books, and name lists from various archives. Most collections in this database cannot be found online elsewhere.

**To search, enter a surname, given name, and/or town name into the search box. Collection results will then appear. The first column lists the collection type, while the second column contains the Collection Description (CD). The Collection Description includes information such as how the collection was acquired, references to Miriam Weiner's first visit to the town, photos (current and pre-World War I), links to other resources for the town, and/or document examples. The final column lists the number of records associated with the search term(s). Click on the blue hyperlinked number to view records, then click on the blue hyperlinked surname to see more details about the record.

[[File:Vitebsk, Belarus - Family List, 1874.png|thumb|575x575px|Vitebsk, Belarus - Family List, 1874. Source: Miriam Weiner Archives. |alt=]]

==== OCR Surname Database ====

* Use the [https://www.rtrfoundation.org/newwebsite/ocrsearch.php OCR Surname Database] (optical character recognition) to search for your ancestor's surname. This database is comprised of information from business directories, address calendars, telephone books, typed name lists, and name lists from books and from archives.

**To search, type in the surname, and you'll find an automatic translation of the surname into Cyrillic appear in the second search box. Repeat the search twice - once using the Latin Letter search, and again using the Cyrillic Letter search. Searches may yield different results. Once search results appear, you may want to use Google Translate to help you navigate search results. If using the Chrome browser, right-click anywhere on the page and select '''Translate to English'''. Keep in mind if you are looking at a telephone directory, the original directories have been donated to the U.S. Library of Congress. View the original by selecting the '''Get Page Scan''' button.

==Find Records for your Town==

===Miriam Weiner's Archive Database===

This database contains documents such as army/recruit lists, family lists and census records, Jewish vital records (birth, marriage, death, divorce), immigration documents, voter and tax lists, property and notary records, Holocaust documents, police files, and pogrom documents, school records, occupation lists, local government, and hospital records.

=== Miriam Weiner's Holocaust Lists Database ===

Use the new '''[https://www.rtrfoundation.org/holocaust.php Holocaust Lists Database]''' at Miriam Weiner's Routes to Roots to determine the location of Holocaust documents such as victim and survivor lists, survival testimonials and more. Holocaust Collections included in this database are from select towns in Belarus, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, and Ukraine.