Finding Jewish Ancestors in Ukraine: Difference between revisions

[[File:Screen Shot 2021-12-22 at 10.11.21 AM.png|alt=|left|thumb|400x400px|OCR Surname Database search example at Routes to Roots, [https://www.rtrfoundation.org/ocrsearch.php www.rtrfoundation.org].]]

[[File:OCR Surname Database Search, Zolotarev.png|alt=|thumb|375x375px|Example of an OCR search results at Routes to Roots, [https://www.rtrfoundation.org www.rtrfoundation.org].]]

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 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 can use Google Translate to help you navigate search results. If using the Chrome browser, right-click anywhere and select '''Translate to English'''. 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.

[[File:Archive Database Search Results for Ukraine.png|alt=|left|thumb|400x400px|Sample search results from Archive Database at Routes to Roots, [https://www.rtrfoundation.org www.rtrfoundation.org.]]]

[[File:Archive Database Search Result for Lutsk, Ukraine.png|alt=|thumb|499x499px|Sample entry from Archives Database at Routes to Roots, [https://www.rtrfoundation.org hwww.rtrfoundation.org].]]

To request a search from the relevant archive (identified in the search results), click on the archive name which will lead to a list of archives and you can then choose the exact one. Contact that archive to request a search of the specific documents (provide year and files numbers) for your surname(s).

=== Accessing the Records ===

For information about the repositories referred to on Miriam Weiner's Archive Database, see the [https://www.rtrfoundation.org/webs.shtml '''Archives in Eastern Europe'''] page which includes archival contact information. Contact/visit the respective repository for details on their holdings. For instructions on contacting archives and accessing records, see Q11 on [https://www.rtrfoundation.org/archdta11.shtml#Q10 this Routes to Roots page.] For help writing in inquiry in Russian, see the [[Russia Archives and Libraries]] page.