Finding Jewish Ancestors in Belarus: Difference between revisions

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== Introduction to Routes to Roots Foundation ==

The Routes to Roots Foundation was created by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_Weiner_(genealogist) Miriam Weiner,] who 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 ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Roots_in_Ukraine_and_Moldova Jewish Roots in Ukraine and Moldova]'' and ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Roots_in_Poland 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.         

'''[https://www.rtrfoundation.org/soviet.shtml Soviet-era Town Plan Maps]''' are also available. This collection consists of street maps of individual towns and cities within the current borders of Belarus. Many of the town maps consist of 1-6 separate maps. The maps are in color and about half of them include a "legend" – primarily an alphabetical listing of street names. The maps are in the Russian language (Cyrillic alphabet). This map collection includes more than 25 localities in present-day Belarus.<br><br>Maps will help you locate places where your ancestors lived and give you context for the records you are using. Maps can identify political boundaries, place names, geographical features, cemeteries, synagogues, etc. Historical maps are especially useful for understanding boundary changes or locating tiny villages that don't often appear on most maps. For help locating these tiny villages, see the '''[https://www.rtrfoundation.org/maps.shtml Joint Operations Graphic (JOG) maps.]'''

[[File:Belarus Census Records, Surname Example.png|alt=|left|thumb|573x573px|'''Standard Surname Search Result,''' [https://www.rtrfoundation.org rtrfoundation.org].]]