פ”נ
הישה הישרה והנכבדה
מרת
פיגלכא
אשת כ’ אברהם גרינטהאל
ז”ל
נפטרה ביום א’ ר”ח סיון
ונקברה ביום ב’ ב’ בו תר”ז לפ”ק
תנצב”ה
The example shows a tombstone with a typical Hebrew inscription from the database “Jewish Cemeteries in Brandenburg” The dates of death and burial are written in Hebrew according to the Jewish calendar, which starts its “year one” with the Creation of the World and came up with a calendar that begins 3760 years before the Christian calendar.
For example, the current jewish year 5769 will be written as 769, but the 5000 is usually left off. To compute the civil (Gregorian) year, simply add the number 1240 to the shortened Hebrew year. The letters of the Hebrew Alphabet each have a numerical value, specified in the accompanying chart.
In our example, we read from right to left Tav, Resh, Zain which in numbers is 400+200+7, the Jewish year 607. By using our formula 607 plus 1240 the civil year of death is 1847.
Current results in scientific research are particularly published and discussed in journals and anthologies.
Online catalogs of libraries very often do not contain bibliographical references to articles. The latter can be found in databases related to specific fields of research.
These databases mostly are not available online, but Litdok provided by the Herder-Institut Marburg is. Litdok contains bibliographical references to articles on the history of East Central Europe. A user interface
with the possibility to choose between ten languages and multilingual subject headings offer a comfortable search for literature in different languages.
A further project of JewishGen, the Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) collects data from tombstone inscriptions of and death records.
The data base is searchable by names and regions, sometimes even photographs of the gravestones (matzevot) are displayed. JewishGen-volunteers also help with translating
and/or transliterating Hebrew inscriptions. The cooperating Jewish Cemetery Project, identifies jewish burial sites worldwide and offers closer information about each particular cemetery.
The JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF) is a database of ancestral towns and surnames currently being researched by over 78.000 Jewish genealogists worldwide. It contains over 100,000 ancestral surnames and 18,000 town names, and is indexed and cross-referenced by both, which makes the Family Finder interesting also for regional studies on jewish history. Researchers should check the JGFF for genealogists with similar research interests, and contact them for an exchange of information. Value-added services for contributors include an ALERT-system and enhanced database search features.
A shtetl (Yiddish: שטעטל) was typically a small town or village with a large Jewish population in pre-Holocaust Central and Eastern Europe. ShtetlSeeker is an online
feature hosted by the Jewish Gen Web site locating settlements in 31 countrys that are currently located in this region. It covers linguistic and historic variants for names. It is also possible to search by latitude and longitude to locate towns in close proximity and to display maps using links to MapQuest, Expedia, or MultiMap.
In the next months we will introduce a sequence of digitalization projects of JewishGen or, respectively Jewish Records Indexing - Poland. We start with the Polish Business Directory from 1929 (including Gdansk) for trade, industry, handicraft and agriculture.
Browsing the singular PDF-files is rather uncomfortable as access is realized only by Voivodships of Poland. If possible it might be easier to order the printed version
to the reading-room of a library:
Księga Adresowa Polski (Wraz z w.m. Gdańskiem) dla Handlu, Przemysłu, Rzemiosł I Rolnictwa / Annuaire de la Pologne (y compris…Dantzig) pour le commerce,
l’industrie, les métiers et l’agriculture
In a research project of the Nation’s Memory Institute (Ústav pamäti národa), the history of the first Slovak Republic (1939-1945) and its role in the process of persecution, expropriation and deportation of the Slovak Jews is examined and documented. The Institute provides a database, by the help of which it is possible to search for enterprises, their Jewish owners (podnik), and also the latter tenants (Meno a priezvisko likvidátora), that had profited from the expropriations. Other access points for the database are branches of trade, places and local areas.
Our last tipp of the month in the year 2005 leads to the current exhibition „Chrismukkah – Stories of Christmas and Chanukkah at the Jewish Museum Berlin. A special attraction is the world-wide first Chrismukkah market in the courtyard of the Baroque Palais that before accomodated the Berlin Museum. The market offers to its visitors many surprises and culinary specialities for both Chanukkah and Christmas. Who is not able to pay a visit to Berlin could instead pay a visit to the comprehensive Website of the Jewish Museum or read the catalogue of the exhibition. Kugelmann, Cilly (ed.) Weihnukka : Geschichten von Weihnachten und Chanukka - Buch zur Ausstellung in Berlin 2005/06, ISBN 3-89479-286-8 [Chrismukkah : Stories of Christmas and Chanukkah – Catalogue to the Exhibition in Berlin 2005/06]
Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names
Yad Vashem Memorial provides this database which is the attempt to reconstruct the names and life histories of all the Jews who perished
in the Shoah. The database is accessible online since the 22nd of November. Until today data about 3.2 millions of Shoah victims are recorded.
There is a possibility to add information to existing records or to submit new pages of testimony. The advanced search in the Central Database offers elaborated tools to extend or to narrow a request.
As tip of this month we recommend the following publication: “Biographisches
Handbuch der Rabbiner” [=Biographical Handbook of Rabbis] which refers to
Central Europe in the time between 1781 and 1871.
This handbook contains nearly 2000 single biographies of Rabbis with extensive and detailed references. The references are divided in :
1. archival references to biographies of the Rabbis
2. publications of the Rabbis
3. publications about the Rabbis
4. publications of the disciples of the Rabbis
A geographical index completes this remarkable and impressive edition. (Publisher’s announcement => English
