Ukraine

"Making researching your Jewish roots --- e a s i e r "

Ukraine and the Crimea

Galicia
Guberniyas
Margulis Saga
Talnoye
Ukrainian Shtetls

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Mode of transportation in 1994

Imagine walking the very same streets that your parents, grandparents or your great grandparents walked somewhere in Eastern Europe --- or one of the other countries where they had once lived. Imagine the sights ... the sounds ... and the smells that must have been there .... before you became a part of this world. Well, I did imagine and it finally happened for me in 1995 when my wife and I traveled to Talnoye, Ukraine, Moscow, Kiev, Kharkov, Berdichev and other cities and countries.

Yes, there was a "time" when Jewish life compared more like the Sholom Aleichem stories we've all read. A time when making a living and studying Torah were the only important goals a Jew could hope to (and pray to) achieve. Yes, imagine all this ... and if you can't actually travel to the "old country" ... then the next best thing is to research your family and their history. The many sites listed in my web site will help you feel a sense of those days past.

From how to send money --- to the names of various departments of government, you will find it on this web site. If I have missed something, let me know. My goal is to make this site one of the most valuable and comprehensive web sites you will ever discover in your constant search for more information about your family and their lifestyle!

Ukraine borders the Black Sea and is between Poland and Russia. Comparably speaking, it is slightly smaller than Texas. My personal impression of Ukraine, after traveling through the country and visiting Kiev, Berdichev, Kharkov and Talnoye, is that it is huge and crude with lots of trees and farmland.

Ukraine, known as the Breadbasket of Europe, with a population of 50.1 million people today, had much Jewish genius, tradition, cuisine, music, philosophy, literature, leadership and achievements that had previously emerged from this land.

It is a fact that prior to being called Ukrainians, Ukrainians were called Rusyns according to a statement in the book "Ukraine, A History" by Orest Subtelny on page 69 and 307.
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/up.html

Ukraine is the biggest country in Europe with the exception of Russia. It is larger than France by territory and has the second biggest population - 50.5 million - after Russia with an estimated Jewish population of around 500,000. Check out this web site for more information -
http://www.un.kiev.ua:8080/dis_ukr/

The name "Ukrainiec" (Ukrainian) first became known in the beginning of the 20th century. Ukraine was known originally as "Little Russia" (Malorossiia) and came under Russian control through a voluntary union signed in 1654. Officially, Russia was then known as Muscov.

The Tsars banned the publication of Ukrainian books in 1720 and introduced serfdom into east Ukraine ("Little Russia") in 1783. In the late 18th century, Russia gained control of west Ukraine, except Galicia, which was annexed by Austria in 1772. During the 19th century, there was a cultural revival and nationalist groups were secretly established, particularly in Galicia but Russification was increased during the reigns of the later Tsars. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, there was rapid urban and economic development

Jews were in Ukraine before the Spanish Inquisition. They traveled directly from Palestine, through Syria, Kurdistan, Dagestan, Kuban to Crimea. In their travels, they even converted the Khazars to Judaism. Their descendants still live in Ukraine today and are known today as Karaimes. Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews were a loose group until the pogroms of Bogdan Chmielnik and his Cossacks between the years1648 and 1656.

The Cossacks, who lived in the Ukraine, overran Poland, and for whatever unjustifiable reason, vented their wrath on the Polish Kingdom, aided by their Tartar compatriots from the Crimea. The first major pogroms occurred after March, 1881 in Chernigov, Katerynoslav, Kherson, Kiev, Odessa, Poltava and Tavriya Guberniyas -- and then spread throughout the Pale of Settlement and the Kingdom of Poland. Cossack is the English spelling of the people - in Russian it is spelled Kazak, and in Ukrainian it is Kozak. It is a Turkish word meaning free person.

Unfortunately for the Jews, after the Cossacks conquered Poland, they started to look for the King of Poland, but there was no King at that particular time, so the Cossacks had to show their ire and frustration on someone. They picked the Jews, some of whom had been money factors and tax farmers for the Polish nobility in Ukraine. They slaughtered the Jews in huge numbers and with great cruelty. Jews preferred to surrender to the Tartars who then sold them into slavery, rather than be tortured and murdered by the Cossacks.

The Cossacks did their terrible deeds, not only in Poland, but as well in Lithuania. When it was all over, the Jews who survived had been reduce to a destitute state. All of their homes, schools, Talmud Torahs, books and torah scrolls were reduced to ashes. An interesting article on Cossacks is in the National Geographic, Vol. 194, No. 5 dated November, 1998.

Much of the above information was gleaned from an article written by Len Yodaiken, Kibbutz Kfar Hanasai, in Israel shoshly@canaan.co.il and edited it for this web site. There is more to this interesting story and hopefully I will be able to bring the full story to these pages in the future.

During the 1930s, keep in mind in your research, that all of western Ukraine was either located in Poland and/or Czechoslovakia.

In 1928 Stalin announced his intention to collectivize the peasantry. Communist activists and N.K.V.D. men (some of whom were Jewish) began an assault on Soviet farmers, many of whom lived in central Ukraine: the rich ones ("kulaks") were exiled to Siberia or shot; the rest were forced onto collective farms. In 1932, amid continuing paranoid accusations that they were hiding grain, the peasants began to starve. In the next year, millions died of hunger, some within sight of gull, but well-guarded, granaries

Stalin, in 1932 raised Ukraine's grain procurement quotas by 44 percent. An article about this time period and the problems appeared in the New Yorker Magazine of March, 2010.

A memorial (in Kiev) to the many who were killed during the "Holodomor" (starving the Russian peasants in 1932) is wedged between the gates of the eleventh century Monastery of the Caves, where a number of mummified saints are entombed, and the Soviet Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, from 1957.

Underneath the memorial is a museum where "The National Book of Memory" in nineteen volumes, stands on lecterns around an inner perimeter; behind the volumes is the main exhibit, consisting of old Ukrainian farming tools and quotations after quotation from Lenin and Trotsky. On one portion of the wall, a documentary and a docudrama about the famine play in succession.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/03/01/100301fa_fact_gessen

In 1939 the Jewish population of Ukraine was 1.5 million (1,532,776) or 3% of the total population of Ukraine. One half to two thirds of the total Jewish population of Ukraine were evacuated, killed or exiled to Siberia (Reitlinger, page 251). Ukraine lost more population per capita than any other country in the world in WW II. The Red Army occupied Polish-controlled west Ukraine in September 1939, remaining until the German invasion in 1941.

The Jewish Community of Ukraine
The fourth largest in the world, after the US, Israel and Russia, and currently numbers approximately 550,000. Since 1989, 200,000 Ukrainian Jews have emigrated to Israel.

There are authentic documentation that mentions a flourishing Jewish Community in Kiev in the tenth century.

There are perhaps 9,000 or more inhabited places in Ukraine. The location of each is made more difficult by the fact that many alternate names are, and have been used, including Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, German and Magyar names.

ShtetLinks site
http://www.JewishGen.org

Ukraine SIG

Another newly developed site dealing with all things Jewish Ukraine.

The prime objective is to facilitate access to records of former Russian Empire Guberniyas now in Ukraine; Podolia, Volhynia, Kiev, Poltava, Chernigov, Kharkov, Kherson, Taurida and Yekaterinoslav.
http://www.jewishgen.org/ukraine/

UKR-Odessa Gen Research Group
A sub-group
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ukrodess/UKR-ODESSA-GEN.html

"Galina does searches in the Odessa State Archives for our members at a group rate. Vital (B, M, D) records (most?) survived all the wars and cover Jews for the years 1875-1922. Generally, the first surname (no limit on given names) searched costs about $68 (if any are found) and about $23 if nothing found. Additional surname searches are a few dollars less for each. Her success rate is about 65% in finding something. These searches are only "partial" or "limited" searches for 25 year periods at these low fees. Members may sign up for new searches but may wait another year as the "list" is long. Higher rates apply for a 47 year search." The previous information was obtained from a post on November 24, 2001 by Arthur Blutstein

Further general information is available at
http://www.world66.com/
where you will find all kinds of information about Ukraine and other countries and subjects.

Yad Vashem
Has a large library on the Ukrainian Jewry during the Holocaust. Yad Vashem has a branch in Givataiim, "Volhynia House," located at
10 Korazin Street
PO Box 804
Givataiim 53108 Israel

Galicia in Times of Fear and Sorrow
http://headwideopen.blogspot.com/2008/02/whither-galicia.html

Books

"100 Evreiskikh Mestechek Ukrainy" (100 Jewish Shtetls of the Ukraine)
The first volume which has been published concerns only the towns of Podolia and can be purchased from a bookseller in the US.

"Archival Sources for Ukrainian- Jewish Genealogy"
Authored by Dr. Sallyanne Sack and published by Avotaynu
http://www.avotaynu.com

"The Bones of Berdichev"
Authored by John and Carol Garrard, is the story of the life and fate of Vasily Grossman, a Russian Jewish agnostic, whose life is changed after reporting the horrors of the war and the Holocaust. Published by The Free Press, New York
ISBN 0-684-82295-4

"Brave Old World"
A story about a onetime great Hassidic center in Ukraine

"The Complete Works of Isaac Babel"
Authored by Isaac Babel who was born in Odessa in 1894. His first years were spent in Nikolayev. To get a good read for those who want to get the feel of a Jew's life and outlook during those times, Anita Citron
anitac1@erols.com recommends reading this book in a posting to the
UKR-ODESSA-Gen-L@rootsweb.com The book was reviewed in the NY Sunday Times Book Review pages. Type in 'Babel' in the search box
http://www.stanford.edu/

"Encyclopedia of Ukraine"
This information book may well be available either at your local library or through inter-library loan. The Encyclopedia is available
http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/

"Essays of History of Jews in Ukraine
Authored by J. Chonigsman and A. Naiman and published in 1992 in Kiev. This book traces events of Jewish life from the days of Khazars up to the end of WW II.
ISBN No. 5-77-07-31-15-X

"Exile in the Foothills of the Carpathians. The Jews of Carpatho-Rus and Mukachevo, 1848-1948"
Authored by Professor Yeshyahu A. Jelinek and published by the Goldstein-Goren Diaspora research Center, Tel-Aviv University in 2003 in Hebrew. The Hebrew title: "Hagola Leragley Hakarpatim - Yehudey Karpato-rus' Vemukachevo, 1848-1948"
ISBN 965-338-057-5

You can order from Tovia Klein tok26@netvision.net.il

"From a Ruined Garden"
Authored by Kugelman and Boyarin

"The History of Lemkovyna"
Authored by I. F. Lemkin

"A History of Ukraine"
Authored by Paul Robert Magocsi and published in 1996

"Into Auschwitz, For Ukraine"
Authored by Stefan Petelycky deals with the many Ukrainians who have had their lives subjected to the tyrannies of Soviet Communism and German Nazism. For more information visit
http://www.infoukes.com/

"Search of Jewish Cemeteries in the Ukraine"
An article written by E. Sololova reports his personal experiences in is in the Winter 1997/98 issue "Jewish Heritage Report"

Jewish Roots Department Attached to Jewish Religious Community in Kiev
Information on Tourism, Genealogy, Entombment search, Chassidic places, Communities, Holocaust, etc. an interesting commercial site
http://www.berdichev.org/jewish_community_of_ukraine_1921_1929.html

"Jewish Roots in Ukraine and Moldova"
Authored by Miriam Weiner and published in 1999, offers town-by-town listings of archives, from Birth, Marriage, Divorce and Death records to voter and tax rolls, draft registrations and property listings going back, in some cases, to the 1700s.

"Jewish Tombstones In Ukraine and Moldova"
In both Russian and English. Published in 1993 by Image Publishing House in Moscow.
ISBN # 5-86044-019-7

"Jewish-Ukrainian Bibliography"
A selected annotated bibliography of resources in English by Andrew Gregorovich - 2nd Edition. Toronto: Forum, 1999 116 pages
http://www.infoukes.com/forum/bibliography.html

"Jews in Ukraine" (A Historical Investigation)
Authored by Matvy Shestopal who was a respected faculty member at the Taras Shevchko University of Kiev. He was purged from the University in the period of ideological wars in the 1960's and died in the 1970s. His manuscript was hidden by loyal students and published in Kiev in 1999.

"The Jews of Moscow, Kiev and Minsk: Identity, Anti-Semitism, Emigration"
Authored by Rozalina Ryvkina

"Lists of WW2 deaths by Oblast"
Knyha Pamiati Ukrainy translated to "Commemorative Book of Ukraine". You will need someone who can read Ukrainian to help research the names in this list.

"Manya's Story"
A story about the Polevoy Family experiences living in and around Talnoye in the early 1900s Authored by Mrs. Gray and according to Borders Book stores, there are about 2,000 copies at the publisher's warehouse $20.00 - also available at Amazon.com

"Memory of Fallen Soldiers from WWII" (Knyha Pamiati Ukrainy
Commemorative Book of Ukraine) Lists names by town of people killed. The book can be purchased from a Ukrainian Bookstore or you can search the Library of Congress catalogue (on-line) and do a search for Knyha Pamiati Ukrainy. There are 300 volumes, each containing about 15,000 names for a total list of 4,500,000 soldiers. Not all oblasts have started, or finished, this tribute. Each volume has about 1,500 family names of fallen, or missing, soldiers, arranged by village, Raion, and Oblast.

These figures indicate that more soldiers died per capita, than any other nation lost in WW II and if you add another 8 million civilians lost, you have more people who died from the Ukraine, than any other country.

"Origins and Meaning of Ukrainian Surnames"
Compiled by Gregory Gressa from texts by Jeff Picknicki, University of Manitoba, and additionally, works of John-Paul Himka & Frances A. Swyripa, University of Alberta as well as other contributors.

"Personal History: Buried Homeland"
Authored by Aharon Appelfeld and published by The New Yorker on 11/23/1998.

"The Road from Letichev - The history and culture of a forgotten Jewish Community in Eastern Europe".
Authored by David A. Chapin and Ben Weinstock and published by Universe.com, Inc. in Lincoln NE.
This book covers the following towns: Derazhnia, Letichev, Medzhibozh, Mikhalpol (Mikhampol, Mikhalovka) Staro Zakrevsky Meidan, Volkovintsy, Zinkov, Butsni (Butsnevtsy) and these towns are discussed: Proskurov (Khmelnytsky), Kamenets-Podolski, Bar, Ushitsa, Dunaevtsy, Yarmolinitsy, Zhmerinka, Vinnitsa, Kiev, Staro Konstantinov, Okupy, Felshtin (Gvardeyskoye), Litin, Gaysin

ISBN for volume 1: 0-595-00666-3;
ISBN for volume 2: 0-595-00667-1. k

"Roll Call Lest We Forget"
A list of names of Ukrainian causalities from WW I as compiled by Lubomyr Luciuk, Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association and published by The Kashtan Press, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
ISBN 1-896354-19-X

"Secrets of Berdichev"
The book focuses on the community as a whole, rather than on individuals. Some names to appear. Alan Shuchat, a Launtzmaun whose family came from Talnoye where my father came from as well, has identified some of the chapter and translated them into English in a JewishGen Digest dated 12/11/00 Message 16.

"Some Archival Sources for Ukrainian Jewish Genealogy"
Authored by Aleksander Kronik - This book can be purchased from

"The Shtetl: Image and Reality: Papers of the Second Mendel Friedman International Conference in Yiddish,"
Edited by Gennady Estraikh and Mikhail Krutkov and published by Legenda, University of Oxford in 2000. There are references to Berdichev entitled "Berdechev in Russian Literary Imagination:" From Israel Aksenfeld to Friedrich Gorenstein
ISBN 1-900755-41-6

"A Travel Guide to Jewish Russia & Ukraine"
Authored by Ben G. Frank and published by Pelican Books. Useful information for the Jewish traveler. Describes the Jewish communities the author encountered as he traveled in the footsteps of a twelfth century rabbi and includes numerous photographs and an index.

"Treasures of Jewish Culture in Ukraine"
The 145 page book is an album of pictures of traditional Jewish artwork. There is accompanying text in Ukrainian, English, and Hebrew.

"World of Our Fathers"
Authored by Irving Howe. I found the book difficult to read, but very informative

"World War II in Ukraine"
The Ukrainian experience in World War II with a brief survey of Ukraine's population loss of 10 million by Andrew Gregorovich. One of the links will take you to "Jewish Holocaust in Ukraine," another to a report on the crimes in Katyn and Vinnytsya`
http://www.infoukes.com/history/ww2/

Books Resources

Books

Ukrainian Book Store
10215 97th St. Box 1640, Edmonton, Alberta Canada T5J 2N9
Phone: 780 422 4255 Fax: 780 425 1439
E-mail: ukrbkst@planet.eon.net
http://www.ukrainianbookstore.com

Zora Books
Research material, books and software. Located in Britain
http://www.btinternet.com/~zorabooks/

Films
"No Place on Earth"
A documentary that plays like a feature film, bringing to life fear, bravery and youthful adventure. Artfully directed re-enactments help visualize the incomparable existences above and below ground; these scenes are narrated by actors whose script comes from Esther Stermer's memoir "We Fight To Survive" and writing of other survivors. The film is further narrated by four real-life survivors who recount the harrowing twists and turns of evading capture; and describe how they were able to inhabit this harsh underground environment, build an extraordinary secret exit, and survive when discovered and buried alive by their former neighbors. At the war's end, they emerged alive, some children having lived underground so long they were blinded by the sun they forgot existed.
http://noplaceonearthfilm.com/the-film/about-the-film/

General
Ukrainian Information

(Click on either of these links to go to my Ukrainian Guberniyas pages on my web site)

An excellent site to find information about most European countries
http://www.searcheurope.com/

Type in the name of the country you wish to research in the search field. This site is a great source to find information for almost every European country. Another valuable site to help find a person, maps, etc.
http://www.webhelp.com/home

and type in the name of any country you wish to research. This service is free.

Remember that the western portion of Ukraine was under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1722 to 1918, and under Polish rule within that empire, and later, for a good portion of that time. Immigrants arrived with documents and papers in German, Polish, Rumanian or Russian, because the language used on the documents was the official language of whatever government was ruling Ukraine at the time.

Genealogy Primer

"Where do I start?"
This site has a lot of genealogy information and self-help guidance. Within you will find the addresses of all Oblast and central Historical Archives.
http://www.infoukes.com/genealogy/

http://www.lemko.org/

Use this source to find maps of cities and towns in the Ukraine as well as other countries.
http://ukrainetrek.com/map-of-ukraine

During Soviet days, Ukrainian cities carried Russian names, and since the Russian language doesn't have an "H" in the alphabet, a "G" was used in its place.

Global Gazetteer
A great web site. It is a directory of 2,880,532 of the world's cities and towns, sorted by country and linked to a map for each town. A tab separated list is available for each country.
http://www.fallingrain.com/world/index.html

2001 Census of Ukraine

The first census link is in Cyrillic, but it looks very interesting
http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/

The second site is in English and it states that on 22 February the Ukrainian government resolved to hold a national census between 5 and 14 December 2001. The last census was held in 1989 when Ukraine was still a part of the former Soviet Union. At that time the population of Ukraine was 51.45 million.

However, during the last seven years, Ukraine's population has been continuously decreasing, and the birth rate is lower than the mortality rate. Statistical data for the first half of 2000 showed that there were 49.5 million people in Ukraine. According to the State Statistics Committee, by 1 January 2001 the Ukrainian population shrank to 49,291,200

In some parts of Ukraine, the official registrations were started in the 18th century ... while in other parts it was the 19th century. With the Soviet government, their opinion was that all of these vital statistics were important and should be hidden ... seen only by those "in need to see them." The location that they were hidden was within the Archives and only people with special passes could access these records. If you are searching for information prior to WW II, check the various archives including the ones in Kiev.

All Ukrainian Jewish Congress
The largest Jewish organization in Ukraine and their web site offers a lot of background information
http://www.jewnet.ru/eng/orgs/?action=search

Phone Codes

Ex USSR Phone Codes for Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia, Byelorussia, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Uzbekistan - you not only will see the phone code for each town (loads slowly) but also the proper spelling of the town name
www.1areacodescountrycodes.com/international-country-codes-city-calling-code-russia.htm

Agricultural Colonies in South-Eastern Ukraine

This was a fascinating and unique episode in modern Jewish history. Commencing in the early 19th century, Jews were encouraged to leave the densely populated urban communities in Lithuania and Byelorussia and travel far to the south to establish Jewish agricultural colonies. The incentives were exemption from military service (for varying periods) and government aid to set up the new communities. Two Guberniyas hosted groups of colonies: Kherson and Yekaterinoslav. There were colonies in other regions but they did not constitute significant numbers as did the 30 or so colonies in the above regions.

The Kherson colonies were established in the first decade of the 19th century while the Yekaterinoslav group was colonized initially from 1846. The 17 Yekaterinoslav colonies reached their peak in population in the 1890s with about 19,000 people. The colonists were prone to pogroms in the 1880's and suffered particularly during the Civil War 1917-1922 when several were completely destroyed by marauding bandits such as Machno. During the Soviet period most of the Yekaterinoslav colonies were incorporated in a Jewish Autonomous region which, in its turn, was decimated by the Holocaust.

There are very few sources in English for the history of this colonization. I have researched the subject for about 35 years, initially based on oral family stories, then supplemented by written sources. I have been joined in my research by Prof. Melvin Comisarow who has discovered rare maps and aerial photographs as well as interviewing the last of the family elders who recall life on the colonies. I published my research in two books of family history (now out of print) which included the historical and statistical details, and family details appear in "Eliyahu's Branches".

The main sources were several old Russian texts, in particular "Yevreiski Zemlyedeltsi" (Jewish Agriculturalists) by Nikitin (St. Petersburg, 1887). This book includes very detailed descriptions of the development of the project with much statistical material. A good summary of this Russian source is included in a Hebrew work "Khaklaim Yehudiim Bearvot Russia" (Jewish Agriculturalists on the Russian Steppe, Tel Aviv 1965). In addition I discovered about fifty letters and articles in the Hebrew newspapers published in Russia, "Hamelitz", "HaMagid", "Hatsefirah". Personal details of individual colonist families is had to come by, but there are a number of Prenumeranten lists from the colonies.

This year saw a major development in our research with the discovery in an Ukrainian archive of the 1858 Revision Lists. Initially we commissioned only specific families and 500 people were identified in six of the seventeen colonies. We are now commissioning the entire lists for all the colonies, which may include about 8-10,000 people. Our initial experience demonstrated that this approach is necessary as errors were found in the translations and certain families were overlooked (even though they appeared on the photocopies sent to us).

What is of particular interest is the fact that the place of origin in the north is recorded for each family group in the 1858 lists. Oral family tradition held that my ancestors of the Komisaruk family came from Kovno. I discovered a reference to the birth of my gg-grandfather in Rassein, which led me to suspect that "Kovno" may have meant "Kovno Guberniya" with Rassein being the specific town. Indeed the family group of my ggg-grandfather includes the notation that they were part of the Rassein group of settlers.

We are now eagerly awaiting the material to be commissioned by the Rassein sub-group of LitvakSIG to widen our knowledge of the families' pre-1846 origins. The original 1846 settlers in the Yekaterinoslav colonies responded to the invitation of the Russian authorities and 324 families were selected from amongst the applicants. This group was made up of candidates from the following Guberniyas:

Mogilev 83
Vitebsk 175
Courland 11
Kovno 41
Kiev 14
(Individual Towns were not recorded)

The group was further reduced to 285 families as follows by town of origin:
Mogilev and Orsha 83
Lutzin (in Latgala, now Latvia) 160
Polotsk 1
Rassein 11
Salant 30

Convoys set off from Mogilev and traveled southwards to establish the first seven colonies. Further settlers arrived and established the remaining ten colonies until about 1860. These came from additional northern cities: Vilna, Kovno, Miyadzol, Svintzian, Shavli, Koblinik, Svir, Sokolka and others. The families retained their communal unity based on these towns of origin. In fact come of the colonies were referred to by the Jews by nicknames indicating their origin: Nadezhanaya was called "Der Vilner", Zelienople was called "Myadler", and Sladkovodnaya was known as "Kobilnya".

A study of surnames amongst the colonists compared with surname lists for the towns of origin showed a remarkable similarity. Thus colony Zelienople (Myadler) included families Svidler, Gordon and Khodosh - the same names that appeared concurrently in Miyadzol and Kobilnik. Novozlatopol had many families from Lutzin; Zmood, Lev, Weisman, Ezeritz, Amiton, names which also appear in records of Lutzin until the Holocaust.

Beider's lists of towns for particular surnames gives another indication of the parallel development of certain families. As Lithuanian, Latvian and Byelorussian archival records are extracted, it should be possible to correlate branches of families which remained in their ancestral towns with lateral branches which sought their new homes in the southern colonies. That exercise will add a new dimension to the research of these families as well as enriching our knowledge of an important episode in Jewish history. The above information was posted by Chaim Freedman Petah Tikvah, Israel; E-mail: chaimjan@zahav.net.il
http://www.avotaynu.com/gaonbook.html

All colonies had a number and a name according to Chaim Freedman. There were 17 colonies in Yekaterinoslav Guberniya and there were also German colonies which had a different series of numbers.
http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/colonies_of_ukraine/19c%20Agricultural%20Colonies.htm

Anti-Semitism in Ukraine

Information about the Jewish Communities
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism_in_Ukraine

http://www.insudok.nl/eng/ukrain/asukr.htm

Archive Addresses

The Archives in Ukraine
Do not have a master name index where they can determine surnames for you. This is the reason why it is essential to know the birthplace of your ancestor as historical records are archived by locality ... and then by religion.

The birthplace of your ancestor can be determined from one of several documents including immigration records, alien registration applications, naturalization papers, civil and church records, social security card applications, military records, etc.

The country of Ukraine is made up of Oblasts (equivalent to our States or Provinces) and Raion (equivalent to our Counties or regions).

There are presently 25 Oblasts and a number of Raions in each Oblast. In most cases there are at least 12 Raions in an Oblast and sometimes as many as 26. Addresses and phone number for the 25 Oblasts
http://www.archives.gov.ua/Eng/

Note:

If you write to the Oblast (province/state) Archives address, if they would not have the information, they would probably send it on to the appropriate Raion (country/region) Archives on your behalf, but you might need to name the Raion when you are writing to the Oblast Archives requesting information on an appropriate village or town; in other words, you would write to the Oblast Archives that you need information on ( ) village in ( ) Raion in ( ) Oblast in Ukraine.

When writing to an archive:

Step One: The first letter you send to them should include the village name. Ask them for what years do they have records of: birth, marriages and deaths

They may have different dates of info for each shtetl - some shtetls have several books and other shtetls have less information.

Step Two: The second letter you send for the actual search should again include the village name and the name/names of your ancestor (it helps to have the approximate spelling - give an alternative spelling if you know one), and include an approximate year of birth or death so they can narrow down the search and then your cost wont be as expensive.

Generally, it can take as much as or more than two months to get a reply. It is suggested that you include an International Reply Coupon.

Ukrainian Archives' Addresses - Main

There are 696 archival institutions in Ukraine.

http://www.archives.gov.ua/Eng/Facts.php

http://www.lemko.org/genealogy/oblasts.html

http://www.huri.harvard.edu/abb_grimsted/

To communicate by letter with anyone in Ukraine, or to request information on an ancestor from an Archives in Ukraine, one should know the appropriate modern Raion and Oblast of the ancestral village or town and the Russian Guberniya or Austrian Crown Colony.

There are a number of ways to find the proper address of your ancestral home. One is to look in the 'Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World,' which lists the longitude and latitude of the location and should also list the Raion and Oblast. You might also find the village on maps links on my pages or in Atlases in your local library.

The Ukrainian Archival system for family research

the Main Archives in Kiev
the Central State Historical Archives in Kiev (TsDIA-K) for eastern Ukraine
the Central State Historical Archives in L'viv (TsDIA-L) for western Ukraine
the Oblast Archives in the 25 Oblasts
the registry of Vital Statistics Archives (Reyestratsiya akriv Hromadianskoho Stanu (RAHS) usually the
same number in an Oblast as the Raions and usually based in the capital city of the Raion. These are Archives for civil records from the past 75 to 100 years.

Addresses For Archives in Western Ukraine and South-Eastern Poland

http://www.lemko.org/genealogy/addresses.html

Main Ukraine Archives
UKRAINA
252601 Kyiv
24 Solomyanska Street
Main Archival Administration
Attention: Dr. Ruslan Y. Pirig, Director
Telephone: 380/44/277-4522
Fax: 380/44/277-3655

http://www.archives.gov.ua/Eng/

Central State Historical Archives in Kiev and L'viv
UKRAINA
252601 Kyiv
24 Solomyanska Street
Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine in Kyiv
Attention: Olga Mazychuk, Director
Both the Kiev and L'viv branches have correspondent accounts with Bankers Trust Company New York
http://www.archives.gov.ua/Eng/Archives/ca04.php

UKRAINA
290006 L'viv
3a Plaza Soborna
L'viv, Ukraine 29008
Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine in L'viv
Attention: Orest Iaroslavoych Matsiuk, Director

http://www.huri.harvard.edu/abb_grimsted/L-1.html

The LDS Family History Library has no Jewish records for Chernivtsi.

Archives Addresses for Western Ukraine and SE Poland

www.sggee.org/research/archive

Archive Addresses in Ukraine

http://lemko.org/genealogy/oblasts.html

Archives in Russia

http://www.huri.harvard.edu/abb_grimsted/

State Archives of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast
Derzhavnyi arkhiv Ivano-Frankivskoi Oblasti
vul. Sahaidachnoho, 42A
28400 Ivano Frankiv'sk
UKRAINA
Tel: 38 03422 / 63403
http://www.huri.harvard.edu/abb_grimsted/

Central State Historical Archives in Kiev
UKRAINA
252601 Kiev - 110
vul. Solomianska, 24
Tsentralnyiderzhavny Istorychnyi arkhiv Ukraony, Kiev
(TsDIA-K)
Tel: 440-63-50
http://www.huri.harvard.edu/abb_grimsted/

Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine - L'viv Branch
UKRAINA
290008, L'viv - 8
pl. Soborna, 3-a
Tsentralnyi Derzhavnyi Istorychnyi arkhiv Ukraony, L'viv
(TsDIA-L)
Director: Orest Iaroslavoych Matsiuk
Deputy Director: Diana Peltc
E-mail archives@cl.lv.ukrtel.net
Tel/Fax: 011-380-322-72-35-08 (Ph. 72-30-63)
http://www.huri.harvard.edu/abb_grimsted/

Ivan Svarnyk, Archivist & Historian states that they welcome inquiries in either Ukrainian or English. The archives staff prefer to be contacted directly so they do not lose out on work.

Chernivtsi Archives
Director of the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine
110 Solomianska Street
24252601 Kyiv UKRAINE
http://www.huri.harvard.edu/abb_grimsted/

(Note: you can find the Ukrainian Cyrillic spelling of the above address at http://www.lemko.org/genealogy/galiciapl.html

Chernivtsi Oblast State Archives
State Archives of Chernivtsi Oblast
Ukraine, Derzhavnyi Arkhiv Chernivetskoi Oblasti
274001 Chernivtsi, vul. Shevchenka 2, UKRAINA.
Director is Ludmyla Anokhina
Phone (03722) 33214
Reading Room (03722) 24059 Fax: (03722) 32031
Hours: Monday through Thursday 9 to 6 pm, Friday from 9 to 5 pm Closed Saturday and Sunday
http://www.archives.gov.ua/Eng/Archives/ra25.php

Dniepropetrovsk Region State Archives
Send an E-mail to Dmitiri Meshkov, Vice-Director: dmitry@dsi.unity.net who apparently will do genealogical research from documents in their possession, or from other archives on a fee-for-service basis.
http://www.huri.harvard.edu/abb_grimsted/

Ivano-Frankivsk State Archives
Located in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. Mail to
Derzhavnyi Arkhiv Ivano-Frankivsk Oblasti,
284000, Ivano-Frankivsk, vul. Sahaidachnoho 42A, UKRAINA
Phone (38-03422) 63403
www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/index.php?ModuleId=10007236

http://www.huri.harvard.edu/abb_grimsted/

Khmel'nyts'kiy State Oblast Archives
Kamenets' Podil'sk Filial
vul. Frantsyskans'ka 6
281 900 Kamenets-Podil'sk
Ukraine
http://www.huri.harvard.edu/abb_grimsted/

L'viv Oblast Archives
Inventory includes property records for many towns with the current borders of Western Ukraine and Eastern Poland according to a posting by Miriam Weiner on 6/28/04 to Gesher Galicia SIG forum
http://www.archives.gov.ua/Eng/Archives/ra13.php

National Archives of the Ternopol Oblast
Vulitsia Street of Zahaidachny 14
282001, Ternopol
http://www.huri.harvard.edu/abb_grimsted/

Director is Orest Laroslavoych Matsiuk; Deputy Director (Directress) is Diana Peltc archives@cl.lv.ukrtel.net who, it has been noted, forwards personal researcher requests to a "freelancer" who then increases the price, but the cost is still relatively reasonable archives@cl.lv.ukrtel.net Hours are Monday through Friday 9 to 3 pm.
http://www.archives.gov.ua/Eng/Archives/ra19.php

then select Genealogy and then Archives.

If possible, it is recommended that any correspondence be written in Ukrainian.

According to Patricia Kennedy Grimsted in "Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the USSR", Princeton University 1988, the L'viv Archives holds Land Census Registers taken under Joseph II (1785-1788) and Francis I (1819-1820). L'viv also has record books of land courts (zems'kyi sud, tabula of land "kraiova tabulia) and registration of property "knyhy zapysu mainovykh documentiv" although no dates are give for these.
http://www.huri.harvard.edu/abb_grimsted/

State Historical Archive L'viv
Diana Pelts is the Director and is described as a wonderful woman, very professional and most accommodating.
http://www.huri.harvard.edu/abb_grimsted/L-1.html

http://www.halgal.com/LvivBielawa.pdf

State Committee on Archives
http://www.archives.gov.ua/Eng/

State Archives of Ternopil' Oblast (Galicia)
14, Sahaidachny Str.
UKRAINA 282000
Ternopil'
vul. Sahaidachnoho, 14 Derzhavnyi arkhiv Ternopil' Skoi Oblasti
Director: Bohadan Khavarivsky
Telephone: (0352) 224495
Fax: (0352) 228618
http://www.huri.harvard.edu/abb_grimsted/

The Ukrainian Consulate
Has forms to use in requesting documentation. There is a fee charged of $40.00 for research by the consulate which applies only to information on consulate employees, or for all documentation. Their address is 3a Soborna area, 29008, Ukraine. They also have a web site
http://www.ukrconsul.org/visa/index2.htm

The Consulate General of Ukraine in New York
240 East 49th St.
(between 2nd and 3rd Avenues)
New York, NY 10017
Phone: 212 371 5690

Business Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 pm, 2 pm to6pm
http://www.ukrconsul.org/Pohoreltsev.htm

The Consulate General of Ukraine in Chicago
10 E Huron Street
Chicago, IL. 60611
Phone: 312 - 642 4388
http://www.ukrchicago.com/

Ukraine Main Archives
UKRAINA
252601, Kiev-110, MSP
vul. Solomyanska, 24
Holovne Arkhivne Upravlinnia Ukrainy
Attention: Georgiy Papakin, International Department
http://www.lemko.org/genealogy/oblasts.html

You can also contact the Consulate General of Ukraine in New York or the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, D.C. to request documents from the Ukraine. In Canada, contact the Consulate General of Ukraine in Toronto.

Polish State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Kiev
http://www.archives.gov.ua/Eng/Archives/ca03.php

http://www.avotaynu.com/magnates.htm

Writing to the Archives

http://www.shtetlinkks.jewishgen.org/Kremenets/General_information_on_Krements/
rusandpol.htm
Go to Chapter 14

Tip:
When doing your own research in Ukraine, ask to speak to the director first, as this shows respect as a foreigner visiting their business.

Babyn Yar (Babi Yar) - (The name means 'Old Woman's Ravine')

http://www.berdichev.org/babi_yar.htm

Within a few days of capturing Ukrainian cities like Lutsk, Zhitomir and Berdechev in the summer of 1941, over 33,000 Jews were killed in this natural ravine formed during the Ice Age and near an old Jewish cemetery.

The German Einsatzgruppen C and D were assigned the responsibility of killing Jews and Political people. The group was commanded by SS Standartfuehrer Paul Biobel. Biobel's unit killed 33,771 Jews in less than two days - never equaled in any other death camp. After the war, Biobel was tried at Nuremberg and hanged on June 8, 1951.

At the start of the war, Babi Yar was a ravine and outside of Kiev, but since shortly after the war, the area became incorporated into the city.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB7S5l-y-Qg

http://www.berdichev.org/babi_yar.htm

Books

"Book of Remembrance"
Edited by Joseph Vinokurov (& Kipnis & Levin) and published in 1983 by Publishing House Peace, Inc. PO Box 6162, Philadelphia, PA 19115.

Today, it looks like a park with a large cement memorial at one end. Shirley and I visited the site in 1984. This book lists names and ages of victims and includes photographs and short essays. Today it looks almost like a lovely park with massive stone works and is now in he middle of a residential area.

Babi Yar photos
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-b-yar.htm

http://www.zchor.org/BABIYAR.HTM

Bank Transfer Costs

The cost of transfers by TT (Bank Wire) has two parts. One where you pay to send money from your end. This cost is around $10. The second part is the cost from the corresponding bank (the destination country bank) These charges are high. Bankers Trust Company of New York offers a transfer service, among others.
http://exchange4free.co.uk/en/services/transfer-money-to-ukraine.html

BRAMA

An interesting and informative commercial site that offers free access to Maps, photos, history, Embassy addresses, Armed Forces Information, Consulates and more
http://brama.com/

Cadastral Surveys

A survey of land plots, who owns them and their value
http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/cadastralsurvey.html

Carpatho-Rusyn Knowledge Base

Provides information pertaining to Carpatho-Rusyn Culture, History, Genealogy, etc., as well as links to other web sites of interest
http://www.carpatho-rusyn.org/

Carpathian Location Photos and Data

Plus links to other sites of interest including a general location guide; sightseeing trips; L'viv photos, history and more
http://www.ooyava.com/karpaty.html

Carpathian Root seekers Guide To The Homeland

A list of Carpatho-Rusyn villages based on the 1910 Hungarian census for the Presov Region and Sub Carpathian Rus'; today located parts of Slovakia, Ukraine and Romania.
http://carpatho-rusyn.org/villages.htm

Carpatho-Rusyn Society Genealogy Committee Home Page

E-mail ggressa@carpatho-rusyn.org
http://www.carpatho-rusyn.org/gencom/index.html

Carpati

A documentary film about the remnant Jewish community in the Carpathian Mountains today. Meet Zev, the Jewish ice cream man of a remote village in Ukraine's Carpathian Mountains, and journey with Zev as he goes home to his birthplace, carrying a Torah to the shul in which he grew up -- located only 50 miles away -- a place he has not been back to in 50 years. This is a documentary feature shot and edited by David Notowitz and direct and written by Yale Strom. Narrated by Leonard Nimoy
www.remember.org/carpati

"Cave Survivors of WW II"

The story of 38 Jews who survived the Holocaust in a Ukrainian cave - most of whom were members of the Stermer Family
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0406/q_n_a.html

Chassidim in Ukraine

A list of towns of historical import for the Breslov Chassidim in Ukraine. Although there were other groups, and even some non-Chassidim in all of these places, by World War I there were many Breslover Chassidim in all of them

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breslov_(Hasidic_group)

Uman
Located half way between Kiev and Odessa as well as Talnoye. It is the burial place of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov
http://www.vosizneias.com/38987/2009/09/24/uman-ukraine%C2%A0-bratslaver-chassidim-amount-requested-for%C2%A0town-expenses-unreasonable/

Breslov
The town where the rebbe lived in before Uman, from about 1800-1810. Breslov is to the west of Uman along the Bug River. Rebbe Nachman's main disciple is buried here. There is much confusion about this name. The Yiddish name was Breslov or Breslow, and therefore is often confused with the city of Breslau, then in Germany (today Wroclaw in Poland). The "real" name of the town is Bratslav which is often confused with Bratislava, a city not too far away. From a posting by Michael Bernet

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/breslov1.html

Chief Rabbi of Ukraine

Ya'akov Bleich. He has urged the pope to open Vatican archives so that children who were born Jewish, but were saved and raised by Catholics during WW II, could learn about their origins

http://www.chabad.org/centers/default_cdo/aid/249614/jewish/Chief-Rabbinate-of-Ukraine.htm

Colonies - Status 1858-1900

http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/from_the_hebrew_press_1958.htm

Conscription (Russian Army)

In 1868, universal conscription of all men 20-42 years of age began. Of course, the deformed, feeble-minded, etc. received exemptions, and priests too. Conscription occurred prior to 1868. Tour of service was for 20 years (active and reserve status) and then was scaled back to five years.
http://www.britannica.com/facts/5/93745/Russia-as-discussed-in-conscription-military-service

Consular Department - Kiev

Address:
Mykhailivsska Square 1,
Kyiv -018,01018
Phones: +380 (44) 293-44-88, 293-05-96
Email: cons@mfa.gov.ua
Web site is in Russian however on far right is an English button.
http://www.mfa.gov.ua/eng/consul/

Consulate General of Ukraine

Located at
240 East 49th Street
New York, New York 10017
There is a $20 charge for ordering civil documents for each Birth, Marriage, Divorce, Death and Education document you request. This site is also linked to many, many other sites for other
countries and other types of information.
http://www.maxpages.com/poland/Ukrainian_Research

Consulate of Ukraine in Toronto Canada

Does not have the resources to handle genealogy enquiries. They suggest that the Anketas should be submitted for research in the RAHS offices in Ukraine (i.e. for information from the past 75 years). The Anketas, which provides RAHS with sufficient information to answer your questions, can be downloaded on the internet from the Ukrainian Embassy in the U.S. site
http://www.ukrconsulate.com/

Cyndi's List

A must visit Category Index site
http://www.cyndislist.com/nofrills.htm

Cyndi's List Queries & Message Boards
http://www.cyndislist.com/queries.htm

Cyrillic

Note: additional information available at my 'Language' Page

There are a number of major differences between the Russian and Ukrainian alphabets. The Library of Congress rule for transliteration from Cyrillic to English uses "y" (pronounced like "y" in Plymouth) to render the Cyrillic 'backward "N" ' into English. Refer to Language on my site for more informative details and links

Cyrillic Fonts and Software
www.cyrillic.com

Cyrillization
Instructions on how to enable your PC to communicate in Cyrillic (Russian/Ukraine) using newsreaders that run under MS Windows
http://www.lemko.org/lih/howtocyr.html

Cyrillic keyboard print out
Useful if you wish to translate Russian to English
http://rit.minsk.by/cgi-bin/mphones.pl

"Popular EEGS Ethnic groups"

One of the best genealogy search engines for maps and more are at
http://www.feefhs.org/

Electronic Library of Ukrainian Literature

Matches Ukrainian subjects with Internet technology.
http://www.utoronto.ca/elul/

Embassy of Ukraine

3350 M Street, NW
Washington, DC. 20007
Phone: 202 333 7507 or 7508 or 7509. Alternate Phone 202 333 0606
Fax: 202 333 7510
Ukrainian Consulate to obtain documents from Ukraine information:
http://www.ukremb.com/

Embassy of Ukraine and more
www.brama.com

Directory of Embassies Worldwide:
http://www2.tagish.co.uk/Links/CIS/Ukraine/Embof.htm

Emigration Records

http://landing.ancestry.ca/intl/canada/passenger/lists.aspx

http://genealogy.about.com/od/ukraine/Ukraine_Genealogy_Family_History.htm

http://jubilation.uwaterloo.ca/~marj/genealogy/ukrainian.html

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canqbogs/pdf_files/QB_ImmigrationRecords.pdf

http://www.jewishgen.org/Ukraine/Destination.htm

Envelope Addressing

It is o.k. to address your mail in Latin alphabet, similar to the way you would in the US, in most large Ukrainian cities. In smaller towns and villages, you are best off to address in Cyrillic letters and follow this format:

Country and Zip Code on first line, followed on the next line with the Oblast and Raion, followed on the next line the name of the village with the street house number/apartment number. And the last line has the surname of the person with the first name last. Example:

Ukraina 247001
obl.L'vivska, r-n Sambirskyis.
Khyshevychivul.Shevchenka 23/4
Zalizniaku Maksymovi

Postal codes have changed to five numbers. The city of Kherson has ten suburbs which would mean you would have to look anywhere from 73000-480 on up
http://www.angelfire.com/biz/Ukrainian/zip.html

http://www.mfa.gov.ua/consul/reclamation.html#6

Europages

Business 2 business company directory and business in Europe, yellow pages access, international and European business directory (professional services, addresses and business classifieds)
http://www.europages.net

Yellow Pages - in English
http://www.ukraine.org/www.ukrainet.lviv.ua/yellow/pages.htm

http://www.ukraine.org/www.ukrainet.lviv.ua/yellow/tree/etop/abc.htm

Famine of 1932 - 1933

The "Holodomor", or "murder by hunger" was the name given to the catastrophic famine of 1932-1933, when, as a result of Stalin's drive to collectivize agricultural labor, millions of Ukrainians starved to death.
http://www.holodomorct.org/history.html

Famous Ukrainians List

A list of over three hundred people with links discussing their contributions. The people listed were either born in what are today's boundaries of Ukraine, or were/are of Ukrainian ancestry
http://www2.uwindsor.ca/~hlynka/ukfam.html

FEEFHS Ukraine Research List

http://www.mtu-net.ru/rrr/ukraine.htm

France - Ukraine

Although the site is written in French and Cyrillic, you'll be able to determine that there is some interesting links including addresses and names
www.russie.net

Gene Surname Registry

http://www.genexchange.com/

Genealogy in Ukraine

Printed and cursive lettering
http://www.colby.edu/library/collections/technical_services/wp/Cyrillic.html

Ukrainian Software Center
A web source for Ukrainian Software, Spell-checkers, Talking Translator/Dictionary, and
http://www.allvirtualware.com/ukrsoft/

GeneaNet

Genealogical Database Network - offers a surname search feature in English, Spanish, French,
German, Holland and Swedish
http://www.geneanet.org/

Genealogy Exchange

http://www.mtu-net.ru/rrr/ukraine.htm

Genealogy Primer

A very informative site, especially for beginners researching in Ukraine.
http://www.infoukes.com/genealogy

GenWeb (World)

A source to help in researching Ukraine. Many towns have disappeared or changed their names, some several times over the years. This site will help guide you step by step to find information in your quest
http://www.mtu-net.ru/rrr/ukraine.htm

http://www.rootsweb.com/~ukrwgw/ukrainetown.html

General Facts About Ukraine

Typical food market we came across throughout Ukraine
Open air market in Kharkov - Photo taken by Ted Margulis

If you want to know about the country, then this site has a lot to offer and is about Ukraine today if you are interested in traveling there in the future. This site includes tips, money, credit cards, currency exchanges, barbers and beauty shops, tracing Genealogy Roots, photos of many cities and so much more
http://www.uazone.net/Ukraine_General.html

and also a page dealing with a Guide to Kiev including photos
http://www.uazone.net/Caption.html

http://www.uazone.net/Ukraine_toc.html

Gesher Galicia

This organization concentrates on the genealogy of Ukraine as well as part of Poland.
http://www.jewishgen.org/galicia/

Getty Vocabulary Program

Help in finding information about a specific village or city can be found at the Getty Vocabulary Program - just type in the name of the town or city. If nothing shows up, try typing in another name of a town nearby that may be larger.
http://www.magnes.org/research/research-resources/getty-research-institutes-vocabularies

There are over 900,000 records for places arranged in hierarchies representing all nations of the modern world and including vernacular and historical names, coordinates, place types and other relevant information. This is one powerful web site for researchers.

Government Institutions

Includes those listed below. Just click on any name

Guberniyas in Ukraine List - Guberniyas

http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1460

Historical Vital Statistics

Books of Roman Catholic parishes that were formerly located in western Ukraine are now in three potential archives: 1.) Polish State Archives of Ancient Documents in Warsaw (the Zabuzanski Collection) 2.) Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in L'viv or 3.) Local registries (RAHS). Also the FHL (Mormon Family History Library) may have already microfilmed these records

http://www.halgal.com/archivesineurope.html

http://ukrainian.worldvitalrecords.com/

Kahlile Mehr is the Ukraine expert working for the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

History of Ukraine

http://www.torugg.org/History/history_of_ukraine.html

Holocaust

A compilation of Holocaust victims has been translated into English
http://www.jewishgen.org//yizkor/

"Father Patrick Desbois and his organization in Paris, YAHAD In Unum, hundreds if not thousands of previously unknown and/or undocumented mass graves sites have been - and continue to be -
documented across Eastern Europe, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and Russia. These are in many cases previously unaccounted for and uncounted dead in the statistics of Shoah deaths. Through ballistic
experts, historic aerial and ground maps, Soviet Extraordinary Commission reports from 1944-46, yizkor books, and other written sources, as well as eyewitness accounts (many of which have never been told before), the work of Father Desbois and YAHAD provides an important missing piece of the Shoah: the
Nazi campaign of extermination by bullets.

Books

"The Holocaust By Bullets."
Father Desbois authored in 2007, "La Shoah Par Balles", subsequently translated into English as "The
Holocaust By Bullets." The release of his book coincided with the release of Daniel Mendelsohn's remarkable book, "The Lost" (translated into French as Les Disparus).

Located today in Ukraine, about one hour's drive south and east of the city of Lviv. Rohatyn is located near
Mendelsohn's family shtetl and both are located in the heart of Father Desbois' investigations.

A few of these elderly Ukrainian (non-Jewish) witnesses had seen and/or heard the murder of the
Rohatyn Jewish community between 1942 and 1944. As is typical, until their interviews by Father Patrick Desbois, these witnesses had never before told anyone about what they saw - and, in some
cases, how they or their parents had participated in the Jews' destruction. From Ukrainian oral testimony to oral French translation, I had the opportunity to access these videos and tapes and make English transcriptions for sharing with the members of my Rohatyn Google research group.

On March 30, 2011, my husband and I had the privilege to join Father Desbois' group for one day of a Poland-Ukraine study trip that began three days earlier in Krakow. It was the last day of their
itinerary, which had included a visit to the Jewish sites of Krakow, Schindler's factory, the nearby camps, as well Rava-Ruska and Belzec. Their final day - now with us in tow - was to include a visit to the Lisinitchi forest on the outskirts of Lviv where Lviv' s Jews and others were murdered by bullets and dumped into mass graves, and sites further east including Busk and Olesko. The day was compellingly summarized in the recent issue of the YAHAD Newsletter (No. 15):

"The tour was led by Father Desbois and historian Marcello Pezzetti, a member of YAHAD' s Scientific Committee and director for the new Shoah Museum that opens in Rome in 2014. For four days, a 30-member group, from 12 countries, toured concentration and extermination camps, visited museums and
walked the sites of mass shootings, in a program designed to shed additional light on the history of the Holocaust in the East. Beginning in Krakow, Poland, participants took a narrated walking tour of the Krakow ghetto and the historic Jewish quarter and visited the Krakow Historical Museum located in the former factory of Oskar Schindler. During the week, the group met with the museum directors at Auschwitz and the Belzec extermination camp, visited execution sites in the Ukraine at Lvov, Busk and Olesko and heard briefings on Nazi programs such as Operation Reinhardt and Operation 1005. The program included a visit to the Ukrainian town of Rawa Ruska, the starting point of YAHAD 's research program and the site of a concentration camp in which, as Father Desbois recounted in his book, "The Holocaust by Bullets",
his grandfather had been imprisoned and witnessed the fate of the Jews. In Lvov, the group walked through the Lisinitchi forest, a huge extermination site with 49 mass graves. The program offered
participants the opportunity to better understand YAHAD 's research methodology that combines archival research with the testimony provided by witnesses. The group also heard directly from witnesses interviewed by YAHAD. For those interested in reading reports of each of the days' events and speakers, along with photos, here are the direct links to the daily blog written daily for YAHAD by William Mengebier, who was on the trip:
27 March, Krakow:
http://yahadblog.weebly.com/1/post/2011/03/empty-chairs-the-vanished-jews-of-krakow.html

28 March: Birkenau and Auschwitz:
http://yahadblog.weebly.com/1/post/2011/03/a-town-called-owicim.html

29 March, Rava-Ruska and Belzec:
http://yahadblog.weebly.com/1/post/2011/03/roots-rawa-ruska.html

For the day we joined (30 March), the YAHAD blog relates our experiences far better than we can:
http://yahadblog.weebly.com/1/post/2011/03/fading-memories.html

We posted some additional photos of our own here:
http://www.pbase.com/nuthatch/ua_a_day_with_yahad

And a moving account of the group's last day together and departures for home (to France and many other countries):
http://yahadblog.weebly.com/1/post/2011/04/journeys-end1.html

The direct web link for YAHAD In Unum:
http://www.holocaustbybullets.com/

The link for YAHAD In Unum News is:
http://www.yahadinunum.org/en/about-yahad-in-unum/yahad-in-unum-news-no-15-avril-2011/

The link for the ongoing YAHAD blog is:
http://yahadblog.weebly.com/

For information on Father Desbois' book, "The Holocaust By Bullets", see:
http://www.holocaustbybullets.com/en/about-patrick-desbois/publications-2/

Finally, I wish to add that Father Desbois and YAHAD are seeking to get in contact with anyone who is a survivor of Busk or who can point them to a survivor or eye witness of the atrocities perpetrated there; these horrors remain largely undocumented and still unacknowledged. To email YAHAD, contact Marina Durteste at m.durteste@yahadinunum.org (French or Ukrainian language) or Marco Gonzalez (English, French, or Spanish language) at m.gonzalez@yahadinunum.org. From a posting by Marla Raucher Osborn

Holocaust & Genocide Studies

www.webster.edu/~woolflm/holocaust.html

Immigration records

From Ukraine have never proved to be of value, but birth, marriage and death records are available through Ukrainian Archives

http://genealogy.about.com/od/ukraine/Ukraine_Genealogy_Family_History.htm

http://genealogy.about.com/od/ukraine/Ukraine_Genealogy_Family_History.htmn

Infoukes

A commercial Ukrainian Web Site providing the largest Information Resource about Ukraine and Ukrainians on the Internet.
http://infoukes.com/

with lots of links to various subject along with an active discussion group about many Ukrainian-based subjects. Check out the "archives" for more information, once you are at their home page:
http://infoukes.com/

http://www.rootsweb.com/~ukrwgw/whatsnew.html

Infoukes Mailing List and Archives
http://www.infoukes.com/lists

Click on genealogy or use this site
http://www.infoukes.com/lists/genealogy/

Infoukes, Inc. Suite 185,
3044 Bloor Street West,
Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada M8X 2Y8
Phone (416) 236 4865 Fax (416) 766 5704

Infoukes Archives:
http://www.infoukes.com/lists/genealogy/

Jewish Cemeteries, Synagogues, Mass Grave Sites in Ukraine

A fairly comprehensive list including photos of many of these sites
http://www.heritageabroad.gov/reports/doc/survey_ukraine_2005.pdf

Jewish Communities Directory

A current list of current of leaders names and address in the Jewish communities of Ukraine
http://www.jewish.kiev.ua/Directory1.htm

Also view this site
http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/text/x32/xm3274.html

Association of Jewish Organizations & Communities of Ukraine
Kiev 252049, Ukraine

Jewish Confederation of Ukraine
Kiev 42 - 01042, Ukraine

Jewish Council of Ukraine
Kiev 252103, Ukraine

Jewish Foundation of Ukraine
Kiev 34 - 01034, Ukraine
Includes photos and information on Kiev, Berdichev, Zhitomir, Vinnitsa, Chernivtsi, Uman, Nikolayev and Odessa
http://www.jfu.kiev.ua/jew.htm

http://www.chabad.org/centers/default_cdo/aid/117885/jewish/Jewish-Community-of-Odessa.htm

http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/sadgura/ReischToronto.html

JewishGen ShtetlSeeker

Locate your town (shtetl)
http://www.jewishgen.org/shtetlseeker/loctown.htm

Jewish Heritage Report

"Search of Jewish Cemeteries in the Ukraine"
An article written by E. Sololova reports his personal experiences in is in the Winter 1997/98 issue
http://www.isjm.org/jhr/IInos1-2/ukraine.htm?Brodsky

but start with
http://www.isjm.org

Jewish Life in Ukraine at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century

http://www.jcpa.org/jl/jl451.htm

http://www.fsumonitor.com/

Jewish Community Federation of Louisville
"From Babi Yar to Hillel: Jewish Life in Ukraine"
Offers a story by Shiela Steinman Wallace of a trip she made to Ukraine
http://www.jewishlouisville.org/overseas/jewishlifeukraine.shtml

http://www.risu.org.ua/

Under Jewish Communities (on left of page), you will find a link to Jewish Life

Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem

The Vernadsky Library at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences has microfilmed records
http://jnul.huji.ac.il/

Jewish-Ukrainian Bibliography

A selected annotated bibliography of resources in English by Andrew Gregorovich 116 pages.
http://www.infoukes.com/forum/bibliography.html

Languages Spoken Links

Check out this site which posts a different article or activity that may teach you something about the Ukrainian culture including the language
http://www.nazdorovya.com/learn.htm

The Ethnologue is a catalogue
Of more than 6,700 languages spoken in 228 countries. The Ethnologue Name Index lists over 39,000 language names, dialect names and alternate names and organizes languages according to language families
http://www.sil.org/ethnologue

The Rusyn language
Classified as an Indo-European, East Slavic language Rusyn is described as a dialect of Ukrainian
http://www.sil.org/ethnologue/families/Indo-European.html

The Ukrainian Language Alphabet
Here you will find a clear copy of the Cyrillic characters making up the Ukrainian language. There are other links, as well, dealing with Ukraine.
http://www.sandiegoinsider.com/community/groups/ukraine/The_Ukrainian_Langua.html

Lemko

(A group of Ukrainians from a mountainous area of Ukraine - also known as Ruthians) offers much information about the country, history, religion, etc.
http://www.lemko.org/index.html

I would also highly recommend contacting Walter Maksimovich - and Lavrentiy Krupnak, President of East Europe Connection at lkrupnak@erols.com Both of these gentlemen are experts on the subject of Ukraine.
http://www.lemko.org/genealogy/galiciapl.html

Lemko (Ukrainian)
Plenty of interesting and useful links. Click on Genealogical Research on the Home Page or any other button including Uni-Mapper's Map Server. There is a Ukrainian Transliteration Table, photo sites and much more of value to the Jewish researcher.
http://lemko.org/index.html

Lemko (Ukrainian) Music:
http://listen.to/lemkomusic

Library of Congress

For a contact regarding Ukrainian information, try Jurij Dobczansky, M.L.S. Senior Slavic Librarian & Recommending officer for Ukraine,
Social Sciences Cataloging Division
Library of Congress 101 Independence Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20540-4362
Phone: (202) 707 3080 Fax: (202) 707 6421
E-mail: jdob@loc.gov

http://www.loc.gov/catalog/

Maramaros Region

Alphabetical list of all Town Names as listed in Sefer Maramaros
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/maramures/mar901.html

Holocaust
http://www.bigmeathammer.com/aushwitz13.htm

Microfilmed Records - Ukrainian

http://www.mtu-net.ru/rrr/ukraine.htm

Maps

Maps of Ukraine also see Ukrainian Shtetls

Administration Districts of Ukraine

Maps of Russia and the FSU (Former Soviet Union) Republics

Be prepared to stay online for quite some time, if you want to see one of the largest collections of different types of maps.

This site is fabulous and offers a huge variety of maps that include such titles as Bukovina Maps; Ukraine Maps and Distances; Ex-USSR map; Maps of Europe in different eras; Russian Far East Maps; Belarus Maps; Ukraine Maps; Kazakhstan Maps: Georgia Maps; Tajikistan Maps; Crimea Maps; Uzbekistan Maps; Azerbaijan Maps; Kyrgyzstan Maps; Moldova Maps; Turkmenistan Maps; Armenia Maps; Caucuses Region Maps; Baltic States Maps including Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia; and more at
http://users.aimnet.com/~ksyrah/ekskurs/maps.html

Military

Jewish boys from age 12 to 18 , if they were found, were uprooted from their families for at least 25 years, to serve in the Army. They were called Canonists and either died of starvation, or were forced to convert to Christianity. Many never returned to their home. This system lasted 29 years and involved over 40,000 Jewish boys during that period of time.
http://www.jewish-history.com/cantons.htm

Books

Encyclopedia of Ukraine
http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/info.asp

Names of Jewish Soldiers Database
This list includes names of all Jewish servicemen from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.
http://russiananzacs.narod.ru/Jews.htm

"Powstanski Mohyly: Memorial Book Fallen on the Field of Glory"
Names and biographies of 507 UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or Ukrainian Partisan Army ) soldiers who gave their lives from 1947-1956 in the defense of their native land and people, but until now had remained anonymous. Published in Ukrainian.
http://www.infoukes.com/upa/related/mohyly.html

'Introduction to the series' in English
http://www.infoukes.com/upa/

Soldiers from the village of Iezupil, Tysmenytskyi Raion, Ivano-Frankivska Oblast that are in the above book who may be Jewish: Biletskyi, Kushnir, Sokolyk,

Cossack Information
At this site you can find information about the infamous Cossacks, including uniform designs and history of the Cossacks - Click on English
www.cossackweb.com

Money - (Ukrainian)

Paper currency "Hryvnia" currently used in Ukraine
http://www.uazone.net/Hryvnia/hryvnia.html

Ukraine
Is a cash economy. Use of credit cards is limited to the better hotels, western style restaurants, international airlines and select stores The money is known as Hryvnia. One hundred Russian kopeks to the Hryvnia. The Hryvnia, also spelled Hryvna or Grivna (UHR) was introduced on September 2, 1996. It replaced the old 'Coupon' aka 'Karbovanets' which was a temporary currency used in Ukraine during the period of separation from the ruble zone
http://www.uazone.net/Hryvnia/

Daily Currency Exchange Rates
www.brama.com

National Bank of Ukraine
http://www.bank.gov.ua/engl/default.htm

UFM Weekly Digest
A free publication, which give current quotes.
Send a message to nserv@litech.lviv.ua with the command FEED ukrainet.ufm.digest in the body.

Hryvna - The Official Currency of Ukraine.
This site includes a Hryvna Currency converter.
http://www.uazone.net/Hryvnia/

Sites relating to Hryvnia includes

http://www.uazone.net/Hryvnia/index.html

http://www.uazone.net/Hryvnia/kopiyka.html

http://www.bank.gov.ua/ENGL/Bank_coin/histor_grn.htm

http://www.museum.com.ua/en/fondu/history.html

www.brama.com

Mormon (Family History Centers)

Ukrainian resources
www.familysearch.org

The Mormons have microfilmed the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Records back to the 17th century. You will need to visit a FHC to order the films but you can determine which films are available from the FHC on-line catalog. An alternate site is
http://lemko.org

and then drill down for information.

Naming customs in Poland and Ukraine

http://www.rootsweb.com/~polwgw/naming.html

Many surnames came from the names of predecessors or areas of the country or a connection to a trade or even a person's character, physical or personal.

Nasze Slowo, Ukrainian Newspaper

Offers classified ads to help find your families
http://free.ngo.pl/nslowo

Approximate cost: $25.00 to advertise for those who are looking for anyone who had Ukrainian family in southeast Poland which was dispossessed by the Poles in 1946-7 and sent to either western Ukraine or Northeast Poland
E-mail nslowo@free.ngo.pl
Address:
Redakcja, Nasze Slowo, ul, Nowogrodzka
15,00-511 Warszawa
Telephone:621 37 55
Fax: 621 37 50
http://www.optimus.waw.pl/com/nslowo/

Ukrainian Weekly Archive
http://www.ukrweekly.com/

National Book of Memory

Millions of citizens disappeared throughout Russia after 1917 without a trace either for their families or their friends. Our own countrymen and foreign nationals. In exile, in prisons, in the camps-in the Gulag Archipelago. In peacetime and in war. Their exact number is completely unknown. Those who survived have been unable to forget the horror they experienced. Little by little, the names of these victims are being recovered. Archival materials have been studied and evidence from family archives has been collected. Books of Memory have been published. Communal and state organizations have been busy with that work.
http://visz.nlr.ru/eng/about.html

Nechama's List

Regarding "Nechama's List," which was prepared for the LDS catalog by Nancy Goldberg Hilton, I should have clarified that these microfilms (and the list) were provided to the public very quickly due to the fact that genealogists were eagerly awaiting the films' release into the public domain ever since word of their filming in Ukraine was made public many years ago.

There were definite errors in town names, or inaccurate listings of what each film contains. The Church did not inventory the contents, but relied on the Lviv Historical Archives inventory headings for their catalog. There are town and record overlaps in many films, and I am certain that the Mormon church welcomes any corrections we can offer to them so that the catalog can be updated correctly.

Several Galician researchers, including Tony Kahane, who has meticulously gone over the microfilms for Zbaraz, have created a "record clarification" for the films. This will benefit researchers in that they will know which type of record for which particular year is on which film, and what records are missing. For example, the LDS catalog provides these entries:
"Zbaraz Births: 01.01.1859 - end 1876"

And Tony's inventory explains: "no births at all recorded for Sept-Nov 1871, July-Nov 1872, Oct-Dec 1873 (though no pages seem to be missing)." or "Deaths: 1938 - 1942"

And the inventory adds: "Deaths recorded from 1938 up to 11.2.1940; and from 30.6.1941 (date of the Nazi invasion) up to 30.9.1942, with handwritten death notices from 1941-42 in Polish and Ukrainian."

When Mark Halpern examined the films for Tarnopol, Deaths 1941 he discovered:

"The first page of the 1941 death register shows entry number one that records on July 12 the death of Klara Gross on July 4. Most of these entries show the residence address of the deceased, but further genealogical information is not recorded. This page of the register shows that most of the deceased were men age 40 to 80. The cause of death was mainly "nagla smierc" meaning sudden death, which is code for "shot to death." Some of the other causes of death were suicide and killed by bombs."

The value of these descriptive inventories to researchers is evident, as is the realization that records up to and including the Holocaust in Galicia are on these films. Details on Tony Kahane's inventory appears in the "The Galitzianer" and will be posted on our website. Other researchers are currently doing inventories for other Galician towns, and we urge you to consider doing so as well and then sharing the results with others. This would involve ordering ALL the films for your town to be sent to your local FHC or viewing them in Salt Lake City.

Note that there are a few towns' records which ARE listed on Miriam Weiner's RTR website (and on Alex's list) that apparently could not be found in the archive at the time of filming. This doesn't mean that they are permanently missing, but, for now, they cannot be accessed.

I should also add that last winter Mrs. Hilton contacted many Jewish Genealogical Societies across the country to offer them their own copy of the Nechama's List CD, and did a short presentation about the CD at the JGSNY program in February 2007. This CD was a follow up to the first "Jewish Records in the Family History Library" catalog (accessible on JewishGen) she created many years ago, and for which she won the IAJGS "Outstanding Contribution via Electronic Media" award at the 2000 Salt Lake City conference.

"Nechama's List" covers the period from January 2001 through November 2006. Keep in mind that new microfilms are always being added to the LDS catalogue. From a posting by Pamela Weisberger Research Coordinator, Gesher Galicia pweisberger@hotmail.comOzeUkes
http://www.nechamaslist.com

The electronic voice of the Ukrainian community in Australia - containing news and events in all Australian States. It is an information service of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organizations. WestozzieUkes can be contacted via E-mail: kozak@p085.aone.net.au
http://www.home.aone.net.au/mandycza

Photographs of Ukraine

Photo taken by Ted Margulis

UKRAINE - Womb of Mother Russia
http://www.brigish.com/journeys.cfm

Photographs
Yizkor Book
The Brody (Ukraine) Yizkor Book website hosted by JewishGen has added some photographs to their site. The photographs were obtained from Records Administration (NARA) cartographic collection of the Defense Intelligence Agency Record 373 of Captured German World War II photographs.
Yizkor Book Database

Corbis (171 photographs)
http://www.inmagine.com/searchterms/ukraine.html

Pogroms

A search page for Ukrainian authors and publications
http://shevchenko.re-invent.net/(k5gu0dng3wyvcmugbkol24va)/Query.aspx

Books

"Slaughter of Jews in the Ukraine in 1919"
Authored in 1921 by Elias Heifetz

Ben Gurion University Library in Israel
Has a periodical published in Hebrew from around 1917 to around 1925. Called "Reshumot" in contains memoirs, reminiscences, eye witness reports of pogroms, etc.

Another, even better, resource, is the periodical "He-avar" (the English language table of contents transliterates it as Heawar). It was published by the Association for the Historical Study of Russian and Ukrainian Jewry. Volume 21 has the index for volumes 1-20. The periodical appeared irregularly until about 1976. Many volumes have abstracts in English. The contents are straight history, book reviews, memoirs, correspondence, biographies, etc. It is a treasure house! From a posting by Ida and Yosef Schwarcz Arad, Israel
http://www.hollanderbooks.com/cgi-bin/hollander/47762

The Shevchenko Sci. Soc. Library catalogue
Under Serhiichuk, Volodymyr lists 2 entries; a lecture on cassette, 1997 and a book "Pohromy v Ukraini 1914-1920" Published in 1998 /524p./ on the subject of the 1919-1920 pogrom. There are a number of entries on this subject under Ukrainian Jewish Relations in the Society's library catalogue.
http://www.einet.net/review/37129-428078/Shevchenko_Scientific_Society_On_line_Library_Catalog.htm

Post Office Information

Includes zip numbers for Ukraine - Click on 'Eng' to read the page in English
http://www.ukrposhta.com/

Postcards

A link to eBay that has a good number of Jewish Photos and other postcards for sale from time to time.
www.ebay.com

RAGAS - (Russian American Genealogical Archival Service)

Contact: Vlad Soshnikov or Pat Eames ragas@cityline.ru This organization researches Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.
http://www.movinghere.org.uk/galleries/roots/jewish/country/ragas.htm

http://www.genealogyforum.com/gfaol/resource/German/GerfromRussia.htm

Railroad Timetables

There is a lot of information besides timetables at this English language site including the History of the railways creation, services, addresses and telephone numbers, rules of carrying and more
http://www.uz.gov.ua/index_eng.html

Red Cross - Ukraine

Margulis Saga The story of how the Red Cross found my nephew

http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.d229a5f06620c6052b1ecfbf43181aa0/?vgnextoid=7ccfa2da7acd1210VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD

http://www.ifrc.org/en/what-we-do/where-we-work/europe/ukrainian-red-cross-society/

Registry Office Documents

Contact the nearest Consulate or hire a local researcher who has the ability and the experience to handle the research

http://ukrconsulting.biz/Law-Firm-Ukraine-Kharkov-English/Registration-of-marriage-in-Ukraine-solemnization-Kharkov.html

http://ukinukraine.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/living-in-ukraine/how-register-marriage/certificate-of-no-impediment

http://ukraine.usembassy.gov/ukrainian-issues.html

Researchers and Guides

(I cannot make any specific recommendations, just contact information. You must make your own arrangements). The following are names I have seen mentioned in various posts.

Alex Dunai - dunai@iname.com
Recommended by Mickey Dingott: MDing88835@aol.com

Andriy Grechylo
Does genealogical research in the archives. Just let him know what information you need and he will send you details. Dr. Andriy Grechylo, President of the Ukrainian Heraldry Society herald@archeos.lviv.ua

Angela Semakova
International Center of Genealogical Research is the Director and also works at the L'viv Historical Archive. E-mail lawivaha@carrier.kiev.ua or archives@cl.lv.ukrtel.net

East Europe Connection
Laurence Krupnak is a professional Researcher/Genealogist and President of this company. Very knowledgeable and has many connections in Ukraine
http://www.apgen.org/ncac.html

Genealogicaltree.org
Vera and Sergei Kryshchuk of Kiev have a web site offering their services
www.genealogicaltree.org.ua

Green Castle Agency
Consultations are free of charge. The company offers their services, which include genealogical researches in various archives, photographs and or videos and CDs of the village of interest as well as providing excursions. They have excellent contacts with genealogists in Belarus, Russian and Ukraine. greencastle@genealogy.f2s.com Genealogical Agency Green Castle, P.O. Box 3434, Vilniaus apskities centrinis pastas, LT - 2000 Lithuania.

International Centre of Genealogical Research
5 Reytarska Str. Office #3
Kyiv 34, Ukraine
Angela Semakova E-mail lawivaha@carrier.kiev.ua

Michal Sura
E-mail arusm@yahoo.com

Olga Gladysheva - olga@cci.il.if.ua
Write in English. Olga lives in Ivano-Frankivsk and has access to archives. Negotiable rates.

Valentina Litveniko
Valentina is the wife of the wonderful Ukrainian (Sasha Litveniko) from Kharkov that found my half brother in Berdichev in 1995. Although Sasha (Alexander) has since passed away, his wife and staff can be reached at alex@ukrus.kharkov.ua.

Both Valentina and her staff speak excellent English and I can highly recommend them. I cannot, unfortunately guarantee that you will get a response so please make contact directly with Valentina.

Researching Russian Roots

How to begin, useful links, Archives in Ukraine & Belarus
http://www.maxpages.com/poland/Russian_Research

Research in Ukraine and Belarus
http://www.mtu-net.ru/rrr/ukraine.htm

Roots Web

Search the Roots Web Surname List
http://rsl.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/rslsql.cgi

Russian Culture and Language

Course of Russian Language in Pictures; Cyrillic Conversion for Windows95; Cyrillic Alphabet; Dictionary of Period Russian Names; English-Russian Dictionary; and more
http://www.maxpages.com/poland/Russian_Research

Russian Transliteration System

http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~taies/lc.html

Ruthenia

You may hear or see this name on documents or maps, but take note that it is not a country, but a province. It includes much of northeastern Hungary, southeastern Slovakia and southwestern Ukraine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruthenia

Search

411 Info:
http://springboard.telstra.com

Russian Search Engine (In Russian)
http://search.avanport.com/rus/default.asp

Search Engines for Slovakia
Scroll down to 'Search Engines'
http://slavic.ohio-state.edu/people/yoo/links/default.htm

Sesna
An English and Ukrainian language search engine that will provide tons of information - relating to Ukraine and many other countries. Also offers to E-mail updates every week.
http://www.uazone.net/sesna/

Slavophilia
A comprehensive guide to Internet resources on Russia and Central/Eastern Europe
http://www.slavophilia.com/

From the United States
http://www.ukraine.org/www.ukrainet.lviv.ua/download/pages.zip

Yellow Pages
http://www.ukrainet.lviv.ua/yellow/pages.htm
(in English)

An off-line edition of the catalog can be obtained from Ukraine.
http://www.ukrainet.lviv.ua/download/pages.rar

Sending Money or packages to Ukraine

Using dollars via Western Union which has about 300 agents throughout Ukraine.
Phone: 1 800 325 6000 (US) and 1 800 235 0000 in Canada.
Their charges are: up to $299 - 15% fee; $300 to $599 - 12% fee; $600 $2999 - 10% fee. In the US. Credit cards are accepted for an additional charge of $10.00
www.westernunion.com/english/locations/index.html

You can also have money hand delivered by
Meest (MICT)
817 Pennsylvania Avenue
Linden, NY 07036
1 800 288 9949
1 908 925 5525 Fax: 908 928 7898
http://www.meest.net/

When last checked, they charged a 10% rate and a $10 delivery fee to hand deliver. Never send cash or a personal check! Their mailing address is 609 Commerce Road, Linden, NJ 07036 Phone: 1 800 288 9949. Meest is also represented in Canada. Please refer to my Canada page for address information.
http://www.link.lviv.ua/~meest/delivery/index

Meest-America
800-288 9949
Delivers US dollars, sea and air parcels, food parcels, equipment and electronics, letters and small packages to Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Poland and other countries. More services are available E-mail: info@meest.us
www.meestboston.com

World First
0800 783 6022 or +44 20 7801 9080
http://www.worldfirst.com/for-you/foreign-exchange/?ID=519

Shevchenko Society

A search page for Ukrainian authors and publications
http://shevchenko.re-invent.net/(k5gu0dng3wyvcmugbkol24va)/Query.aspx

The Shevchenko Sci. Soc. Library catalogue under Serhiichuk, Volodymyr lists 2 entries; a lecture on cassette, 1997 and a book "Pohromy v Ukraini 1914-1920" published in 1998 /524p./ on the subject of the 1919-1920 pogrom. There are a number of entries on this subject under Ukranian Jewish Relations in the Society's library catalogue.

Slavic and East European Library

'Tons' of Ukrainian links here
http://www.library.uiuc.edu/SPX/resources/ukraine.htm

Slavophilia

A comprehensive guide to Internet resources on Russia and Central/Eastern Europe
http://www.slavophilia.com/

St Vladimir's College Mailing Lists

www.infoukes.com/lists/genealogy

Surname Search

This page is a list of links to the first three letters of a surname.
http://www.surnameweb.org/registry.htm

http://rsl.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/rslsql.cgi

and the FEEFHS Surname Database Cross-Index
http://feefhs.org/index/indexsur.html

and RAGAS Surname List
http://feefhs.org/ragas/rag-name.html

Unique Surnames
More than 600 are displayed and discussed in the book "The Road from Letichev"

Nemchenko
Comes from the Russian/Ukrainian "nemets", which today means German, but in the old days was a term for people that didn't speak the local language.

TsDIA {Tsentralny Derzhavnyi Istorychnyi Arkhiv}

(See Central State Historical Archive) There is a branch in L'viv as well as in Kiev.

L'viv State Oblast Archive
Ploshcha Stavropihiis'la 2
290 008 L'viv Ukraine

The Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine
Tsentralnyi Derzhavnyi Istorychnyi arkhiv
Soborna Square 3A
290 008 L'viv Ukraine
Phone: 72-35-08
Director: D. Pelts

Telephone Directories

Phone Directory
Check out the Library of Congress: European Reading Room: Phone Directory: Ukraine. You will find information on what directories are available in the various cities and regions of Ukraine.
http://www.loc.gov/rr/european/phone/ukraine2.html

Telephone Directory
There is a FREE web site where you may obtain telephone numbers, full addresses of both business and private individuals in the Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Kiev Regions
http://rit.minsk.by/cgi-bin/mphones.pl

Telephone Directories on-line for Kiev, L'viv
http://www.lviv.net/tel/

Kharkov, Kherson, Khmelnytsky, Rivne, Slavutych and Stakhanov.
All are in Cyrillic except for the Kiev Directory which can be searched in English
http://www.kievphones.com/

Toronto Ukrainian Genealogical Club

Contact: Tony at St Vladimir Institute Genealogical club: svi@stvladimir.on.ca
http://www.torugg.org/

Translation Services
and Software

A translation service is offering to translate from Ukrainian to English or Russian to any of the two languages via email. Once translated, they can forward your letter to your address choice. No recommendation, or affiliation is made here. Contact Serhiy and Yaroslav in Kiev sp@alfacom.net Both speak English.

LingvoSoft Dictionary software English <-> Yiddish for Windows - 400,000 words

With this LingvoSoft smart dictionary software on your computer, you can easily switch between English and Yiddish, (and 43 other languages) for prompt translations of 400,000 words both ways! Download Free Trial now

Translating Services - Languages

English-Ukrainian Dictionary
Produced by Language Master, version 5.0 is currently available.
http://www.gy.com/www/ww1/ww2/tridl.htm

Kiev Translation Center
Translates from/into foreign languages as hard copies and/or files. E-mail ktcenter@translate.kiev.ua
http://elvisti.kiev.ua/ktcenter/

Language Master
A translation program from Trident Software, Inc., 6370 York Road #205, Cleveland, OH 44130
Phone: (440) 237 1721 E-mail: Trident@lm98.com

Russian Transliteration System
http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~taies/lc.html

Translations into Russian or Ukrainian and vice versa
Available by contacting Serhiy & Yaroslav in Kiev at sp@alfacom.net. Both of these Ukrainians are fluent in Ukrainian and Russian and quite good in English. They will quote you a price before initiating any translation job. Payment can be made by check through their US or Canadian contact. Software (Trial version of Language Master) is also available
http://www.lm98.com

Translation Service
A commercial site offering many language translating programs
http://www.worldlanguage.com

Ukrainian - English Dictionary On-Line
Ukrainian is an Eastern European language belonging to the Slavic group of Indo European language family and is closely related to Polish, Russian, Belarusian, Czech and Slovak. Ukrainian is spoken in Western Ukraine and in rural areas of Eastern Ukraine. http://www.personal.ceu.hu/students/97/Roman_Zakharii/english.htm

Ukrainian Phrase Book Voice
Talking English-Ukrainian Phrasebook for PC commercial service
www.allvirtualware.com/ukrsoft/phrase.htm

Ukraine Translations
Located in Kherson which is east of Odessa. This services offers your first letter free.
www.UkraineTranslations.com

Contact in US: michael@ukrainetranslations.com and the head of the Kherson office elena@ukrainetranslations.com

Another Ukrainian language and Ukrainian software source is
http://www.allvirtualware.com/ukrsoft/contact.htm

Just in case you didn't think of it, contact a nearby university or college's foreign language department. They may offer to write letters and translate letters into English. A nominal fee is usually charged.

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