German Jewish Genealogy 010613
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
German Jewish Genealogy Do You Have German Roots? A Question For All Ashkenazi Jews January 6, 2013 Michael Marx Lexington, MA [email protected] © Michael Marx 2013 Germans, Germans Everywhere Do You Have German Ancestry? 1 DNA Proves The Connection Common Ancestor 2 DNA Proves The Connection Common Ancestor 3 German Jewish Genealogy • Agenda Where is Germany? Jews in Germany What is diferent about German genealogy? German records Recommended internet sites Where is Germany? 4 Where is Germany? Germany 1815 Where is Germany? 5 Where is Germany? Where is Germany? 6 Where is Germany? Germany Today Where is Germany? Meyers Gazetteer 7 Jews in Germany • Earliest record of Jews - 321 C.E. in Cologne • Long history of persecution • 14th century (Black Plague) - expulsion of Jews from German lands • Peace of Westphalia (1648) - beginning of the modern era for German Jews • Napoleonic era - varying degree of emancipation for Jews • 1933-1945 - destruction of German Jewish population Jews in Germany http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/germany.html 8 What Makes Germany Diferent? • The Good Tradition of research and scholarship Extensive recordkeeping Permanent surnames by early 1800s Interest in Jewish history English widely spoken • The Bad Deciphering German script Archives are local Strict privacy laws What Makes Germany Diferent? Extensive Recordkeeping 9 What Makes Germany Diferent? Interest In Jewish History What Makes Germany Diferent? German Script 10 What Makes Germany Diferent? German Script What Makes Germany Diferent? German Script The Family History Library in Salt Lake City offers a number of free online genealogy courses. One is designed to teach you how to read the old German script: (http://tinyurl.com/ybd3m8t) 11 What Makes Germany Diferent? Surname Adoption Robert Benmosche CEO, AIG Inc. What Makes Germany Diferent? Surname Adoption 12 German Vital Records • After 1790 Usually kept by churches . Catholic - Latin . Lutheran - German or Latin Separate Jewish records • Beginning in 1876 Mandatory civil registration Civil registration ofces German Vital Records 13 Other German Records Other German Records 14 ITS Records ITS Records 15 Hamburg Passenger Lists Where to Find German Records • Germany Records are kept locally . City archives [Stadtarchiv] . Village records [Dorfarchiv] Older records (before 1876) . State archives [Landesarchiv] . National archives [Staatsarchiv] • Addresses of state archives: http://tiny.cc/L741R 16 Where to Find German Records • United States Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, New York City . Extensive collection of German Jewish history . Large German Jewish genealogy library . Publishes . www.lbi.com Where to Find German Records • United States (continued) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC . Holocaust library . ITS repository . www.ushmm.org 17 Where to Find German Records • United States (continued) Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT . Largest genealogy library in the world . 2.4 million rolls of microfilmed genealogical records . 310,000 genealogy-related books . Extensive holdings relevant to Jewish German genealogy . Excellent resources . www.familysearch.org Where to Find German Records • Israel Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People(CAHJP), Hebrew University, Jerusalem . Founded by German immigrants . Largest Jewish archive in the world . sites.huji.ac.il/archives 18 Recommended Internet Sites www.jewishgen.org Recommended Internet Sites www.jewishgen.org/GerSIG/ 19 Recommended Internet Sites http://db.yadvashem.org/names/search.html?language=en Recommended Internet Sites Yad Vashem Pages of Testimony 20 Recommended Internet Sites www.familysearch.org Recommended Internet Sites www.jewishwebindex.com 21 Recommended Internet Sites wiki-en.genealogy.net Recommended Internet Sites www.cindislist.com 22 German Jewish Genealogy • Agenda Where is Germany? √ Jews in Germany √ What is diferent about German genealogy? √ German records √ Recommended internet sites √ Thank You For Your Attention 23 .