Re: Burial registers from Bruce Reisch on 2003-07-31 (The Czernowitz-L Archive)

From: Bruce Reisch <bir1_at_nysaes.cornell.edu>
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2003 08:58:19 -0400
To: "Czernowitz list" <Czernowitz-L_at_cornell.edu>
Reply-To: bir1_at_nysaes.cornell.edu

<x-html><!x-stuff-for-pete base="" src="" id="0" charset=""><!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN">
<html><head><style type="text/css"></style><title>Re: Burial registers</title></head><body>
<>Dear David:</>
<></>
<>To tell you more about the source of these registers, I'll quote
here from the article written by Alti Rodal, and published in Avotaynu
(Winter 2002), entitled: "Bukovina Cemeteries, Archives,
and Oral History":</>
<></>
<>"In
addition to photographing the tombstones, negotiation with the
cemetery keeper, along with research at the Chernivtsi Regional
Archives, yielded material for a valuable database - the full burial
registries that record the names of all Jews buried in the cemetery.
The burial registries of the Chernivtsi Jewish cemetery are housed in
the administration office of the Christian cemetery on the other side
of Zelena Street. There are 22 volumes, one for one or more of
each of the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet. . . .</>
<>
These burial registries list all surnames chronologically, inscribed
by hand in German from the 1860s until 1947, and afterwards in
Cyrillic. Also included are the deceased's first name, the
father's name, the date of death, the grave location (by sector, row
and grave number), and sometimes next-of-kin. This information
is key to developing a comprehensive monuments/images database, as it
provides the basis for both the alphabetical index and the location
index.

Photocopying these volumes presented an additional challenge. As
there were no photocopiers on the premises, the heavy volumes were
borrowed - two per day - and brought in person to a photocopying
centre in Chernivtsi's main square. While the service
attendant welcomed the business, the overload of work and the August
heat resulted in the occasional omission of a page or two. Each
omission would have meant that 40 to 80 names would have been lost to
the database, a thought that seemed to justify the almost obsessively
careful daily checking of the copies against the original pages. . .
"</>
<></>
<>I would
like to add that other researchers had been to Chernivtsi before, and
the only known index to the cemetery was an incomplete copy held
in an office in the City Hall. When I was there, my contacts in
the Jewish Community tried to find a listing for an early 1920s burial
of Hinke Halpern, by great great Aunt. The officials responded
that no one by that name could be found. Using the registers I
now hold from JGS Ottawa and Alti's efforts, I found her listed in
1924 without any problem. Similarly, for several of you who had
specific names and approx dates of death, I've had a 100% success rate
in locating your relatives in these registers. I've found the
location in these files for most letters of the (Latin) alphabet,
except for the letters V and W. Alti's efforts to locate and
copy these valuable registers are really appreciated!</>
<></>
<>Bruce</>
<></>
<></>
<>At 12:14 AM +0100 7/31/03, David Glynn wrote:</>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>The creation of a
database from the burial registers is a wonderful
project.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>I would be really
interested to know a little more about the background - where the
registerswere stored, and how access to them was
obtained.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>David
Glynn</blockquote>
<></>
<></>
</body>
</html>
</x-html>
Received on 2003-07-31 09:23:08