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Current Trends and Topics in Jewish Genealogy

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A special issue of Genealogy (ISSN 2313-5778).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 November 2023) | Viewed by 38336

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Prof. Dr. Hanoch Daniel Wagner

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Guest Editor

International Institute for Jewish Genealogy, c/o Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7632731, Israel
Interests: genealogy as an academic discipline; Jewish genealogy; scientific tools for genealogy; Polish-Jewish ancestry; Jewish cemeteries

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Jewish genealogy is a fascinating field that seeks to trace the ancestral roots of Jewish families and communities throughout history. It involves using various sources such as archival and historical records, DNA analysis, and oral histories to piece together a comprehensive picture of a family's lineage and the historical events that have shaped their lives. In recent decades, there has been an increasing interest in Jewish genealogy as more people seek to connect with their roots and understand their family history, especially in view of the tragic disappearance of millions of Jews during the Holocaust. Advances in technology, such as the availability of online genealogical databases, DNA testing, and social media platforms that connect people with common ancestry, have facilitated this.

Some of the current topics in Jewish genealogy include exploring the roots of Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews, tracing the migration patterns of Jewish communities throughout history, and investigating the impact of historical events such as the Holocaust on Jewish families and communities.

This field also raises interesting questions about identity, migration, and the ways in which families and communities are connected through time and space. By examining the stories and histories of Jewish families, we can gain a deeper understanding of the complex and diverse nature of Jewish identity and culture, and the ways in which it has been shaped by historical events and geographic factors.

Prof. Dr. Hanoch Daniel Wagner
Guest Editor

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Jewish genealogy
metrical data
rabbinical sources
social media
new worldwide documentation
demography and migration
Ashkenazy and Sephardim names
corrected deportation lists
family names
Lisbon US Embassy records
Damascus Jews

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 570 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Uncovering Names and Connections: The “Polish Jew” Periodical as a Second-Tier Record for Holocaust Remembrance and Network Analysis in Jewish Genealogy

by Amanda Kluveld

Genealogy 2024, 8(3), 93; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8030093 - 22 Jul 2024

Viewed by 758

Abstract

This paper explores the Polish Jew journal as a pivotal second-tier record for advancing Holocaust studies and Jewish genealogy. Traditionally underutilized in academic research, this periodical provides a unique repository of names and narratives of Holocaust victims, filling crucial gaps in primary record collections. The investigation centers on the journal’s potential not only to contribute names to existing databases of Holocaust victims—many of whom are still unrecorded—but also to enhance genealogical methods through the integration of network analysis. By examining Polish Jew, this study illustrates how second-tier records can extend beyond mere supplements to primary data, acting instead as vital tools for reconstructing complex social and familial networks disrupted by the Holocaust. The paper proposes a methodological framework combining traditional genealogical research with modern network analysis techniques to deepen our understanding of Jewish community dynamics during and after World War II. This approach not only aids in identifying individual victims and survivors but also in visualizing the broader interactions within Jewish diaspora communities. This research underscores the significance of Polish Jew in the broader context of Holocaust remembrance. It offers a novel pathway for the future of Jewish genealogical research, advocating for the strategic use of second-tier records in scholarly investigations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Trends and Topics in Jewish Genealogy)

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23 pages, 15328 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Researching Pre-1808 Polish-Jewish Ancestral Roots: The KUMEC and KRELL Case Studies

by Hanoch Daniel Wagner

Genealogy 2024, 8(2), 35; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8020035 - 27 Mar 2024

Viewed by 1827

Abstract

Tracing the ancestral roots of Polish Jews before the introduction of metrical data in 1808 represents a unique and complex challenge for genealogists and historians alike. Indeed, limited official records, shifting geopolitical boundaries, and the absence of standardized documentation practices characterize that early era. Sometimes, however, genealogical sources and records unique to Jews, based on religious daily life and traditions, have subsisted. When available, they open unforeseen avenues into identifiable family histories for which no other record, or personal memories, are available. In other cases, less well-known archival records unexpectedly emerge to elucidate a perplexing genealogical problem. The present article deals with two such instances with a similar starting point, namely, the apparent impossibility of merging two family clusters with the same surname in a given town. The first case deals with two separate KUMEC clusters in the small Polish town of Konskie. Research of this specific case, using limited official records, leads to the discovery of a single-family line dating back to the early 1600s, by means of complementary metrical and rabbinical data. The second case deals with two distinct KRELL clusters in the city of Warsaw, which, after 25 years of extensive but unsuccessful research, finally leads to merging into a cohesive KRELL ancestral line dating back to the early 1700s, by means of a less exploited source of archival records. The present study puts forward guiding principles for searches back to pre-1808 Jewish family history. As such, it should be useful to researchers encountering similar roadblocks in the quest for their Jewish ancestors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Trends and Topics in Jewish Genealogy)

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13 pages, 275 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Tracing Jewish Ancestry and Beyond—Exploring the Transformative Impact and Possibilities of the Documentation of Jewish Records Worldwide (DoJR) Project

by Sallyann Sack and Amanda Kluveld

Genealogy 2024, 8(2), 34; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8020034 - 26 Mar 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1633

Abstract

This article analyses the transformative impact of the Documentation of Jewish Records Worldwide (DoJR) project, launched in 2017, on Jewish genealogy. Jewish genealogy, deeply rooted in centuries of tradition and cultural significance, transcends mere ancestral tracing, embodying a comprehensive exploration of Jewish history and heritage. The DoJR project represents a monumental shift in this field, aiming to compile a comprehensive, freely accessible online catalog, JCat, of every existing document of every Jew who ever lived. This endeavor reshapes our approach to Jewish genealogy and profoundly deepens our understanding of Jewish history. This article delves into the historical context of Jewish genealogy, tracing its evolution from ancient times through various challenges, including the Holocaust’s devastating impact on Jewish genealogical records. It highlights the pioneering efforts in the field and the modern advancements that have facilitated the growth of Jewish genealogy, including DNA testing and digital technologies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Trends and Topics in Jewish Genealogy)

16 pages, 332 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Contemporary Jewish Genealogy: Assuming the Role of Former Landsmanshafts

by Kamila Klauzinska

Genealogy 2024, 8(1), 26; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8010026 - 7 Mar 2024

Viewed by 1912

Abstract

To understand the changing trends in Jewish Genealogy over the past 40 years, the author has interviewed more than one hundred genealogists around the world. All of them are connected to the two most important genealogy organisations, JewishGen and JRI-Poland. They range from hobbyists researching their own families to professionals researching specific prewar Polish shtetls and those serving the entire genealogical community. Based on their responses to 26 questions, the author has identified two important features of contemporary Jewish genealogy: its democratisation and institutionalisation. The democratisation of genealogical research has contributed to a great expansion of the field. The focus of interest is no longer limited to only rabbinical families but is also concerned with the common man. Thus, genealogists today speak not only on behalf of sheyne yidn and otherwise distinguished families but also on behalf of the millions of murdered „ordinary” Jews who once lived in Poland. The institutionalisation of genealogy refers to the degree to which genealogical research organisations like JewishGen or JRI-Poland now provide some of the same functions provided years ago by the landsmanshaft institutions. Today, descendants of a particular shtetl often discover and connect to each other through genealogical researchers and these genealogical organisations. How these Jewish genealogical practices can be/are used to strengthen the landsmanshaft-like function will be examined. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Trends and Topics in Jewish Genealogy)

14 pages, 295 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Using Auschwitz Prisoner Numbers to Correct Deportation Lists

by Jean-Pierre Stroweis

Genealogy 2024, 8(1), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8010023 - 27 Feb 2024

Viewed by 3208

Abstract

A list of the first Jews deported from Compiègne, France on 27 March 1942 to Auschwitz-Birkenau was never found. Similarly, there is no known arrival list for this convoy. All the 1112 men entered the camp, were assigned prisoner numbers, and were then tattooed. In 1978, Serge Klarsfeld created a list by assembling sub-lists from WWII and immediate post-war sources. Despite significant ongoing research by Klarsfeld and others, no definitive list was ever compiled. Material recorded and maintained by the Nazis (daily count book, death registers, entry cards) pertaining to this early period does exist. This paper demonstrates how systematic use of Auschwitz prisoner numbers combined with French censuses and metrical records enabled us to significantly revise our records of who was deported in this transport, by eliminating dozens of names, amending many more, and adding several others. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Trends and Topics in Jewish Genealogy)

12 pages, 200 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Searching for Jewish Ancestors before They Had a Fixed Family Name—Three Case Studies from Bohemia, Southern Germany, and Prague

by Thomas Fürth

Genealogy 2024, 8(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8010005 - 4 Jan 2024

Viewed by 2568

Abstract

Anyone who traces their Jewish ancestors back to the 18th century and even further back in history encounters the challenge of looking for ancestry without the clue that a fixed family name provides. Before the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century, when Jews were forced by law to adopt a fixed family name, Ashkenazim Jewish families used patronymic names as last names. A patronymic name changes every generation. Sometimes, in larger cities, various types of nicknames were used as last names. Such a nickname could change within a generation and often indicated the place a person came from, his occupation, or personal characteristics. In this article, I will show, using three case studies, how I have faced the challenge of determining which patronymic names and nicknames my ancestors used as last names before they were forced to adopt a fixed family name. The three case studies are the ancestors of Josef Stern, who lived in the late 18th and early 19th century in Neu Bistritz in southern Bohemia, today Nova Bystrice in Czechia; Julius Strauss, 1883–1939, who lived in the late 18th, 19th, and early 20th century in Frücht and Giessen in Nassau/Hesse, today in southern Germany; and Simon Reiniger, who lived in Prague in the 18th and early 19th century. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Trends and Topics in Jewish Genealogy)

29 pages, 2752 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Notes toward a Demographic History of the Jews

by Sergio DellaPergola

Genealogy 2024, 8(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8010002 - 27 Dec 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4654

Abstract

As an essential prerequisite to the genealogical study of Jews, some elements of Jewish demographic history are provided in a long-term transnational perspective. Data and estimates from a vast array of sources are combined to draw a profile of Jewish populations globally, noting changes in geographical distribution, vital processes (marriages, births and deaths), international migrations, and changes in Jewish identification. Jews often anticipated the transition from higher to lower levels of mortality and fertility, or else joined large-scale migration flows that reflected shifting constraints and opportunities locally and globally. Cultural drivers typical of the Jewish minority interacted with socioeconomic and political drivers coming from the encompassing majority. The main centers of Jewish presence globally repeatedly shifted, entailing the intake within Jewish communities of demographic patterns from significantly different environments. During the 20th century, two main events reshaped the demography of the Jews globally: the Shoah (destruction) of two thirds of all Jews in Europe during World War II, and the independence of the State of Israel in 1948. Mass immigration and significant convergence followed among Jews of different geographical origins. Israel’s Jewish population grew to constitute a large share—and in the longer run—a potential majority of all Jews worldwide. Since the 19th century, and with increasing visibility during the 20th and the 21st, Jews also tended to assimilate in the respective Diaspora environments, leading to a blurring of identificational boundaries and sometimes to a numerical erosion of the Jewish population. This article concludes with some implications for Jewish genealogical studies, stressing the need for contextualization to enhance their value for personal memory and for analytic work. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Trends and Topics in Jewish Genealogy)

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12 pages, 632 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Genesis of Jewish Genealogy

by Aaron Demsky

Genealogy 2023, 7(4), 91; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy7040091 - 21 Nov 2023

Viewed by 2523

Abstract

This paper examines the structure, message, and content of biblical genealogies in light of literary analysis and social anthropology. In particular, the focus is on the so-called “Table of Nations” in Genesis 10. My basic assumption is that most biblical genealogies are a literary genre employing various devices that carry a message using symbolic numbers, chiastic structure, and anticipation. These lists interact and supplement the narrative, sometimes as a foil to the story line. They are inserted at relevant points of change in the story of mankind from Adam and Eve to Joseph and his brothers. I even propose that these insertions are the earliest form of dividing the book of Genesis into installments, a precursor to weekly Torah readings and to the later division into chapters as in the printed text. The underlying message of this chapter is the value concept of the brotherhood of mankind stemming from one father—Noah. This innovative idea of universal kinship breaks with the common pagan view prevalent in antiquity that man’s place is to serve the gods and to have little or no personal identity. Note that the great urban cultures of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia have left us no real records of family lineage other than the long king lists that reflect dynastic power. No doubt the importance of oral and written lineage stems from a tribal culture like that of the ancient Hebrews and their kindred. This overriding view even shaped the Nimrud pericope, describing his founding the urban centers of Babylon and Assyria. Genealogy became the natural medium expressing this message of universal kinship. Basic to understanding biblical genealogies is discerning two patterns of kinship, one, linear, stretching up to ten generations, and two, segmented genealogies, noting an eponymous “father” and his segmented offspring or wives. Our understanding of these structures in the Bible is shaped by the research of social anthropologists who studied oral genealogy among analphabetic tribes in Africa and the Middle East. I apply these observations and methodology in a detailed commentary on the Table of Nations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Trends and Topics in Jewish Genealogy)

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29 pages, 6539 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Picturing Jewish Genealogy: Using Nineteenth-Century Portrait Albums as a Genealogical Source

by Michele Klein

Genealogy 2023, 7(4), 87; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy7040087 - 15 Nov 2023

Viewed by 2562

Abstract

This essay argues that the earliest genre of Jewish family photograph albums, the nineteenth-century portrait-card albums created by the bourgeoisie, may become a starting point for genealogical discoveries. Some display the visual genealogies of extended families, and many reveal the genealogical memories of family migration. The case studies presented here showcase the process through which an album became a starting point for the construction or expansion of a family’s genealogy. They draw on the radial sources commonly employed by family genealogists, including birth and burial records, censuses, and other archival materials. The discussion looks at the role of family albums in the passing down of family history to future generations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Trends and Topics in Jewish Genealogy)

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14 pages, 994 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Surnames of Jewish People in the Land of Israel from the Sixteenth Century to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century

by Alexander Beider

Genealogy 2023, 7(3), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy7030049 - 25 Jul 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 14694

Abstract

This paper outlines a study of surnames used by various Jewish groups in the Land of Israel for Ashkenazic Jews, prior to the First Aliyah (1881), and for Sephardic and Oriental Jews up to the end of the 1930s. For the 16th–18th centuries, the surnames of Jews who lived in Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, and Hebron can be mainly extracted from the rabbinic literature. For the 19th century, by far the richest collection is provided by the materials of the censuses organized by Moses Montefiore (1839–1875). For the turn of the 20th century, data for several additional censuses are available, while for the 1930s, we have access to the voter registration lists of Sephardic and Oriental Jews of Jerusalem, Safed, and Haifa. All these major sources were used in this paper to address the following questions: the use or non-use of hereditary family names in various Jewish groups, the geographic roots of Jews that composed the Yishuv, as well as the existence of families continuously present in the Land of Israel for many generations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Trends and Topics in Jewish Genealogy)

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