Traby were distributed in March. Oshmiany District, which was in Vilnius
Guberniya during the Russian Empire period, is today in Belarus.
Additional revision lists for nine other towns in the Oshmiany District
remain to be translated. Needed is a coordinator for the Oshmiany District
Research Group. If you are interested in filling the post, or can recommend
someone who may be willing to serve, please contact Howard Margol:
HOMARGOL@aol.com
I shall be happy to work with a new coordinator until he/she is comfortable
in the role.
If you wish information about the Oshmiany District Research Group
and the data it has generated, please contact me.
I am trying to locate the following five members of the Oshmiany District Group whose email addresses are no longer valid: Jerry Caplan, Edward M. Kaplan, Allyson Levin, Ronna Newburger, Donald Stone. Any help with contact information will be much appreciated.
Olga Zabludoff
Temporary coordinator, Oshmiany District
Washington, DC
From: Sheldon Clare <clare15905@gmail.com>
I have come across the "Life and Holocaust of Olshan" book on the internet. Several years ago, I helped to translate the book from Yiddish to English. I believe that one of the authors, Yakov Kozlovsky was related to my mother Dora (Dina) Clare. I had met him in Israel in 1975.
My mother was born in Olshan in 1899. Her maiden name was Grodzienski( Grodziencziek?). Her parents were Shmuel and Rivka (Kaminski). The Kaminski family came from a neighboring town of Oshmiyani(Oshmana). My grandfather died about 1917 and is believed to be buried in Rakov. In 1923, my mother and grandmother came to the US. Rivka died in 1925 and is buried in Brooklyn, NY. All of my mother;s siblings arrived in the US before she came and none of the family were in the Holocaust. Mother died in 1990 and is buried in Queens, NY.
This June, I plan to travel to Lithuania on a genealogy tour which will include visiting my father's shtetl of Anysckiai and hopefully, I will also be able to go to Olshan.
I now live in Tucson, Arizona where I moved after retiring fro the University of Pittsburgh where I taught chemistry. In Tucson, there is a Jewish genealogy group which I attend and I also am involved in running a Yiddish class. I grew up in The Bronx, NY where most of my Olshan family resided.
Sheldon Clare, Ph.D
Tucson, AZ 85715
My paternal grandfather, Hyman Lubetsky, was from Ashmyany. He
immigrated to the US in the early 20th century. I understand his
extended family was killed during WWII. Have you run across any
information on the Lubetsky family?
I am considering visiting Ashmyany in the fall of this year. Is there
anyone in the area who you could refer me to who could shed some light on my forebears’ existence while living there or who could be a guide?
Thank you.
Steve Rose
From: Steve Rose <stevenmrose@...net>
My paternal grandfather, Hyman Lubetsky, was from Ashmyany. He
immigrated to the US in the early 20th century. I understand his
extended family was killed during WWII. Have you run across any
information on the Lubetsky family?
I am considering visiting Ashmyany in the fall of this year. Is there
anyone in the area who you could refer me to who could shed some light
on my forebears’ existence while living there or who could be a guide?
Thank you.
Steve Rose
LitvakSIG is pleased to announce that a majority of the known, microfilmed
vital records available for towns in the Vilnius Gubernia have now been or
are in the process of being translated.
The Vilnius Gubernia VRT Project has now been incorporated into the relevant
District Research Groups for towns in Lida, Oshmiany, Trakai and Vilnius
Districts. The groups are responsible for funding translations of remaining
available vital records. The files will be available on the district
Shutterfly websites.
The spreadsheet files for the towns in Lida, Oshmiany and Trakai districts
have been posted to their Shutterfly sites. The files for the towns in
Vilnius District will be posted to that Shutterfly site over the next few
months. Future translations of remaining filmed vital records will be funded
by the Vilnius District Research Group.
Many but not all, of the vital records are already in the ALD. The rest will
become available in the ALD over the next several years; in no case less
than 18 months from date of receipt of translations.
No vital records for towns in Disna or Svencionys districts were
microfilmed, nor included in the original VRT Project.
Those who contributed the qualifying amount to a vital records project for
a town in Vilnius District will receive the spreadsheets received to date.
Effective with this announcement a qualifying contribution of $100 to the
Vilnius District Research Group will be necessary for access future filmed
vital records translations. This contribution will provide you with early
access to all records translated by the district group thus far (revision,
family, tax, voter and other gubernia wide lists).
A $100 contribution to any research group allows for early access to data
for a 5 year period, based on calendar years, not contribution date.
Contributions made after Yom Kippur are considered to be made in the
following calendar year. Contribute now and you maintain early access
through December 31, 2017. (This is true for all research groups).
The LitvakSIG Vital Records Translation Project (VRT) was a huge project
which proved of immense interest to our researchers, as evidenced by the
financial support the project elicited. Since its launching in the year
2000, close to $250,000 was contributed by you and your fellow researchers
specifically earmarked for translations of vital records. Your membership
dues, other unrestricted contributions and corporate (employer) matching
funds of almost $50,000 have also been used for the translation of vital
records in all gubernii.
Sincere thanks to everyone involved in making this announcement possible:
the volunteers who coordinated fundraising and translations, those with
language skills who gave their time to do translations, and especially the
contributors whose support enabled this huge success.
As later years of records become available to us for translation, we hope we
can rely on you for your continuing financial support. Rabbinate vital
records which were not microfilmed are often for 20th century years, are
being translated for some towns and we intend to continue those translations
where funding is available. Your contributions to District Research Groups
noting Town Name-Rabbinate VRT are appreciated.
This is truly a collective effort and we all share and take great pride in
this achievement.
We hope you find your ancestors in these records but please understand that
many years' records are missing, have been lost, or have been destroyed due
to fire or war.
For those reasons, it is important you continue to support the work of the
Research Groups who continue to translate other types of lists, which will
often be the only source for you to locate your ancestors.
Special thanks to Joel Ratner, the original Coordinator of the entire VRT
Project and more recently coordinator of the Vilnius Gubernia, then the
Vilnius District VRT projects. Likewise, we thank Aaron Roetenberg who was
the Kaunas Gubernia VRT Coordinator and who continues to be involved. We
also have to thank Howard Margol and Dorothy Leivers. Howard was involved
with the VRT Project from its beginning and is now Records Acquisition and
Translation Coordinator for LitvakSIG. Dorothy does double duty as Suwalki
Gubernia Coordinator and over-all Coordinator of all District Research
Groups.
If you would like to support translations of any vital records, please make
your contribution to the relevant Research Group, and enter the name of the
town - VRT in the Notes Box of the online form at
www.litvaksig.org/contribute. A $100 contribution qualifies you for early
access to data for your Research Group, including the vital records within
that group.
Mazel Tov to everyone and sincere thanks for your interest, involvement and
support.
Eden Joachim
President
The database and discussion group of LitvakSIG
(litvaksig@lyris.jewishgen.org) are hosted by JewishGen
From: Otto Bartsch <de.tekenaar@verizon.net>
To whom it may concern in Golshany,
I feel a bit uncomfortable sending these items from our long-ago shared history since I cannot predict the emotions it would elicit here even now. I finally decided to send it because history cannot be changed. If these offend, I apologize to all in your community.
I’m Otto Bartsch, named after my father, who was briefly stationed in Holszany during early June 1944. He sent these two pencil sketches drawn on 5 June 1944 in this envelope to my mother the next day, D-Day, the WW2 Allied invasion of Europe in the west.
When I showed these sketches to a friend in Sebeszh, where my father was stationed in ’43, he sent me photos of the same house and church that my father sketched in ’44, 73 years of history and still the same! I sent copies of my father’s ’42/’43 Sebeszh photos there several years ago, which are now in their local museum.
Best regards from Texas,
Otto Bartsch