New York: Slovakia's Jewish Heritage Route, Nov. 1

Dr. Maroš Borský launched, in 2007, the Slovak Jewish Heritage Route.

It links 24 important Jewish heritage sites around Slovakia, including synagogues, Museum of Jewish culture branches, historic Jewish cemeteries, Holocaust memorials and Jewish history.

He will speak about the current project at 2pm, on Monday, November 1, at the Center for Jewish History, 15 W. 16th Street, New York, NY.

Learn more about the Slovak Jewish Heritage Route and see the interactive map for more information.

The project is complex, and includes research, educational and promotional activities, all aimed at preservation of Jewish heritage in Slovakia. Activities are based on results of the Synagoga Slovaca documentation project of synagogues (2001-2006). This survey (including architectural plans, photographs, descriptions) was used to create an audience for Jewish culture in Slovakia, shape cultural policies and contribute towards better management of Jewish heritage sites.

There is an extensive section on Jewish history of the area, including the following:

... While evidence exists of Jewish migration to the territory of today's Slovakia from Bohemia, Austria, and Germany in the 11th century, and of the founding of the first Jewish community in Bratislava (Pressburg, Pozsony) in the late 13th century, the migrations and settlements of the 17th and 18th centuries had the most significant impact on the subsequent development of the Jewish community. Encouraged by the Hungarian aristocracy, Jews migrating to northern Hungary from Moravia, Galicia and Bukovina, and Lower Austria tended to settle near the borders of the states from which they had come, and to maintain religious, communal, and linguistic ties with Jewish communities across the borders. ...

Admission is free, but reservations are required.

Slovakia: History of Jewish Bratislava-Pressburg-Pozsony

Do you have roots in Bratislava (Pressburg, Pozsony)? A new book may shed light on family history.

A. Robert Neurath, who lived in the city for 31 years has written a soon-to-be-released book about the history of the city: "Bratislava / Pressburg / Pozsony: Jewish Secular Endeavors (1867-1938)" (Xlibris).

It was in Austro Hungary, but is now the capital of Slovakia.

According to the press release:

Unknown to many, Bratislava, presently the capital of Slovakia, used to be in the Habsburg Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, a multi-national city. German, Hungarian and Slovak speaking residents represented the majority of the population, explaining why the city had multiple names – Pressburg, Pozsony, and Bratislava. But it took a long time before the Jewish community in this city was given the same privileges and rights that other religious groups enjoyed. Legal emancipation of Jews was achieved in 1867, after the conversion of the Empire into the Dual Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (Bratislava being in the Hungarian part).

Neurath attempts to tell the story of the emanicipated Jews of Bratislava and their contribution to its economy, culture, education and political life. it begins with architecture providing documents “written in stone,” and continues with arts, sports, politics, business and medicine.

Born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, Neurath graduated from the Technical University there in 1957, immigrated to the US in 1964, and received a doctorate in microbiology at the Technical University (Vienna) in 1958.

For more than 45 years he conducted virus research - influenza, rabies, hepatitis B, human immunodeficiency virus I - and on vaccines against them. Neurath authored 250 scientific papers, including monographs and book chapters, and 23 patents.

Following the fall of communisim, he visited Bratislava and read new books about the city's past Jewish community, which he felt did not give enough credit to the secular endeavors and achievements of local Jewish professionals and businessmen prior to WWII. The present book, according to the release, attempts to correct those deficiences by relying on pre-war information and input from family and friends.

For more information, contact Xlibris (888-795-4274), or contact the author for more information.

North Carolina: Shtetls and camps, Aug. 25

The daughter of Holocaust survivors - who has been researching her family history and looking for surviving relatives for more than 50 years - traveled to ancestral villages in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Germany.

Deborah Long will speak about her research trip on Wednesday, August 25. The dessert-and-discussion event, from 7.30-9.30pm, will be in a private home and is for the Durham-Chapel Hill Jewish Federation.

Long will recount her shocking 2009 unearthing of family artifacts that compelled her to visit ancestral villages in Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, and also to northern Germany to understand her parents' Holocaust history.

The presentation includes her methodology, her trip through shtetls and concentration camps and joyful discovery upon returning home.

A professional educator, Long has written more than 20 books, including a memoir about growing up as a child of survivors.

Those who donate $118 or more to the Durham-Chapel Hill Jewish Federation will receive a free copy of her book.

For more information, send an email or click here.

San Francisco: Hungarian research, Feb. 21

"Family Research in Greater Hungary" will be presented by Vivian Kahn, at the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society's next meeting on Sunday, February 21.

The program begins at 1pm, at the Oakland Regional Family History Center.

Vivian will provide an overview of the history of Hungary's Jewish community and discuss resources available to those researching roots from the current and former territory of Hungary, including archival records in Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine, and Hungary and sources such as burial and military records.

The session will describe and provide tips for searching JewishGen's All Hungary Database, - one of JewishGen's largest all-country databases with nearly a million records -with information on individuals living in areas in present-day Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, northern Serbia, northwestern Romania, and subcarpathian Ukraine.

Vivian will discuss some of the SIG's current projects and demonstrate additional online resources.

The Hungarian SIG coordinator, she moderates its discussion group.

An experienced researcher, Vivian has presented workshops on Jewish genealogy and, in particular, Hungarian Jewish family research at the annual international Jewish genealogy conferences and for other groups.

She's been investigating her ancestral roots in pre-Trianon Hungary for some 18 years, and has traveled to Hungary, Slovakia, Israel and Salt Lake City. Additionally, she is familiar with the wide range of resources for information on Jewish families in her areas of interest. See her family website here.

JewishGen vice president for SIG Affairs, Vivian is coordinator for SIG and Research Group participation for JGSLA 2010.

For more information, click here.

ShtetLinks: What's new for you?

Many researchers have created online memorials to the Jewish communities where their ancestors once lived. These sites are a valuable resource for current researchers and for those who will be searching for information in the future.

The sites are on JewishGen at the links below for each.

These are the new (N) as well as the updated (U) sites for October, listed by current country.

CHINA
Harbin, China (U)

BELARUS
Homyel (Gomel, Homl), Belarus (N)
Created by: Paul Zoglin

LITHUANIA
Varniai (Vorne), Lithuania (N)
Created by: Susan Gerichter
Webpage Design: ShtetLinks volunteer Greg Meyer

Zagare (Zhager), Lithuania (N)
Created by: Cliff Marks
Webpage Design: ShtetLinks volunteer Nicky Carklin

Aukstoji Panemune (Panemon, Poniemon Frentzela), Lithuania (U)

POLAND
Pila (Schneidemuhl), Poland (N)
Created by: Peter Cullman

SLOVAKIA
Poruba pod Vihorlatom (Nemetvagas), Slovakia (N)
Created by: Marshall J. Katz

UKRAINE
Grimaylov (Grzymalow, Hrymajiliv), Ukraine (N)
Created by: Susana Leistner Bloch
Webmaster: Edward Rosenbaum

Strabychovo (Sztrabicso, Strabichevo), Ukraine (N)
Compiled by: Amos Israel Zezmer
Created/Webpage Design: Marshall J. Katz

Kovel (Kowel), Ukraine (U)

Tracing the Tribe readers who would like to create a webpage for their ancestral shtetls or kahals (there is a Sephardic communities section), or adopt an existing orphan shtetlpage should send an email for more information.

If creating webpages and HTML is not your thing, don't worry. A group of dedicated individuals will help you create this memorial for your ancestral home.

For more information, contact Susana Leistner Bloch, ShtetLinks vice president.

Los Angeles: Ostrich feather mystery, Nov. 17

Learn about the ostrich feather mystery at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles, on Tuesday, November 17, in Santa Monica.

The session begins at 7.30pm, at Sha'arei Am Santa Monica Synagogue, as Israeli author Miriam Romm discusses her new book,"Ostrich Feathers: A Holocaust Mystery." A book sale and signing will follow.

Romm was eight years old when a neighbor's careless remark changed her world, when she learned her father was not biological but adoptive. A yearning to know the truth about her life began, not until she was a grandmother did she find time to look into her past.

For 10 years, she's been conducting genealogical research, and has traveled the globe pursuing the fragile chain of information that might lead her back to her biological father who had disappeared during the Holocaust. Romm's research has culminated cin her narrative non-fiction book, "Ostrich Feathers."

From the USHMM and Yad Vashem to archives in Poland and Slovakia, following ghostly tracks and fragments of memory she painstakingly arranged the pieces of her life's puzzle until they formed a coherent picture.

The book is an English translation of her critically acclaimed Hebrew novel, Notzat Yaen (2007).

Romm holds an engineering degree from The Technion (Haifa) and worked in marketing for many years. She's married to an Israeli Air Force pilot and diplomat, and volunteers with and initiates Jewish commemoration projects in Israel and Poland.

For more information and directions, visit the JGSLA website, go to our website.

Seattle: Lady Luck and the Hungarian Archives, June 8

Extreme Hungary is on the menu when Theodore Grossman presents "Lady Luck on the Hungarian Archives Roller Coaster," at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State, on Monday, June 8.

The program begins at 7pm at the Stroum Jewish Community Center on Mercer Island.

Grossman will talk about researching Jewish family history in Hungary and Slovakia, where his father was born and raised.

His father lived 15 years in what is now Slovakia. For nine years it was in Hungary and part of Czechoslovakia for six years. Neither his father nor the town moved - only the border!

Jews living outside Austria-Hungary proper but inside the empire – Slavs, Czechs, Poles, Ukrainians, Romanians, Serbs, Croats, etc. – were subjects of a Hungarian government that demanded that they speak the Hungarian language and embrace Magyar culture. Many were thrilled to be rid of Hungary when the borders changed at the end of World War I. But there was no joy among Hungarian Jews, among them the members of his father’s family. They were super patriots who spoke only Hungarian, opposed the Zionist movement, and shared their countrymen's contempt for the other ethnic groups within their borders. “We used to laugh at those who spoke Yiddish,” his father once told him, adding that he and his friends waved Hungarian flags and sang songs that disparaged the non-Hungarians. What a shock it would become when these super patriots were forced to watch many of their non-Jewish countrymen join with the Nazis and attempt to kill all of them.

This program is important for researchers whose quest takes them to more than one country and documents in several languages. Grossman knows some Hungarian so he could research there. In Slovakia, however, he needed help. His archival experiences differed according to the archivists he encountered and ranged from acts of kindness to the proverbial runaround.

A retired newspaper editor and publisher for three decades, his obsession then turned to his father's family. For three years, he studied Hungarian in Seattle and New York, auditing Eastern European classes and researching in libraries. He traveled twice on extended visits to Hungary and Slovakia and wrote a paper, “Riding Lady Luck on Archive Roller Coaster.” (click here to read).

Fees: JGSWS members, free; others, $5. For more information, see the JGSWS site.