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Genealogy Guide: Resources at the Center for Jewish History

Collections

The YIVO Territorial Collection contains miscellaneous materials relating to Jewish life around the world, such as:

  • Territorial Collection: Germany, RG 116—Germany 1:  Records dating from the 18th-20th centuries include family papers, government documents, and incomplete Jewish community records from Altona, Berlin, Breslau (Wroclaw, Poland), Frankfurt am Main, and several other towns, including registers and minute books.

The YIVO Archives also has scattered records of Jewish communities in Eastern Europe:

  • Lithuanian Jewish Communities, RG 2:  Records of more than 100 Jewish communities from 1919-1926 include vital statistics and community council minutes, with extensive files on Kedainiai, Marijampole, Panevezys, Siauliai, Ukmerge, Vilkaviskis, and 7 other towns.  Records from 1844-1940 include communal, burial society, and charitable society registers, mainly from Kaunas (Kovno).
  • Personenstandarchiv Koblenz, RG 242:  Photocopies of confiscated Jewish records (1677-1938) include vital and cemetery records, community registers, and tax lists from such places as Berlin, Dessau, and Frankfurt an der Oder.
  • Vilna Jewish Community Council, RG 10:  Incomplete records from 1800 to1940 include taxpayer lists; birth, death, and marriage certificates from 1909-1930; and lists of Jews in Vilna in 1925 and 1937. 
  • Minsk Jewish Community Council, RG 12: Incomplete records from 1825 to 1917 include vital records, membership and contribution lists to major synagogues, military conscription lists, and tax receipt-books. 

Contact Information

YIVO Archives
15 West 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
(212) 246-6080
archives@yivo.cjh.org

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