Genealogy Guide: Romania and Moldova

Halévy, M. A., and Arhivele Statului Din Iași. Romanian Census Records (Avotaynu, 1995). Indexes and records of selected counties from 1824/25 and 1852 Romanian censuses.   Genealogy Institute   Fiche 38

Ancel, Jean ed. Documents Concerning the Fate of Romanian Jewry during the Holocaust (Beate Klarsfeld Foundation, 1986).  12 vols. in 7 languages. Leo Baeck Institute   DS 135 R7 D7

Ancel, Jean, and Victor Eskenasy, compilers. Bibliography of the Jews in Romania (Goldstein-Goren Centre for the History of the Jews in Romania, Tel Aviv University, 1991). Reading Room  DS 135 .R7 A6 1991

Braham, Randolph L., ed. The Destruction of Romanian and Ukrainian Jews during the Antonescu Era (Columbia University Press, 1997).  YIVO  000092176

Dicker, Herman. Piety and Perseverance: Jews from the Carpathian Mountains (Sepher-Hermon Press, 1981). YIVO   000078890

Eskenasy, Victor, et al. Izvoare și Mărturii Referitoare la Evreii din România [Sources and Testimonies Concerning the Jews in Romania] (Federația Comunităților Evreiești din Republica Socialistă România, Centrul de Documentare, 1986-1988).  Romanian, but includes summaries of the documents in English.   YIVO   000083842

Geller, Jacob. Ha-Yehudim ha-Sefaradim be-Romanyah [The Sephardic Jews in Romania] (Tel Aviv University, 1983). YIVO   000090751

Iancu, Carol. Jews in Romania 1866-1919: From Exclusion to Emancipation (Columbia University Press, 1996).  YIVO   00092175

Ioanid, Radu. The Ransom of the Jews: The Story of the Extraordinary Secret Bargain between Romania and Israel (Ivan R. Dee, 2005). YIVO   000114599

Rotman, Liviu, George Weiner, and Lenn Schramm. The Romanian Kehillah: The Pulse, Character and History of the Jewish Community in Romania (Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center, Tel Aviv University, 2015).  YIVO   000134194

Safran, Alexandre. Resisting the Storm: Romania 1940-1947: Memoirs (Yad Vashem, 1987). YIVO   000082510

Weiner, Miriam. Jewish Roots in Ukraine and Moldova: Pages from the Past and Archival Inventories (YIVO, 1999). This book is useful for research in Bessarabia and Bukovina.  Genealogy Institute   DS 135 .U4 W45 1999

Landsmanshaftn are societies formed by Jewish immigrants from the same villages, towns, and cities in Central and Eastern Europe. These became a dominant form of American-Jewish social organization in the late 19th century, and include religious, cultural, and social organizations, as well as American-style fraternal societies. Landsmanshaftn provided immigrants with social networks and financial assistance with health and accident insurance, cemetery plots and funeral expenses. YIVO has an extensive collection of archival materials from landsmanshaftn representing Romanian Jews, including former residents of towns such as Bacau, Baran, Birlad, Botosani, Bucharest, Burdujeni, Radauti, and Satu Mare, and regions like Bereg, Bukovina and Maramures. For more information, see the Genealogy Institute's research guide on landsmanschaften.

Yizkor (memorial) books provide the history of Jewish communities destroyed or ravaged by the Holocaust.  Most include photos and biographical articles, and many have name lists of those deported and killed (these lists are also called necrologies).  Yizkor books are written primarily in Yiddish and Hebrew.

YIVO has a large collection of Yizkor books, including those covering Bacau, Baia Mare, Baia Sprie, Beclean, Bessarabia, Bistrita-Nasaud, Bivolari, Borsa Maramures, Bronka, Cluj-Napoca, Copalnic Manastur, Darabani, Dej, Dolgoye, Dorohoi, Edinet, Gertsa, Gherla, Gura Humorului, Halmeu, Hirlau, Huedin, Ileanda, Kapreshty, Kushnitsa, Maramures, Marculesti, Marghita, Mihaileni, Oradea, Radauti, Rakhov, Reteag, Romania, Ruscova, Sadgora, Salaj, Saveni, Snyatyn, Somcuta, Satu-Mare, Stefanesti, Strimtura, Tasnad, Tirgu Lapus, Tirgu Mures, Transylvania, Turt, Tyachev, Vatra-Dornei, Vinogradov, and Zadneye.

New York Public Library has also digitized some Yizkor books and placed them online. Some of these are translated.

For more information, see the Genealogy Institute’s research guide on Yizkor Books.

Personal papers and family collections at the Center for Jewish History may be found in the Center’s online catalog.

Territorial Photographic Collection – Rumania.  Over 450 photographs on various subjects can be found in the “People of a Thousand Towns” online catalog  [free registration is required].  There are also numerous photographs of Carpathia and Maramures.   YIVO Archives   RG 120 -- Rumania

Roman Vishniac Collection (1930's).The collection contains Vishniac’s photographs of Jewish life in Romania in the late 1930’s.   YIVO Archives   RG 1223