Yizkor Books: Yizkor books are memorial books that present the histories of pre-Holocaust Eastern European Jewish communities. To learn whether there is a yizkor book for your town, consult the yizkor book bibliography at the Center for Jewish History or check the Yizkor Book project on the JewishGen website. It should be noted that most of these books are written in Hebrew or Yiddish. The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research has one of the world’s largest collections of yizkor books. For example, two yizkor books about Ukrainian towns at YIVO are:
Bakalczuk-Felin, Meilech. Yizker-Bukh Khelm (Yohanesburg, South Africa: Khelmer Landsmanshaft, 1954). In Yiddish. American Jewish Historical Society DS 135 .P62 C5 and YIVO Memorial Books Collection Chelm 1954
Dombrovska, D., Abraham Wein, and Aharon Vais, eds. Pinḳas ha-ḳehilot. Polin: Entsiḳlopedyah shel ha-Yishuvim ha-Yehudiyim le-min hivVasdam ṿe-ʻad le-aḥar Shoʾat Milḥemet ha-ʻOlam ha-Sheniyah, Volumes I-VIII (Yerushalayim: Yad ṿa-Shem, Rashut ha-Zikaron la-Shoʾah ṿela-Gevurah, 1976-2005). Your town may have been in Poland at some time in its history. This is a multi-volume encyclopedia of towns, published by Yad Vashem in Hebrew, providing brief town histories and demographic information. Reading Room DS 135 .E81 P65 1976
Harkavi, Zvi, and Yaakov Goldbourt. Sefer Yeḳaṭrinoslav-Denepropeṭrovsḳ : Ha-Kehilah ha-Yehudit me-hiVasdah ṿe-ʻad ha-Yom (Yerushalayim: Hotsaʾat Irgun Yotsʾe Yeḳaṭrinoslav-Denepropeṭrovsḳ be-Yiśraʾel, 1973). In Hebrew. YIVO 000077203
Magocsi, Paul Robert. Ukraine, A Historical Atlas (Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University of Toronto Press, 1985). This book provides maps showing the changes in Ukraine’s borders through 1985. Genealogy Institute G 2151 .S1 M34 1987
For additional sources at the Center for Jewish History, search CJH’s online catalog.
Ukraine—A Historical Atlas by