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2005
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JANUARY 2008
EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTER:
--New lists of former synagogues of New York City: In addition
to the previous list of synagogues of the Lower East Side, you
can now search two new lists: one for Brooklyn (Kings County),
and another for the Bronx.
THE HOLOCAUST:
--Photographs of the transit camps of Drancy, as well as le
Camp des Milles, both in France,
as well as of the concentration camp in Struthof, France
(Alsace region) are now online.
HOLOCAUST MEMORIALS OF CANADA:
--Photos of the memorial on the grounds of Congregation Emanu-El
Cemetery in Victoria, British Columbia is now available for
viewing.
HOLOCAUST MEMORIALS OF EUROPE:
--The first Museum photos of Holocaust memorials located in France,
Italy and Norway are now online, as well as photos of more
from Hungary. More memorial photos from Germany have
been added; Austria memorials to come.
--Photos of the Holocaust memorial in Zamosc, Poland is now
online.
HOW WE WORKED:
--The Jewish fire department of Krakes (Krok), Lithuania.
LINKS:
--Russian Defense Department database of Russian soldiers who
died or disappeared during World War II.
--Gedunkbuch: lists 128,000 German Jewish victims of Nazi
persecution.
NEW EXHIBITIONS:
--The Habima in New York: The innovative Habima acting troupe
left Russia in 1926 in order to tour and perform in various cities in
Europe and the United States. "The Habima in New York" will tell of
their origins and their time in New York. The exhibition includes
photographs of the cast members in costume, scenes from acts, as well
as reviews of the five plays they performed as part of their
repertoire. Also, a letter of support by Russian playwright Maxim
Gorky is included. The Habima would eventually leave New York for then
Palestine, making Israel their permanent home.
--Castle Garden: The First Entry Point of America: Before Ellis Island served as the
gateway for our immigrant ancestors to enter the
United States, most of them entered a location once
used as a fortress, situated at the tip of the island
of Manhattan named Castle Garden.
--The Modjacot Marionette Theatre: The only Jewish puppet
theatre in America, cir 1920s.
--The Life & Death of a Yiddish Art Theatre: In the 1920s,
various groups, such as the Unser Theatre, tried to make a go
of it at a Yiddish theatre in the Bronx, New York, supported by renown
Yiddish playwrights David Pinski and Peretz Hirshbein,
as well as set designer Boris Aronson.
--An American Kibbutz: From Odessa to Oregon, Utopia in Brief: "Our long wandering comes to an end and a new life begins for us,"
wrote a young Russian Jewish immigrant in 1882, about to start
an agricultural commune. The foreign soil he would soon till,
however, was not in
Eretz
Yisrael, but in the U.S.A., in Oregon,
250 miles south of Portland, near the present-day town of
Glendale.
--"Once a Kingdom: The Life of Maurice Schwartz and the Yiddish Art
Theatre": With permission of the Estate of author Martin Boris, the
Museum is exclusively publishing the only known biography of Yiddish
acting great Maurice Schwartz and the Yiddish Art Theatre that he
founded. This book will be published here in serialized form, i.e.
several chapters each month for approximately one year. This book will
be tied to a future exhibition of Schwartz and the Yiddish Art Theatre
to come in the not too distant future. Also see the display of photos
and review of the 1932 Yiddish Art Theatre production of I. J.
Singer's "Yoshe Kalb."
POSTCARDS FROM HOME:
The exhibition's collection of family photos from pre-war
Western Europe are now being augmented within this exhibition,
e.g. from London and Sheffield, England, as well as
Stockholm, Sweden. More are always welcome.
--Lithuania: Joniskis, Krakes and Siauliai.
--Poland: Czestochowa.
--Ukraine: Donetsk, Konstantinovka, Korostyshev and Luhansk.
STORIES FROM OUR ANCESTRAL HOMES:
--Memoirs of Yardena: The story of the life of Yardena Winter nee
Grunwald from
Nemeany, Slovakia.
TOWNSITES:
--More links to modern-day photographs from Zamosc, Poland.
YIDDISH WORLD:
--Please note above the new exhibitions about the Habima theatre group
from Moscow, and the Modajcot Marionette Theatre.
--Unknown Yiddish Star: If you think you can identify the Yiddish star
in this photo, please let the Museum know at
postmaster@museumoffamilyhistory.com.
--The Life & Death of a Yiddish Art Theatre: In the 1920s,
various groups, such as the Unser Theatre, tried to make a go
of it at a Yiddish theatre in the Bronx, New York, supported by renown
Yiddish playwrights David Pinski and Peretz Hirshbein,
as well as set designer Boris Aronson.
--On the page dedicated to the Vilna Troupe, you can now see
the cast of characters of their first New York City performance of
Ansky's "The Dybbuk", as well as learn the names of the
Troupe who played these parts. You can also read the review and short
synopsis of this classic of the Yiddish theatre. You can also hear a
sound clip from a 1998 interview with Yiddish actress Luba
Kadison on her days with the Vilna Troupe before WWII.
More clips will follow, as Ms. Kadison reflects on her life and
career, also that of her husband Yiddish actor Joseph Buloff,
and their relationship with others, e.g. Maurice Schwartz and
the Yiddish Art Theatre.
--Once a Kingdom: The Life of Maurice Schwartz and the Yiddish Art
Theatre: With permission of the Estate of author Martin Boris, the
Museum is exclusively publishing the only known biography of Yiddish
acting great Maurice Schwartz and the Yiddish Art Theatre that he
founded. This book will be published here in serialized form, i.e.
several chapters each month for approximately one year. This book will
be tied to a future exhibition of Schwartz and the Yiddish Art Theatre
to come in the not too distant future.
FEBRUARY 2008
EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTER:
--Former synagogue lists have been created for all of
Manhattan (includes all the synagogues once on the Lower East Side
as well as all the others) and for Queens and Richmond
(Staten Island) counties.
CEMETERY PROJECT:
--A grounds map for Shaarey Zedek Cemetery in
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada has been added.
FORUMS:
--Zambrow, Poland: Some information about names found on
gravestones found in Zambrow Cemetery and more.
HOLOCAUST MEMORIALS OF EUROPE:
--Austria: Vienna.
--Belarus: Brest (Brisk)
and Pinsk.
--Czech Republic: The first memorial photo is now
online for the town of Kolin and Pilsen, both located in
today's Czech Republic, but
formerly in Bohemia.
--Germany: Bonn and Rotenburg an der Fulda.
--Netherlands: This is a new page too, featuring photos from
the towns of Harderwyck and Kampen and the city of
Amsterdam.
LINKS:
--Jewish Genealogy in Italy.
--Los Angeles, California City and Street Address Directory
1929-1987.
POSTCARDS FROM HOME:
--Latvia: Liepaja (Libau)
and Riga.
--Poland: Grajewo
and Pultusk.
--Ukraine: Berdychiv and Konotop.
TOWNSITES:
--Link to new ShtetLinks Miskolc, Hungary page.
YIDDISH WORLD:
--Newark's 3rd Ward Yiddish Theatre: Recollections about
the Elving's Metropolitan Theatre, once located in the Jewish
area of Newark, New Jersey.
--Lives in the Yiddish Theatre: Eliyahu Goldenberg.
--The Hebrew Actors Union 1923.
--Josef Schmidt, Lyric Tenor.
--Four more chapters of Maurice Schwartz's biography.
MARCH 2008
FORUMS:
--Zambrow, Poland: Photographs from the Zambrow cemetery and a
rededication ceremony. Also, a short tribute to Rev Fishel Danilewicz,
a melamed of Zambrow, by his grandson Dr. Yisrael Levitz.
POSTCARDS FROM HOME:
--Belarus: Pinsk.
--The first pre-war family photos from Scotland have
been added to the exhibition.
--Ukraine: Kovel and Luhansk (Lugansk).
TOWNSITES:
--Link to ShtetLinks Brzesko, Poland page.
YIDDISH WORLD:
--Josef Schmidt, Lyric Tenor.
--Kadison, Buloff and the Vilna Troupe: Read about Yiddish
acting greats Luba Kadison and her husband Joseph Buloff, their times
with the Vilna Troupe, their professional lives, and their acting
philosophies. This exhibition contains several excerpts taken, with
permission, from an interview conducted with Kadison by the late
Martin Boris.
--Chapters 8 to 11 from the Maurice Schwartz's biography
"Once Upon a Kingdom..."
APRIL 2008
HOW WE WORKED:
--Berlin, Germany--Zysia Pressman at his men's clothing store
and factory, before 1933.
THE FAMILY HISTORY THEATRE:
--The virtual theatre is meant to serve as an audio-visual instrument
that can be used to inform the museum "visitor" of some of the
exhibitions that exist within the Museum. Here you can see some video
and hear some audio that cannot be found elsewhere in the Museum. The
first parts include a short video
clip from the upcoming Great Artists Series exhibition about the great
Al Jolson, a sound clip from the exhibitions "Living in
America: Family Life During the Great Depression," "Lives in the
Yiddish Theatre: Luba Kadison and Joseph Buloff," and a sample
video clip from the Museum's Screening Room, from the film
"Yiddish Theatre: A Love Story."
LINKS:
--Heska Amuna Cemetery in Knoxville, Tennessee-names
of burials in this small cemetery.
POSTCARDS FROM HOME:
--Poland: Czyzewo--Hear a short audio clip from the
testimony of someone who managed to survive in the woods of Czyzewo.
The clip can be found at
www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/pfh.czyzew_szczupakiewicz-pearl.htm.
Look for the earphones icon to find the clip.
--Poland: Warszawa and Pilica (Piltz).
TOWNSITES:
--Belarus--Dokshytsy.
Also see their site about the Dokshytsy cemetery restoration.
--Moldova--Bricheva.
--Poland--Wegrow.
--Romania--Galaţi.
MAY 2008
Please use the 2008 Updates archives link above to read
about any late April additions to the Museum.
CEMETERY PROJECT:
--A new unique surnames list for Wielun, Poland has been
added. The lists for Czernowitz and Pryluky, Ukraine,
as well as Szczuczyn, Poland have been amended.
EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTER:
--new! Research Stories: "Family Past Unfolds Like Detective Story"--Sonia
Pressman Fuentes is a public speaker, writer, lawyer, and co-founder
of NOW (National Organization for Women). She has given the Museum
permission to reprint an article she wrote in 1995 for Washington
Jewish Week that deals with her trials and travail in conducting
research for the memoirs that she would later write. Those researching
the Polish towns of Pilica (Piltz) and/or Bendin (Bedzin)
might be especially interested in reading her story, as these are the
towns that Ms. Fuentes has researched. You can also see some of her
pre-WWII family photos in the Museum's "Postcards from Home"
exhibition under "Pilica" and "Warszawa" (Dombek).
--new! The ERC
Lecture Series: The Museum hopes to present a series of lectures
once given and represented here anew, or eventually lectures given
especially for the Museum itself. Hopefully, audio and video will be
included in these lectures. The first lecture is by Ms. Sonia
Pressman Fuentes about her life as a child in pre-war Europe and
her subsequent immigrant experience in the United States.
FAMILY HISTORY THEATRE:
--The Museum's Family History Theatre represents the interactive,
multimedia aspects of the site. Here you can see representations of
many of the exhibitions within this virtual museum that have both
audio and video components. You can take the "virtual tour" by
visiting
www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/family-history-theatre.htm.
The latest component of the tour to be added: excerpts from USC
Shoah Foundation Institute interviews with Arthur and Valerie
Rosenthal (done with permission of the Foundation.) The Rosenthals are
from Miskolc and Vac, Hungary. These interview excerpts are part of
the Museum's ongoing exhibition "Walk in My Shoes: Collected
Memories of the Holocaust." If anybody has copies of their own
interview by SFI, and would like the Museum to place excerpts of said
interview, please contact the museum at
postmaster@museumoffamilyhistory.com . You would have to send the
DVDs to the Museum (copies of the original), as the Museum cannot
request said DVDs from them as there would be a large fee involved.
Please be patient with the time needed to download any video clip.
The speed of download depends on various factors, e.g. connectivity.
The videos are best played on computers with high speed internet
access, as the use of land (phone) lines might cause the video clips
to download terribly slowly or worse. Also, these clips (mp4 fomat)
play best with Apple's QuickTime media player or Windows Media Player
7 or newer.
HOLOCAUST MEMORIALS OF CANADA:
--Cote St. Luc (Montreal), Canada: The memorial of Beth Zion
Congregation.
--Toronto, Canada: Memorial of the
Piotrokov-Tomashow-Belchatow and Vicinity Society in Toronto.
--World Holocaust Memorials: The Museum has combined all three of its Holocaust memorial exhibitions so that they
fall under the heading of "World Holocaust Memorials." Links to the
web pages containing photographs of the memorials in North America,
Europe and elsewhere can be accessed from this page.
The link is
www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/whm.htm .
HOW WE WORKED: EUROPE:
--Berlin, Germany: The Gentlemen's Clothing House of Sigmund
Pressman; includes a translated advertisement of his store once
located on Linienstrasse.
LIVING IN AMERICA: THE JEWISH EXPERIENCE:
--"Eat First, You Don't Know What They'll Give You"--excerpts
from the memoirs of Sonia Pressman Fuentes, co-founder of NOW, on the
years she and her family spent in the Catskills during the 1930s and
40s.
POSTCARDS FROM HOME:
--Belarus: Grodno.
--Germany: Berlin.
--Latvia: Rezekne (Rezhitsa).
--Lithuania: Druskieniki and Vilkavikis.
--Poland: Czestochowa and Zambrow.
--Russia: Pskov.
--Ukraine: Czernowitz and Mukachevo (Munkács).
TOWNSITES:
--More JewishGen ShtetLinks pages have been created. These pages
are associated with the following locations:
--Czech Republic: Teplice.
--Poland: Plonsk, Skierniewice and Zamosc.
--Ukraine: Lanovtsy.
YIDDISH WORLD:
--Chapters 12 to 15 from the Maurice Schwartz's biography
"Once Upon a Kingdom..."
--The Catskills: "Julie Oshins, a Catskills Tummler.
JUN 2008
Please use the 2008 Updates archives link above to read
about any late May additions to the Museum.
CEMETERY PROJECT:
--Maps have been added for three Cleveland, Ohio area
cemeteries: Glenville, Lansing, and Ridge Road #2.
FAMILY HISTORY THEATRE:
--Screening Room:
A video preview for a thirteenth Jewish documentary in this
series,
"A Man from
Munkács: Gypsy Klezmer" by
Yale Strom, is now available for viewing.
GREAT ARTISTS SERIES:
--Maurice Schwartz and the Yiddish Art Theatre: For those of
you interested in the history of the Yiddish theatre, this is a must
read. You can read a serialized version of the only known biography of
Schwartz, see photos of many of the actors of the Yiddish Art Theatre
troupe, as well as those who worked behind the scenes. You can see
photos of various scenes from various productions and view a list of
nearly two hundred Yiddish Art Theatre productions, as well as see
photos of many of the authors of the works produced by the Theatre.
LINKS:
--Beverly Davis Database: searchable database of almost 50,000
burials within Australasia and Oceania plus Australian War
Graves.
--Rookwood Cemetery, Sydney, Australia has a searchable
database.
LIVING IN AMERICA: THE JEWISH EXPERIENCE:
--you can read excerpts from Sylvia Siegel Schildt's book
about life in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York.
There are two interesting chapters to read, including one about the
Loew's Pitkin movie house.
POSTCARDS FROM HOME:
--England: Manchester.
--Lithuania: Gruzdziai and Vilnius.
--Poland: Lodz and Pultusk.
--Romania: Braila.
--Ukraine: Drohobycz.
PRESERVING JEWISH HERITAGE:
--Wyman Brent has plans to house a Jewish library in Vilnius,
Lithuania, and he hopes to collect 100,000 books to make up its
collection. If after reading Wyman's story, you feel that you have
books you believe would make a good addition to this library, please
contact him directly using the email address provided.
SYNAGOGUES OF EUROPE:
--Lithuania: Gruzdziai.
TOWNSITES:
--Ukraine: Shchirets ShtetLinks site.
WORLD HOLOCAUST MEMORIALS:
--A new section that features memorials to the Holocaust that have
been erected in Israel has been added, though only a few photos
are in the Museum's possession. If you have such photos, please
consider sending them to the Museum at
memorials@museumoffamilyhistory.com . Please include, when
applicable, the town and country that is associated with the memorial,
any English translations of the memorial inscriptions, where the
memorial is located, and if possible, the date the memorial was
erected. To date, photos of memorials dedicated to Zdunska Wola,
Poland and Medzhibozh, Ukraine, as well as a memorial to
the six million Jews that stands in Petach Tikva, are included.
THE YIDDISH
WORLD:
--Chapters 20 to 23 in the only biography written about Yiddish
acting great Maurice Schwartz. The book is called "Once a
Kingdom," and is presented exclusively to visitors to the Museum of
Family History in a serialized form in a four-chapter sequence (ending
January 2009.)
JUL 2008
Please use the 2008 Updates archives link above to read
about any late June additions to the Museum.
CEMETERY PROJECT:
--Waldheim Cemetery, Forest Park, Illinois: A list of
more than two-hundred and fifty societies who own burial plots at the
cemetery, including when applicable, the town and country
associated with the particular plot.
--Societies with burial plots at both Menorah Gardens and
Jewish Oakridge Cemeteries are also represented on this page. --Society
Gates: Photos of the gates (no names inscribed) of two
Szczuczyn, Poland society plots have been added (see under
"Grajewo-Szczuczyn.") Also, Czernowitz, Ukraine,
Pilica and Wielun, Poland, including the names of society officers and members.
EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTER:
--Resources: The Library of Congress' Geography and Map
Reading Room.
HOLOCAUST MEMORIALS OF THE WORLD:
--Another Holocaust memorial from Verona, Italy.
--A memorial photo in Copenhagen, Denmark--The "Tomb of the
Unknown Concentration Camp Prisoner."
THE JEWISH WOMAN IN HISTORY:
--New "room" in the Museum dedicated to the Jewish woman. The first
exhibition is entitled "The Quintessential Jewish Mother: Gertrude
Berg as Molly Goldberg." Many of you may be familiar with the
television show "The Goldbergs."
LINKS:
--Other Sites of Interest: "Women in Judaism" journal.
PRESERVING JEWISH HERITAGE (also HOLOCAUST MEMORIALS OF EUROPE):
--More photographs of the cemetery restoration and rededication at
Losice, Poland. Also two memorial plaques on the walls by the
gates of the cemetery.
SCREENING ROOM:
--A very good documentary on the Vilnius of old,
released in 2006, entitled "The World Was Ours."
TOWNSITES:
--Ananiev, Chervonograd (Krystynopol),
Klyucharki and Krasilov, Ukraine
ShtetLinks sites; also
Körmend, Hungary.
THE YIDDISH
WORLD:
--Chapters 24 to 27 in the only biography written about Yiddish
acting great Maurice Schwartz. The book is called "Once a
Kingdom," and is presented exclusively to visitors to the Museum of
Family History in a serialized form in a four-chapter monthly sequence (ending
January 2009.)
--Jung Vilne ("Young Vilnius"):
Between the two world wars, a number of young writers and
artists of Vilne (Vilnius) came together and formed what was to become
an important Yiddish literary group called "Jung Vilne."
AUG 2008
Please use the 2008 Updates archives link above to read
about any late July additions to the Museum.
CEMETERY PROJECT:
--A map has been added for the Jewish sections at Rosemont Park
Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois.
--Society Gates: Czernowitz society plot, Wellwood
Cemetery, Pinelawn, New York.
--Unique Surnames Lists: New lists are being added for various
society plots at Bayside Cemetery in Ozone Park, New York. Many
of these plots are associated with towns in Europe, others are
associated with other types of organizations. Other landsmanshaftn
lists are being updated. New town lists include:
Belarus: Lyubcha; Lithuania: Kalvarija, Kraziai, Marijampole,
Salant and Veisiejai; Poland: Biezun, Gniezno, Golub-Dobrzyn,
Konin, Pyzdry and Wloclawek. Lists will be updated for the
following towns: Poland: Ciechanow, Grajewo, Kalisz, Krakow, Kutno,
Makow Mazowiecki, Mlawa, Nasielsk, Plock, Przasnysz, Sierpc, Stawiski,
Suwalki, Szczuczyn and Trzcianne.
Q & A:
A very interesting
feature. The Museum will conduct a number of interviews with people of
interest. The first Q & A is called "Interview with a Cemetery
Manager," and is an in-depth discussion with the manager of
Mount Judah Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery located in Ridgewood,
Queens, New York. Some of the topics of discussion have to do with the
ins-and-outs of running a cemetery, what occurs from the time a
funeral director calls the cemetery in order arrange for a funeral, to
the time a funeral is concluded. Also, what kind of information on the
deceased does a cemetery actually have? Many questions were asked and
answered, so reading this interview should be a learning experience
for many. The interview should be especially interesting and pertinent
to Jewish genealogists.
POSTCARDS FROM HOME:
--Latvia: Riga.
SCREENING ROOM:
--"The Litvak Connection": The fifteenth film
preview to be featured at the Museum. This 2008
documentary depicts the role of Nazi collaborators during the Shoah
who were complicit in the liquidation of Latvian and Lithuanian Jewry,
i.e. the Litvak population, as well as their connection to present day
war crimes issues.
TOWNSITES:
--Links to the following ShtetLinks pages have been added:
--Belarus: Braslav and Vishnewo.
--Lithuania: Leipalingis and
idikai.
--Ukraine:
Chabanivka and Zolotyy Potik (Potok Zloty).
WORLD HOLOCAUST MEMORIALS:
--Holocaust Memorials of Canada: At Bathurst Lawn Cemetery
in Toronto, Canada, in a Minsker Farband/Adath Sholom
Synagogue society plot.
--Holocaust Memorials of New York and New Jersey: A memorial
erected at Beth Abraham Cemetery in New Jersey by New Lubliner Society
and Vicinity, representing Lublin, Poland.
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