Ancestry Holocaust Records

Today Ancestry announced a new partnership with the Arolsen Archives (formerly the International Tracing Service or ITS). The Arolsen Archives contains the most comprehensive archive of material related to victims and survivors of Nazi persecution. Many of these documents will be made available on Ancestry.com.

Two collections from Arolsen are already online and accessible from Ancestry:

Europe, Registration of Foreigners and German Persecutees, 1939-1947

This collection includes information gathered by the Allies at the end of the war concerning those who had been persecuted in Germany by public institutions, social securities and companies. The documents may contain death and burial information.

Africa, Asia and Europe, Passenger Lists of Displaced Persons, 1946-1971

The majority of the immigrants in this collection are Holocaust survivors or refugees leaving Germany and other European ports. These records were created by the International Refugee Organization (IRO) and the Intergovernmental Committee on European Migration.

Israel Genealogy Research Association

The Israel Genealogy Research Association maintains an excellent genealogy site that's helpful for both Israeli and general Jewish genealogy. 

The site is free to use but you do have to create an account with them before you can access their databases and resources. You will need to be a paid member to view some of the images in their collections. 

Searchable database collections include vital records, censuses, address books, immigration, military records, and more. Searches can be done in both English and Hebrew. These record collections are primarily for Israel but you may be able to find records created in Jewish communities elsewhere. They are constantly adding new collections to their databases as well.

The IGRA has also created some amazing and comprehensive research guides for Jewish genealogy in specific countries too. These guides contain lots of great resources. For example, the guide for Poland includes maps, translations, links to Jewish vital records, ghettos and concentration camps, Jewish cemeteries and military records.

You can also watch free videos and webinars on a variety of genealogy topics.

Jewish American Heritage Month

May is Jewish American Heritage Month.

If you're researching your Jewish ancestry, you'll want to visit the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois in Northbrook. The have a research library with over 800 volumes on Jewish genealogy and host programs once a month. JGSI also maintains a searchable Online Death Index, a database of death records from local cemeteries.

Another great local resource is the Guide to Jewish Genealogy in Chicagoland by Mike Karsen.

Local Genealogy Societies

If you're looking to join a genealogical society this year or want to plan ahead for upcoming genealogy programs, here's a roundup of nearby societies and their 2015 events calendars:

North Suburban Genealogical Society
Northwest Suburban Genealogy Society
Chicago Genealogical Society
Lake County Genealogical Society
McHenry County Illinois Genealogical Society
Illinois State Genealogical Society

And don't forget to put the DuPage County Genealogical Society's annual meeting on your calendar!
Or if you're willing to travel, the National Genealogical Society's Family History Conference will be held in St. Charles, MO!

And for ethnic genealogy:

Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois
Polish Genealogical Society of America
Irish American Heritage Center
Afro-American Genealogical and Historical Society of Chicago
Czech & Slovak American Genealogy Society of Illinois
Swedish American Museum
Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture
National Hellenic Museum
Casa Italia

World Memory Project

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Ancestry.com are collaborating to make information about victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution available online through the World Memory Project. 

The Museum owns millions of historical documents containing details about survivors and victims.  By using Ancestry.com technology, the World Memory Project collection can be searched online for free.

The World Memory Project was launched in May 2011, and since then thousands of contributors around the world have indexed hundreds of thousands of records.  You can contribute to this effort by volunteering to become an indexer.

To search other Ancestry collections at no cost, visit Ancestry Library Edition on the Glenview Public Library website.

Getting Started in Jewish Genealogy

New book at the Glenview Public Library...Getting Started in Jewish Genealogy, 2011 Edition, by Gary Mokotoff. -- Avotaynu, c2011.

Call #  929.1089924 MOK

This book introduces the most helpful resources for researching Jewishgenealogy.  It tells you how to interview family members, and ask for photos and documents.  It also discusses the best websites as well as non-internet resources, such as societies and publishers.  There is a special section on Holocaust research.

Jewish Records Indexing--Poland

Jewish Records Indexing (JRI) is a searchable online database of Jewish vital records of Poland. It contains 4 million records from more than 500 Polish towns.

Article About Jewish Names

This article on Hebrew-Yiddish Name Pairs is by Daniel Stuhlman. Mr. Stuhlman is President of Stuhlman Management Consultants, Chicago, and on the faculty of Rutgers University School of Communication, Information and Library Studies.