Clay in My Boots: A Romp Through My Genealogical Past

https://kdrg.s3.amazonaws.com/KDRG+Cemeteries.html

https://avotaynuonline.com/2016/03/y-dna-genetic-signature-ethnic-origin-katzenellenbogen-rabbinical-lineage/

https://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/kremenets/kremenets.html

Happy New Year to my Family,   For this year's Genealogy update, again I choose to focus on the towns of Birzia in Lithuania and Kremenets in Ukraine.   Last year, I talked about Birzia from the perspective of Charles Highstein as well as Helen, and their Aunt Hannah Sandler and Uncle Morris Highstein. Hannah Gnendel (née Chait) Sandler took on a special meaning for me this past year. Her great-great granddaughter, Melanie is a fellow genealogist. Melanie organized a get together in Bethesda with me, her sister Allison, her Uncle Marc and his kids. We had a wonderful time chatting about family relationships and comparing some family lore. I am so excited that there are a number of young people including Melanie, that have taken an interest in the Mitzvah of remembering our ancestors ( http://www.zchor.org/KURZ.HTM ).   Hannah Sandler also brings special meaning to me this year, because of the birth of Hannah Jane, my grand-niece (b.  11/21/2019 ), who I've been told ...

Just extended my Grandma Lena's family back an additional 3 generations to about 1750. (Yes, multiple sources) Thanks to finding her Grandfather's headstone. I knew of these people, but now I know they are mine. Found in Pakruojis, Lithuania records: 3rd-Great Grandfather:   Peisakh Bashes 1813 - 22 May 1887 3rd-Great Grandmother:   Tsipa Bashes 1813 - 1 Feb 1882 4th-Great Grandfather:   Abram Bashes b 1773 4th-Great Grandmother:   Enta Bashes b 1776   5th-Great Grandfather: Peisakh Bashes b ~1750

I attended the Kremenets Birds-of-a-Feather meeting during the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS). I'm so excited to have been chosen to serve as the newest member of the Board of Directors for the Kremenets District Research Group (KDRG) a 501(c)(3) organization. KDRG volunteers maintain the Kremenets Shtetl CO-OP pages on Google  https://sites.google.com/site/kdrgcontributors/   and the   https://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Kremenets/web-pages/about-kremenets.html   Kremenets Kehilalinks on JewishGen  and most importantly collect, translate and organize records collected from the Kremenets District for use in Genealogical research. KDRG has a number of ambitious projects that are also of great interest to me and the community. We are going to build a District family tree based on vital and other records collected over the years. Although not everyone from Kremenets is "related" there are connections through marriage and ass...

Last night the a group gathered for the annual  group of Jewish Researchers in Volynia Ukraine at Bold Food & Drink www.boldfoodanddrink.com The New American restaurant had choices for all from Ohio Steak, Scottish Salmond, Walleye, to A variety’s for Vegetarian options. The Peach Pecan Bread-pudding was also a sweet end to a wonderful meal. We did all introduce our research families and shtetls/towns/villages/places to the group which fostered some possible connections. Personally I’m going to continue researching my Oks connection to Irina’s family that we started last year. Many others walked away with research ideas and connections. I also had the pleasure of talking more about the relaunch of the Kremenets Cemetery Project with Alan. A grand time was had by all the Volynians.

After my 2nd full day at the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS), I’m thinking back on all the sessions I attended and the people I’ve met. Bloggers It’s fun sitting at a meal or in the meeting spaces sharing trips we took to Eastern Europe, last year and comparing notes on what we saw, experienced, and the emotions we felt. We talk about plans to engage in cemetery cleanup, erecting / replacing monuments at killing fields, and going back with other family members. We also get an opportunity to share pictures of the places we visited and compare notes on tour guides we used and stories we heard. It a great opportunity to relive these important moments. Shared Jewish Landmark in  Siauliai (shall-ay) Status of Cemeteries Cemetery Cleanup Sessions of note include Lara Diamond’s talk on endogamy https://larasgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/03/endogamy-in-practice-updated.html?m=1 ;  Amy Wach’s talk on migration patterns; Janette Silverman’s ta...

Volynia Dinner - Wednesday 31st 6:30pm Bold Food & Drink 1121 W 10th St, Cleveland, OH 44113 New American Cuisine  Lots of vegetarian options if required. After dinner, 1 block to water front .. bars, games,  water taxi, and more. A short walk (less then to RR Hall of Fame) from Hilton.  Head opposite direction on Lakeside, towards river stay on left side of road. Right on 9th St under the Freeway Immediate left on Main On corner of Main and 10th before transit tracks. Text or call me with RSVP ... late additions OK 240-821-7195 Michael Snyder  

In 2018, when I did my tour of Ukraine and Lithuania following the IAJGS conference. I toured Ukraine and Lithuania to visit ~19 sites were I had ancestors. Sites excluded because of brick-walls were birthplaces of my Paternal Grandmother's family and my Mother's Maternal Grandfather's family. Although we visited 30 places I kept a blog focusing on ancestral sites with a very few exceptions. This blog became a ppt presentation. One of the few exception sites included was the refurbished Synagogue in Pakruojis Lithuania because of its beauty and workmanship. Three months later through an Ancestry inquiry and DNA confirmation I discovered that my Grandmother's older sister was married in that Synagogue ... smashing that brick wall and bringing new meaning to prominent photos from my travels.

Krenenets, Ukraine is a town where my Maternal Grandmother's family lived for a number of generations. The Kremenets Eye (LOL) is located where the Jewish Quarter and Ghetto was prior to being burned down following the Nazi extermination of the Jews. Sounds like the intro to a fun game. Not! Anyway, find the 10 difference between the two pictures.

This is a trip that every Jew must take. It is highly emotional, but extremely informative in helping you to understand the heritage and plight of the Ashkenazi Jews and the impact on all Jews of Europe. We visited one-horse towns, Shtetls, small villages, towns, small cities, and big cities. We saw fishing villages on the Nemenus, Naris, and Styr. We saw mountain towns, farming communities, industrial cities, and administrative, cultural and trading capitals. In all we visited 10 places in Ukraine, 19 in Lithuania, and 4 in Poland. I started out my planing in an attempt to understand where my ancestors lived, worked, and died. They all came to the US between 1897 and 1911. So, they avoided both World Wars. But, they didn’t, the impacts were felt by their cousins, neighbors, and friends.  As an example, My 2nd GG Grandfather in Kremenets Ukraine had 2 brothers, they had 22 children only 4 families escaped the holocaust. The rest of their decendents perished in the woods in a ...

Rivne was close to 60% Jewish in the early 1900’s. We had a lovely introduction be Viktoria Chymshyt who met us a the local synagogue where she works as an Administrator. I met Vik online in the Rivne genealogy facebook group. She shared that 30-38k Jewish people lived in Rivne, and all but 19 perished.   She indicated that the Soviet’s estimate of 17,500 was extremely low. She gave us directions to the Memorial site where there were 2 sets of memorials. The first prepared by the Soviets does not mention the citizens killed by the Nazi’s as Jews. The second monument created by Israeli repeats the figures but honors the Jews. It includes 69 tablets with names in 3 columns but only about 4200 are identified.   Oks and Gertzberg’s died in the Rivne akton; likely cousins of ours. On the way to Lutzk we stopped at the Tunnel of Love, a romantic site that is a railway, where a train slowly passes once daily. The shade trees make a splendid emerald tunnel for 7km. But of c...

This morning when I awoke in Klaipeda, I thought about where to walk after a 1/2 mile in desolate streets and strip mall parking lots. I decided what the heck and headed to the ferry for a ride over to the Curonian Spit and a walk across the "island" to the Baltic. I made the 8:20 ferry and the walk was only about 1.5 miles across, but it seemed longer and I was concerned about getting back to the hotel by 9:30. It worked out ok, and I had a short walk on the beach with not a soul in sight, except for a tractor in the distance. On the way back I just made the 9:20 ferry as a large container ship delayed launch, and the crew was nice enough to lower the ramp to allow me to board. Definitely worth the excursion. Saw the morning sun over the dunes as was the case in California. This was a nice distraction from the emotional parts of this trip.

In East Prussia the Germans used concentration camps, to bring people from all around the region for extermination. Oflager 53 is a camp we visited on our tour back to Vilnius as we traveled the southern route.  At Oflager 53 as with other concentration camps, use of bullets is considered expensive, so the Nazi sadistic bustards, find more cost effective ways to eliminate the Jews and sympathizers. Baltic Sea sand is extremely fine, so the Nazis buried people in sand pits and they drown in the “quick sand”. Also, since they are in the woods people were tied to trees and burned alive. So much for humane solutions. Back to the reality of Eastern Europe following 2 days of fun in the sun. A Train station is conveniently near by:

This photo-places overview gives a nice perspective of where we’ve been. Poland: Volyn & Galicia Ukraine: Eastern Lithuania: Western Lithuania: