Ackerman, Tasha (25 September 2024). "Miriam Weiner: The Genealogist with a Desire (and a Copy Machine)" (PDF). The Together Plan.
Miriam Weiner | |
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Born | Los Angeles, California USA |
Citizenship | United States |
Occupations |
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Years active | 1985–present |
Known for | Routes to Roots |
Notable work | |
Website | RoutesToRoots.com RTRFoundation.org |
Miriam Weiner ( /ˈwiːnər/ ) [1] is an American genealogist, author, and lecturer who specializes in the research of Jewish roots in Poland and the former Soviet Union. [2] [3] Weiner is considered to be one of the pioneers of contemporary Jewish genealogy through her work to open up archives [4] [5] and is described as a trail-blazing, highly respected guide and leading authority on archival holdings and resources in pre-war Belarus, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, and Ukraine. [2] [6] [7]
Weiner was born in Los Angeles, California, to Edward (who grew up in St. Louis, Missouri) and Helen Weiner (who grew up In Tulsa, Oklahoma). Weiner's parents were married in Los Angeles, California and both passed away in Florida. Weiner grew up in Des Moines, Iowa. [1] [8]
Weiner's family comes from Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova. [1] [9] Her surname, Weiner, was originally Vinokur.
In 1960, Weiner graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School in Des Moines. [10] She attended the University of Oklahoma and Drake University in Des Moines. [1] In 1986, she received a B.A. in Historical Studies with a concentration in Modern Judaic History and Holocaust Studies from Empire State College, SUNY. [11]
Since 1986, Weiner has been based out of Secaucus, New Jersey. [12] She also has an apartment in Mohyliv-Podilskyi, in southern Ukraine, [13] which she uses as a base to conduct research. [14] [15]
After attending college, Weiner moved to Southern California and worked for the Orange County Sheriff's Department in Santa Ana, California. [1] During this time, she also took courses in criminal justice at Orange Coast College.
From 1969 to 1971, she was country singer Bobbie Gentry's assistant and road manager. She got the job by answering an advertisement in the newspaper. [16] [17]
Weiner worked as a paralegal for various attorneys in Beverly Hills, California. Weiner was then licensed as a private investigator by the State of California, which she said helped her later in her “next life” as a genealogist. Weiner moved to Northern California and lived on a horse ranch and worked as a real estate agent. [1] In 1984, Weiner moved to Albany, New York, where her mother was born and many family members still lived, while she finished her college degree.
In 1985, with the recommendation of Rabbi Malcolm H. Stern, genealogist for the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists, Weiner became the first Jewish genealogist to be certified by the Board for Certification of Genealogists in Washington, D.C. [18] As part of the ongoing certification process, the Board for Certification of Genealogists has required intensive review and continuing education, resulting in separate renewals (every 5 years) of Weiner's genealogical work over 30+ years. [19] In 2015, the Board for Certification of Genealogists awarded Miriam "Emeritus" status based upon a "long and distinguished career with BCG." [2]
From 1986 to 1988, Weiner was executive director of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors in New York City, which was founded by Benjamin Meed. [1] Amongst her duties, Weiner helped develop the database of Holocaust survivors, now known as the Benjamin and Vladka Meed Registry of Holocaust Survivors, that is now housed at the United States Holocaust Memorial. [7] [20] [21]
From 1987 to 1996, Weiner was a syndicated columnist, writing the column "Roots and Branches", which was published in more than 100 Jewish newspapers and periodicals, both domestically and internationally. [1]
In 1988, inspired by reconnecting with her extended maternal family from Albany at a funeral, Weiner expanded the research of her family's roots with a renewed focus on Eastern Europe. This was before the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, when it was virtually impossible to obtain access to archives for genealogical purposes in that part of the world. In 1989, as a result of the genealogy research and outreach from Weiner's syndicated column, "Roots and Branches", the Polish National Tourist Office (PNTO) extended an invitation for Weiner to visit Poland for the purpose of meeting with the head archivists and also to make plans for subsequent Jewish tour groups to visit their ancestral towns in Poland. Weiner found that the perception that Jewish documents were completely destroyed during World War II by the occupation of Nazi and Soviet governments was untrue. Weiner gained permission from the head archivist in Poland to create a town-by-town index to surviving Jewish and civil documents in archives throughout Poland. She did this with the official cooperation of the Polish State Archives. [12] [22] [23]
In 1990, Weiner founded the company, Routes to Roots, which offered archival research services to individuals throughout the world. Through Routes to Roots, Weiner organized customized tours to ancestral towns for individuals and groups interested in Poland and the former Soviet Union, including Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Lithuania, and Poland. [24] [25] Weiner undertook these tours of ancestral towns at a time when there was little to no technology, and difficulties specific to Jewish genealogy included the lack of surnames until the late 1700s, the fluidity of surnames due to immigration and language, and the destruction of documents during The Holocaust. [2] Through Routes to Roots, Weiner has conducted genealogical research in the archives of Poland and the former Soviet Union. [26]
In 1994, Weiner founded the Routes to Roots Foundation, a nonprofit organization. The Routes to Roots Foundation hosts a website which includes a town-by-town index and inventory of surviving Jewish and civil documents held at archives and institutions in Eastern Europe, [25] Israel and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. The website includes articles by archivists, historians and scholars; maps; document examples; name lists for about a dozen towns; as well as other reference material. Much of this information now available online was originally published in two books by the Routes to Roots Foundation, although the books include additional detailed content and images. As part of the activities of the Routes to Roots Foundation, Weiner donated copies of the books to the individual archives in Poland, Ukraine, and Moldova in appreciation of their assistance and as a way to improve the discoverability of their holdings relating to Jewish genealogical sources. [27] [28] [29] Weiner also donated copies of the books to Jewish genealogical organizations. [30] [31] [32]
In 1997, in official cooperation with the Polish State Archives (Naczelna Dyrekcja Archiwów Państwowych in Warsaw, Poland), Weiner authored and published the book, Jewish Roots in Poland. [33] [34] The book includes archival holdings of the Polish State Archives, the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, local town hall documents throughout Poland, Holocaust documents found in the archives of the death camps located in Auschwitz near Kraków and Majdanek near Lublin. The book also features document examples, maps, antique postcards depicting towns and daily life, and modern-day photographs. [35] [36] There are individual town listings for localities with more than 10,000 Jews in 1939. [37] Zachary M. Baker, Head Librarian of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research stated, "This book is a testimony to its author's resourcefulness, years of hard work, persistence, and meticulous attention to detail. She has skillfully identified and addressed several gaps in Jewish genealogical and family historical literature. Jewish Roots in Poland provides the means for researchers to go out and "do it themselves," through its extensive chapters on Polish Jewish communities, on Polish state, municipal, and concentration camp archives and on the Jewish Historical Institute; and through its exhaustive bibliographies, abundant photographs, maps and lists of addresses. These features, taken together, promise to make this a very successful reference book." [38]
In a recent interview with Weiner, Tasha Ackerman commented,"Miriam's work hasn’t been just about extracting documents; it’s been about building trust and forming relationships with archivists who were often skeptical and who sometimes took a risk in order to help Miriam on her mission. When she began her trips to Ukraine, Miriam faced the enormous challenge of not speaking the language while attempting something unprecedented in her field. In the early years of her work, particularly when visiting small villages, she knew she might be the first American that many archivists and residents had ever encountered. Compensating for her lack of Ukrainian language skills, she arrived with big smiles and hugs." [39] In 1999, in official cooperation with the Ukraine State Archives (Ukraïnskyi derzhavnyi arkhiv) and the Moldova National Archives (Arhivă Naţională a Republicii Moldova), Weiner authored and published Jewish Roots in Ukraine and Moldova. The book includes archival holdings of the Ukraine State Archives and its branch archives throughout the country and the Moldova National Archives in Chișinău as well as local town hall documents throughout Ukraine and Moldova. [40] [34] The book also features document examples, maps, antique postcards depicting towns and daily life, and modern-day photographs. There are individual town listings for localities throughout both countries. [41] [42]
The Routes to Roots Foundation website also includes articles by archivists and historians, maps and archive data from Belarus and Lithuania, presented in a similar format as Weiner's two books. Originally envisioned as a third book in the Jewish Roots series, this information is only found online.
Archive Database
An online Archive Database containing detailed information about archives listed in Weiner's books on Poland, Ukraine, and Moldova was published in 2002 on the Routes to Roots Foundation website. The Archive Database was then supplemented with similar data from Belarus, Lithuania, and selected archives in Romania. The database continues to be updated by Weiner. [43]
Image Database
A drop-down menu of 2,215 images (antique postcard views from the 1920s and before; Jewish cemetery photos from around the world, Holocaust memorials and other town views) of 358 towns in six countries in Eastern Europe. [44]
Surname Databases
Standard Surname Search (surname lists, archive documents, books) and OCR Surname Search (telephone books and business directories). [44]
Holocaust Lists
A new database which includes known Holocaust Collections from select towns in Belarus, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland and Ukraine. [45] Choose the town from the drop-down menu. Typical entry example: Town: Pruzhany District (Belarus); documents in Brest Oblast Archives; entry: 1944-1945 (PARTIAL LISTS OF DISTRICT RESIDENTS SHOT OR HANGED BY THE GERMAN OCCUPIERS; LISTS OF PERSONS DEPORTED TO GERMANY).
Maps
Weiner is a former Advisory Board Member of the American Red Cross organization, Holocaust and War Victims Tracing and Information Center. [47] Weiner lectures and gives workshops and has presented her research at Jewish genealogy organizations and events, both domestically and internationally. [2] [8]
Weiner has been described as "the Indiana Jones of prewar Polish Jewry." [12] [48] Weiner has discovered previously unknown archival holdings and then had this information translated and made available to the public via her books and website; in so doing, she has been described as “the genealogist who lifted the archival iron curtain.” [2] [49] [34]
Weiner changed the perception that there were no Jewish ancestral documents available after The Holocaust. [50] Because of her early travels to Eastern Europe, beginning in Poland in 1989 and Ukraine in 1990, and the time she spent working in the archives there, Weiner was able to debunk the myth that existed at that time, an assumption that all Jewish documents were destroyed during the Holocaust. With her column “Roots and Branches” and along with her lecture schedule, she made this discovery available and accessible to Jews throughout the world. In addition to finding that documents had survived, Weiner organized the information, pre-internet, so that it was easier for genealogists researching their families to find information about archives, museums, and libraries with family documents. [12] The original data in the archives needed to be translated, coded by document type and manually entered into an organized format. The result was the Archive Database created by Weiner, which then became available to the public in her two books and via the Routes to Roots Foundation website.
Weiner has donated collected materials and organized research to various archives, institutions and organizations. The items include books, maps, town brochures, video cassettes, archive inventories, and document copies. [51] Listed below are societies and organizations that have received donations of genealogical and archival material from Weiner:
In 2009, the Miriam Weiner Routes to Roots Foundation, Inc. and The Generations Network, Inc. now known as Ancestry.com entered into a partnership agreement that granted Ancestry.com a semi-exclusive right and limited license to display the Archive Database and 1,200 images on the Ancestry.com website. [76]
In April 2012, Weiner entered into a partnership with the Center for Jewish History in New York City, donating data from the Routes to Roots Foundation Eastern European Archival Database and Image Database for integration into the Center for Jewish History's online catalog. [53] Weiner also became the Senior Advisor for Genealogy Services for the Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute at the Center for Jewish History. [77]
In 2016, Weiner entered into partnerships with two JewishGen Special Interest Groups (SIGs) for Belarus and Bessarabia which involved the donation of research materials so it is available on each group's website. [57] [58] [59]
Later that same year, Weiner entered into an agreement with the Library of Congress where she donated 95 volumes of telephone books for cities, towns and villages in Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. After acquiring digital rights from Moldova, several of their telephone books were scanned are now accessible at the Library of Congress website via a surname search, as well as the RTRF website. Weiner's 90+ telephone book collection from cities and town in Ukraine were also scanned are now available at the Library of Congress website in a keyword searchable format. [64] [65]
Additionally, in that same year, Weiner entered into a license agreement with JRI-Poland where Weiner and the Routes to Roots Foundation will contribute extensive archive data, articles, name lists, and other reference material to be processed by JRI-Poland and placed on its website. [61]
In 2018, Weiner entered into a partnership agreement with JewishGen and the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, wherein Weiner and the Routes to Roots Foundation contributed extensive material from Belarus and Moldova including archive inventories, archive documents, articles, name lists, maps, images, and other reference material that were subsequently placed on the JewishGen website. [78]
Miriam Weiner has won almost every award that there is to be given from numerous genealogy organizations. [79] She has been called “A Rock Star in the Jewish Genealogy World,” "The Genealogist Who lifted the Archival Iron Curtain,” and “The First Lady of Jewish Genealogy.” [39]
Tulchyn is a city in Vinnytsia Oblast (province) of western Ukraine, in the historical region of Podolia. It is the administrative center of Tulchyn Raion (district). Its population is 14,446.
Galician Jews or Galitzianers are members of the subgroup of Ashkenazi Jews originating and developed in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria and Bukovina from contemporary western Ukraine and from south-eastern Poland. Galicia proper, which was inhabited by Ruthenians, Poles and Jews, became a royal province within Austria-Hungary after the Partitions of Poland in the late 18th century. Galician Jews primarily spoke Yiddish.
Gary Mokotoff (born April 26, 1937) is an author, lecturer, and Jewish genealogy researcher. Mokotoff is the publisher of AVOTAYNU, the International Review of Jewish Genealogy, and is the former president of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS). He is the creator of the JewishGen's Jewish Genealogical Family Finder and the Jewish Genealogical People Finder. He co-authored the Daitch–Mokotoff Soundex system. Mokotoff is co-author of Where We Once Walked: A Guide to the Jewish Communities Destroyed in the Holocaust.
Husiatyn is a rural settlement in Chortkiv Raion, Ternopil Oblast, western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Husiatyn settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Husiatyn is located on the west bank of the Zbruch River, which once formed the old boundary between Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire in the 19th century, and the boundary between Poland and the Soviet Union during the 1920s and 1930s. The population is 7,032.
The history of the Jews in Belarus begins as early as the 8th century. Jews lived in all parts of the lands of modern Belarus. In 1897, the Jewish population of Belarus reached 910,900, or 14.2% of the total population. Following the Polish-Soviet War (1919-1920), under the terms of the Treaty of Riga, Belarus was split into Eastern Belorussia and Western Belorussia, and causing 350,000-450,000 of the Jews to be governed by Poland. Prior to World War II, Jews were the third largest ethnic group in Belarus and comprised more than 40% of the urban population. The population of cities such as Minsk, Pinsk, Mogilev, Babruysk, Vitebsk, and Gomel was more than 50% Jewish. In 1926 and 1939 there were between 375,000 and 407,000 Jews in Belarus or 6.7-8.2% of the total population. Following the Soviet annexation of Eastern Poland in 1939, including Western Belorussia, Belarus would again have 1,175,000 Jews within its borders, including 275,000 Jews from Poland, Ukraine, and elsewhere. It is estimated 800,000 of 900,000 — 90% of the Jews of Belarus —were killed during the Holocaust. According to the 2019 Belarusian census, there were 13,705 self-identifying Jews in Belarus, of which most are of Ashkenazi origin. However, the Israeli embassy in Belarus claims to know about 30-50 thousand Belarusians with Jewish descent.
The history of the Jews in Moldova reaches back to the 1st century BC, when Roman Jews lived in the cities of the province of Lower Moesia. Bessarabian Jews have been living in the area for some time. Between the 4th-7th centuries AD, Moldova was part of an important trading route between Asia and Europe, and bordered the Khazar Khaganate, where Judaism was the state religion. Prior to the Second World War, violent antisemitic movements across the Bessarabian region badly affected the region's Jewish population. In the 1930s and '40s, under the Romanian governments of Octavian Goga and Ion Antonescu, government-directed pogroms and mass deportations led to the concentration and extermination of Jewish citizens followed, leading to the extermination of between 45,000-60,000 Jews across Bessarabia. The total number of Romanian and Ukrainian Jews who perished in territories under Romanian administration is between 280,000 and 380,000.
Staryi Sambir is a city in Sambir Raion, Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine, close to the border with Poland. Staryi Sambir hosts the administration of Staryi Sambir urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Its population is approximately 6,440.
Horokhiv is a small city in Volyn Oblast, Ukraine. Population: 8,925.
Peremyshliany is a small city in Lviv Raion, Lviv Oblast (region) of Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Peremyshliany urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 6,415.
Busk is a city located in Zolochiv Raion in Lviv Oblast (region) of western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Busk urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 8,662.
Arthur Kurzweil is an American author, educator, editor, writer, publisher, and illusionist.
The Jewish Historical Institute, also known as the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute, is a public cultural and research institution in Warsaw, Poland, chiefly dealing with the history of Jews in Poland and Jewish culture.
The Jewish cemetery of Khotyn, Ukraine.
JewishGen is a non-profit organization founded in 1987 as an international electronic resource for Jewish genealogy. In 2003, JewishGen became an affiliate of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City. It provides amateur and professional genealogists with the tools to research their Jewish family history and heritage.
Jewish genealogy is the study of Jewish families and the tracing of their lineages and history. The Pentateuchal equivalent for "genealogies" is "toledot" (generations). In later Hebrew, as in Aramaic, the term and its derivatives "yiḥus" and "yuḥasin" recur with the implication of legitimacy or nobility of birth. In Modern Hebrew, genealogy is generally referred to as "שורשים"/"shorashim", the Hebrew word for roots, or borrowing from the English, "גנאלוגי"/"genealogi".
JRI-Poland, also known as Jewish Records Indexing-Poland, is an online resource for Jewish genealogists searching for Jewish vital records for the current and former territories of Poland.
Bohuslav is a city on the Ros River in Obukhiv Raion, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Bohuslav urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 15,789 ; 17,135 (2001).
Sallyann Sack-Pikus is an American genealogist and psychologist, and editor of Avotaynu Magazine, a journal of Jewish genealogy and scholarship. Sack is the only genealogist listed in Jewish Women in America.
Jewish Roots in Poland: Pages from the Past and Archival Inventories is a book created by genealogist Miriam Weiner and co-published by The Miriam Weiner Routes to Roots Foundation and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. A searchable database of updated archival holdings listed in the book is available in the Archive Database on the Routes to Roots Foundation website.
Jewish Roots in Ukraine and Moldova is a book created by genealogist Miriam Weiner and co-published by The Miriam Weiner Routes to Roots Foundation and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. A searchable database of updated archival holdings listed in the book is available in the Archive Database on the Routes to Roots Foundation website.