Jüdische Familienforschung (Jewish Genealogy)

When conducting Jewish Genealogical efforts most people tend to focus a few large well-known sites.  And… when they run out of luck, they don’t know where to turn.  In keeping with ManyRoads effort to point out lesser known resources, I have developed this page of largely German-Jewish resources.

Berlin Neue Synagogue by Emil de Cauwer- 1865

Included among these lesser widely used Jewish Genealogy (Primary & Secondary) Resources are some excellent research materials:

  • To quote from the Internet Archive: The Library of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York (LBI) is the leading library and archive dedicated to the history of German-speaking Jews, and it holds more than 1,600 periodical titles in its collections. The LBI Library is digitizing periodicals unique to its holdings with special emphasis on periodic publications of German-Jewish organizations that highlight the rich cultural life of German-speaking community.
  • The Internet Archive also offers the Jüdische Familienforschung Publication (Berlin, Germany: 1924-1938)
    • Summary: Founded in 1924, the “Gesellschaft für die Jüdische Familien-Forschung” (Society for Jewish family research) began publishing its newsletter to connect Jewish genealogists together and create a forum for their research. Its editor, the ophthalmologist Arthur Czellitzer, claimed that the understanding of familial lineage as particularly important for the Jewish people. Since the Jewish people did not have their own country or language (at that time), knowledge of family history would bring them closer to their original roots, even if they had distanced themselves from the religious rituals of their forefathers. In the introduction to the first issue, he explained that the most important task of the “Gesellschaft für die Jüdische Familienforschung” was to collect materials on Jewish families for an archive of Jewish genealogy. Eventually, these papers were destroyed after he fled with them to the Netherlands during the Holocaust. Czellitzer was murdered in 1943 in the death camp of Sobibor in Poland. (Source: Czellitzer, Arthur. “Zum Geleit!” Jüdische Familienforschung, Jg. 1, Nr. 1 (Dez. 1924), p. 3; “Czellitzer, Arthur.” Biographisches Handbuch der deutschsprachigen Emigration nach 1933. Bd. 1 (1980), p. 565)
    • A second series of this periodical was continued in 1992 by K.W. Apfelbaum. Financial support for digitization provided by the German Jewish Special Interest Group of JewishGen.
    • Internet Archive (archive.org) offers direct access to Jüdische Familienforschung materials (for personal research). The publication index is available via the links below (the materials are in German):
  • Vanished World  A most intriguing blog: “Nearly 70 years after the holocaust Eastern Europe is still covered by neglected Jewish cemeteries, ruins of synagogues and other remains of Jewish institutions – stranded ships at the shores of time. The traces of Jewish life are still there, but they vanish day by day. It’s only a matter of time until they are gone forever. “
  • Hamburger Gesellschaft für jüdische Genealogie e.V. offers a regular periodical with histories, stories, etc. Most seem to focus of individuals and families from the region surrounding and including Hamburg.
  • Zentralarchiv zur Erforschung der Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland (Central Archive for Research on the History of Jews in Germany)
  • Judengasse Frankfurt Main (Jewish Lane Frankfurt Main)- a museum website
  • Juden in Ostpreußen (Jews in East Prussia)- I have found this site helpful in providing context and clues.
  • Jüdisches Leben in Sachsen-Anhalt. Eine archivische Spurensuche (Jewish Life in Saxony-Anhalt. An archival search for traces)
  • Jüdische Familien im Südwesten Jewish Families in South-West [Germany] – A genealogical knowledge database for family research in the South West of German
  • Familiendatenbank Juden im Deutschen Reich (Database of Jews in the German Empire)

If you are aware of unique and less-traveled websites that may help with the conduct of German-Jewish (Ashkenazi Jewish) research, please let us know so we can evaluate and add them for the benefit of others.

Related ManyRoads self-help & links:

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