[Cz-L] A few highlights from Philadelphia

Just back from Philadelphia, so while things are fresh in my mind,
here are a few (not all) highlights from the annual meeting of the
International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies.

1. Father Patrick Dubois gave a keynote speech on the work he was
doing to harvest tales of the holocaust in Ukraine and elsewhere, and
to identify mass grave sites. I didn't get there in time to see his
talk, but people who went raved about the work he is doing.

2. Merle Kastner organized a terrific lunch for about 15 of us
(including several list members) interested in Bukovina family
research. We shared information and exchanged ideas. Dr. Lea Haber
Gedalia, one of our Cz. cemetery transcribers and also a list member,
is currently on the Board of the World Union of Bukovina Jews, and
made a short report on the status of the organization. It was great
to meet everyone!

3. At the Rom-Sig meeting, a number of people identified their
interest in Bukovina, and Merle and I had a chance to talk with
several folks, both before and after the meeting. I gave a 5 minute
update on progress in Bukovina genealogy - everything is on the web
site I mentioned in my email late last week:
http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/sadgura/ReischToronto.html

4. Visit www.genealogyindexer.org for a great search engine,
developed by Logan Kleinwaks, that includes the Address Directories
indexed by Edgar Hauster and Martina, plus other Bukovina directories.

5. Dr. Dorin Dobrincu, Director General of the National Archives of
Romania since 2007, gave an excellent, thoughtful well-received
presentation. He holds a Ph.D. in History and one of his areas of
interest is Romanian Jewish History, particularly in relation to the
Holocaust. Major point made: a) The archive system is now freely
available to all - open access on site! b) They are in the process
of listing their collections online. c) They now have a website
<http://www.arhivelenationale.ro/> - in Romanian of course. But you
can use translate.google.com to get an idea what it says if you don't
read Romanian. (On their web site, someone might be interested in
this document on Collection of Jewish Communities (1818-1959)
<http://is.gd/248Iv>.) Using the Natl Archives web site, you can
readily find
<http://www.arhivelenationale.ro/index.php?lan=0&jud=111> with the
e-mail address for the Suceava Archives which holds southern Bukovina
records more than 100 yrs old : <suceava.an_at_mira.gov.ro>, and their
list of collections can be found here: <http://is.gd/249c4>.

Dr. Dobrincu is attempting to change things in the Romanian Archive
system, and has made significant progress since taking the position
as Director General in 2007. It is significant, of course, that he
would even agree to speak at this conference. But it's important
that we realize that change will not take place rapidly as time/funds
are limited.

6. Perhaps the most important announcement from Dr. Dobrincu was in
response to a comment that the Mormons haven't been able to microfilm
in Romania, to which he responded, "Now they are".

I hope that others attending the meeting will chime in with their
highlights list, too.

Best to everyone,

Bruce

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Received on 2009-08-06 04:08:52