Lithuania -- Jewish heritage trip being organized

Vilnius synagogue. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber


A roots-oriented Jewish Heritage trip to Lithuania is being organized this July. Here's the info:

JEWISH HERITAGE TRIP TO LITHUANIA

JULY 5 TO JULY 15, 2011

We will be visiting Lithuania this summer, would you like to come with us?

We have been planning trips to Lithuanian for groups of people interested in their Jewish heritage for 18 years. In addition to visiting Vilnius and Kaunas, we will have two days for individual roots tours.

Our main purpose in planning these trips is to offer Jews an opportunity to go back to their roots, to encourage them to research their ancestors, and to enable them to see the latest efforts being made to keep Judaism alive in Lithuania. Since profit is not the main motive, all arrangements are made in a first class manner intended to make the trip enjoyable and meaningful for all.

Prior to the trip, we will inform you of the do’s and don’ts - what to wear, what to take with, what to leave home, and many other little tips that help make the trip an enjoyable one. While this is a group trip, we try as much as possible to make it a personal trip, tailored to individual needs.

Please respond to - LitvakTrip@gmail.com

Peggy Freedman
8335 Berkley Ridge
Atlanta, GA 30350 USA

Howard Margol
4430 Mt. Paran Pkwy NW,
Atlanta, GA 30327-3747 USA
Email - homargol@aol.com

Romania -- Genealogy Research Resources

Dorin Fränkel at work in Radauti.

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

The focus of my recent trip to the Bucovina region of northern Romania was to work on my (Candle)sticks on Stone project -- but I ended up, with the three cousins who came with me, doing some family history research (see previous posts on this blog).

Many people helped out on both focuses of the trip -- including two who carry out genealogical research for anyone interested in getting documents and other material to trace their roots in the region.

I am happy to note their names and provide their email contacts.

In Radauti, Dorin Fränkel took us to places and people past we didn't know existed. His email is: dorifrankel2000@yahoo.de

In Botosani (where I did documentation of the wonderful but very overgrown Jewish cemetery) I was given much-needed help by Gustav Finkel, a leader of the small local Jewish community, and his English-speaking son Avi Marc. Gustav's email is: finkelgustav@yahoo.com -- his son is at avimarc@yahoo.com.

Genealogy Trip to Lithuania Being Planned

Avotaynu's Jewish Genealogy newsletter, "Nu? What's New?" reports:


Howard Margol and Peggy Freedman are organizing their 16th annual group trip to Lithuania, June 30 to July 10, 2009. If you are interested in tracing your roots in Lithuania, Latvia, Eastern Poland close to Lithuania, or Belarus, now is the time to sign up. This year the group will be limited to 25 persons. The trip includes stops at various archives, synagogues, ghettos,
Holocaust sites, meetings with Jewish leaders, sight-seeing, guide/interpreters, and two days to visit and spend time in your shtetls of interest. Margol and Freedman are very familiar with the archives, are on a first-name basis with the archivists, and know all the main places of Jewish interest.

The trip is sponsored by the American Fund For Lithuanian-Latvian Jews, a non-profit organization, and is not a commercial venture. Any profit from the trip will go to support the Jewish community in Vilnius.

For details and a full itinerary, contact litvaktrip@gmail.com

Jewish Genealogy Newsletter Archive

Since one of the reasons that many people travel to Jewish sites in central and eastern Europe is to find their family roots and "walk in the foosteps of their ancestors," I'm posting here the link to the archive page of the biweekly online Newsletter, "Nu? What's New?" of Avotaynu, the Jeweish genealogy magazine.

Each issue has a lot of information, tips, links, reports, etc. Much (if not most) fills the specific needs of family historians, but there are also items of general interest to the traveler.

News on Jewish Genealogy Resources

The latest issue of the Avotaynu email newsletter "Nu? What's New?" is now online, with information on new genealogy resources, events and publications.

Seeking family roots forms a major piece of the Jewish travel mosaic. The newsletter includes links to a wide range of material and can be subscribed to direct to your inbox.