Sample Indices
Introduction
At the 2000 Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Salt Lake
City, JRI-Poland announced plans for a new initiative to index the Lodz Chevra Kadisha
(Burial Society) records, which includes the burial records of the Old Cemetery in Lodz.
This project is now underway.
The Old Lodz Cemetery was established in 1811 and essentially closed in 1892. However,
burials continued to take place until 1922 because a number of burial plots had been
previously purchased and because it became necessary to utilize the cemetery during World
War I.
The Lodz Chevra Kadisha
records include the more than 5,400 deaths listed in Stary Cmentarz Zydowski w Lodzi
(The Old Cemetery of Lodz), published by the Jewish Community of Lodz in 1938. The
authors, noted historians Philip Friedman and Rabbi Pinchas Gliksman, had no way of
knowing how invaluable their efforts would become: within a year, the Nazis had invaded
Lodz and, during the course of the occupation, removed the gravestones from the Old Lodz
Cemetery for use as paving stones. The exact number of burials or gravestones in the Old
Lodz Cemetery is not known. For a complete description of
the contents of Stary Cmentarz Zydowski w Lodzi, see The Old Cemetery in Lodz,
by Chaim Freedman.
JRI-Poland has taken on
this indexing project with the enthusiastic support of Mr. Symcha Keller, head of the
Jewish Community of Lodz. The much larger New Lodz Cemetery,
established in 1892, survived nearly intact and planning for the indexing of the burial
records of the New Lodz Cemetery is underway. More
than 180,000 indices to these burials will be added to the JRI-Poland searchable database
in the near future.

Above: During World War II, the Nazis
removed the gravestones from the old Lodz cemetery for use as paving stones.
The
Chevra Kadisha records are made up of two separate lists, each with its own numbering
system. The first list is the Polish Subsidiary Death Register, 1826-1893, containing
2,034 entries. This list includes the individual's surname, given name, age, day, month
and year of death. In some instances a maiden surname is included. Only adults ages 16 and
over are included in this list. The registry numbers begin with #3412 and are preceded by
a "P".
The Hebrew List of Burials, 1822-1922,
is a record of 3,411 individuals whose graves were marked with gravestones in the Old Lodz
Cemetery. This list contains the same information as in the Polish list, with the addition
of the father's name, and whether the individual was a kohen or levy. As a rule,
children's graves were not marked with gravestones in the Old Lodz Cemetery. However, the
exceptions to this rule are included in the data. Registry numbers begin with #1, end with
#3411, and are preceded by an "H". Occasionally an individual may be
included in both the Hebrew and Polish lists.

Above: The cover of a record book of the Lodz Chevra Kadisha, from Stary Cmentarz Zydowski w Lodzi.
The Lodz
Chevra Kadisha Indexing Project should be of interest to anyone with Jewish roots in
the Lodz region. As a result of the great influx of workers to Lodz in the 19th century,
records include not only individuals who were born and lived in Lodz proper, but also
those with roots in many regional Polish villages and towns. Some of the records in the
Hebrew and Polish lists may coincide with data already in the JRI-Poland database and will
provide additional valuable information for anyone researching their family in this
region.
Indexing Method
The first phase of this project, indexing of the Polish
Subsidiary Death Register, 1826-1893, has been completed and added to the JRI-Poland searchable database.
Data entry was done by Shirley Rotbein Flaum and proofreading by Morris Wirth.
The data was first entered from the original text in Stary
Cmentarz Zydowski w Lodzi. Feminine surname suffixes such as "ówna" and
"owa" were removed and the feminine suffix "a" altered. Alternate
surname spellings were added, where deemed necessary by experts consulted or by the
fact that an alternate spelling may have been found in the index of the book. Known
typographical errors in the original data were corrected.
A list of unique surnames taken from the data is
available.
The second phase, indexing of the Hebrew
List of Burials, 1822-1922, is now in progress. Hebrew-speaking volunteers are in the
process translating entries and verifying Hebrew dates. The dedicated volunteers involved
with this second phase are: Gilbert Hendlisz, Shmuel Kehati, Sarah Lasry, Yaacov Lipkin,
Hanoch Magal and Israel Pickholtz. Look for this new database to be online by
approximately June 1, 2001. For further information, contact Shirley Rotbein Flaum.
Sample Indices
Polish Subsidiary Death Register, 1826-1893
Surname |
Given Name(s) |
Year |
Registry
Number |
Date of Death |
Age |
Maiden Name |
JAKUBOWICZ |
Jankiel |
1826 |
P3412 |
18-Mar |
36 |
|
ZIMNOWODA |
Perla |
1826 |
P3413 |
15-May |
30 |
|
JAGODNICKI |
Mendel |
1826 |
P3414 |
8-Sep |
60 |
|
NEJNADEL |
Michal |
1826 |
P3415 |
24-Sep |
50 |
|
PINKUS |
Hanna |
1826 |
P3416 |
26-Dec |
50 |
|
ARONOWICZ |
Ruchla |
1827 |
P3417 |
3-Feb |
41 |
|
GROSMAN |
Sura |
1827 |
P3418 |
14-Apr |
71 |
|
BERNSZTAT |
Jonas |
1827 |
P3419 |
22-Apr |
71 |
|
JAKUBOWICZ |
Sura |
1827 |
P3420 |
6-May |
90 |
|
WOLK |
Tauba |
1827 |
P3421 |
9-May |
20 |
|
BLAJSZTYFT |
Nachman |
1827 |
P3422 |
10-Jun |
24 |
|
SENDOWICZ |
Libe |
1827 |
P3423 |
4-Aug |
22 |
|
Hebrew List of
Burials, 1822-1922
NOTE: v = "vel"
or "also known as"
Surname |
Given
Name |
Year |
Registry
Number |
Date (Civil - to be added) |
Date
(Hebrew) |
Age |
Maiden Surname |
Father's
Name |
Notes
(Levite or Kohen refer to male or Father) |
|
Simchah |
1822 |
H1 |
|
10 Av 5582 |
|
|
Moshe |
|
ROGOZINSKI |
Rachel |
1825 |
H2 |
|
17 Tammuz 5585 |
25 |
|
Menachem |
wife of the baker |
|
Moshe |
1826 |
H3 |
|
28 Sivan 5586 |
|
|
Rabbi Zev Wolf |
Kohen; grandson of Mikhal Ka"tz |
JEROZOLIMSKI |
Aharon |
1828 |
H4 |
|
3 or 23 Av 5588 |
9 |
|
Rabbi
Menachem Zev |
Kohen; born in 5578 |
ZONENBERG |
Pinchas |
1830 |
H5 |
|
17 Adar 5590 |
56 |
|
Naftali Tzvi |
Kohen; died on Friday |
|
Miryam |
1830 |
H6 |
|
7 Tishrei 5591 |
|
|
Berel |
Levite |
PINKUS |
Beila |
1831 |
H7 |
|
5 Av 5591 |
|
|
Shlomoh |
|
|
Shimshi |
1832 |
H8 |
|
26 Av 5592 |
|
|
Yehuda |
|
ZOLNIERSKI v ARONOWICZ |
Shlomoh |
1833 |
H9 |
|
28 Tevet 5593 |
|
|
Aharon |
|
|
Rivkah |
1834 |
H10 |
|
4 Tishri 5595 |
|
|
Avraham |
|
|
Rivkah |
1836 |
H11 |
|
15 Elul 5596 |
|
|
|
|
|
Chanah |
1837 |
H12 |
|
5597 |
|
|
Avraham |
|
DOBRZYNSKI |
Elimelekh |
1836 |
H13 |
|
14 Cheshvan 5597 |
36 |
|
Natan |
|
ROGOZINSKI |
Moshe |
1836 |
H14 |
|
28 Kislev 5597 |
|
|
Tzvi Hersch |
Kohen; 4th day of Chanuka |
FAJTLOWICZ |
Moshe |
1837 |
H15 |
|
25 Elul 5597 |
70 |
|
Ezriel |
|
GOTSCHALL |
Ozer |
1837 |
H16 |
|
19 Tishri 5598 |
|
|
Yehuda |
|
BRONOWSKI |
Yehuda Leib |
1837 |
H17 |
|
25 Tishri 5598 |
67 |
|
Yedidyah |
|
PILGRIM |
Avraham |
1838 |
H18 |
|
29 Kislev 5599 |
70 |
|
Shmuel |
|
|
Shlomoh |
1839 |
H19 |
|
3 Tishrei 5600 |
|
|
Yakov |
day after Rosh Hashana |
HEBER |
Betzalel
Yehuda |
1839 |
H20 |
|
15 Shvat 5600 |
66 |
|
Yakov |
Levite |
LIPSKI |
Yitzchak |
1840 |
H21 |
|
Adar I 5600 |
72 |
|
|
|
|
Lieba Mariyam |
1840 |
H22 |
|
29 Sivan 5600 |
|
|
Yehuda |
Rosh Hodesh Tammuz eve |
|
Gelleh |
1840 |
H23 |
|
24 Cheshvan 5601 |
|
|
Shmuel |
|
WAJLAND |
Meshulam Feivel Shalom |
1841 |
H24 |
|
15 Shvat 5601 |
20 |
|
Rabbi Shimon |
from Leczyca |
LEWKOWICZ |
Breina |
1841 |
H25 |
|
12 Nisan 5601 |
|
|
Avraham |
|
NAUMBERG |
Ester |
1842 |
H26 |
|
4 Elul 5602 |
40 |
|
Rabbi Pinchas |
Kohen |
|
Ester |
1842 |
H27 |
|
12
Elul 5602 |
|
|
Zev |
Kohen |
KOHEN |
Yehuda Leib |
1843 |
H28 |
|
24
Shvat 5603 |
|
|
Rabbi Naftali |
Ka"tz-Kohen;
descendant of Rabbi Naftali Head of Beit Din of Poznan |
GUTENBERG |
Yokheved |
1843 |
H29 |
|
Iyar
5603 |
21 |
FRENKEL |
Shmuel |
Sega"l-Levite;
from Kalisz |
TRYBOWNIK |
Rabbi Rafael Yakov |
1843 |
H30 |
|
13
Cheshvan 5604 |
30 |
|
Hersch, of
Piotrkow |
murdered on Monday |
Surviving records less than 100 years old are held in the Civil Records Offices
(Urzad Stanu Cywilnego) of each town.
For information on the 20th century records available for your town, visit the
Routes to Roots
Foundation website, click on the 'SEARCH DATABASE' button (on the right side)
and enter the town name. Look for the town name in the Repository/City column of
the search results. There are typically links to lists of available births, marriage and death records for the town.
Note, however, the Routes to Roots Foundation database may indicate turn of the
century records that have already been transferred to the appropriate branch of
the Polish State Archives where they can be indexed for the JRI-Poland database.
JRI-Poland is an independent non-profit tax-exempt Organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
For all general inquiries about JRI-Poland activities and indexing, address email to: questions@JRI-Poland.org
For specific town information, write to [TownName]@jri-poland.org
For information about towns in close proximity, write to MultipleTowns@JRI-Poland.org
Under special arrangement, the JRI-Poland mailing list is hosted by JewishGen
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