Zvenigorodka, Ukraine
Based on the records I've found for several branches of the family tree, we have cousins from Zvenigorodka (also spelled Zvenyhorodka, Zvenyhorodka, and Zwienigorodka), Ukraine. Dr. Saul, Solomon Lutsky, and his family listed this town as their last residence when they came to America in 1921. It's also the last residence listed for some Hochfeld cousins (Belinsky branch of the family tree) when they came to the US in 1909. Zvenigorodka is located 41 miles NE of Uman, 72 miles NW of Kirovohgrad (fka Elizavetgrad). It is also located only 13 miles from Lysyanka, the town where my g-grandparents Louis Lutsky and Lena Belinsky were probably born. Zvenigorodka is located in the Kiev district/province.
According to The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life, a single Jewish lessee was present in 1765. In 1897, the Jewish population was 6,389. Jews set up a candle factory and a tobacco plant. Many worked on the estates during the grain harvest. Zvenigoridka was the birthplace of Baron Horace Gunzberg/Guenzburg and the Hebrew writer Natan Agmon Bistritski/Bistritsky. In 1924, under the Soviets, 360 Jewish artisans were organized in unions. A few dozen Jewish families founded a kolkhoz (cooperative agricultural enterprise) nearby. Two Yiddish-language elementary schools and a vocational school were opened in the town. An education institute for needy children (aged 4-8) was founded in 1927. In the same year, a Jewish law court began operating and in 1931 a Yiddish-language agricultural school was established. The Jewish population in 1939 was 1,957. The Nazis occupied Zvenigorodka on July 29, 1941, setting up a ghetto where the Jews of Katerynopol were also confined. On June 14, 1942, at least 1,500 Jews were executed in the Oforny forest.
According to the RTR Foundation website, the following records survive in the Kiev and/or Cherkassy archives:
-birth - 1861-1862; 1887-1889; 1897; 1903; 1904; 1907; 1908
-census/list of inhabitants - 1847, 1849, 1853
-voter lists - 1853
-pogroms - 1905
-address book - 1849
-Jewish school/students - 1852-3
-taxpayer lists - 1847, 1852, 1915
-Jewish hospital records - 1906
-local govt document - 1905 list of Jews who participated in the revoluntionary movement in Zvenigorodka
-local govt document - 1910-11 list of small shop owners
Posted by Sharon at 12:59 PM
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2 comments:
Anonymous said...
In 2001 I met a fellow on a train from Siberia to Moscow. I eventually learned that his family was originally from Zvenigorodka where their family name had been "Kogan" (that's what happens to "Cohen" in Cyrillic). Around 1910 two brothers -- I think one was "Daniil" -- had emigrated to Philadelphia and opened a dressmaking shop. Then came the 1917 revolution and the Stalin years when it became too dangerous to write, so a farewell letter was sent. After that the brother who remained in Zvenigorodka was persecuted as an "enemy of the people" or "bourgeois bloodsucker" once too often, so he took his family to Siberia to create new identities under "Russian" names. He could not have foreseen the Holocaust when Zvenigorodka's remaining Jews were annihilated, and that probably is what his relatives in Philadelphia assumed.
I have not been able to locate any Kogans in greater Philadelphia who can connect themselves to this story. Perhaps they moved on or changed their names. If this seems to connect with anyone's family history, I can be reached here: dave_mason@ca.rr.com
February 10, 2010 12:26 PM
Anonymous said...
Hi,
I'm working on the genealogy of the Ganapol(sky) family from Zveigorodka. If this name is familiar to anyone, please be in contact.
Alan Steinfeld
asteinfeldmd@alumni.uc.edu
March 10, 2010 7:19 PM
Zweningoradka just came up in conversation related to the Magaziner family who may be distant relatives of mine. If you're researching them or Cherniavsky or Tekel, please get in touch.
ReplyDeletebillietoy at gmail.com
My maternal grandmother Anna Zolotoreffsky was from Zvenigorodka. She came to the US circa 1910.
ReplyDeleteI have a picture of her in the 'old country' as a child with her mother Pessia Rubinski Zolotoreffsky and aunt Fagaleah Rubinski, circa 1906 or 1907.
My grandmother's father was an artist who apparently also painted/set up the sets for the local theatre.
Mi abuela Rajl Kaminietzky era de Zvenigorodka. Llegó a Buenos Aires Argentina en 1912 y vino a casarse con Salomón Tulchinsky que había llegado al puerto de Buenos Aires en 1908.
ReplyDeleteAre you related to Juana Kaminetzky from Santiago, Chile, or Naftula Zolotarevsky from Santiago, Chile? Tulchinsky's in the USA related to Zolotarevsky's. Naftula Zolotarevsky from Zvenigorodka. Is Oleg Tulchinsky
DeleteRosa Kaminetzky was wife of Naftula Zolotarevsky. Oleg Tulchinsky cousin of Zolotarevsky's. On fTDNA
DeleteI'm looking for info on Lawrence Timoshenko b. 1850 from Zvenigorodka.
ReplyDeletesktimoshenko@gmail.com
I'm primarily looking for families named Khutoryansky, Chercass (or variations), Kitaigorodsky, Magaziner, Gorbatyuk, Hochfeld. Granoff (Granovsky), Yudell. I am interested in the list of documents that Sharon posted and how they can be accessed. Any information or leads will be greatly appreciated, Because of the scarcity of records, I have only been able to go back about 2 generations to the people who immigrated in the 1920s. Would like to go back further if I can. thank you. Helen
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents (maternal) were from Zwenigorodka. Grandfather (Meir Schwartz(bart) left about 2006 - born about 1881. Grandmother Edith Frankl dorn later in decade - not sure when he whol family left. Probably before then.
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents (maternal) were from Zwenigorodka. Grandfather (Meir Schwartz(bart) left about 2006 - born about 1881. Grandmother Edith Frankl dorn later in decade - not sure when he whol family left. Probably before then.
ReplyDeleteMy paternal g-grandparents were from Zvenigorodka.
ReplyDeleteBenjamin and Bessie Dranoff ( changed from Dranofsky )
From what I know up to now, Benjamin was one of 18 children born to Gershon and Ruchel.
I believe he had at least three brothers and two sisters that emigrated to PhiladelphiaMaroons the same time. About 1902-04.
The names were changed around.
It was Dranovsky, Dranov, Dranof, Dranow, and Dranoff.
I would be thrilled if there were any remaining records that would be able to shed light on more about this clan of mine.
If you have any information you would like to share, please email me.
Jfrankpvr@att.net
My great grandfather, Morris Joseph Erlichman arrived in the U.S. in the mid to late 1880's. The story goes that the original name was Greenstein and the papers they were able to obtain to leave Russia were in the name of Erlichman.
ReplyDeleteMorris' father, Wolf Greenstein, and his other children later came to the U.S. around the turn of the 20th century. I'm not able to trace the Greensteins. Would be interested to know if I have additional cousins, and if anyone else is familiar with the story of obtaining papers in a different name in order to flee the country and the pogroms.
Mindy
Looking for any information on Geyer or Weksley family from Zvenigorodka and Lysenka.
ReplyDeleteLooking for Starvechsky family -- Julius was my great-grandfather, Rebecca was my great-grandmother.
ReplyDelete