JewishGen Bessarabia SIG Research Division
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Bessarabia SIG and what are its goals?
The Bessarabia Special Interesg Group (SIG) is part of
JewishGen, Inc., an affiliate of the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.
Bessarabia SIG was formed by JewishGen to facilitate research, to develop new publicly accessible resources, and to assist people researching their Jewish family histories in Bessarabia. We also serve as a country-wide landsmanshaft, using modern technology to help us remember and understand the lives of those who came before us. We focus on the towns and districts of present-day Bessarabia that were in the Russian Empire prior to World War I.
What areas of present-day Bessarabia does the RD cover?
Bessarabia SIG covers Bessarabia Gubernia (province) of Russian Empire, and also parts of Podolia and Kherson Gubernias which are now in Moldova Republic (Transnistria region).
Please see the maps on our website home page and our
town lists for details.
How do I contribute information or volunteer to help?
Our RD is run by volunteers. We need volunteers for a wide variety of tasks. Some work requires language skills. Other work requires just persistence and enthusiasm. If you would like to share your information, resources, skills, or time, please contact our Coordinator or any member of our Board of Directors. You'll find their contact information, job descriptions and biographies here.
If you have technical problems with the website (broken links, etc.), please contact our Web Manager
How do I sign up for the Bessarabia-SIG Facebook page?
Our Facebook page can be reached
hereWhat is the Bessarabia SIG Mailing List, and how do I join it?
The Bessarabia-SIG Mailing List is one of many JewishGen Mailing Lists. Here is how you subscribe:
- You must first Login to JewishGen. If you are not yet registered with JewishGen, click the 'new user' link under the sign in boxes. Once you are signed in you will be on JewishGen's Mailing List page.
- On the Mailing List page, scroll down to Bessarabia SIG and click the Subscribe button.
- Fill out the subscription form.
You will have several choices for managing your subscription. For example, you can choose to receive messages as they are sent, or you can receive all messages for the day in a 'digest' at the end of each day. You can change your choices at any time by editing your subscriptions.
JewishGen maintains Archives of past messages. If you wish, you can search the Archives to see if your question was asked and answered in the past. Search hints and a search form are available here.
Where do I find the Donor and Volunteer Forms?
When you contribute data, images, stories, or time-and-effort to JewishGen, you must fill out a Donor or a Volunteer form. The
JewishGen Donor Agreement can be used for all materials you send to Bessarabia SIG. It is a simple one page form that gives JewishGen non-exclusive rights to the material you submit.
The JewishGen Volunteer Agreement can be used for all projects organized by Bessarabia-SIG. One Volunteer Form will cover all of the projects you work on for us, so if you are ready to volunteer now, but still trying to figure out how you can help, just fill in First Assignment as 'Volunteer for Bessarabia-SIG' and being supervised by the Bessarabia-SIG Coordinator. If you know a particular project that you'd like to work on, you can note that project and the name of the person running the project.
What information do I find in the Bessarabia SIG's town pages?
Each Bessarabia SIG town page is a portal where is 'referenced' all information identified by the RD concerning the town.
A town page is not an information repository but an index to that information.
In a town page you will find:
Information about SIG's projects related to the town
Information about datasets/documents available for that town and their location
Categorized links to resources containing information about the town
In a town page you will NOT find:
Pictures
Data about people
Stories
etc
JewishGen has a specific section for that: the KehilaLinks pages. KehilaLinks are pages commemorating the places where Jews have lived. The Bessarabia SIG coordinates with town leaders and KehilaLinks owners so the available information is available on the KehilaLinks.
For more information please refer to the document 'KehilaLinks, JewishGen Communities Pages, & Bessarabia SIG Town Pages' in our InfoSheets Page
How can I create a KehilaLinks page for my ancestral town(s)?
JewishGen's KehilaLinks Project provides a place where people can commemorate their ancestral towns. Bessarabia SIG has developed an InfoSheet,
'How to create a KehilaLinks website'. JewishGen KehilaLinks Owners also may be Bessarabia SIG Town Leaders. Bessarabia SIG Town Pages supplement KehilaLinks and serves as a portal to KehilaLink web pages.
How do I know which Bessarabia SIG projects I should join?
Please go to Bessarabia SIG's
Contributions page. There you will find a list of the many ways you can contribute to the SIG's work.
Keep in mind that most of Bessarabia SIG's projects are town-specific (or, more generally, geographic-specific).
Check our Current Projects List.
Select 'All' for each option on the search form and leave the Keywords box blank.
Also check the Town Pages for your town(s).
If you do not see a Project that interests you, contact Yefim Kogan, Bessarabia SIG Coordinator.
He will work with you to find a project that matches your skills and interests.
I still have questions about Bessarabia SIG. How do I proceed?
If you still have a question contact
Yefim Kogan, Bessarabia SIG Coordinator, who will figure out the best way to help you.
I still have questions about JewishGen. How do I proceed?
The
JewishGen FAQ will answer just about any question you have about JewishGen. If you still have questions after reading the FAQ, post a message on the Mailing List. Someone is sure to respond with the answer you need.
How can I contribute money to Bessarabia SIG?
You can donate money to Bessarabia SIG or to a specific Bessarabia SIG project on the Bessarabia SIG page at the
JewishGen-erosity website.
