Welcome to the Courland Research Group Home Page

Go to latest update (August 2011)

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Courland (Kurzeme in Latvian, Kurland in German) is the historically distinct area of modern day Latvia bounded by the Baltic Sea to the west, Lithuania to the south and the Dvina River (now Daugava) to the North. Its historic capital was Mitau (now Jelgava). Its geographical position, lying at the crossroads where east met west, and its ice-free Baltic ports (especially Libau, now Liepaja) gave it a commercial and strategic importance far greater than its geographical area. At its height Courland was a prosperous and cultured German-speaking Duchy proud of its traditions and history. Courland was a separate Gubernia [Province] of the Russian Empire from 1797-1918.

The goals of the Courland Research Group are:

	To co-ordinate the acquisition, extraction and indexing of documents relating to the Jews of Courland and to make the information available on-line in database form.
	To provide a forum for the exchange of information about Courland and to promote techniques for interpreting data relating to family history.
	To research and publish material relevant to the history of the Jews of Courland, and the related history of the Jews in Latvia more generally.
	To work with professionals in the fields of Jewish Studies and History with the shared aim of understanding the intellectual history of the Jews of Courland.

Recent Additions
August 2011
	Complete scans (other than some missing pages) of the Courland volume of the 1912 Baltische Verkehrs- und Adressbuch. This makes accessible information on the history and community organization of individual towns as well as extensive listings of individuals, including their addresses and occupations.
July 2009
	Martha-Lev-Zion's transcriptions of 1854 and 1856 Goldingen birth and death records from the scanned records of the Latvian State Historical Archives.
March 2006
	A minor but long-overdue revision to repair most of the numerous outdated links.
May 2003
	Martha Lev-Zion's transcription of the names of the heads of Jewish families from the 1842 family register for Goldingen (Kuldiga) in the State Historical Archives in Riga.
	Links to Betsy Thal Gephardt's new and improved web sites for Sassmacken, Talsen and Tukums. Betsy also includes links to several sites with information on Latvian Jewry.
March 2003
	Additional contributions from the holdings in the Kibbutz Shefayim archives of the Association of Latvian and Estonian Jews have been added: a summary of the holdings concerning Estonian Jewry, and a list of Jews from Dvinsk who fought in World War II. The lists are made available by kind permission of the Association and its Archivist, Shlomo Kurlandchik.
	The names of about 100 Jews of Latvian descent who lived in Moscow and were executed during the Stalin era have been extracted and translated by Stanislav Gorbulev. [This list has actually been available on the site for about a year but mention of its addition was inadvertently omitted from the summary below.]
	A new entry in our occasional feature Gubernskie Vedomosti On-Line, made possible by Max Michelsohn and Constance Whippman.
	New and updated links to other databases are available through the compendium of genealogical data sources.
April 2002
	Another list to facilitate research using Edward Anders's database of Holocaust victims and survivors, this time the full list of maiden names, with the corresponding full married names.
	The Autobiography of Solomon Katzen: The Early Years 1902-1923, Solomon Katzen's recollections of his childhood in Sassmacken, his family's exile in Ukraine, and his subsequent return to Latvia and emigration to the USA, was a much admired addition to the web site in mid-2001. Mr. Katzen was gratified by the response of readers, but sadly, he passed away shortly afterwards. An obituary has been added.
	The scholarly Courland genealogical literature covered mainly the German nobility, and only rarely the Jewish residents of Courland. An exception is an article on Goldingen that lists, among about 2000 citizens between the mid-16th century and 1889, about 150 Jews. These names and associated information have been extracted and translated by Eric Benjaminson.
	Another list of tax defaulters from the official provincial newspaper, Gubernskie Vedomosti, dates from Tukums in 1866. The names have been transcribed by Rebecca Simmons.
July 2001
	The second half of The Autobiography of Solomon Katzen: The Early Years 1902-1923, Solomon Katzen's recollections of his childhood in Sassmacken, his family's exile in Ukraine, and his subsequent return to Latvia and emigration to the USA. Reader comments sent to the Courland mailing list are posted as well.
	Can you help to support projects to enhance the already substantial databases available on this web site and those in the All-Latvia Database? The Courland Research group now has its own JewishGen-erosity page through which donations, tax-deductible in the US, can be made. And don't forget that volunteers to help with transcription, translation, etc., are an invaluable resource as well.
May 2001
	Further additions to the growing Libau resources made available by Edward Anders. Our existing links to Dr. Anders's remarkable database of Holocaust victims and survivors are now complemented by the full list of surnames in the database, which he has provided for browsing on the Courland web site. In addition, Dr. Anders is sponsoring two special offers in memory of the Libau Jewish community: "Jews in Liepaja, Latvia 1941-45: A Memorial Book", and copies of passport photos from the Latvian State Historical Archives.
	The Autobiography of Solomon Katzen: The Early Years 1902-1923 is a remarkable book of Solomon Katzen's recollections of his childhood in Sassmacken, where he was born in 1902. Additional parts of the autobiography, currently being processed for inclusion, describe his family's exile in Ukraine, and his subsequent efforts to return to Latvia en route to the USA. This is a fascinating and absorbing description of life in a Courland shtetl. Comments and questions can be sent to the Courland mailing list, and will be forwarded to the author and posted on this web site.
	Several additional indices of holdings in the Kibbutz Shefayim archives of the Association of Latvian and Estonian Jews. These lists cover: Latvian Jewish organisations, parties, institutions and movements; books, in several languages, relevant to Latvian Jewry; photos of Latvian Jewish personalities; and photos of Latvian Jewish organisations. The lists are made available by kind permission of the Association and its Archivist, Shlomo Kurlandchik, with the assistance of Martha Lev-Zion.
December 2000
	Links to Paul Berkay's background to the Kurland Seelenlisten, the Herder microfilm collection, which includes a full translation of the 1811-1813 Jakobstadt Oklad (tax registry), 1797 parish censuses for the Dunaburg (Dvinsk) and Uberlautz districts, and an alphabetical index to the full microfilm collection. See also the existing Courland Research Group information and databases related to the microfilms.
	Links to several major Libau databases, specifically Edward Anders's remarkable database of Holocaust victims and survivors and Paul Berkay's collection, including the 1938 Libau property owners' list and the 1930 Libau business owners' list.
	A new edition of Gubernskie Vedomosti On-Line, translations by Max Michelsohn of extracts from the Courland regional government newspaper pertaining to individual Jewish residents.
October 2000
	Three US Commission and Consular reports filed between the early 1920s and the early 1940s, describing the state of the Jews in Latvia. The reports were obtained and donated by Paul Berkay and transcribed by Sherri Goldberg, Margaret Kannensohn and Jerry Becker.
	A variety of interesting Courland links, collected by Constance Whippman.
	A new edition of Gubernskie Vedomosti On-Line, translations by Max Michelsohn of extracts from the Courland regional government newspaper pertaining to individual Jewish residents.
August 2000
	Index of documents in the Kibbutz Shefayim archives of the Association of Latvian and Estonian Jews. This transliteration, by Martha Lev-Zion, lists records in the Archive deposited by Latvian Jewish personalities.
	The Industry section of the 1924 State Address Calendar, containing information on employers in industrial enterprises throughout Latvia. A guide to interpreting the information and an index to the scanned pages has been prepared by Paul Berkay.
	A new edition of Gubernskie Vedomosti On-Line, translations by Max Michelsohn of extracts from the Courland regional government newspaper pertaining to individual Jewish residents.