Translation of
“Sefer Linshits”

Project Synopsis

This project will translate the Hebrew-language Sefer Linshits (the Leczyca Yizkor Book), edited by Yitshak Yedidyah Frenkel and published in Tel Aviv in 1953. The vast majority of the book is untranslated and thus, for consistency, this project assumes a full translation.

Key Audiences

The intended audience for the translated material will be:

1. Amateur and professional genealogists seeking information about the town of Leczyca
   
2. Amateur and professional researchers, including academics, interested in Jewish communities in this region as well as the Jewish experience in the region
   

In an essay on Leczyca during World War II, Holocaust scholar Dr. Adam Sitarek notes that the Sefer Linshits is an underutilized source for scholars, noting its inaccessibility due to its language of publication. Likewise, more casual researchers and individuals interested in genealogy are likewise limited by the book's language. Furthermore, while there is a plethora of Polish-language archival material going back centuries that illuminates some aspects of Jewish life through quotidian official records – loans, trials, etc.–there is very little in the way of “color commentary” that gives the Jews of Leczyca life beyond names and numbers. The Leczyca Yizkor Book, as a first-hand account by those who knew the Jewish community before its extermination, is incredibly valuable as a unique source in that it breathes life into a once-vivacious community that can no longer speak for itself. Furthermore, for genealogists, a translation of the book is likely to reveal names and biographical details that are not available anywhere else.

This project will, at the very least, produce a complete English-language translation of the Sefer Linshits, with a Polish translation contingent on fundraising needs. The work will be completed following the standard guidelines of the JewishGen Yizkor Book Project, although fundraising will be done independently. The project coordinator, in consultation with scholars, the translator (a professional hired through JewishGen), and other interested parties, will select the order in which the chapters will be rendered. In the final stage, the coordinator will proofread, edit, and prepare the definitive text for approval by the JewishGen Yizkor Book project and electronic publication on its website.

Estimated Cost

7,800. This cost assumes a high-end translation cost of $35 per page for the 223 pages of the book from Hebrew into English. Additional or leftover funds will be dedicated to translating selected chapters into Polish.

Timeline:

The project will begin in earnest once the NYPL completes scanning the book. At that point, a translator will be hired and the translation will begin, with an estimated project length of one year.