JewishGen Ukraine Research Division
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Ukraine RD and what are its goals?
The Ukraine Research Division (RD) is part of
JewishGen, Inc., an affiliate of the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.
Ukraine RD was formed by JewishGen to facilitate research, to develop new publicly accessible resources, and to assist people researching their Jewish family histories in Ukraine. 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 Ukraine that were in the Russian Empire prior to World War I.
What areas of present-day Ukraine does the RD cover?
Ukraine RD covers all or part of the following provinces: Chernigov, Kharkov, Kherson, Kyiv, Podolia, Poltava, Taurida, Volhynia, and Yekaterinoslav. Other RDs (Bessarabia, Gesher Galicia, and Romania RD) cover some of the western parts of present-day Ukraine. Please see the maps on our website home page and our
town lists for details.
How do I contribute information or volunteer to help?
Ukraine 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
Phyllis Berenson, Ukraine RD Coordinator or any member of our Board of Directors. You'll find their contact information, job descriptions and biographies
here.
Also, please fill out and submit one of Ukraine RD's Surveys. We use the surveys to match volunteers with work that needs to be done.
If you have technical problems with the website (broken links, etc.), please contact our Web Manager.
How do I signup for the Ukraine-RD Facebook page?
Our Facebook page can be reached
here
What is the Ukraine RD Mailing List, and how do I join it?
The Ukraine-RD 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 Ukraine RD 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 Ukraine RD. 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 Ukraine-RD. 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 Ukraine-RD" and being supervised by the Ukraine-RD 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 Ukraine RD's town pages?
Each Ukraine RD 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 RD'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 Ukraine RD 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, & Ukraine RD 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. Ukraine RD has developed an InfoSheet,
"How to create a KehilaLinks website". JewishGen KehilaLinks Owners also may be Ukraine RD Town Leaders. Ukraine RD Town Pages supplement KehilaLinks and serves as a portal to KehilaLink web pages.
How do I know which Ukraine RD projects I should join?
Please go to Ukraine RD's
Contributions page. There you will find a list of the many ways you can contribute to the RD's work.
Keep in mind that most of Ukraine RD'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 Phyllis Berenson, Ukraine RD Coordinator.
He will work with you to find a project that matches your skills and interests.
I still have questions about UKR-RD. How do I proceed?
If you still have a question contact Phyllis Berenson, Ukraine RD 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 Ukraine RD?
You can donate money to Ukraine RD or to a specific Ukraine RD project on the Ukraine RD page at the
JewishGen-erosity website.
