Ukraine Research Division: FAQ
What is Ukraine RD and what are its goals?
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.
What geographic areas does Ukraine RD cover?
Ukraine RD's territory covers nine provinces of the former Russian Empire shown in the map below: Chernigov, Ekaterinoslav, Kharkov, Kherson, Kyyiv, Podolia, Poltava, Taurida, and Volhynia. The Ukraine RD does not cover all of modern-day Ukraine. National boundaries in this part of the world have shifted due to geopolitical events over the centuries.
JewishGen has assigned some areas in modern Ukraine to other Research Divisions. A large swath of western Ukraine (formerly the province of Galicia in Austria-Hungary) is covered by Gesher Galicia and JRI-Poland. The Bessarabia Research Division covers the Republic of Moldova, and a few small regions in Ukraine, including Chișinău (Kishinev), Hotin (Khotyn), Bălți (Bieltsy), Soroca (Soroki), Briceni (Brichany), Edineț (Yedintsy), Bender (Bendery), Lipcani (Lipkany), and Orhei (Orgeyev).
Some former regions of the Russian Empire are covered by the JewishGen Hungarian Special Interest Group.
Additionally the Ukraine RD covers all of Chernigov, a portion of which is now in present-day Russia (Bryansk Oblast).
What information is included in the Ukraine RD’s Town Pages?
A Town Page is an almanac for each town that we cover. The factual information on each town includes its location, including coordinates and a map, its historic province and district within the Russian Empire, and the name in various languages including Yiddish and Ukrainian. It also includes contact information for the Town Leader (page manager), and a link to a KehilaLinks page if one exists.
You can find a browsable list of almost 800 towns that we cover on our website.
KehilaLinks are web pages on JewishGen which commemorate the places where Jews have lived. They include stories, histories, photographs, and memoirs that provide a fuller context of these communities. They are a good way to expand your knowledge about ancestral hometowns. KehilaLinks are developed and maintained by JewishGen volunteers. A list of towns in modern Ukraine with KehilaLinks pages can be found here.
How do I find out what new records are being added to the UkraineRD database?
The UkraineRD manages record acquisition and translation projects centrally. We are fortunate to have a large amount of records that are continually being added to our database. To see what is being added each month follow us on our JewishGen.org: Ukraine Research Division Facebook Group or refer to the What’s New section on our UkraineRD Home Page.
Each month, a listing of uploaded records is available, while a spreadsheet with the cumulative listing of records from the past couple of years is also available. Please keep in mind these lists are updated each month.
I still have questions about the Ukraine RD. How do I proceed?
For questions about this website and about the work of Ukraine RD, please contact Phyllis Berenson, Ukraine RD Director. at pberenson@jewishgen.org.
I still have questions about JewishGen. How do I proceed?
For questions about JewishGen, please visit the JewishGen Support Center.
