Kelmė Database

The Kelmė Database consists of over 2,000 data records from various sources for the Lithuanian shtetl of Kelmė.  The archival records range in date from 1816 to 1944.

The sources include:

• Revizski Skazki (revision censuses) from 1816, 1851, 1864, 1873 and 1874 (Vilnius Archive).
• Kelmė Birth Registers 1865 and 1869 (Vilnius Archive).
• Kelmė Birth Registers 1875, 1898 and 1907 (Vilnius Archive).
• All-Russian Census of Kelmė for 1897 (Vilnius Archive).
• Kelmė Postal Telegraph Savings Bank Applications 1891-1904 (Vilnius Library).
• Vsia Rossia Business Directories from 1903 and 1911-2 (various libraries).
• HaMelitz and HaMagid Hebrew newspapers.
• Prenumeranten Lists by Berl Kagan.
• Yiddisher Shtet ... by Berl Kagan.
• Lithuanian Jewry by Masha Greenbaum.
• Lithuanian Jewish Communities by Schoenberg and Schoenberg, including survivor lists from 1943 and 1946.
• Marriage Permission Certificates 1922-24 (YIVO).
• Kelmė Arrest List June 28, 1941 (Bruce Kahn obtained on 1997 trip to Kelmė).
• Annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry by Oshrey 1953.
• Etz Karut. Tel Aviv ca. 1993, Kelmė yizkor book (obtained from authors).

Other materials not yet translated which are intended to be indexed by name and included in the Kelmė Database:

• 1847 Tax Inventory (Vilnius Archive).
• Pinkas Hakilillot - Lita by Dov Levin.
• Lite.
• Yahadut Lita.
• miscellaneous other data submitted to me by a network of Kelmė researchers including birth and marriage records, Yad Vashem Pages of Testimony, etc.

Wherever available the following information was derived from the reference and recorded in a database:

• Surname
• Given Name
• Father's Name (usually from patronymic)
• Mother's Name
• Data Source (see above)
• Occupation (or other identifying information)

An attempt has been made to standardize the spelling of the names, which derive from sources in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian, Polish and Lithuanian.  This is a most imprecise process and this web system incorporates Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex to aid research.

Bob Weiss can supply copies and translations of all census, birth, and marriage documents cited.

While Etz Karut is being translated, Jack Weinstein can supply citations from that source.  Give him the page number.

All other references to page numbers in Kagan, Vsia Rossia, etc. can be looked up -- these sources are fairly widely available.  In extreme cases of need, Bob Weiss can supply the information by e-mail.