Odesa Birth Index Database

This database is an index to 56,029 Jewish births in Odessa, for 1878-89, 1891, 1894, 1896-97, 1900.

Introduction

Today, Odessa is the third-largest city in Ukraine, and a major seaport and transportation hub on the Black Sea.

Since the early 19th century, Odessa has been home to a diverse population which included a large Jewish population.  By the end of the 19th century, it is estimated that Jews comprised more than a third of the total population.

This database contains translations of the indexes to the vital records from Odessa.  The indexes were acquired from the State Archives of Odesa Oblast (SAOR).  The pages of the indexes and the documents to which they refer can be obtained from SAOR.  For more information, see their website at http://www.archives.gov.ua/Eng/Odessa.php and http://www.archives.gov.ua/Eng/Archives/ra15.php.

Archive Contents

The Odessa archives have Jewish vital records ranging from 1875 to 1920.  Most of the books containing these records have indexes of the names included in the books.

• The birth indexes are from 1875-1918 and contain the name, surname, number of the entry in the actual book of births, and the year and month of event.  There are 4,200 images (5.27 GB)

• The death indexes cover 1875-1913 and 1916-1918 (1914-1915 are missing).  They contain the same information of as the birth records.  There are 2,916 images (4.22 GB).

• The marriage indexes cover 1875, 1876, 1884, 1889-1904, 1906-1912, 1914-1915, 1918-1919.  Entries contain date (day/month/year, some only month/year), groom’s surname, groom’s first name, bride’s surname, number of the entry in the actual book of marriages.  There are 2,566 images (4.72 GB).

There are a total of 9,682 pages of these indexes.

Database Fields

The fields in this database are as follows:

• Name — The child's surname and given name(s).
• Date — The date of birth, in Year / Month / Day format.  Note that the month and day are not always present.
• Record # — Number of the birth record, within that year.
• Comments

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Yoni Kupchik for heading up the Odessa vital records index acquisition and translation project, and to the IAJGS for recognizing the project and awarding it the Rabbi Malcom Stern Grant in 2014.

Search the Database

The Odesa Birth Index Database can be searched via the JewishGen Ukraine Database.