Czech Jewish vital Records

Yes. The final batch of vital records is due in the next few weeks. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Prague records. After that we will wait for the Familianten records. The only thing missing are the cemetery records, held by the Jewish Museum in Prague, which so far has not agreed to share them. Does anyone have any contacts there? I have tried.

Randy Schoenberg - as always, great job :)

Bennett mentions "additional" Moravian Familiant books - are there any available online now? Thank you.

No Familianten yet, except for what is on http://www.toledot.org/kraje.html

Is there an English version on the link?

I believe the final batch of Czech vital records (including Prague) is about to be available on the badatelna website at http://www.badatelna.cz/fond/1073. The documents show up there now, but when you try to open there is an error and they are unavailable. Keep checking for them.

The badatelna site is fixed and ALL the registers are available. Happy hunting!

I don't speak the language and am unable to find a translation tool. Is there an English version?

Randy Schoenberg,
I am interested in more information on the Familianten laws and how they affected the socio/economic/religious fabric of the communities in Bohemia and Moravia. What was the impact of only the oldest son being allowed to marry, to what extent did this impact emigration, to what extent did this encourage religious conversion? (not sure whether it did...was a converted 2nd son allowed to marry?)...Can you point me to any books written on this subject? Perhaps this is discussed somewhere on this website?

To get started in the Czech Jewish Registers, go to http://www.badatelna.cz/fond/1073:

1. Click on the green tab that says "Inventář" next to an icon of a book.
2. Click on the green circle with the white plus sign next to "UREDNI KNIHY (matriky a indexy)"
Now you see a list of towns, page 1/30. Some have had scans attached; some will be posted later this year.
3. Click on the small green circle with the white plus sign next to the town you want (scroll ahead to the next page using the green arrows). You will see a list of files (with dates):
N = Births (narození)
O = Marriages (ohlášky, or banns)
Z = Deaths (zesnulý, or deceased)
4. Select the register you want, click on the first icon – the one that looks like three computer screens – and you should see a new screen with the cover of the book.
5. Scroll through the book by using the green arrow buttons. First look at the bottom of the screen – in a few cases, individual Register books were indexed long ago, and such pages clearly look different even in thumbnail versions.
6. Use the - and + buttons at the bottom of the image to zoom in and out.
7. Click and hold your mouse button and drag to move the image around on your screen.
8. To take a screen shot:
on a Mac, use command-shift-4.
on a PC, use Ctrl-PrtSc. It’s convenient to drop the saved image into PAINT (an Accessory in Windows) and from there, save it as a .jpg for further cropping and enhancement.
Note that hitting Ctrl-PrtSc will immediately cause the image on your screen to zoom out.
The directions given in Czech at the bottom of each image say: "Click on the Print icon to generate a PDF reproduction. To print multiple reproductions, write their numbers separated by spaces (1,3,4,5) or range (1-18). A maximum of 20 reproductions can be generated into a single PDF file."
Note: taking screenshots is more effective than the .pdf's that result from the "print" process the website describes.
The website also provides the following viewing "shortcuts.” For them to work, you need to first click onto the image.
Ctrl-A zooms in
Ctrl-Z zooms out
Arrow keys move image side-to-side
ESCAPE returns image to original size

I am looking for records in Chomutov for birth year 1873.....it seems there are only records after 1875. Anyone have a suggestion where else to look?

Has anyone found a way to use an index entry to simplify finding the corresponding record, assuming it exists?

Many thanks to Randy for the step-by-step guide. Having floundered in the past, I hope now to be able to succeed. Thanks again.

Ann, I have used the indices. Sometimes they even have the surname when the early record at the front of the book does not. But it is tough, that's for sure. Each index is different. I've even seen some that index only by first name, not surname!

I've been pouring the Prague Jewish records over the last two days, and am making many, many new findings. Remarkable!

Randy, is it possible to contact Dr.Dr Lenka Matušiková directly? First and foremost, I want to thank her for all this impressive work. But second, I want to see if she can tell me why the Jewish births for Holesov (1784-1841) are missing and whether they will appear at some point. Let me know how I might get in touch with her.

Many thanks--

Bob Hanscom

Lenka is at Lenka.Matusikova@nacr.cz. I've asked about Holesov before and she never told me what was up.

The new books are simply overwhelming. And I don't have enough time to pour through them. The early Prague marriage records (2660-2661) may be the best place to start. Seems to be two copies, one difficult and another easier to read.

Here's an example of the original and copy of a marriage record from 1803 for Isak Joachim Jontof. Even in the clean copy I am having trouble with the bride's maiden name.

http://www.geni.com/photo/view/6000000019723326374?album_type=photo...

http://www.geni.com/photo/view/6000000019723326374?album_type=photo...=

The bride's name might be Ludmilla Tuchin. Could that be?

I agree with Heleen - it looks like Tuchin to me also.

Works for me. Thanks.

I seem to have issues getting the images to display (I have used them previously fine). Anyone able to check to see it they are working for them?

Best wishes,
Gordon

Lenka Matušíková reports that over 1,000 additional volumes of Jewish records, known as the Jewish Control Registers are now available at http://badatelna.eu/fond/241. In many instances, these books fill in missing volumes from the registers at http://badatelna.eu/fond/1073.

Happy hunting . . .

And Gordon, have you made sure to use badatelna.EU not the old address at badatelna.CZ?

Thanks Randy!

That's the reason. I was using the CZ site and not the EU one. Never knew that it had moved...

Appreciate the help.

Gordon