Salute to the Romanian Jews in America and Canada, 1850-2010: History, Achievements, and Biographies

By Vladimir F. Wertsman

TRANSLATION FROM ROMANIAN INTO ENGLISH

NEW YORK MAGAZINE No. 706, Wednesday, February 2, 2011, Cultural Page 16 University Professor and Doctor Aurel Sasu, HOMAGE TO THE JEWS FROM THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, Commentary regarding the volume SALUTE TO THE ROMANIAN JEWS IN AMERICA AND CANADA, 1850-2010: HISTORY, ACHIEVEMENTS, AND BIOGRAPHIES by Vladimir F. Wertsman

The publication of SALUTE TO THE ROMANIAN JEWS IN AMERICA AND CANADA,1850-2010: HISTORY, ACHIEVEMENTS, AND BIOGRAPHIES, XLibris , Bloomington, IN, 2010, 287 pp. by Vladimir F. Wertsman, one of the most valued, respected and dedicated researchers on multiculturalism over the Ocean, was no surprise to anybody in light of the authors previous triptych: THE ROMANIANS IN AMERICA, 1748-1974: A CHNRONOLOGY AND FACT BOOK(1975), THE ROMANIANS IN AMERICA AND CANADA: A GUIDE TO INFORMTION SOURCES, (1980), and THE ROMANIANS IN THE UNITED STATES ANADA CANADA: A GUIDE TO ANCESTRY AND HERITAGE RESEARCH (2003). All of these titles reflect the authors older concerns regarding immigration, integration, and identity preserved via the values of organic tradition.

Those who know this passionate book lover (he served many years as senior librarian at the New York Public Library) also know how much he is proud of his Romanian education (he is a graduate of the University "A.I. Cuza" Law School, 1953) and the prestige of Romanian people of culture abroad in whose spirit he was formed. Established in the USA in 1967, the future author did not forget the depth of his primary sources and his Romanian heritage. Regardless how often he appears in the Romanian community, he is admired for his work, advice, and wisdom. His main message is friendship, mutual understanding and respect.

The above mentioned volume on Romanian Jews in America and Canada starts with a "microchronology" of Romanias two millennia Jewish community going back to the year 70 AD, when some Jews found asylum in Dacia after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. Under King Decebal, Jews are permitted to reside without any restriction. They were merchants, translators, and purveyors, Matei Basarab offers asylum to Hungarian Jews who refused to convert to Catholicism, under Alexander the Good and Stephen the Great, the Jews are free to live in any part of Moldavia. Also, Stephen the Great and his son Bogdan Voda kept Isaac Benjamin Shor as their logofat (chancellor). In the 16th century, first Sephardic communities are mentioned in Bucharest and Craiova, also Jewish stable communities are mentioned in Iasi (with a synagogue and cemetery), Suceava, Botosani, Sibiu, Cluj. Vasile Lupu (17th century) accepts several Jewish doctors and pharmacists at his court, Constantin Brancoveanu will do the same one century later. In 1665, a document mentions that along with Valachians and Serbs there were Jews in Michael the Braves Army. Constantin Mavrocordat accords fiscal immunity to Jews settled in Herta, Balti, Orhei, Ocna, and Harlau. From DESCRIPTIO MOLDAVIAE (1717) by Dimitrie Cantemir, we find that Jews could build wooden synagogues without any restrictions. Starting with the 18th century, mixed musical bands (lautari) are formed; they consisted of Romanians, Jews, and Gypsies. After the hardships endured by Jews during the Russian-Turkish War (1769-1774), Alexandru Mavrocordat and Nicolae Mavrogheni accord special protection to the Jewish population. In 1803, there were about 3,000 Jewish families in Moldova, fifty years later, the Jewish population increased to more than 130,000. In the Proclamation of Islaz (1848), the rights of the Jewish community are explicitly mentioned: "the emancipation of the Israelites and political rights for all compatriots of other creeds". In 1852, the first Jewish school is opened in Bucharest, and in 1847 appears ISRAELITUL ROMAN, the first newspaper of the Jewish communities from Moldavia and Walachia

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 22, 2010
• ISBN: 9781453512807

Vladimir F. Wertsman

Romanian born Vladimir F. Wertsman is a well known author of books on various American ethnic groups, including three volumes on Romanians in America and Canada, published in 1975, 1980, and 2005. The current book is a UNIQUE reference source of information on Romanian Jews in USA and Canada, a subject not covered in the previous titles. It focuses on their situation in Romania, immigration, settlement in the New World, group achievements (organizations, synagogues), individual contributions in numerous fields of endeavor (academic, writing, music, theater, film, art, religion, medicine, business, law, sports, and others) as reflected in over 600 bibliographic items and in over 300 biographical sketches. Dozens of archival materials offer, among others, Mihail Eminescu's (Romania's national poet) review of Abraham Goldfaden's Yiddish show in Iasi (1876), description of Romanian Jews in Oregon during 1880s, their "mamaliga" parties and hora dancing, "Rumania, Romania" and other Yiddish songs, plus relevant photographs.This writing celebrates 160 years of Romanian Jewish presence on North American soil, and 140 years of American Romanian diplomatic contacts, started in 1870 by American Consul Benjamin D. Peixotto (former President of B'nai B'rith) and continued by the current US Ambassador Mark Gitenstein, of Romanian Jewish ancestry. Written in a condensed information style, and covering the topics of Romanian Jewish heritage, Judaica, ethnic studies, Holocaust, and genealogy, this book is useful to students and teachers, scholars and laymen, academic, public and special libraries, Jewish religious and lay organizations in the United States and Canada, Romania and Israel, as well as other countries (e.g. France, Germany) with Romanian Jewish communities.

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Copyright © 2010 by Vladimir F. Wertsman.

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Contents

Preface

Introduction

List Of Abbreviations

Acknowledgements

Acknowledged Resources: A Selective List

About The Author

PART ONE ROMANIAN JEWS: GOOD-BYE EUROPE!, HELLO, NEW WORLD!

Chapter 1    Romania’s Two Millenia Jewish Community

a.    Recent Situation Of Jews In Romania

b.    Note On Situation Of Jews In Moldova

c.    On Romanian Jews: Quotations

d.    Bibliography

Chapter 2    Romanian Jews In The United States

a.    Immigration and Settlement

b.    Religion and Synagogues.

c.    Organizations

d.    Theater, Film, Music, Entertainment, Cuisine

e.    Professional Literature Contributions and Other Publications

f.    A Few Examples of Additional Romanian Jewish Achievements

g.    Bibliography: Romanian Jews in America

Chapter 3    Romanian Jews In Canada

a.    Immigration and Settlement

b.    Religion and Synagogues

c.    Organizations

d.    Theater, Films, Music, Literature, Cuisine

e.    Bibliography: Romanian Jews In Canada

Chapter 4    Romanian Holocaust Survivors and Righteous Gentiles

1.    Holocaust Survivors

a.    United States

b.    Canada

2.    Righteous Gentiles

a.    Righteous Gentiles in Romania and Moldova, article by Vladimir Wertsman

b.    Prince Constantin Karadja, Romanian Righteous Diplomat, biosketch

c.    US House Resolution 246, November 13, 2007 Honoring Theodor Criveanu, Romanian righteous military

PART TWO WHO’S WHO AMONG ROMANIAN JEWS IN AMERICA AND CANADA

Bibliography For Who’s Who

PART THREE ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS

List of Archival Documents

* C E L E B R A T I N G

160 years of Romanian Jewish presence in America and Canada and 140 years of American Romanian diplomatic contacts.

* H O N O R I N G

Benjamin Peixotto, first American consul in Romania (1870-75) and former president of B’nai B’rith International, and Mark Gitenstein, current USA ambassador in Romania (2009-) of Romanian Jewish ancestry.

* R E C O G N I Z I N G

Esfira and Lester Annenberg (my sister and brother-in-law), and Dr. Mara and Marius Brill (my niece and her husband) for preserving elements of Romanian heritage (language, cuisine, music) in our family, for inspiring me to write this book, and for the editorial collaboration.

* R E M E M B E R I N G

Alliance Israelite Universelle, American Jewish Congress, American Jewish Committee, American Joint Distribution Committee, B’nai B’rith International, Board of Delegates of American Israelites, Board of Deputies of British Jews, Canadian Jewish Congress, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), Jewish Agricultural Society of America, and New York Association for New Americans (NYANA) for their valuable assistance to Romanian Jewish immigrants.

Preface

Romanian-born author Vladimir F. Wertsman, who worked many years as senior librarian for the New York Public Library after arriving in the United States in 1967, has been a frequent contributor to MULTICULTURAL REVIEW on various ethnic topics, with special attention to Romanian Americans. His articles range from the two-part Focus on Romanian Americans: A Review of Reference and Desiderata Resources (MCR, September and December 1993) to Romanian Jews in America: Early Immigrant Vignettes (MCR, Summer 2005) and more recently Righteous Gentiles in Romania and Moldova (MCR, Summer 2009).

The article dealing with early Romanian Jewish immigrants (with capsule biographies arranged by field of endeavor) demonstrated the remarkable success of these new arrivals who came to the United States as a part of the largest wave of Jewish immigrants between 1870 and 1924. These immigrants came to the United States in search of better economic opportunities and protection by favorable laws for ethnic minorities.

These ambitious and enterprising Jews quickly rose to prominence in their chosen professions and became major figures within the Jewish community. Their children born in the United States or Canada benefited from the sacrifices and found success in a wider variety of fields. The cultural artifacts these Romanian immigrants brought from home—music, food, celebrations—became part of our American culture as they organized performing art groups, opened delicatessen and more formal restaurants with music and dancing, and wrote books based on their lives and experiences.

In the mid-twentieth century, a new wave of Romanian Jewish immigrants—those surviving the Nazi Holocaust concentration camps and ghettoes—arrived to the United States and Canada. Author and human rights activist Elie Wiesel (himself a Romanian-born Holocaust survivor) is perhaps the best-known figure, but many others subsequently became leaders in their communities, professions, and the synagogues. This book gives attention to the unsung heroes of the first generation of Romanian Jewish immigrants as well as to the subsequent generations, including those who built new lives from the ashes of the Holocaust. All of them pursued and achieved the American dream.

Wertsman’s book brings to light the author’s considerable research skills and attention to detail in his mission of uncovering the history and contributions of Romanian Jews in the United States and Canada. He has left no stone unturned, no significant achiever forgotten. By including firsthand documents, he has provided a valuable resource for scholars seeking to extend this information in new directions. His thorough coverage makes this book an important source for genealogists, historians, and teachers of Jewish history, American history, and the history of the Holocaust.

Lyn Miller-Lachmann,

Albany, New York

June 15, 2010

Introduction

Shortly after the publication of THE ROMANIANS IN AMERICA, 1748-1974 (Oceana, 1975) and THE ROMANIANS IN AMERICA AND CANADA: A GUIDE TO INFORMATION SOURCES (Gale Research, 1980), some of my Romanian colleagues in America and abroad questioned why I omitted the history and achievements of Romanian Jews in America and Canada. I recalled that question almost two decades later (April 1999) when I was interviewed about Romanian Jews in America by Matt Lauer (NBC anchor of Today Show) whose paternal ancestry happened to be Romanian. Most stimulating were the words of Daniel S. Mariaschin, executive vice president of B’nai B’rith International, when he remarked that a grant received in 2002—from the US Agency for International Development—for a Romanian Jewish Heritage Project will offer us the opportunity to strengthen the connection between Romanian and American Jewish communities, as well as between Romania and US, stressing that a great number of American Jews have ancestral roots in Romania. Consequently, I have added a section on Romanian Jews in my ROMANIANS IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA: A GUIDE TO ANCESTRY AND HERITAGE RESEARCH (Heritage Quest, 2002, pp.140-146) followed by the article Romanian Jews in America: Early Immigrant Vignettes in MULTICULTURAL REVIEW (Summer 2005, pp. 50-52). However, even these supplements proved very soon to be insufficient because intensive further research, combined with multiple new American, Canadian, and Romanian sources, brought to light substantial new information shared in this latest volume.

Happily, the publication of this book coincides with the 160th anniversary of Romanian Jewish presence on North American soil, and with the 140th anniversary of diplomatic contacts between the United States and Romania, started in 1870 by American Consul Benjamin D. Peixotto, former president of B’nai B’rith, and currently continued by US Ambassador in Romania Mark Gitenstein, who declared that his appointment honors his Romanian Jewish ancestors, including his father and other relatives, originally from Braila and Iasi.

Although my writing is primarily dedicated to Romanian Jews from America and Canada, it certainly is, at the same time, of interest to the Jewish communities from Romania (land of origin), Israel (with over three hundred thousand Romanian Jews), Moldova, France, Belgium, England, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Venezuela, all with Romanian Jewish group presence. These Jews are eager to find out what their Romanian Jewish coethnics (relatives, friends, neighbors, acquaintances) accomplished in America and Canada, including the fact that many Romanian Jews still speak Romanian in their homes, play Romanian music, cook Romanian dishes, read Romanian literature, are interested in their land of origin, and some have kept their Romanian names such as Cernat, Codrescu, Feraru, Livezeanu, Manea, Oisteanu, Tismaneanu, etc.

In the process of collecting the information and writing, this volume has been endowed with the following outstanding features:

1.    UNIQUENESS OF THE TITLE AND SUBJECT

In the past, writers and scholars were more concerned (as library catalogues, bibliographies, and collections show) with the history of Romanian Jews living in Romania, their economic, social, legal and political situation, the Holocaust, their cultural contributions to Romania rather than with the large picture of Romanian Jewish group experience (organizations, synagogues), multiple achievements, and numerous noted achievers in America and Canada. Some books or magazine articles dealt with early Romanian Jewish immigrants, the popular song Rumania, Rumania, klezmer music, pastrami, Hasidic Jews. Yet during the 160 years of Romanian Jewish presence on the North American continent, no academic institution, no publishing house (public or private) or Jewish organization ever published at least one reference book devoted to Romanian Jews in America and Canada. In light of these circumstances, the present volume represents the first endeavor to assemble reference information on Romanian Jews in America and Canada in one volume, leaving space for broadening the sphere of further research and publishing and eventually inspire a doctoral dissertation in Romania, United States, Canada, Israel, or any other country.

2.    EXTENSIVE BIOGRAPHICAL PRESENTATION

Part 2 of the book (WHO’S WHO AMONG ROMANIAN JEWS IN AMERICA AND CANADA) offers over three hundred essential biographical sketches (ten to twelve lines each) of noted Romanian Jews who distinguished themselves as authors; university professors and scientists; film, theater, TV personalities; musicians; painters and sculptors; doctors; lawyers; rabbis and cantors, converts to Christianity; businessmen; political and social leaders; engineers; sportsmen, chess players; and, unfortunately, three notorious mobsters too. Just a few examples of noted Romanian American Jews: Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, authors Konrad Bercovici and Naomi Wolf, singers Alma Gluck and Beverly Sills of the Metropolitan Opera, film and TV actors Lauren Bacall and Edward Robinson, Jewish theater actor Sigmund Mogulesko, conductor Sergiu Comissiona, Colonel David Marcus, Rabbi Solomon Schechter (former president of the Jewish Theological Seminary), Sophie Masloff, former mayor of Pittsburgh, baseball player Hank Greenberg, and cryptologist William Friedman. Some examples of Romanian Canadian noted Jews: poet Irving Layton, rabbi and author Ernest Klein, communal leader and author Hananiah Caiserman, journalist and author Ghitta Sternberg, successful businessmen and philanthropists Marcel Adams and Paul Ivanier, and operatic singers Edith and Luciano Della Pergola.

3.    EXTENSIVE BIBLIOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION

Over six hundred titles of books and periodicals, mostly in English, with a few in Romanian and Yiddish (with English translations) are listed in parts 1 (ROMANIA, AMERICA, CANADA) and 2 (WHO’S WHO AMONG ROMANIAN JEWS). These are bibliographies accompanying various sections and chapters of the book or mentioned in the biographical sketches of professional authors, academics, and other achievers. Additional titles are included in part 3 (ARCHIVAL MATERIALS) accompanying interesting documents, such as US President Ulysses Grant’s letter appointing Benjamin F. Peixotto (former president of B’nai B’rith) as first US consul in Romania (1870), Mihail Eminescu’s (Romanian national poet) favorable review of Abraham Goldfaden’s Jewish theater show at La Pomul Verde, marking the birth of the professional Yiddish theater (1876), or how the newly arrived Romanian Jewish immigrants (1880s) organized Saturday evening mamaliga parties and danced the hora in Portland, Oregon.

NOTE

a.    Titles of books or periodical articles preserved three spellings—Romania, Rumania, Roumania—as they appeared in the original form when they were published or in the names of organizations/synagogues when they were established. The same method was observed whenever Yiddish or Hebrew names were transliterated with Latin letters, in some cases including the Romanian spelling too.

b.    The biosketches focus on immigrants and children of parents (or only one of the parents) who were born in Romania’s current territory or in former Bessarabia (now Moldova), Northern Bukovina (now Ukraine), or born in America, Canada, or another country as descendents of Romanian Jews, including grandchildren who acknowledged their Romanian Jewish ancestry. Our selection has just an illustrative and not a limiting objective; it remains open for new inclusions in a future edition, providing readers will bring to our attention new and relevant biographical materials.

c.    The Romanian Jewish population (all generations) was conservatively estimated at about 250,000 people in the United Sates and about 20,000 in Canada. During the period 1880-1914, statistics recorded 75,000 immigrants to America. Serban Drutzu, a Romanian diplomat in USA, mentions 100,000 Romanian Jews in his book ROMANII IN AMERICA (1922); and in Rev. Vasile Hategan’s (a Romanian American historian) book ROMANIAN CULTURE IN AMERICA (1988), we find 250,000 Romanian Jews. In Canada, about 2,200 Romanian Jews arrived during the period 1880-1914. A few thousand new immigrants were recorded at the beginning of the 1920s, plus Holocaust survivors after World War II. Charles Shahar (noted demographic researcher) shows in his CANADIAN CENSUS ANALYSES OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY (2001) that close to 5,000 people declared Romania as their place of birth. We have to add the descendants of the above people and of those from previous generations, as well the fact that early Romanian Jewish immigrants in Canada were very prolific, many families boasting having more than ten grandchildren.

CONCLUSION

Covering the topics of JUDAICA, IMMIGRATION, ROMANIAN HERITAGE, ACCOMPLISHMENTS, ETHNIC STUDIES, HOLOCAUST, and GENEALOGY, and written in an easily accessible, condensed information style, this book is catered to students, teachers, scholars, and laymen alike and, therefore, suitable for public, special, and academic libraries, Jewish religious and lay organizations in USA and CANADA, as well as foreign libraries and organizations with collections specialized in the above topics. Readers’ suggestions are always welcome, eventually useful for a new edition.

Vladimir F. Wertsman

New York June 15, 2010

List Of Abbreviations

Acknowledgements

Grateful thanks are expressed to several colleagues, friends, and officials for their encouragement, suggestions, or assistance during the research and publication phases of this book; and in fairness to all—without measuring everybody’s merits on a pharmaceutical scale—the listed persons are arranged by country and institution or organization for which they work or from which they retired in the meantime.

CANADA

    THE ASSOCIATION FOR CANADIAN JEWISH STUDIES, Montreal: Prof. Ira Robinson, Department of Religion, Concordia University

    ASSOCIATION OF ROMANIAN JEWISH SURVIVORS OF THE HOLOCAUST, Montreal: Issie Veisfeld, former president

    CANADIAN INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH, Montreal: Baruch Cohen, research chairman

    CANADIAN JEWISH CONGRESS, NATIONAL ARCHIVES, Montreal: Janice Rosen, archives director

ROMANIA

    ELIE WIESEL NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF THE HOLOCAUST

    ROMANIA, Bucharest: Sorana Munteanu, referent, public relations

    UNIVERSITY BABES-BOLYAI, Cluj, Department of Journalism: Aurel Sasu, professor

THE UNITED STATES

    AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, Chicago: George Eberhart, senior editor of AMERICAN LIBRARIES periodical

    CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY, YIVO, New York: Irit Gafni-Pinchovsky, public service desk; Hermann Teifer, reading room coordinator

    COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Tanya Chebotarev, curator of the Bakhmeteff Archive, Rare Book, and Manuscript Library, and James G. Neal, vice president for information services and university librarian

    CONSULATE GENERAL OF ROMANIA IN NEW YORK CITY: Pietro L. Pavoni, consul general; Andreea Berechet, deputy consul general

    CORNELL UNIVERSITY: Prof. Bruce I. Reisch, Department of Grapevine Breeding and Genetics, and leader of research materials on Romanian Jews from Bukovina

    DAILY NEWS, New York: Peter H. Edelman, senior photo archivist

    IULIU MANIU FOUNDATION, New York: Justin Liuba, president, and Dan Manuila, senior vice president

    JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Lower Fairfield County, Stamford, CT: Linda Baulsir, archivist

    JEWISH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, New York: Sharon Lieberman Mintz, curator of Jewish art

    NBC, New York: Matt Lauer, anchor Today Show

    NEW YORK MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE: Ilana Abramovich, manager of curriculum

    NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, Dorot Jewish Division: Michael Terry, Dorot chief librarian; Roberta Saltzman, assistant chief librarian; Eleanor Yadin, librarian; Hannah Miriam Belinfante, cataloger; Miriam Gloger, cataloger; Amanda Seigel, cataloger; Shoshana Kanowitz, periodicals

    NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, General Research Division: Warren C. Platt, bibliographer of religion

    NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, Seward Park Branch (Heritage Collection): Amy Landry, site manager; Ann Barreca, librarian trainee

    NEW YORK UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: Mirela Roznovschi, faculty member, and editor of Globalex international law research program

    OREGON JEWISH MUSEUM, PORTLAND, OR: Anne Levant Pohl, Curator

    PUBLISHER H&H PROMOTIONS, New York: Tiberiu Horvath, editor in chief

    RAUH JEWISH ARCHIVES, HEINZ HISTORY CENTER, Pittsburgh, PA: Susan M. Melnick, archivist

    ROMANIAN AMERICAN LAWYERS ASSOCIATION, New York: Armand Fried, president, and Radu Herescu, former president

    ROMANIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE (ICRNY) New York: Corina Suteu, director, and Sanda Visan, former director

    SOUTHERN JEWISH HISTORY periodical, Maitland, FL: Rachel Haimovics Braun, managing editor

    SPARTUS INSTITUTE OF JEWISH STUDIES, CHICAGO JEWISH ARCHIVES: Joy Kingsolver, archivist

    TECHNICAL GUILD, CIVIL SERVICE, LOCAL 375, DC 37 NEW YORK: Stephan Benedict, former public relations chair

    YIVO INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH, NYC, Jeffrey P. Edelstein, Director of of Publications and Communications

Acknowledged Resources

A SELECTIVE LIST

Included are institutions, libraries/archives, periodicals, and Web sites arranged in alphabetical order by country.

CANADA

    CANADIAN JEWISH CONGRESS NATIONAL ARCHIVES, 1590 Docteur Penfield Ave., Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1C5, tel. [phone]

    CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS (1500 Don Mills Road, Suite 205, North York, ON M3B 3K4, tel. [phone]

    THE JEWISH GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA, John P. Roberts Library, University of Toronto, 130 St. George Street, Toronto, tel. [phone]

ISRAEL

    GOLDSTEIN-GOREN DIASPORA RESEARCH CENTER, Carter Building, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, tel. [phone]

    YAD VASHEM AUTHORITY CENTER, JERUSALEM, Yad Vashem, POB 3471, 91034 Jerusalem

ROMANIA

    ACADEMIA ROMANA (Romanian Academy), Str. Dimitrie Onciu 23-25, Bucharest 70318

    FEDERATION OF ROMANIAN JEWISH COMMUNITIES, Str. Vineri 9-11, Sector 3, 70478, Bucharest, tel. [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]

    THE ELIE WIESEL NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF HOLOCAUST, Str. Vigilentei nr. 3, Sector 5, Bucharest, tel. [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]

USA

    ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH LIBRARIES, POB 1118, Teaneck, NJ 07666, tel. [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]

    AVOTAYNU: THE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF JEWISH GENEALOGY, 155 N. Washington Ave., Bergenfield, NJ 07621, tel. [phone]

    B’NAI B’RITH INTERNATIONAL, 2020 K St. NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20006

    BUKOVINA SOCIETY OF AMERICAS, POB 81, Ellis, KS 67637, e-mail: [e-mail]

    ELLIS ISLAND CENTER, New York, http://www.ellisisland.org., records of ships that entered New York between 1892 and 1924

    THE JEWISH FORWARD PERIODICAL, 43 East 33rd Street, New York, NY 10016, tel. [phone], Yiddish, English, and Russian editions

    THE JEWISH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, 3080 Broadway, New York, NY 10027-4649, tel. [phone]

    THE JEWISH WEB INDEX, e-mail: [e-mail] (immigration, genealogy, Holocaust, Yiddish dictionaries).

    MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE, Edmond J. Safra Plaza 36, Battery Place, Battery Park City, New York 10280, tel. [phone], www.jewishgen.org.

    NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORY, Independence Mall, East 55th North 5th St., Philadelphia, PA 19106-2197, http://www.nmajh.org

    NATIONAL YIDDISH BOOK CENTER, Harvey & Jeanette Weinberg Building, 1021 West Street, Amherst, MA 01002, tel. [phone]

    THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, DOROT JEWISH DIVISION, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788, tel. [phone], http://catnyp.nypl.org

    THE YIVO INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH RESEARCH, NEW YORK, 15 West 16th St., New York, NY 10011, 212/294-8318, http://genealogy.cjh.org

    THE US HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM, WASHINGTON, DC, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW Washington, DC 20024, tel. [phone], over 3 million pages regarding the Holocaust in Romania

About The Author

Vladimir F. Wertsman graduated magna cum laude from the University A. I. Cuza Law School, Iasi (Romania), and earned his master’s degree in library science from Columbia University. He served as senior librarian, adult services, in various branches of the Brooklyn Public Library (New York) and New York Public Library, including Romanian language and Russian language specialist, Foreign Languages Collections at Donnell Library Center (NYPL).He is fluent in Romanian, Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian, and has working knowledge of all Romance and Slavic languages. He is a member of the Delta Tau Kappa International Social Science Honor Society, Research Board of Advisors, American Biographical Institute, and the American Library Association. He is currently the chair of Publishing and Multicultural Materials Committee, EMIE Round Table, and