Berdichev1

Berdichev Other names:
Berdicev, Bardichev, Berditchev, Berditchov, Berdyczow

History of Berdichev:
(Courtesy of Beth Hatefutsoth, Museum of the Jewish Diaspora)

Berdichev is a town in the historic region of Volhynia province. Now in Zhitomir Oblast, Ukrainian S.S.R. Apart from two single references to individual Jews from Berdichev in 1593 and 1602, there is no evidence that a Jewish Community existed in Berdichev before 1721. In 1732, the owner of the town granted a charter to the Jewish Guild of Tailors freeing them from interference by the communal authorities (kahal). The Jewish population gradually increased with Berdichev's development as a fair town from 1765. According to the census of 1765, the Jews in Berdichev numbered 1,220 (out of a total population of 1,541); they numbered 1,951 in 1789 (out of 2,460). In 1794, Prince Radziwill, the owner of the town, deprived the rabbis of their right of civil jurisdiction, which was transferred to a court to be elected by majority Jewish vote. Berdichev had become an important center of Volhynian Hasidism in the last quarter of the 18th century, and the Hasidim were thus able to secure the election of Dayyanim so as to free themselves from the jurisdiction of the Kahal and its Mitnaggedim rabbis. As the town grew, a number of noted scholars served as rabbis of Berdichev, including Lieber "the Great," Joseph "the Charif," and, from the end of the 18th century until his death in 1809, Levi Isaac of Berdichev.
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Regional Map of Berdichev

Courtesy of Mapquest

JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF):
The JewishGen Family Finder is a database of towns and surnames
currently being researched by Jewish genealogists worldwide. Click

to find others researching family connections to Berdichev.
To add your own information or to learn more about the database,
click here

Holocaust Resources:

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. keeps an Archives Holding Catalog with several references to Berdichev

Books/Publications about Berdichev:

Miriam Sperber, From Berdichev to Jerusalem (1980)
John Garrand, The Bones of Berdichev: The Life and Fate of Vasily Grossman (1996)
Samuel H. Dresner, The World of a Hasidic Master--Levi Yitzak of Berditchev

Books are available through either the Library of Congress Catalog Search and Amazon Bookseller

Berdichev Cemetery Miriam Weiner, founder of Routes to Roots, collected many photographs of modern-day Berdichev. The photograph of the cemetery is one extraordinary example of this magnificent work for genealogists. You can find more photos of Berdichev by clicking here

Interested in Joining a List for Jewish Genealogists Interested in Berdichev?

Simply, send an e-mail to berdichev-l-request@rootsweb.com (mail mode) or berdichev-d-request@rootsweb.com (digest mode)

Personal Stories about Berdichev:

The destruction of the Jewish community of Berdichev, once the center of Jewish life in eastern Europe, compels us to tell the stories of our ancestors' once vibrant lives.

Jim Borman relates the story of his Berdichev ancestors in the following stories:

Do you want personal stories about your Berdichev ancestors added to this site?

Send e-mail to: Jim Borman

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