Table of Contents History & Photographs Rohatyn Families New York Immigrants Vital & Genealogical Records

Welcome to Rohatyn!


This page was created and maintained by Phyllis Kramer z"l until 2019. It is now available for adoption. If you are willing to adopt this page contact the KehilaLinks project coordinators

This page was created in loving memory of those who lived and died there, of those who ventured out, and especially those who left that legacy for us, their descendants.

Where is Rohatyn? Known today as Rogatin, a major town in the Ukraine, Rohatyn is located 69 kilometers SE of L'viv at longitude 49° 25´ and latitude 24° 37´. From 1792 until 1919 it was in Galicia, a province of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire...then from 1919 until 1945 it was part of Poland .....and then it became part of the Ukraine. Map of
        Galicia

Nearby towns with Jewish Populations circa 1900, include (alphabetically), Berezhany (14mi E), Bobrka (20 mi NW), Burshtyn (10 miles S), Bolshovtsy (17 miles SSE - with its own KehilaLinks site at http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Bilshivtsi/), Bukachevtsy (13 mi SSW- with its own KehilaLinks site),
Knyaginichi/Knihynicze (7mi W) oct 2013, Narajow (10mi NE), Peremyshlyany (17 mi N) , Podkamien (6 mi WNW: not the big jewish town near Brody), Podgrodzie (1900: 1058/60), Stratin (5 mi NE, 1900: 694/113), Novyye Strzelishcha (12miNW) , Zuravno (19 miles SW). For much more information on these towns click here

Two Great Sources First, the descendants group founded in 2009 by Dr. Alex Feller of Chicago at https://sites.google.com/site/rohatynjh/rsrg. Alex has a wonderful collection of files. And also Marla Raucher Osborn's web page for Rohatyn Jewish Heritage at www.rohatynjewishheritage.org

New Projects We are collecting original vital records and pertinent documents...to make them available to our fellow researchers. We are hoping to make the Archive ordering process easier....and next, working with Gesher Galicia, we have hired a researcher to inventory Rohatyn documents in the Lviv Archive; targets include the Cadastral Maps, which link places to names and school records.

Genealogical Records: Although many records were destroyed over the course of two world wars, researchers have found much that remains. For instance, the entire 1870 tax rolls are available. Search our Index of Vital Records. Or see our Summary of all the Records Available . And check out the vital record indexes from the 1800s from the Polish Archives which are available on-line (see JRIP below).

Two Other MajorSources ofRohatyn Genealogical Information:

Why I created this site: My great grandmother Dora EICHEL was born in Rohatyn in 1862. Dora married Reuven LINDNER (photo circa 1893). Dora's father, Anschel EICHEL was a tailor who specialized in making uniforms for the Pravoslav priests and monks. We can trace the Eichels back to Yitzhak Eichel, who lived in Hamburg at the end of the 18th century; he was a scholar who published a textbook of the Yiddish language and was a pupil of the German philosopher Kant.

I hope you will find this page interesting and helpful. Click on my name below to contact me if you have any questions or information to add. As with any genealogical research, this is an evolving project!
Signed, Phyllis Kramer,
New York, NY & Palm Beach Gdns, Fla.
V.P., Education, JewishGen, Inc.

Copyright © 1999. Page updated March 2019. Since April 2001 you are visitor #

This site exists because of your Jewish Gen-erosity. Your tax deductible donation to JewishGen makes these services possible. We spent a lot of time organizing this information so that your genealogical search might be more rewarding....and you can reward us -- just click on Jewish Gen-erosity.

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Table of Contents: Rohatyn: Genealogy and Photographs

Major Sources for History, Photographs and Maps

The Latest Websites and Travelogues by the Osborns and others

Rohatyn Families and Genealogy

Rohatyn Vital Records

Rohatyn Business Directories and Other Genealogical Records


Rohatyn and Rohatyners in the New York Metropolitan Area:


Towns Around Rohatyn

Rohatyn and Other Wonderful Treasures of JewishGen:

The Holocaust in Rohatyn

This site exists because of your Jewish Gen-erosity. Your tax deductible donation to JewishGen makes these services possible. We spent a lot of time organizing this information so that your genealogical search might be more rewarding....and you can reward us -- just click on Jewish Gen-erosity.

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A Memorial to Howard Steinmetz of Rohatyn

In November of 2010 we lost a wonderful friend. Howard Steinmetz. We are a small band of Rohatyn researchers...and Howard was, in many ways, our leader, our mentor, our friend. Our group began through JewishGen….and then grew into a Google Group. Today it is worldwide..Paris, Rio, Jerusalem, Buenos Aires, San Francisco, Chicago, Berkeley, New York. We’re drawn together genealogically, our families are interrelated but not close.

Howard shared his Rohatyn memories, conversations, photographs and documents, and helped us to make the connections and respect the past. Each of us understood the value of Howard’s memories and papers. And we’re pledged to preserve them.

He will be sorely missed.

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A Brief History of Rohatyn

Rohatyn was a wonderful town. It was located 60 kilometers from Ivano-Frankovsk and 69 kilometers from Lvov. There was a Jewish community in Rohatyn as far back as the 16th Century.

The following is a brief Timeline of the political scene over time and which country ruled Rohatyn

from to country Comment

early 1200s Kievan Rus union of Ruthenian principalities with capital in Kiev; collapsed with invasion of Tartars
early 1200s 1349 Autonomous Principality most powerful state in the area; war with Poland over the Cherven lands of Lublin area
1349 1772 Poland (Ruskie) Galician/Polish war won by King Kasimir; Principality incorporated into Poland
1772 1919 Austria (Galicia) Poland divided by Germany, Russia, Austria. Area named Galicia and ceded to Austria.
1919 1939 Poland Poland reconstituted after World War I
1939 1941 Russia Occupied during WW II: Germany and Russian had a secret pact on how they would divide Poland prior to the invasion on Sept 1, 1939; Russia occupied Rohatyn those first few years 1939-1941 until Germany broke the pact and invaded Russia as well.
1941 1944 Germany Overrun in WW II
1944 1991 Russia part of Ukrainian S.S.R., USSR (in province Ivano-Frankovskaya)
1991 present Ukraine Soviet Union dissolved, Ukraine independence declared

Most of us associate Rohatyn with Galicia, 1772 through 1918; Galicia was then a province of the Austrian Hungarian Empire. The map below shows Galicia, and Rohatyn's place in it. Map of Galicia

Some interesting facts on the population in Rohatyn follow.

The following paragraph was adapted from a note by Ukrainian Roman Zakharii:
Galicia was occupied by Poland in 1349. Before that it was an independent Ruthenian (what we call now Ukrainian) principality. A century before that it was part of Kievan Rus, union of Ruthenian principalities with capital in Kiev. Kievan Rus collapsed in early 13 th century with the invasion of Tatars and Galician principality existed as independent and the most powerful state in the area. In 1340 s, there was a war between Galicia and Poland over the Cherven lands of the Lublin area, and Polish king Kasimir won it and conquered all Galician lands, incorporating them into the Polish kingdom; Galicia was formed into so called Wojewostwo Ruskie (in English Rus/Ruthenian voivodship). The name Galicia was applied after these lands were incorporated into Austria in 1772. Rogatin is the Russian name for Rohatyn, which is not used anymore. It was used only on Soviet maps after World War II until 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed. In Ukrainian it is Rohatyn, just like in Polish, German and Yiddish.

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Rabbi Eliezer Horowicz

by Eliezer Makovsky, Jerusalem april 2012

Eliezer Makovsky, from Jerusalem, sent us this brief record of the Rabbi's family: Eliezer (Elazar ben Issachar Halevi) served as the town rabbi in the 1850s and 1860s. He had a 5 children:

His book can be accessed here: see here for his book Devar Halacha (in Hebrew): http://hebrewbooks.org/166

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The Cemetery Project

JewishGen Family Finder

Researchers Interested in Rohatyn/Rogatin:

Do you have roots in Rohatyn? Would you like to connect with others researching the same community? View the hundreds of folks who are researching their ancestral town of rohatyn. Maybe some are looking for the same surnames as you are!
Click the button to search the JewishGen Family Finder database.

If you are not already registerred with JewishGen, please do so. It's free and painless! and that way you can add the surnames you are researching to the list, so that others can find you!! Go to this web address: www.jewishgen.org/jgff/ and enter Rohatyn in the town search box.

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List of People sent to Siberia from Rohatyn

Somehow i received a copy of this list which was sent from Herman Bernstein, President of the American Hebrew, a newspaper published in New York City to the Joint Distribution Committee. The letter is dated 1916 and says:

Dear Mr. Strauss: I am sending you herewith the list of names of those who were taken away by the Russian troops from the Galician town of Rohatyn to Siberia. Opposite each name the number of the members of the family left behind is indicated. I understand that nothing has as yet been done for this community of women and children who remained in a state of horrow and dire distress. As i told you, the entire male population, from the age of twelve to the age of seventy, was thus dragged away to the remotest regions of Siberia. It seemed a part of Russia's policy of vengance against the Jews. I think that Dr. Benno Straucher, the member of the Austrian Parliament, one of the best Jews in Austria, and Dr Stricker, a well-known Austrian Zionist, could be relied upon to help in the proper distribution of aid to this community of starving women and children.
Here, it seems to me, is something concrete and definitely worthy of immediate atteniton. I am sending you the list in accordance with your suggestion. With kindest regards ...Herman Bernstein

Notes: (1) This table was prepared on a typewriter with many overstrikes; there may be incorrect information;
(2) german translations: frau (wife), kind/kinder (child/children), ohne (without), und (and); mutter (mother)
Verschleppt (Kidnapped) Zurickgeblieben (Remained)


Acht, leon Frau 2 kinder
Adler, Najer & Sohn Frau und 2 kinder
Aschner, Isak & Sohn Frau und zwei kinder
Auster, Isak & Sohn Frau und 6 kinder
Axelrad, Berisch Frau 1 kinder
Axelrad, Jakob & Sohn Frau und 4 kinder
Baumann, Eli & Sohn Frau 3 kinder
Beder, Marcus Mutter und zwei schwestern
Beder, Samuel Frau und 5 kinder
Berger, Isak Ohne Frau 6 kinder
Berger, Schmaje Frau und 2 kinder
Blank, Moses Frau 4 kinder
Blank, Selig Frau 2 kinder
Blaustein, H. Leib Frau ohne kinder
Blumenfeld, Hersch Frau und 6 kinder
Borenfeld, Marcus Frau ohne kinder
Bottfeld, Abraham & Sohn Frau und 1 kind
Brattspiess, Jakob Frau und 7 kinder
Breitfeld, Wolf Frau und 3 kinder
Brotbar, N. Ire Frau ohne kinder
Chaimowicz, Natan Frau und 3 kinder
Durchschlag, Bernard --
Eber, Jakob Frau ohne kind
Eber, Mendel und Frau und 3 Kinder
Efreniles, Marcus Frau und 2 kinder
Ehrenberg, Sisie & Sohn Frau ohne kind
Eichel, Moses Frau und kind
Eigen, Beril Frau ohne kinder
Einschtoss, Samuel Frau und 1 kind
Einstoss, Daniel Frau und 5 kinder
Faust, Alter Frau 6 kinder
Frage, Jacob un zwei Sohne Frau 3 kinder
Frage, Marcus und 2 Sohne Frau 4 kinder
Freiwald, Azyk & Sohn Frau 2 kinder
Freiwald, Marcus Frau und 2 kinder
Freiwald, Moses Frau und 5 kinder
Friedmann, Leibisch Frau 4 kinder
Fuchs, O. Kalman Frau ohne kinder
Gabe, Osias Frau 3 kinder
Giri, Juda & Sohn Frau und 4 kinder
Goldfarb, Hersch Frau 6 kinder
Gross, Dawid & Sohn Frau 2 kinder
Grun, I. Leib & Sohn Frau und 1 kind
Grunberg, Abraham Frau und 2 kinder
Grunberg, Aron Frau und 3 kinder
Grungarten, Israel Frau und 2 kinder
Gunsberg, Leon Frau und 1 kind
Gutstein, A. Josef & Sohn Ohne Frau 5 kinder
Hamburg, Hersch Frau und ein kind
Henne, Chaskel --
Hirschenhau & 3 Sohne 2 schwestern
Hochmann, Hersch Frau und 1 kind
Holz, Selig Frau und 5 kinder
Holz, Simon & 2 Sohne Frau und 1 kind
Horschowski, Dawid & Fawel --
Horwitz, Salamon Frau und 1 kind
Josep, Jakob Frau und ein kind
Kartin, Abe Frau 4 kinder
Kartin, Elias Frau 2 kinder
Kerzner, Israel Frau 4 kinder
Kisel, Salomon Frau & 5 kinder
Kleinberg, Wolf Frau ohne kind
Korn, Pinie Frau und kind
Kreisler, Osias & Sohn Frau 4 kinder
Leiter, Jakob Frau und 4 kinder
Lieder, Alter & Sohn Frau 5 kinder
Lobgross, A. Wolf Frau und ohne kinder
Mam, Salomon Ohne Frau 2 kinder
Manhart, Sae --
Mantenberg, Nuchim Frau 6 kinder
Mark, Eisig Frau und 2 kinder
Maus, H. Moses & Sohn Leib Frau und 3 kinder
Messing, Abraham Frau 5 kinder
Messing, Irel Frau 3 kinder
Nagelberg, Selig Frau ohne kind
Namturg, Hersch --
Panzer, Mendel Ohne Frau 5 kinder
Pies, Abraham & Sohn Frau 8 kinder
Podhorzer, M. Leib Frau und 4 kinder
Rauch, Marcus --
Rauch, Schenie --
Reiner, Hersch Frau ohne kinder
Reiner, Samuel Frau 4 kinder
Rothenberg, Abendel Frau ohne kinder
Rotrauber, I.Nute & Frau und 2 Sohne 1 Tochter
Rotrauber, Josef Frau ohne Knder
Rysch, Hersch Frau 3 kinder
Saft, Abraham Frau und 2 kinder
Schames, Jusa Frau und 5 kinder
Schein, Juda Frau und ein kind
Schleifer, W.Leib Frau 3 kinder
Schlor, Mechel Frau ohne kinder
Schneekraut, J. Isne & Sohn Frau mit 2 kinder
Schneier, Alter Ohne Frau 2 kinder
Schondorf, Saul --
Schorr, J. Leib Frau 1 kind
Schwarz, D. Leib & Sohn Frau und 3 kinder
Schwarz, Hersch Mutter und 5 kinder
Schwarz, M. Dawid Frau und 1 kind
Schwarz, Wolf Frau 1 kinder
Siegall, Juda & Sohn Schachne Frau und 6 kinder
Sigall, Chaskel Frau und 1 kind
Srijer, Osias Frau und 6 kinder
Stein, Samuel Frau 3 kinder
Steinfink, Dawid Frau ohne kinder
Stelzer, maer Frau ohne kinder
Tempel, N. Jakob Frau 3 kinder
Unterman, Samuel Frau und 2 kinder
Wald, Zion --
Weiner, Leizer Frau und 1 kind
Weissbrunn, Berisch Frau 2 kinder
Weissbrunn, Dawid Frau 1 kinder
Weissbrunn, Moses Frau ? kinder
Weissbrunn, Wolf & 2 Sohne Frau ohne kinder
Weissmann, Abraham ---
Weissmann, Jakob Frau und 2 kinder
Weiz, Aba Frau 2 kinder
Wiener, Hersch Frau 2 kinder & Mutter
Zion, A. Leib Frau und 1 kind

FindMyPast: Britain, Enemy Aliens and Internees, World Wars

In 2016 FindMyPast.com added many items from the British Archives. The following resulted from a search using ROHATYN as the query point. The images connected with these items contain even more information. Go to http://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-records/britain-enemy-aliens-and-internees-first-and-second-world-wars and put Rohatyn into the keyword search field. Return to Table of Contents

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NYC Rohatyn Landsmanshaften:
Past and Present

The Jews from Rohatyn must have been an organized and fervent group. I have located four separate Landsmanshaften organizations, founded in the late 1800s in New York City and one in Israel. The following are the details and the founding officers.

  1. The Independent Rohatyner Young Mens Benevolent Association (IRYMBA) . On the Certificate of Incorporation, dated 1903, in Manhattan, the purpose is stated: to voluntarily aid and assist the distressed and needy members of the said corporation and their families. To advance the social intercourse among its members, morally, intellectually and physically".

    I believe that this society is the same as The Independent Rohatyner Sick and Benevolent Society which was founded June 18, 1896. The founding Landsmanshaften Area at Beth Israel
              Cemetery in NJ certificate was signed

    • Max Leichtling,
    • Wolf Bernstein
    • Sam Bernstein
    • Tewel Nirenberg
    • Adolph Gutharz,
    all citizens of the US and residing in New York City. The directors were
    • George Klein, 307 East 4th St.,
    • Jacob Gutharz, 154 Norfolk Street,
    • Jacob Gottlieb, 91 Willet Street,
    • Jake Sheriff, 231 Broome Street and
    • Isaac Brumberg, 139 Delancy Street.
    This society is still in existance. I took the photo of the front stone above at the Beth Israel Cemetery in New Jersey.

    A few years ago I visited with the President, Herman Skolnick, who was born in Rohatyn. A lovely man who has since passed on. His wife still lives in Brooklyn, and his son Michael Skolnick, is still active in the Society, along with Yossi Benjamin, the Recording Sec. About 35 members still pay dues. This society maintains gravesites at Beth Israel, in Woodbridge New Jersey and "Old" Montefiore, in St. Albans, New York. Thanks to Herman Skolnick, all the names in these landsmanshaften plots are in a database you can query on-line. To get a list of over 1500 names from the IRYMS and the RYMS Landsmanshaften plots in the New York City area, just send me an email with the subject "Rohatyn Landsmanshaften";to send your email, click here. The list contains the names of the folks buried in 2 landsmanshaften plots inBeth Israel and Old Montefiore. There is another landsmanshaften plot for the Independent Rohatyners Young Mens Benevelent Society at Mt Hebron. This plot is not included in the database.

    The following names were contained in the Golden Jubilee Fiftieth Anniversary Banquet of the IRYA in 1953 at the Broadway Central Hotel, in various sections, including a memorial.

    • Alter, Max; Alter, Emil; Anderman, S; Apfelberg or Appelberg, Dr. Isidor; Appleby, Dr S.M.; Appleton, Steve; Axelrad, Joseph and Axelrad, Louis and Axelrad, H
    • Bader, A. and S. and H. and Z.; Barban, O; Bender, J; Benjamin, J and M; Berg, S; Bergstein, David and Jos. and Sylvia; Bergman, H; Bradus, I; Berman, Joseph and Mrs. J; Blau, S; Birnbaum, H; Braverman, H; Brief, M; Braver, Harry and Mrs. A.
    • Cohen, A. O. and Cohen, Nathan; Cohen, Mrs R. Hochman
    • Danzig, Harry; Dickler, I. And Mrs. R.; Drooks, C
    • Eichel, I and Dr. B. and Harry; Eichler, Mrs. S
    • Falk, Carl; Farkas, David; Faust, Max and Jac and Joseph (Chr Banquet Committee); Fishman, Jack (chr Cemetery, 1953); Frede, D; Freewald, I; Fried, Jacob; Friedman, Hyman (Trustee 1953); Fuchs, A.
    • Gerstler, S; Gilbert, Max; Gire, I; Glansburg, I. And Mrs. Pepi; Glasser, Sam; Goodman, S; Goldmark, Joseph; Granowitter, Max and J. and M.; Greenberg, A; Gross, S and Sol; Grunstein, A.E.; Guttstein, H
    • Hader, David (Trustee 1953); Hader, Irving and George and J.; Hammer, Morris and Martin and Max and Mrs. Morris; Handsman, P.; Hass, J. and P.and Dr. N; Hertz, Dr. A.; Hirsh, A. and L. and Mrs. L.; Hochman, Harry; Hochwald, Louis (Trustee, 1953) and G.; Hochdorf, G; Honig, Sam; Honig, Becky; Hulkower, Rabbi and Isack
    • Katz, Ben (VP, 1953); Katz, Seymour (Finl Secr, 1953); Kessler, Mrs. A; Kissilow, Mrs Rose; Kisilof, Harry; Kupersmidt, B. and J.; Kupersmith, Mrs P.
    • Latterman, L; Levenson, H; Levinter, L; Lewenter, Dr. I.; Lieber, A; Laufer, L; Lichtenbaum, N; Loew, D
    • Mark, J and M; Markfield, Alfred and Charles and H. and Max and S; Margolies, Max; Martin, H; Milstein, D and I; Mittman, R and Joseph; Meyer, Max; Moscowitz, H; Mostel M and L
    • Nachwalter, Morris (President, 1953); Nacht, Leo; Nashofer, J
    • Pantzer, C; Parnes, M
    • Reidlich, Ph.; Reiner, S.; Reiter, L and Sol; Roller, Irving (treas. 1953); Rosdol, S; Rosen, A; Rosenberg, H; Rothberg, S
    • Saltz, David (Hospitaler, 1953); Saltz, Max and Sual and D. and Eli and Iz and Irving; Schechner, Dr. S. H.; Schier, H; Schine, Louis; Schildkraut, M; Schnapp, S; Schpeichler, Louis; Schwartz, Sol and Louis and Marcus H and Joe and Albert; Schwartz, Morris (Rec.Secry 1953); Sholler, Louis; Shmarak, L.; Stander, P; Suslak, J; Stern, Frank; Sussman,S. and Mrs. C.
    • Teichler, Harry; Teichler, D; Totfeld, S; Turkish, H
    • Weinstock, A. and H; Weintraub, W; West B.; Willig, J; Windkler, H
    • Zahler, H.; Zucker, H; Zweibel, J

    The minutes of this Landsmanshaften are at YIVO in New York City (Record Group 1082). They cover the years 1953 to 1977, and I believe they are written in Yiddish.

  2. The Rohatyner Young Mens' Society (RYMS) wasestablished in 1894. Another organization chartered in New York by our immigrant ancestors, primarily for social reasons but also for mutual assistance in a new land. The RYMS also functioned as a burial society.

    To get a list of over 1500 names from the IRYMBA and the RYMS Landsmanshaften plots in the New York City area, just send me an email with the subject "Rohatyn Landsmanshaften"; to send your email, click here. The list contains the names of the folks buried in the two RYMS landsmanshaften plots inMt. Hebron and Mt. Zion, as well as those plots which were purchased and reserved. The source of the RYMS information is Alvin Edelstein, the Cemetery Chairman of the Rohatyner Young Men's Society. Alvin inherited this position from his late father-in-law, who held it for over fifty years.  Landsmanshaften Area at Mt
                Hebron Cemetery in NY

    If you want to search the full list of Rohatyners buried in Mt. Hebron cemetery online, go to http://www.mounthebroncemetery.com/search.asp, click on Search, and then just key Rohatyn in the town name field. Landsmanshaften Area at Mt Zion
                Cemetery in NY Second and third generation Rohatyners still meet annually in New York City. I'm proud to say that I am a member and have attended meetings.

    Pictured at the left is Mt. Hebron plot, and at the right, Mt Zion plot; both cemeteries are in Queens (New York).

    Alvin Edelstein transcribed the names on the Mt Hebron posts, as follows: Monument I: Rohatyner Young Men's Society, Inc. Organized May 19th, 1894. Officers, 1942: J. Eichel, President, M Leichtling, Vice Pres, M. Tabak, Rec. Sec’y, LB Bochner, Fin. Sec’y, C Kanfer, Cashier, MA Hulkower, Guard, Trustees:B Hirschenfang, C Rosenzweig and A. Weber.

    The second monument reads: Rohatyner Young Men’s Society Committee: Chaim David Nierenberg, Ex Pres and Chairman, Beresh Mayer, Eliezer Blumenreich, Dov Zvi Leichtling, Yitzhak Blumenreich, Benjamin Hirschenfang, Yosef Zvi b’reb Chaim, David Nierenberg, Mechl Schechter, Yitzhak Hilkever, Chaim Bernstein, Yehezkel Kanfer, Mordechai Helfman, and Moshe Altman.

    The Banquet Committee for the Golden Jubilee

    RYMS
    and this photograph from 1950: RYMS1950

    Photographs from Rohatyner Meetings

    Can anyone identify the participants?? RYMS
    RYMS

    The Rohatyner Young Men's Society members

    The following lists members of the Rohatyner Young Men's Society, from a number of documents from their 50th Anniversary Banquet, held at the Central Plaza Hotel in NYC on December 20, 1947, a 1946 meeting, a 1950 request for contributions for the UJA Israel housing campaign, 1 1953 Installation of Officers, and a 1999 memorandum.
    • Albert, Martin W.Bernstein, H. and Abraham J. and Ch.;
    • Berlin, J.; Bernstein, A.J.and Charles and Harry (Trustee 1950); Bookspan, H; Bochner, Larry;
    • Davidson, Sam (Trustee 1950, President 1956) and J. and Sidney;
    • Edelstein, Alvin (Cemetery Chair 1999), Eichel, Ch and H and Jack;
    • Goldworm, Max; Gross, Morris;
    • Hader, Abraham and Sara and Moses and Elcia; Halpern, N.; Hammer, I.; Handsman, L; Hass, Wm (Vice Pres 1950,1956) and Nathan H (Physician 1950); Hirschenfang Alex (President 1950) and Benj; Hulkower, M.A. and Isaac (President 1950), and Julius and Wm M. and Sam B;
    • Kanfer, Charles (Cashier 1950, 1956); Kimmel, Benj; Klinger, Ch. A.; Kimmel, Benj; Klinger, Ch A;
    • Leichtling, Henry M (President 1953); Lindner, Ch; Leichtling, Henry; Lewenter, Dr. I (Physician -1950);
    • Marks, J; Meadow, L; Nachwalter, Shirley; Niedel; Nierenberg, J and N;
    • Packer, Anne; Printz, Max J.(Hospitaler 1956); Passweg, Ch;
    • Rittenband, M. J.; Rosenzweig, Chas (Cemetery Chair 1950) and Stanley (Recg Secry 1999);
    • Schaffer, S; Schor, Mrs. ; Shere, S; Spiegler,Beatrice (VP 1999), Springer D and J and M;
    • Tabak, Max (Recording Secry 1950), David (Trustee, 1950, Treas-1999); Thaler, M and Jerome and Mrs S. J.; Teitelbaum, Mrs;
    • Waldstreicher, Abr; Weber, Abe (inner guard 1950); Weiss, Saul and Nat; Wiederkehr, Louis S.(financial secry 1950,1956) and Ph. And Gertrude (Finl Secry -1999); Willig, H; Winston, I;
    • Zweibel, Wm (VP 1950);

    All the minutes of Rohatyner meetings of the first 50 years, or so, were meticulously hand written (in Yiddish) and preserved, and were given to YIVO in New York, for their use and further preservation. You can locate these records (1928-1964) and the memorial book at YIVO (Record Group 1016).

  3. The Chebra Tiferas Israel Anshei Rohatyn Benevolent Association, founded February 1, 1895, was organized for social and benevolent purposes. The following were the nine original trustees:
    • Louis Fidelbaum, President
    • Godel Birben, Vice President
    • Sice Warten, Financial Secr
    • Israel Warner, Treas.
    • Kassiel Lang, trustee
    • Harry Taback, trustee
    • Samual Wald, trustee
    • Abraham Fuchs, Sgt at Arms
    • Pinkus Wald, Marshal.
    The certificate was signed B. Schencter, Sigmund Sindef, and another name I cannot recognize.

  4. The First United Rohatyner & Sokolover Society was founded July 7, 1897. The office purposes listed were "worshipping and assisting the members and their families in case of sickness and distress while in good standing". The founding officers were:
    • Elias Gutherz of 138 Pitt Street
    • Aaron Gruker of 144 Clinton Street
    • Tobias Senders of 93 Attorney Street
    • Joseph I. Gottlieb of 91 Willet Street, and
    • Juda Gottlieb of 30 Clinton Street.
    The Annual Meeting was to be held the second Tuesday in January.

  5. Israel Landsmanshaft: Israel has the Association of Rohatyn Jewry, which has 200 active members. In 1998 this last society wrote to the Mayor of Rogatin to request permission to place a monument in the town. They also wanted to clean up and fence in the old and "new" cemetery sites and the two areas of mass graves (from the Aktions of 1942). These areas are all neglected. The mayor responded positively. By 1999 the Israeli society collected enough money to erect the monument. If you are interested, questions and/or checks can be sent to Israel % Fishel Kirshen, 34 Yonathan Street, Zahala, Tel Aviv 69081. The Israel society is also adding names to the memorial of war dead at the Mt. Hebron cemetery.

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Last Call for Landsmanschaften?
Aid Societies Fold as Old-Country Ties Fade

from the Forward.com, Mon. Aug 25, 2008
By Marissa Brostoff

GUARDIAN: Rohatyner cemetrey chair David Reich (above) worries that gravesites will suffer if the aid society that oversees them folds. For the members of a century-old Jewish fraternal society, the organization’s breakup has literally turned into a fight over graves. The Rohatyner Young Men’s Society is one of the last of the landsmanschaften, benefit societies formed at the turn of the past century by groups of townsfolk who had emigrated from Eastern Europe. Thousands of landsmanschaften once dotted American cities with Jewish immigrant populations, but the few that remain are now struggling to plan their own demise.

Several generations removed from its point of origin, Rohatyner, as members call it, may have outlived the conditions for its existence. Its dispersed constituents, the great- and great-great-grandchildren of the group’s founders on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, do not socialize outside of biannual dinners and no longer need the organization as a dispenser of loans and medical help. Instead, like other landsmanschaften in their final stages, Rohatyner now primarily functions as a burial society and will likely soon cease to be even that.

“The normal life of an organization like that is, it goes from having all kinds of social activities to something like an annual banquet, and the last thing to survive is the burial benefit,” said Robert Kestenbaum, who, as an officer of the Yiddish cultural and political organization Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter Ring, has seen the decline of dozens of landsmanschaften. “And that’s where the really sad stuff comes in.”

A vote conducted by mail last month suggested that most Rohatyner members are resigned to closing the group’s doors for the last time. Of the 32 households that voted — many members belong to the organization along with their families, and indeed several extended clans stretch through the association — 24 favored disbanding.

But those who oppose disbanding feel strongly that they may lose not only a link to the past, but also a plot in the cemetery. Rohatyner owns land in two Jewish cemeteries in Queens where, according to the group’s treasurer, 72-year-old Alvin Edelstein, about 850 society members are buried. Another 100 graves remain open. Enrollment in the organization entitles an individual to a heavily subsidized burial, an increasingly pressing concern for Rohatyner’s aging membership....

According to Kestenbaum, when landsmanschaften break up, their gravesites can become stuck in limbo. In New York State, unless a disbanding society deeds its graves back to the cemetery or to the families that plan to use them, those plots, by law, must remain empty. “There are thousands of graves in New York that under current statutes can never be used,” Kestenbaum said.

This is not the first time that the issue of burial has raised uncomfortable questions for the group. Ten years ago, the organization voted to seal its ranks permanently — even excluding members’ children from joining — because of a lack of cemetery space.

These concerns mark the distance from the organization’s halcyon days, which members say lasted from its establishment in 1894, when the group’s founders named it for their hometown of Rohatyn in what is now western Ukraine, through the World War II era. (The town also lent its name to its most famous son, investment banker Felix Rohatyn.) In 1900, Rohatyn was a lively community of 7,000 people, about half of whom were Jewish. According to the town’s page on the Web site JewishGen, it spawned no fewer than four landsmanschaften in the United States and Israel.

“My father was a failed grocer during the Depression, and he would put on a suit when he went to the meetings,” recalled Bernard Hulkower, the group’s 80-year-old president. “It was a big deal.” As members became more prosperous, Rohatyner directed its budget away from aid for members and toward charitable donations to such Jewish organizations as Hadassah.

“We eat, we give to charity and we bury people,” Edelstein said. What to do with the money that remains in the group’s coffers is a matter that will have to be dealt with if the organization breaks up. According to Hulkower, $160,000 remains, and some members want the money given away; others, however, believe that it should be divided among them.

For now, arguing about whether, and how, to disband appears to be Rohatyner’s one remaining group avocation. “There’s been talk about disbanding for at least 10 years,” said Robyn Katz, who is Edelstein’s niece and, at 50, one of the group’s youngest members. And arguing about the cemetery is not a new pastime in the society. Katz’s late grandfather once worked the group into a tizzy by posing the perplexing question of whether a member who already buried one wife in the Rohatyner plot could bury a second wife there, as well. “Everyone discusses it; it gets very heated,” Katz said. “It’s very philosophical. And then my grandfather said: ‘Well, this is what I told him already. One spouse per plot.’ He had already decided!” If this summer’s vote turns out to be definitive, those conversations may be about to come to an end.

“There’s a general feeling that we’re not going anywhere,” Hulkower said. “The next meeting should be the last.”

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1939 German Minority Census: Folks born in Rohatyn and environs

Most of the German 1939 minority census has been indexed and you can research surnames **and towns**. I put in my ancestral Polish and Austrian towns and was able to search Jewish people living in Germany in 1939 who were born in that specific Polish or Austrian town, getting their birth date, maiden name and location in 1939. Of course you can search by surname too.

The description is at http://tracingthepast.org/minority-census. It reads: "Currently, the searchable data includes persons who can be proven to have perished in the Holocaust, those who were born prior to 1903 (+110 years ago), and others who deceased prior to 1984 (+30 years ago). Of the approximately 410,000 original entries, about 275,000 (or around 67%) of the "Minority Census" are available here online... Tracing the Past is honored to have the opportunity to share this research tool online. " and the index can be searched here:

http://tracingthepast.org/minority-census/census-database

The folks born in ROhatyn and nearby and living in Germany in 1939 included:


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