Moving picture albums to DropBox instead of OneDrive

I moved the picture albums of the website to the DropBox cloud space instead of the OneDrive cloud space, which was nearly full.
All the links to the pictures and albums have been moved to the new addresses and I corrected  a few incorrect links.

Please report any anomaly you notice.

New website

The new website is now secured (encrypted). Address changed: https://jewish-kutno.ddns.net.
But the old address is redirected automatically to it.

New website is operational

The Jewish Kutno website has moved to: http://jewish-kutno.ddns.net. Please bookmark the new site.

All the missing links to the picture albums and the videos have been recovered and new links have been added, like video testimonies of survivors and video of the deportation to the Kutno ghetto, the new webcams of Kutno.

Project to translate the Yizkor Book has been restarted and one new article has been uploaded. Volunteers are needed to translate Hebrew articles into English. Yiddish too, but that is another problem.

Contacts are being taken to see what can be done with the sad state of the cemetery. The fact is nothing has changed over the last ten years. We hope to get some advice from colleagues who got a better result and got their cemetery enclosure restored and their grounds cleaned up.

Indexing of names in the Yizkor Book

The Kutno Yizkor Book is now totally indexed.

The index has 7254 occurrences of names. It does not include the list of martyrs or the necrology, at the end of the book; these lists can be queried separately. It includes names from page 1 to 493.

The query page, in English, is there. Other languages are also available.

A later version will allow direct access to an article from a selected record in the results page.

The file will be donated to JewishGen, but it will lack the comment field, which reveals some of the context of the occurrence. This is especially nice for those of us who speak neither Hebrew nor Yiddish.

Extraction of LDS years 1829-1833

Extracting of all infomation from acts in LDS years 1829-1833 is now finished. The index file was donated to JRI-Poland for publication.

LDS master index was updated and the surnames list was refreshed as well.

Four new articles translated into English

Four new articles were translated from the Kutno Yizkor book and are now available online. You can read them directly from here:

- Culture and Philantropy (p.79)

- 1905 and later (p.80)

- Kutno fire-fighters (p.85)

- Our town before its destruction (p.97)

or go to the table of contents and click on the corresponding articles. They were all translated from the Yiddish by Mindle Crystel Gross.

The original versions (in Yiddish) are still available from the Hebrew page of the table of contents, but in the three other languages the links willl be those of the English translations.

Eleventh translation of an article from Kutno Yizkor Book

The eleventh article translated from the Kutno Yizkor book is now available online. You can read it directly from here or go to the table of contents and click on the article My coming to Kutno, by R' Yonah Baruch Katz on page 65. It was translated from Hebrew by group member Thia.

The original version is still available from the Hebrew page of the table of contents, but in the three other languages the link willl be that of the English translation.

Tenth translation of an article from Kutno Yizkor Book

The tenth article translated from the Kutno Yizkor book is now available online. You can read it directly from here or go to the table of contents and click on the article Kutno, by Sh. Babe on page 59. It was translated from Hebrew by group member Thia.

The original version is still available from the Hebrew page of the table of contents, but in the three other languages the link willl be that of the English translation.

Indexing of names in the Yizkor Book

Indexing of names from the Yiddish articles in the Yizkor Book is now finished. Hebrew pages are indexed up to page 160.

The index of names search form is available from the Search page or the Yizkor page and can be accessed directly from here. These pages are available in the four languages.

Ninth translation of an article from Kutno Yizkor Book

The ninth article translated from the Kutno Yizkor book is now available online. You can read it directly from here or go to the table of contents and click on the article Zionist activity in Kutno, by Jakob Klingbajl on page 159. It was translated by group member Carole.

The original version is still available from the Hebrew page of the table of contents, but in the three other languages the link willl be that of the English translation.

Eighth translation of an article from Kutno Yizkor Book

The eighth article translated from the Kutno Yizkor book is now available online. You can read it directly from here or go to the table of contents and click on the article Zionist activity in Kutno, by Icchak Majranc on page 158. It was translated by group member Carole.

The original version is still available from the Hebrew page of the table of contents, but in the three other languages the link willl be that of the English translation.

Seventh translation of an article from Kutno Yizkor Book

The seventh article translated from the Kutno Yizkor book is now available online. You can read it directly from here or go to the table of contents and click on the article Zionist activity in Kutno, by Azriel Szymonowicz on page 156. It was translated by group member Carole.

The original version is still available from the Hebrew page of the table of contents, but in the three other languages the link willl be that of the English translation.

Second translation into French from Kutno Yizkor Book

A sixth article in Yiddish was translated, the second to be translated into French, by professional translator Monique Charbonnel. It was also translated into English. It is the foreword of the Yizkor Book, by Yehoshua Elbaum.

Un sixième article en Yiddish a été traduit, le deuxième à l'être en français, par la traductrice professionnelle Monique Charbonnel. Il a été également traduit en anglais. Il s'agit de la préface du Livre de souvenir, par Yehoshua Elbaum.

Fifth translation of an article from Kutno Yizkor Book

The fifth article translated from Yiddish from the Kutno Yizkor book is now available online. You can read it directly from here or go to the table of contents and click on the article In Memory of a Jewish Family, by Jadzia Grabinsky on page 249. It was translated by group member Jaime.

The original version is still available from the Hebrew page of the table of contents, but in the three other languages the link willl be that of the English translation.

Szalom Asz Festival in Kutno

Kutno had its 6th Szalom Asz festival on December 3-6. Next one will be in 2011. While it may not concern those who don't speak Polish, it may be interesting to be in Kutno at this time, as there should be more interest for Jewish culture, with the festival's attendance.

Rendez-vous in 2011!

Fourth translation of an article from Kutno Yizkor Book

The fourth article translated from Yiddish from the Kutno Yizkor book is now available online. You can read it directly from here or go to the table of contents and click on the article Sixty Years Ago, by Moshe Weingart on page 78.

The original version is still available from the Hebrew page of the table of contents, but in the three other languages the link willl be that of the English translation.

Yizkor Book Index of Names

The indexing of names in the Yizkor book is now half-way. The present version of this file has been published, which includes up to page 275. The index of names search form is available from the Search page or the Yizkor page and can be accessed directly from here. These pages are available in the four languages.

First translation into French from Kutno Yizkor Book

A third article in Yiddish was translated, the first to be translated into French. This is the work of group member Shulamit, a daughter of one of the authors of the Yizkor Book. It has also been translated into English.

Un troisième article en Yiddish a été traduit, le premier à l'être en français, fruit du travail de Shulamit, membre du groupe et fille d'un des auteurs du Livre du Souvenir. Il a été également traduit en anglais.

Second translation of an article from Kutno Yizkor Book

The second article translated from Yiddish from the Kutno Yizkor book is now available online. You can read it directly from here or go to the table of contents and click on the article Kutno during the First World War, by Mirel Erdberg-Shatan on page 72.

The original version is still available from the Hebrew page of the table of contents, but in the three other languages the link willl be that of the English translation.

The next Yiddish article to be translated will be "Sixty years ago", on page 78.

First translation of an article from Kutno Yizkor Book

The first article ever translated from Yiddish from the Kutno Yizkor book is now available online. You can read it directly from here or go to the table of contents and click on the article on the Chevra Kadisha of Kutno, by Lipman Comber on page 54.

The original version is still available from the Hebrew page of the table of contents, but in the three other languages the link willl be that of the English translation.

The next Yiddish article to be translated will be the one about Kutno during WW I, on page 72. Volunteer Yiddish translators are welcome! Volunteer Hebrew translators as well, since one third of the pages of the book are written in Hebrew (150 pages, with many pictures).

Matzevot booklet

The cemetery e-book is now completed and available online for review. The table of contents of the e-book can also be accessed from the Yizkor main page, in all four languages. A printer-friendly version is also available.

A click on any item in the list will load the corresponding matzeva document, showing the image of the matzeva, the Hebrew text and the English translation.

All reviewers be warned that the text is sometimes very near to illegible, and that the text on the matzevot is, at times, far from modern Hebrew and includes lots of abbreviations.

Transcription and translation of Hebrew into English is the (long and hard) work of group member Thia. She really deserves a "Hats off!"

Ghetto census file

The Kutno ghetto census file of July 29th, 1941, has now been published by JRI-Poland. It lists some 6 600 inmates coming from Kutno and other nearby cities, like Wloclawek, Plock and Gombin. At this time, though, some 700 had already died of typhus and other diseases due to the terrible hygiene conditions, lack of food and of fuel.

This file is one of the most accurate documents about the ghetto and Chelmno victims born after 1905.

It shows their names, profession (in Polish or German), birth dates and city of birth and living, if not Kutno. Families are listed in sequence (father, mother, children).

Querying a surname in JRI/JewishGen will now return the results for Kutno ghetto, as usual in the "Warszawa Gubernia" section of JRI results.

Extraction of LDS year 1813

Extracting of all infomation from acts in LDS year 1813 is now finished. Thanks to Malcolm.

LDS master index was updated and the surnames list refreshed as well.

List of illustrations in four languages

The Yizkor Book's list of illustrations is now also available in French, Spanish and Hebrew. It can also be accessed from theYizkor page of the website. La table des illustrations est maintenant disponible en français, espagnol et hébreu. Un lien sur la page Yizkor permet aussi d'y accéder. El índice de ilustraciones del libro Yizkor está ahora disponible en francés, castellano y hebreo. También puede accederse desde la página Yizkor del sitio web.

רשימת התמונות בספר יזכור קוטנו מופיעה גם בשפות צרפתית, ספרדית ועברית. כניסה מעמוד "יזכור" באתר.

Thanks to Carole for her translation from English to Hebrew, in addition to her previous corrections of the English version.

Yizkor Book, List of Illustrations

The Yizkor Book's list of illustrations is now available in English. It can be accessed from the Yizkor page of the website. Page number appears before each entry in the list.

Each of the 326 entries in the list is linked to the corresponding picture in the web album.

Translation into Hebrew, French and Spanish will follow.

Thanks to group member Carole for her corrections and to Lance Ackerfeld for his help in the Yiddish translation and support.

Yizkor Book, Table of Contents

The table of contents of the Yizkor book is now available in Hebrew/Yiddish, English, French and Spanish. Each article can be loaded by clicking on its title in the list.

תוכן הענינים של ספר היזכור זמין כעת בשפות הבאות: עברית/יידיש, אנגלית, צרפתית, וספרדית. כל מאמר ניתן לטעינה באמצעות לחיצה על כותרתו ברשימה

La table des matières du livre Yizkor est maintenant disponible en hébreu/yiddish, anglais, français et espagnol. Chaque article peut être chargé en cliquant sur son titre dans la liste. El índice del libro Yizkor está ahora disponible en hebreo/yidish, inglés, francés y castellano. Cada artículo puede cargarse haciendo clic sobre su título en la lista.

Cemetery booklet

Documenting of the 147 rebuilt Kutno cemetery matzevot becomes a standalone project. Its goal is to create a professional quality booklet, with the matzevot pictures, the Hebrew transcriptions and English translations of the texts. Translation into French and Spanish could be done in a later step.

Group member Thia is in charge of the transcription and translation, group member Elynn of the artistic aspects (logo and cover page illustration).

Proofreaders with a very good sight and knowledge of Hebrew are needed.

Extraction of LDS year 1812 and indexation 1813-1828

Extracting all infomation from acts in LDS year 1812 is now finished. This is the end of the first out of four LDS mcrofilms.

Thanks to Malcolm for his work, in difficult circumstances.

As a consequence of the work of group members Malcolm and Ann, indexing of LDS years 1808-1828 is now finished and can be queried from there.

Years 1813 to 1828 were indexed based on the index tables of the books, not on actual acts as for 1808-1812, so there is a possibility of a mistake or a missing document. These years will be corrected later, as Malcolm extracts information from real documents.

If you find a result in years 1808-1812 and need more information about a given record, just ask me.

Translation of Pinkas HaKehillot pages into French

Pinkas HaKehillot's Kutno pages, originally in Hebrew only and translated into English by group members Thia and Carole, are now also available in French. Translation has been approved for publication by Yad Vashem, to which it was also donated. Les pages sur Kutno du Pinkas HaKehillot, à l'origine seulement en hébreu puis traduites en anglais par les membres du groupe Thia et Carole, sont maintenant disponibles aussi en français. La traduction a été approuvée par Yad Vashem, a qui elle a été également donnée.

New documents 1930s

New documents from the 1930s have been added to the website:

- listing of the members of the Society for the Poor 1930-1939, available from here. It includes address and birth year,

- telephone directories 1932 and 1938, available from here. It includes address. Since there were only around 100 Jewish telephone owners (out of some 2000 families), many names are missing of course.

Thanks to Malki for this data.