Research Page - Minsk Archives, December 2003
OFFICIAL METRIC BOOKS
FOR THE BREST JEWISH COMMUNITY
BIRTH, MARRIAGE AND DEATH RECORDS
1895 - 1914 (but not every year)
Birth records are available for the following thirteen (13) years: 1895, 1896, 1897, 1899, 1901, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1908, 1910, 1912, 1914. During these years records are available for over 6,080 male births and over 5,024 female births.
Marriage records are available for the following nine (9) years: 1897, 1900, 1901, 1904, 1906, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1913. During these years records are available for over 1,983 marriages.
Death records are available for the following eight (8) years: 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1906. During these years records are available for over 2,870 male deaths and over 2,576 female deaths.
There are over 18,500 records of the Brest-Litovsk Jewish Community in this Minsk Archives.
The contact information for this Archive, as of 2006 is:
NATIONAL HISTORIC ARCHIVES OF BELARUS (NIAB)In addition to Brest-Litovsk, some of the nearby Shtetls for which records are found are listed below:
55, Kropotkina Street
Minsk, 220002, Republic of Belarus
Tel: (375-017) 286-75-20, 286-75-23
Fax: (375-017) 2868-75-22
E-mail: niab@solo.by or niab@belsonet.net
Director: Alla K. Golubovich
URL to web site: http://archives.gov.by/EArh/E_naz_ist.htm
- Antopol, Belarus - Coordinates of 5212 2447
- 75 kilometers - 46 miles E of Brest
- Kamenets, Belarus - Coordinates of 5224 2349
- 34 kilometers - 21 miles NNE of Brest
- Kobrin, Belarus - Coordinates of 5213 2421
- 46 kilometers - 28 miles ENE of Brest
- Pruzhana, Belarus - Coordinates of 5233 2428
- 72 kilometers - 45 miles NE of Brest
- Selets (Syalyets), Belarus - Coordinates of 5235 2453
- 97 kilometers - 60 miles NE of Brest
- Shereshevo, Belarus - Coordinates of 5233 2413
- 61 kilometers - 38 miles NE of Brest
- Terespol, Poland - Coordinates of 5205 2334
- 9 kilometers - 6 miles NW of Brest
- Volya, Belarus - Coordinates of 5206 2342
- 42 kilometers - 26 miles NNE of Brest
- Wysokie-Litovsk (Vysokoye), Belarus - Coordinates of 5222 2322
- 37 kilometers - 23 miles NW of Brest
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1895 - Book 1 180 sheets Over 529 male birth and 382 female birth |
1896 - Book 3 182 sheets Over 503 male birth and 386 female birth |
1897 - Book 5 208 sheets Over 618 male birth and 489 female birth |
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1899 - Book 9 191 sheets Over 584 male birth and 473 female birth |
1901 - Book 13 186 sheets Over 525 male birth and 389 female birth |
1903 - Book 16 169 sheets Over 551 male birth and 463 female birth |
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1904 - Book 17 171 sheets Over 543 male birth and 398 female birth |
1905 - Book 19 148 sheets Over 454 male birth and 403 female birth |
1906 - Book 20 150 sheets Over 480 male birth and 391 female birth |
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1908 - Book ?? ??? sheets Over ??? male birth and ??? female birth |
1910 - Book 26 130 sheets Over 387 male birth and 332 female birth |
1912 - Book 28 140 sheets Over 380 male birth and 349 female birth |
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1914 - Book 30 130 sheets Over 126 male birth and 131 female birth |
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1897 - Book 6 90 sheets Over 238 marriages |
1900 - Book 11 83 sheets Over 277 marriages |
1901 - Book 14 83 sheets Over 218 marriages |
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1904 - Book 18 70 sheets Over 222 marriages |
1906 - Book 21 67 sheets Over 211 marriages |
1908 - Book 24 69 sheets Over 216 marriages |
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1909 - Book 25 80 sheets Over 180 marriages |
1910 - Book 27 80 sheets Over 198 marriages |
1913 - Book 29 84 sheets Over 181 marriages |
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1895 - Book 2 153 sheets Over 420 male deaths and 408 female deaths |
1896 - Book 4 163 sheets Over 441 male deaths and 393 female deaths |
1897 - Book 7 153 sheets Over 300 male deaths and 231 female deaths |
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1898 - Book 8 122 sheets Over 326 male deaths and 304 female deaths |
1899 - Book 10 143 sheets Over 394 male deaths and 397 female deaths |
1900 - Book 12 141 sheets Over 330 male deaths and 286 female deaths |
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1901 - Book 15 146 sheets Over 382 male deaths and 323 female deaths |
1906 - Book 22 109 sheets Over 234 male deaths and 277 female deaths |
This is a loose translation of record #265, the middle record on the below Birth Metric Book page.
No. 265. On 8 June 1904 in Brest Town a boy Jankiel (Yankel or Yankiel) was born.
The date of his circumcision was 15 June 1904. His father is the petty bourgeois citizen of Brest, Anczel (Anshel or Antchel) BINENBAUM. His mother is Cywia
(Ciwza or Tzivia or Tsivia) Abram-Ickowna (Itzcovna or Itskova), Abram-Icek (Itsk)
was father of Cywia.
FOND 1520, OPIS 5, DYELO (BOOK) 17, PAGE 74.
NOTES: Tsivia's father was possibly Abram-Itsk Velichansky. Tsivia might have had a sister, Fejga - Reizla who was the wife of Wolf (Volf) Binembaum.
This is a loose translation of record #77, the middle record on the below Birth Metric Book page.
No. 77. On 1 March 1906 in Brest Town a boy Gutman (Gimann) was born. The date of his circumcision was 8 March 1906. His father is the petty bourgeois citizen of Brest, Anczel (Anshel or Antchel) BINENBAUM. His mother is Tsivia (Ciwza) Gershkovna.FOND 1520, OPIS 5, DYELO (BOOK) 20, PAGE 27.
NOTES: Tsivia's father name is different in this record than in the birth record of Jankel.
This is a photograph of some of the Metric Books in the Minsk Archives (from the JewishGen Web Site).
The researcher who took this photographs says:
"Please note the condition and thickness of the books. There are 32 of these huge books just for Brest. One side of the page is Russian the other is Hebrew. The split is at the bind of the book and it is very difficult to read the writing near either side of binding. The Minsk archive does not allow the books to be taken apart to photo copy, digital photo, or microfilm (by the Mormons when they were allowing microfilming in the past). As a result, much of the Jewish records filmed by the Mormons in Minsk not readable for data close to the center for either Russian or Hebrew. In some cases the records are smudged, worm eaten, or faded. Handwriting is of varying quality from illegible to beautiful calligraphy. I have seen this first hand. If a researcher has to go through 32 of these huge metrical books looking for specific surnames, there is a great likelihood that they will miss some names. However, if every name is extracted and put into a database, there is a much better chance that names will not be missed. Once data is in the database, people can then request a jpg file of the record they want."
Another researcher says:
"There are 30 Metric Books, not 32. Yes the split is at the binding, but it is not difficult to read the writing near either side of the binding. This can be seen in the two copies of the Metric Book Birth Records for Binenbaum that appear above on this web page. It is true that the Minsk Archives will not allow the books to be taken apart for copying. However a limited number of copies can be requested and they will be made by the Archive's staff. The current cost is about US $.50 per copy, with a set-up charge of between US $3 - US $5. In the over 15 documents that were copied of the Binenbaum Surnames, none of the records were illegible." My staff researched seven specific Surnames and we do not think that we missed any records. Not all of the Metric Books are huge. Most are between 200 - 300 pages."
If your Jewish ancestors were born, died, married or emigrated from any Shtetl within 50 miles of Brest-Litovsk (in either Belarus, Poland or Ukraine) or you have an interest in the Jews of Brest-Litovsk, the below listed groups are ready to help you with information and research leads. Join all of them today!
Brest, Belarus Research SIG
To join, click on the above "Brest, Belarus Research SIG" and send an e-mail with the word JOIN in the Subject Area.
This discussion group is a forum for researchers with Jewish family roots in the
Shtetl of Brest and the Shtetls within a fifty (50) mile radius.
Belarus SIG Discussion Group
This discussion group is a forum for researchers with Jewish family roots in the country now known as Belarus.
JewishGen Discussion Group
This discussion group is a forum for researchers with Jewish family roots in every country of the world.
Brest, Belarus Research SIG
To join, click on the above "Brest, Belarus Research SIG" and send an e-mail with the word JOIN in the Subject Area.
This discussion group is a forum for researchers with Jewish family roots in the
Shtetl of Brest and the Shtetls within a fifty (50) mile radius.
Belarus SIG Discussion Group
This discussion group is a forum for researchers with Jewish family roots in the country now known as Belarus.
JewishGen Discussion Group
This discussion group is a forum for researchers with Jewish family roots in every country of the world.
through e-mail
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