Volhynian Governorate 1820 map Wikimedia Commons
Volhynian Governorate 1820 map Wikimedia Commons
Starokostyantyniv family researchers should always check for records from neighboring towns, which are identified on JewishGen. Commonly people travelled or lived for a time in these nearby towns, and vital records may have been registered in Starokostyantyniv when it was a main town and administrative center of the region.
The Krasilov KehilaLinks web page site is an excellent example of the value of this strategy. Krasilov was just 13 miles from Starokostyantyniv and the site includes birth records, eyewitness testimony, Starokostyantyniv emigrants from the Ellis Island Database, The Book of Sorrow, Khmelnitskiy Oblast, including Starokostyantyniv victims' names, places of residence, gender, age, often profession or occupation, and when available the time and circumstances of their murder. Sincere thanks to the Krasilov KehilaLinks for generously granting permission to use these valuable materials on this KehilaLinks.
Some of the extensive resources on JewishGen, Yad Vashem, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum are identified here. Become familiar with these websites to discover more.
JewishGen, the indispensable online resource for Jewish family history research. Note: to see results a free JewishGen account is required.
JewishGen Family Finder is a database of ancestral towns and surnames currently being researched by Jewish genealogists worldwide. By using Family Finder, you can learn about and connect with others who are seeking ancestors of the same surname or town.
JewishGen Ukraine Research Division (RD) identifies, acquires, transcribes, and posts Jewish records of genealogical value on the JewishGen Ukraine Database of more than two million records; with a very active data acquisition program, new records are posted regularly, including the documents located in Ukrainian government archives by Alex Krakovsky, a Jewish-Ukrainian archivist, activist, and genealogist who is leading efforts to legalize the digitization of Jewish records. He places these records, for free access, on his Wikipedia page. Search the Cumulative Ukraine Research Report to locate the Krakovsky documents for the Starokostyantyniv town and region that have been uploaded to the Ukraine RD website.
JewishGen KehilaLinks is a project to share the history and life of Jewish ancestral towns, villages, and cities worldwide. KehilaLinks web pages include family stories and photos, maps, reports of town visits, resource links and other historical material. Check the directory for towns which have KehilaLinks.
JewishGen Holocaust Database includes more than 5.9 million name lists, ghetto and camp records, transport records, and passports.
Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem
Shoah Names Database This database includes information about Jewish victims of the Holocaust including those who were were murdered, many whose fate has yet to be determined and some who survived. On authoring this KehilaLinks page, the search of the database for Jews from Starokostyantyniv resulted in 6,089 names using the location option Before the War, and 5,257 names using During the War.
Pages of Testimony are records submitted by survivors, remaining family members or friends in commemoration of Jews murdered in the Holocaust, that include the names, brief biographical details such as place of birth and names of parents and siblings and, when available, photographs. Automatic translation of the records to English is provided.
The Archives includes a vast collection of historical documentation in the form of official reports, diaries, photos and film, survivor testimonies and more. A search for "Starokonstantinov" during preparation of this KehilaLinks resulted in more than 7,000 records.
The Untold Stories - Murder Sites of Jews in Occupied Territories of the USSR, including an article about Starokostyantyniv
Righteous Among the Nations This database can be searched by Rescuer and Rescued Person
The Encyclopedia of the Ghettos article about Starokostyantyniv
List of residents from Staro Konstantinov prepared by the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission to Investigate German-Fascist Crimes Committed on Soviet Territory, 1944 (in Russian).
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, DC
Collections Catalog includes online search of oral histories and photographs, access to the Arolsen Archives database containing personal Displaced Persons camp records, and more.
Survivors and Victims Database This database contains millions of names of individuals persecuted under the Nazi regime. If a name is linked to a document, you can submit a request to have the document e-mailed to you. About 60 percent of the name data and resources included in the database are available online. The full database can be accessed at the Museum. Search either for individual names, or for Lists of Names, which includes historical documents such as census records, registration forms, ghetto inhabitant lists, concentration camp or displaced persons camp lists.
Survivor Reflections and Testimonies includes essays and oral histories from eyewitnesses.
Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945, Volume II Ghettos in German-Occupied Eastern Europe, Eds: Geoffrey P. Megargee and Martin Dean, 2012 - an extensive, scholarly multi-volume reference work that can be downloaded from the USHMM website. The Starokostyantyniv ghetto article is included in Volume II, Part B, which is now also downloadable and fully searchable from Project Muse; the other volumes will also become available at this site.
Testimonial Lists of Jewish Holocaust Victims from Starokonstantinov, Ukraine. Compiled by the Jewish community from the town consisting of four individual lists, in Ukrainian: The first two lists are of 471 Jewish soldiers who died in World War II fighting Nazis. Includes last name, first name, year of birth and military rank. Dated 1941-1945; The third list is of 568 Jewish victims from Starokonstantinov which includes last name, first name, middle name and year of birth.; The fourth list is of approximately 4,210 Jewish victims from Starokonstantinov which includes last name, first name, middle name and year of birth.
Yahad-In Unum, the global humanitarian organization that investigates and documents sites of Jewish and Roma mass executions by the Nazis and local collaborators in Eastern Europe during the Shoah. The website includes an interactive map of these "Holocaust by Bullets" sites, including in Starokostyantyniv, and thousands of recorded eyewitness testimonies.
The USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive, housed at the University of Southern California, consists of nearly 55,000 testimonies, collected in 65 countries and 43 languages. Some of the interviews cannot be viewed online, but may be available at institutions including the USHMM, Yad Vashem and many college libraries.
Routes to Roots Foundation, the result of groundbreaking genealogical research in Eastern Europe over many decades, this website includes an archive database showing the types of documents, their availability and the repositories in which they are located; a surname database; photographs of Jewish communities; and articles about conducting family history research.
The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe includes a wealth of online resources about Jewish history - for example, articles about Jewish life in the Russian Empire, military conscription in the Pale of Settlement, and pogroms.
The National Library of Israel, search the catalog on the website for hundreds of items about Starokostyantyniv including religious and civic manuscripts, photographs, and metrical books (birth registers recorded by Rabbis).
Jewish Encyclopedia article about the history of Starokostyantyniv up to 1905, when the article reports that the town had two synagogues, five prayer-houses, a city school for Jewish children, and Jewish benevolent institutions.
Suggested Jewish history reference works
Dubnow, Simon. The History of the Jews of Russia and Poland From the Earliest Times Until the Present Day (Translated from the Russian by I. Friedlaender). The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1920. Available for download on the Internet Archive.
Spector, Shmuel and Wigoder, Geoffrey, Eds. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life, Before and During the Holocaust. New York University Press, 2001. Three-volumes with introduction by Elie Weisel. Starokostyantyniv information is in volume 3.
Rechtman, Abraham. The Lost World of Russia's Jews, Ethnography and Folklore in the Pale of Settlement. Indiana University Press, 2021. A history of the An-sky expeditions that were undertaken to preserve Jewish cultural legacy in the Volhynia, Podolia and Kiev regions during 1912 to 1914, including photographs of synagogues and descriptions of Jewish life, customs, Yiddish and Hebrew art and literature, and the reaction in Jewish communities to the political and religious movements then active in the Pale of Settlement.