Searching for your Lithuanian ancestors can be rewarding, challenging and puzzling. Knowing the history of Eastern Europe from the thirteenth century to present helps clarify the many challenges of determining the source of your ancestors. Wars were waged, won and lost, territories were captured and occupied, borders changed.
Start with the LitvakSIG site http://www.litvaksig.org
A wealth of information is available. Search the All Lithuanian Database ALD https://www.litvaksig.org/all-lithuania-database/search-ald/
Documents then can be ordered directly from the appropriate archives.
Records are held in a number of archives in Lithuania. The major ones are listed below:
Lithuanian State Historical Archives
Web Site: https://lvia.archyvai.lrv.lt/en/
Mailing address: Mindaugo 8, LT-03107 Vilnius, Lithuania
Telephone: +370 5 219 5320, +370 5 213 7482, Fax: +370 5 278 43 69
E-mail: [email protected]
“Lithuanian State Historical Archives is the main repository of records for the Lithuanian history from the 13th century up to the declaration of the Independence of Lithuania in 1918 (civil registry and vital records up until to our days). The records of state institutions, religious communities, popular organizations and families that are maintained in this Archives also reflect the history of Russia, Belarus, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia and other countries.”
Lithuanian Central State Archives
Web Site: https://lcva.archyvai.lrv.lt/en/
Mailing address: Milašiaus 21, LT-10102, Vilnius, Lithuania
Telephone: +370 5 247 7811, Fax: +370 5 276 5318
E-mail: [email protected]
Reserved e-mail: [email protected]
Archives preserves records of state, local government, enterprises, religious communities, popular organizations, other non-state institutions and individuals, dating from 1918 until 1990. The division of Sound and Image is the main repository of audiovisual heritage in Lithuania. It preserves moving pictures since 1919, photo negatives and positives since 1850’s, sound recordings since 1950’s, videotapes since 1988 until the present day.
Kaunas Regional Archives
Web Site: https://kaunas.archyvai.lrv.lt/en/
Mailing address: Maironio 28B, LT-44249 Kaunas, Lithuania
Telephone: +370 37 32 31 11, Fax: +370 37 207182
E-mail: [email protected]
“The biggest County archives, which preserves documents of the former Kaunas Gubernya institutions from the middle of the 19th century until 1918, documents of some institutions that functioned in the Kaunas region during the 1918-1945 period, and documents of regional state, municipal and non-state institutions, enterprises, popular organizations and individuals of the Kaunas, Jonava, Kaišiadorys, Kėdainiai, Prienai, and Raseiniai districts from 1945 until the present day. Archives is also involved in supervision of records management of local public institutions.
Other Lithuania Archives
https://archyvai.lrv.lt/en/structure-and-contact-information/subordinate-institutions/
The Lithuania Internal Passports Database, 1919-1940 is rich in the scope of information on the person to whom the passport was issued and his/her family members. http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Lithuania/InternalPassports.htm
Suwalki Archives
Web Site: http://www.suwalki.ap.gov.pl/
This site is in Polish. Many of the records have been indexed by JRI-Poland (see http://jri-poland.org/town/suwalki.htm) and LitvakSIG ALD.
Spelling our ancestors names, or rather guessing how the name might have been spelled, is an additional challenge. Help is available in understand the ALD standards, see “Translation, Transliteration, and Database Standards for the ALD” https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/$Transcription.html
Routes to Routes Foundation http://www.rtrfoundation.org/index.shtml is a family history and genealogy guide to Jewish and civil records in Eastern Europe. Click on the map of Lithuania and follow the subjects you would like. The site is rich in useful tools and archival information.
JewishGen http://www.jewishgen.org/
See Town Find, KehilaLinks, Yizkor Books, Family Pages, Family Finder, Family Trees, etc. Keep in mind that borders changed frequently. Therefore if you do not find your shtetl in Lithuania, try neighboring countries such as Belarus, Ukraine and Poland. Keeping that in mind see the Courland Research Group http://www.jewishgen.org/Courland/ and http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Lithuania/and JRI-Poland Jewish Records Indexing Poland http://jri-poland.org/
JewishGen Given Names Data Bases (GNDBs) http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/GivenNames/index.htm
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research http://www.yivoinstitute.org/
In addition to research aids, the Lithuania: Jewish Family History Research Guide details some of YIVO’s holdings http://www.cjh.org/pdfs/Lithuania.pdf
Polish Genealogical, see https://pgsa.org/research-directory/search-databases/
MyHeritage http://www.myheritage.com/
Ancestry http://www.ancestry.com
MACEVA http://www.litvak-cemetery.info/en/
Genealogy Indexer http://genealogyindexer.org/ (ie, Lithuanian telephone directories 1930, 1935, 1938, 1939)
New York Public Library Yizkor Books http://yizkor.nypl.org/ (Some of have indexed by the Genealogy Indexer, see above)
Good sources of immigration to the US are found at the following sites:
Ellis Island http://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/passenger
Castle Garden http://www.castlegarden.org/ –>
SHEMOT, The Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain. March 2012 Vol. 20, 1. 40 p.
The entire issue is devoted to Lithuania genealogy with articles written by leading experts in the field.
Several archives in Israel have a wealth of information. Some are catalogued and searchable online, whereas others are either partially computerized or in the process of being computerized and require sending a request for information.
Central Archive for the History of the Jewish People (CAHJP) http://cahjp.nli.org.il
Central Zionist Archives (CZA) http://www.zionistarchives.org.il/en/Pages/Default.aspx
The Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel has an extensive historical archive and requires writing to [email protected] with specific requests.
The following two archives in Israel are catalogued online and do have information on Lithuanian Jewry and their plight:
Beit Lohamei Haghetaot http://infocenters.co.il/gfh/?lang=eng
A number of important publications are listed below:
Yahadut Lita (Hebrew) Tel Aviv: Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel, 1960-1984. 4 vols.
Vol I Lithuanian Jewry from the 15thCentury to 1918
Vol II The Jews in Independent Lithuania 1918-1941.
Vol III The Annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry 1945-1991.
Vol IV The Holocaust 1941-1945.
Pinkas Hakehilot Lita (Hebrew). Translation from Hebrew to English of Table of Contents http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/Pinkas_lita/Pinkas_Lita.html, Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1996.
The Holocaust in Lithuania 1941-1945, by Rose Cohen and Saul Issroff. Jerusalem, Gefen, 2002. 4 vol.
Check Avotaynu http://www.avotaynu.com/for its many publications.
Holocaust Atlas of Lithuania http://www.holocaustatlas.lt/EN/
B&F Compendium of Jewish Genealogy: Lithuania (https://bloodandfrogs.com/compendium/lithuania