Project: Publication of the Suwałki Jews Memorial Book

Our small, local association – the Jamiński Indexing Team (Jamiński Zespół Indeksacyjny – JZI) – is a group of enthusiasts passionate about the genealogy, history, and culture of the region of northeastern Poland. The name of the Association originates from Jamin, a village parish located near Sztabin in the Augustów county, where its members began their voluntary work on the parish’s oldest vital records. To achieve its statutory goals, the Association uses its own funds, volunteer work, and social funding. The area of our interest is the broadly understood Suwałki region within its historical boundaries, covering areas of northeastern Poland, southern Lithuania, and northwestern Belarus, as well as the borderlands of this region. For centuries, this area has been a cultural melting pot, and thus we do not limit ourselves solely to promoting culture related to the Catholic faith. We are interested in Uniates, Lutherans, Orthodox, Old Believers, and Jews. All these cultures existed in the same area, intermingled, and were subject to strong interactions.

We pursue our goals through several main activities:

• Indexing of vital records from parishes and municipalities
• Indexing of population registers
• Commemorating places significant to the region's history
• Publishing books of a genealogical nature and those cultivating local culture
• Organizing events that promote local history and our activities in this area.

How We Restore and Protect the Memory of Polish Jewish History

For centuries, Podlasie constituted a space where many cultures met; Jews also lived here for years, and the JZI recalls and protects their memory by introducing the topic into social dialogue and the digital space (social media) – primarily carrying out educational activities through:

• publication and popularization of Jewish memorial books: JZI online store, placing them on the general literature market, as well as on the Internet and in the media: JZI Facebook
• bringing closer the history of Jewish communities through, among others, the indexing and publication of vital records from the region (e.g., JZI post); database on the website and in the Geneo search engine
• publication of articles on Jewish topics: articles from the category: Jews

The results of the indexing work and other information are publicly and freely available in the above-mentioned sources.

In March 2021, JZI launched a promotional campaign combined with fundraising for the publication of the Augustów Jews Memorial Book (KPŻA) on public portals: mainly wspieram.to and Facebook, and through personal contact (mainly local government and cultural institutions). The campaign mobilized a wide audience, reaching recipients across Poland and abroad (including the USA, UK, Germany, France, and Canada). A description of the project and an actively reported campaign progress are available here: JZI website, wspieram.to and fb JZI. As part of the promotion, the following were created:

• a reward system for support – including: a guided trip "Following the Traces of Warsaw Jews," the publication of a collector's album "Augustów. History Recorded in Photographs" in memory of Judel Rotsztejn
• auctions on allegro.pl of 10 copies of the book "Men of Bold Vision, specially published for this purpose
• filmy:
  • Podróż do Augustowa
  • Księga pamięci Żydów augustowskich (PL)
  • Ludzie wielkich marzeń

Achievements in Restoring the Memory of Polish Jewish History

Publication, sales, and promotion of the following:

• “Sokółka Jews Memorial Book” (2021)
• “Augustów Jews Memorial Book” (2022)
• “Men of Bold Vision. Story of the Sokol Brothers Coat Factory” (2022)
• “Augustów. History Recorded in Photographs” (2022)

Success of the promotional campaign and public fundraising for the publication of the AJMB:

• the project was supported 121 times via wspieram.to for a total amount of 17,771 PLN; the link to the portal was shared 188 times, and the campaign page was visited over 3,100 times
• receipt of several donations from private individuals directly to the bank account
• obtaining financial support from institutions: Augustów Cultural Institutions (Augustowskie Placówki Kultury), Sztabin Municipality Office, and Augustów County Office (Starostwo Powiatowe w Augustowie)

Direct reach to interested individuals, mainly through Internet communication and social media, and the popularization of Jewish topics among Poles and Polish diaspora. The undeniable "commercial" success of the campaign, which was the first of its kind among amateur genealogists, demonstrated its validity and effectiveness and set new trends in fundraising for activities of this nature.

Suwałki Jews Memorial Book

Only two Memorial Books have been published for the area of southern Suwałki region (current areas of NE Poland):

• Augustów Jews Memorial Book – covering the area of the Jewish community of Augustów (Augustów, Sztabin, Lipsk)
• Suwałki Jews Memorial Book – covering the area of the Jewish community of Suwałki (Suwałki, Raczki, Krasnopol, Sejny, Przerośl, Filipów, Bakałarzewo, Puńsk, and others)

The project to publish the Suwałki book would therefore be an excellent complement to the Augustów book, concluding the presentation of Jewish culture in this area.

Volume: approximately 420 pages, recorded in two columns in Yiddish.

What the Jaminy Indexing Team can do:

• Assembling the team, including translators (consent of Mrs. Monika Polit and her team is available)
• Text editing
• Graphic processing of illustrations
• Cover graphic design
• Text typesetting
• Financing the printing
• Marketing in electronic media
• Distribution
• Project coordination

What the Jaminy Indexing Team Cannot Do:

• Financing the translation

How You Can Support Us

If you believe that supporting the publication of the "Suwałki Jews Memorial Book" project is worthwhile, you can do so in several ways:

Transfer any amount to the account: PL37 1600 1462 1834 7686 6000 0001 at BNP Paribas. Please include the note: Donation for statutory purposes — KPZS