>June Nessler wrote: >Can anyone tell me about Shtetls? I believe that is the correct spelling. >What I want to know is this. One grandfather told us he was from Kiev and >the other one is from Odessa. since they were Jewish, is it more likely >thew would have been from a shtetl outside of these cities? I have >consulted the Jewish genealogy sites and found that there were many of >thesetowns outside the cities. My grandfather's brother was killed by the >Cossacks. Surely this would not have happened in a large city???? >If they had come from a shtetl, what are the chances of finding their >records? I am told that many Rabbis buried the records to save them >fromthe periodic pogroms. I would appreciate as much information as >anyone out there can provide. >June from CA June- Although there were many shtetls outside of larger towns, there were Jews living in the larger towns, as well. And, yes, pogroms occurred in larger towns, too. Why not? They (pogroms) were mostly government sanctioned. If you register/search your names and towns at the Jewish Gen web site: http://www.jewishgen.org/ you may find others researching the same families. (While browsing through the entries I found many people researching families from Kiev, and a couple from Odessa.) Also at the same site...check out JewishGen FAQ. It gives a lot of great info on Naturalization Records, passenger lists and tips for finding your ancestral home. Hope this helps. Rhonda