Eastern European Newspapers

Have you ever used newspapers as a resource for researching your Eastern European family?  I've been playing around with a site that allows you to do just that.  It predominantly covers Ukraine, but there is coverage for neighboring countries as well; the site contains periodicals in languages including Russian, Yiddish, Ukrainian, Polish, Belorussian and more.  Below are some examples of what I've found for my own family--and how you can potentially find articles about your relatives too.

1913 Advertisement for Performers for the Zubkis Theater in Gaysin

My Zubkis family was registered in the small village of Kuna, on the outskirts of what is now Haysin, Ukraine (then Gaysin, Russian Empire) near Vinnitsa.  While my Zubkis ancestors had emigrated to the United States by 1913, I learned that as of 1913 there was a Zubkis Theater in Gaysin, and they were advertising for performers in a newspaper in Odesa.

I also learned a a Lefand cousin was in the military ambulance corp in 1915 and, along with others in his unit, sent greetings to their families back in Chernigov Guberniya.

1915 Regards from Guards of the 312th Military Ambulance Transport

 

So how could you potentially discover similar articles on your own family members?  First, head to https://libraria.ua.  Then put your search terms--in the language of the newspapers--into the search box.  Google Translate can help you do this.  Personally, I searched for names in Russian, Yiddish and Polish, which were languages that I thought promising for finding relatives.

I found that searching with wildcards can help you get a broader set of results.  For example, I'm researching a Lefand family.  I searched for Лефанд (Lefand) and Лефант (Lefant), both spellings I've seen used.  Лефанд found two results and Лефант found none.  But searching for Лефан* found 6 results, including two that were relevant (and two which were not).  [I also searched for versions of the name in Yiddish, although that didn't find results.]

The initial results page shows you thumbnails of the actual newspaper image as well as the words surrounding your search term.  At that point, you can decide if you want to see the originals--which is a paid service.  There are options to pay for anywhere from a day up to a year's access.  I did have some issues paying from the US--last year payment was closed entirely, but now they have Apple Pay (as well as some other options).  My normal two cards for Apple Payments would not go through, but my Apple Card did work well.  Your mileage may vary. 

Assuming you see promising results and have an active paid subscription, once you bring up a page of newspaper, it likely will be in a language that you don't understand.  But with the help of auto-translations, you can at least get a reasonable gist of what it says.  Below is a screenshot of my phone, in which I'm using the Google Translate app on my laptop screen, giving me an automatic translation of a Russian language article.

Using Google Translate App to Read Russian

Happy hunting!  Please comment below if you find this useful

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