The project Jews in Mecklenburg is engaged in several ongoing individual projects and aims to contribute to the already existing and significant research on the Mecklenburg Jews and their history in both Mecklenburgs. These are in detail:
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Genealogical Complete Family Tree of the Mecklenburg Jews
The goal of this individual project is the electronic recording of genealogical data relating to the Mecklenburg Jews (GEDCOM) and the completion of the genealogical online database of the overall project. Using sources from municipal and state archives, Jewish soul books and registers, church books, civil registry and census records, various registers, private family trees, and testimonies of Holocaust survivors, we have already been able to record more than 20,000 individual persons. Based on comparisons with some sources not yet processed, however, this may represent only about two-thirds of the expected persons.
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Recording of All Graves, Gravestones, and Memorial Stones of Existing or Destroyed Jewish Cemeteries in Mecklenburg
The goal of this individual project is the electronic recording and photographic documentation of all still-existing or no longer existing graves, gravestones, and memorial stones of still-existing or already destroyed Jewish cemeteries in Mecklenburg, on site or from still-available sources. Later, the linking of grave data with the personal data collected by the Genealogical Complete Family Tree project is planned.
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The Overall Development of Jewish Population Numbers in Mecklenburg from Resettlement to the Holocaust
Partly based on the Genealogical Complete Family Tree project, the goal of this project is to enable a reliable statement on the development of the total number of the Jewish population in Mecklenburg as a whole and at the regional level in the towns across generations since the resettlement of Jews in Mecklenburg in the 17th century until the end of the Holocaust in the 20th century. The cumulated results are presented in the section Jewish Population Development and periodically updated.
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The Jewish History of Mecklenburg Towns
The goal of this individual project is the comprehensive portrayal of the Jewish history of Mecklenburg towns, their Jewish residents, the former Israelite communities, synagogues, and burial sites in the towns. Here we would like to build upon the already partly existing and excellent regional works, to supplement, continue, and complete them. The results are continually published on our location, synagogue, and cemetery pages.
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Jewish Personalities and Biographies with a Connection to Mecklenburg
The goal of this individual project is the portrayal of notable or significant Jewish personalities from or with a connection to Mecklenburg. The results of the project are continually published under Personalities.
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Treatises on Significant Topics of the Jewish History of Mecklenburg
The goal of this individual project is the summarized portrayal of significant individual topics of the Jewish history of Mecklenburg. The results of the project are continually published under History.
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Total Number of Holocaust Victims in Mecklenburg
The goal of this project is to determine the most accurate possible total number of Holocaust victims with a connection to Mecklenburg through careful individual case examination and reconstruction of the victims' fates. The ongoing results of this individual project can be found on our page on Holocaust victims. Over decades, an enormous amount of research has been carried out by Yad Vashem and the Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv) in this regard. Due to the sheer volume of data recorded there, however, individual case examination was often not possible in detail. In cooperation with the Federal Archives, we have already been able to supplement missing data or correct erroneous data in their Memorial Book (Gedenkbuch) for the Mecklenburg section. But we too have had to acknowledge on several occasions that our currently collected data contained isolated errors. In this regard, information from Mecklenburg regional researchers has been particularly valuable.
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Individual Fates of Jewish People from Mecklenburg during the Holocaust
The goal of this project, which is closely related to the aforementioned project on determining the total number of victims, is the reconstruction and subsequent portrayal of individual fates of Jewish Mecklenburg residents during the Holocaust. Even today, in many Mecklenburg towns, the fate of former Jewish residents remains unresolved.