JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry

JOWBR

How to contribute data to our project

7M+ Burial Records
2.5M+ Headstone Photos
12,114 Cemeteries
144 Countries

How JOWBR Grows

Every record in JOWBR was contributed by a volunteer — photographed, transcribed, and in many cases translated. The project is coordinated by Nolan Altman, who oversees a global team of indexers and translators working from Hebrew, Cyrillic, and other languages.

JewishGen has also launched an Adopt a Cemetery program, inviting Special Interest Groups, local Jewish genealogy societies, synagogue youth groups, Jewish Federations, and other interested parties to take responsibility for indexing a specific cemetery or landsmanschaft plot.

Please note: JOWBR only accepts data from an entire cemetery or an entire landsmanschaft/organization plot within a larger cemetery. We are unable to accept individual family burial records.

Get Involved

Volunteer to Index or Translate

Help create spreadsheets from headstone photographs, or translate inscriptions from Hebrew, Cyrillic, or other languages into English. No prior experience required — training is provided.

Volunteer Sign-Up Form

Adopt a Cemetery

Take responsibility for indexing a specific cemetery or organization plot and submitting its records to JOWBR. Individuals, groups, and organizations are all welcome to participate.

Contact Nolan Altman

Submitting Data

If you have access to a cemetery or organization plot not yet in JOWBR and are ready to submit, three resources are required. Complete them in order:

  1. Donor Agreement Required before submitting any data. Grants JewishGen permission to publish and maintain the records online. Complete the Donor Agreement →
  2. Data Entry Template An Excel spreadsheet with the required fields pre-formatted. Enter one burial record per row. Only fill in the fields for which you have information.
    Download the Excel Template →
  3. Field Instructions Detailed explanations of each data field — what to include, how to format dates, how to handle Hebrew names, and more. Read the Field Instructions →

Prefer to watch? JewishGen's screencast series walks through the entire submission process step by step.

Watch the Screencasts →

Data Fields

The following fields are available in the submission template. Include only those fields for which you have information — partial records are accepted and valuable.

Plot Location
Place of Death
Hebrew Name
Other Surnames
Surname
Date of Death (English)
Spouse's Name
All Towns
Given Name(s)
Date of Death (Hebrew)
Father's Name
Photo Filename
Place of Birth
Age at Death
Mother's Name
Comments / Notes
Date of Birth
Date of Burial
 
 

For full definitions and formatting guidance for each field, see the JOWBR data entry instructions.