The Maramures Jewish Records Indexing Project

83,021 Records

Births · Marriages · Deaths · Máramaros County · Romania · Ukraine

Background

The Maramures County Jewish Records Indexing Project is a volunteer-run genealogy and history project working to create a free searchable online database of all known surviving Jewish vital records — birth, marriage, and death records from the mid-19th through mid-20th centuries — from the former Hungarian county (megye) of Máramaros.

Máramaros County (in Yiddish: Marmerosh) is no longer in Hungary. After World War I (via the 1920 Treaty of Trianon), the southern part became part of Romania and the northern part joined Czechoslovakia. After World War II, the formerly Czechoslovak portion became part of the Soviet Union. Today, the area is split by the Tisza River: the southern part is Maramureş county in northern Romania, and the northern half is in Zakarpattia Oblast of southwestern Ukraine.

Beginning in 1851, the government of the Kingdom of Hungary required each religious community to record vital records. Most towns in Máramaros recorded Jewish vital records starting in the 1850s. Civil Registration (all religions in one book) began in October 1895. The project initially focused on Jewish community records (1851–1895), which have been fully transcribed. Since 2014, Jewish records from Civil Registers (post-1895) are also being extracted.

The surviving register books are stored at a regional branch of the Romanian National Archives in Baia Mare. Other than traveling to the archives or hiring a researcher, this project is the only way to access these records. It is managed through the JewishGen Hungarian Research Division.

Fields Recorded

Later records (1880s–1890s) contain far more detail than early ones (1850s–1860s). A typical birth record from the later period may include:

Child’s Name — First name, date of birth, gender
Father’s Details — Surname, first name, hometown, occupation
Mother’s Details — Maiden name, first name, hometown
Sandek / Godfather — Name and hometown (often a relative)
Town of Birth — Possibly with street address
Town of Registration — Usually the same, but not always
Other Surnames / Towns — Mentioned elsewhere in the record
Notes — Margin notes from the original record and transcriber remarks
Important note: In death records, married women were sometimes recorded with their married surname and sometimes with their maiden name. Not every record clearly indicates which is listed.
Research Notes
Project Statistics

Through October 2014, 125 vital records register books (113 Jewish + 12 Civil) had been fully transcribed, totaling 54,425 records. Since December 2014, an additional 8,288 records from 116 register books have been added, with additional books still being indexed by volunteers.

Post-1906 records from larger towns (such as Sighet) also include addresses of residence, occupations, and causes of death. Some records extend into the 1930s–1960s via margin notes about later events.

Coverage by Town

The database covers dozens of communities across the former county. Major centers include Máramarossziget (Sighetu Marmaţiei), Borsa, Felsővisó (Vişeu de Sus), Alsóvisó (Vişeu de Jos), Szinérváralja (Seini), Magyarlápos (Tîrgu Lăpuş), Ruszpolyána (Poienile de sub Munte), and many smaller villages.

All locations in Romania are currently in Maramureş county; all locations in Ukraine are in Zakarpattia Oblast. For pre-WWI Hungarian names, search the JewishGen Communities Database.

Volunteering & Donor Access

New volunteers are always welcome. Contact Sandy Malek to help out. Donors of more than $100 and transcribers who have completed 500+ records receive early access to spreadsheets of transcribed records as they are completed.

Acknowledgements

Brooke Schreier Ganz initiated the project in 2010, with the support of Vivian Kahn (Director, Hungarian Research Division) and Sandy Malek (co-administrator). Romanian researcher Dan Jurca traveled to Baia Mare multiple times to digitally photograph all the register books, with an introduction from Budapest-based researcher Beth Long.

Transcribers (through Fall 2014): Kamil Buchler, Moshe Davis, Lara Diamond, Brooke Schreier Ganz, Samuel Gill, Leah Herz, Lisa Hill, Shlomo Katz, Chaya Klein, Miriam Korsinsky, Ronnie Lebi, Sandy Malek, Joel Meisels, Hershel Reisz, Emoke Salzmann, Eli Stark, Tova Trebitsch, Karen Weinberg, Erica Wiesel, Gil Wolf, Stephen Zivin.

Transcribers (through June 2018): Lara Diamond, Ed Feder, Shlomo Katz, Emil Lax, Sandy Malek, Ari Tesler, and Dena Whitman (the most prolific volunteer transcriber).

Thanks also to the JewishGen team: Logan Kleinwaks, Avrami Groll, Warren Blatt, and Michael Tobias.

Searching This Database

This database is searchable via the JewishGen Hungary Database. Data from the northern portion can also be searched via the JewishGen Ukraine Database, and data from the southern portion via the JewishGen Romania Database.

The cost of obtaining records from the archives in Baia Mare is supported entirely by generous donors. Your contribution funds the photography, transcription, and indexing of these irreplaceable records.

Support the Máramaros Records Project