Changing borders of Eastern Europe explained at JGSGO workshop

The sixth in the series of 10 monthly JGSGO (Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Orlando) Workshops held at the Roth JCC on Feb. 7, was enjoyed by 35 in attendance both in person and online.  

The guest speaker was Hal Bookbinder, a former president of the IAJGS and internationally known genealogy expert, spoke on Changing Borders of Eastern Europe. He brought some understanding of the changing maps over 1000 years of history in that region. In conclusion, he provided some very helpful tips on understanding Eastern European border changes-resources that are free and accessible to all:  1) Search youtube.com for both "Europe's Changing Borders" and "Poland's Changing Borders" for excellent map resources.

2) Google Historic Maps: David Rumsey and Perry Castanda are excellent sites

3) Check out JewishEncyclopedia.com-published in 1906, it has excellent information up to that time in history; finally, JewishGen.org provides free resources including Communities Database, Yizkor Book Project, JewishGen Kehila Links, etc.

The next in the series of Workshops will be "Finding Your Jewish Roots on Ancestry.com" with expert Crista Cowan It will be held on Thursday, March 2 at 7 p.m. at the Central Florida Hillel, UCF, at 3925 Lockwood Blvd., Oviedo. The workshop is free and open to the public. Bring your own laptop to participate in the lab portion. It is also possible to attend via the Internet. Pre-registration is required. Pre-register for either in-person or online participation at www.jgsgo.org/MyJewishRoots.