Questions and answers in English and other foreign languages

[Poilar]

Thank you in advance for your help. Does anyone know if 1416-2-11286 at NIAB (Дело о представлении ревизских сказок 10-й народной переписи о подведомственных сословиях по гор. Витебску и уезду) contains actual lists of residents from Vitebsk? I can't tell from the title if it includes lists of residents, or if it just includes documents generally about the revision list. Thanks again!

[Rolf23]

I am a new member. I read only English. I want to post a question on My Jewish Ancestry in Russia & USSR forum. The instruction says: click "New Topic" to post. I do not see that button. I only see "Unrelated Posts", "New Posts" and "Active Topics". Where is the "New Topic" button? Maybe it is not written in English but only in Russian? Please notify me when there is a reply. Please write in English. Thank you.
Rolf23

[anno_nin]

I am a new member. I read only English. I want to post a question on My Jewish Ancestry in Russia & USSR forum. The instruction says: click "New Topic" to post. I do not see that button. I only see "Unrelated Posts", "New Posts" and "Active Topics". Where is the "New Topic" button? Maybe it is not written in English but only in Russian? Please notify me when there is a reply. Please write in English. Thank you.
Rolf23

Press My Jewish ancestry in Russia and USSR to enter the subforum. Then You'll see the button.

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You can also write your story in this theme. I'll prepare the separate for your discussion theme later.

[Rosibal]

Hi. Now that vital records are been published by Alex Krakowsky, I am still confused as to which areas in Ukraine should I look under for 19 & 20th century for Pervomaisk on Bug; is it Kherson, Elizabetograd, Nicolayev or else? Also, if someone came across these towns, can you point me as to the relevant record files? I don't read Cyrillic.
Thank you in advance!

[messel]

Я немого посмотреть базу данных этого сайта. Непонятно почему

[oztech]

Я немого посмотреть базу данных этого сайта. Непонятно почему

Пожалуйста, повторите свои вопросы на родном Вам языке.

[Дмитрий Широчин]

messel, I think, now the DB is available for your search. You couldn't do it before you published your first post in our forum.

[AVishnoack]

добрый день! в Радомышль жить семья мой прадед Александр Игнатьевич ВИШНЯК 18 сентября 1914 г рож. Искать хоть какую-нибудь информацию, но увы. хочу узнать были ли еврее и по отцовской линии. Буду благодарен хоть какой информации.

!	Сообщение модератора: MOCKBA
	we recommend you to write in your language. It is much harder to understand auto-translated texts. But the name of your great-grandfather leaves little doubt that he was Christian rather than Jewish

[oshiter]

Hey, for some reason I cannot create a new topic in the English sub-forum (but can in the Russian ones). How to enable this?

Thank you.

[oztech]

oshiter, Вы не можете создать тему в иностранном разделе, потому что не хотите, чтобы она тут была? Т.е. для Вас важно, чтобы тема была именно в общем фамильном разделе? Или все-таки Ваш вопрос связан с какими-то техническим проблемами?

[oshiter]

Yes, it was a technical problem. I see now it's been resolved! I think it was because I had 0 posts. Thank you!

[oztech]

I see now it's been resolved!

Good luck!

[winddropk]

Looking for Kundin (From Kiev circa 1906). Not sure how close my English spelling of the name is compared to the original and all the variations when my other ancestors immigrated. Thanks.

[borismak]

Surname Kundin is a very real surname in the Kiev gubernia(province). Especially in Radomysl uezd(county), in the city of Chernobyl.

[MYRobinson]

What is the difference between the classifications:мещанин & купец ?

[oztech]

What is the difference between the classifications:мещанин & купец ?

Краткий ответ на русском языке есть в статье из Вики Городские обыватели. MYRobinson, сможете прочитать с помощью Гугла?

The short answer in Russian is in the wiki-article "Urban inhabitants". MYRobinson, could you read it using Google translator?

[MYRobinson]

Thank you. I read theWiki article, but the difference in Russian society is still not totally clear to me.
In English:
merchant: sells items for profit
tradesman: a skilled manual worker

[oztech]

merchant: sells items for profit
tradesman: a skilled manual worker

Купцы были богаче, чем простые обыватели, мещане. Купцы объявляли капитал, покупали гильдейское свидетельство и за это получали больше привилегий. Мещане - это низший класс городских жителей: мелкие торговцы, домовладельцы и ремесленники.
Merchants were wealthier than ordinary citizens, burghers. Merchants declared capital, bought a Guild certificate, and in return received more privileges.
Burghers are the lowest class of urban inhabitants: petty traders, homeowners, and craftsmen.

[MYRobinson]

Thank you, again, Oztech for clarifying.
So, Burghers= tradesmen??
Are/were "tradesmen" what we, in the U.S., would refer to as "blue collar" workers?? ex. factory workers, gas station workers, mechanics, carpenters, etc.
And, a "homeowner" could not also be a "merchant"?

[MCB]

Thank you. I read theWiki article, but the difference in Russian society is still not totally clear to me.

It's still not TOTALLY clear to me either too since there are nuances (occasionally important for a specific genealogy riddle) which I still learn. But your question is probably more basic. Alas, you probably need to ask around in an English language Russian history group about the details. But the basic gist is simple:

DO NOT CONFUSE occupations with the social class status even when the two sound the same! Remember that there was no equality in the old Russian Empire. Each social class was formally defined, and essentially hereditary, with the privileges and obligations sharply differing between classes and, often, between the subclasses within them.

The members of the merchant class could have been merchants in real life - but sometimes industrialists, or skilled artisans, or top-tier rabbis and occasionally just idle upper-class members.
The members of the meschanin class (burgher, or townsmen, or sometimes called, in the French manner, petite bourgeoisie) could have been lower-rank town dwellers in real life - but sometimes they lived in the countryside, and sometimes earned their bread as merchants and high-level traders, or sometimes were dirt-poor beggars. A slightly more privileged subclass of the townsmen were "guild artisans", organized in medieval-style closed networks according to their trade or group of trades. But most townsmen were not members of any official trades guild (laborers, peddlers, traders didn't belong in the guilds, and neither were mechanics, railroad workers, or distillery workers, to name a few)

Typically, people belonged to a class because their fathers (or husbands) belonged there, and not really because of what they did for living.

As with ever rule in a true Byzantine system, there were important exceptions, too many and too specific to list here.