Although professional genealogists like to cite numerous sources and documentation, the sad fact is that for those of us who are Jewish and from Eastern Europe, our primary source of information is interviews with family members.  The family tree provided on this website was built from information gathered over many years.  I was lucky in that I began when I was small and my grandparent's generation -- the generation that emigrated from Europe -- was still alive. 

Our family has what genealogists and anthropologists refer to as a "rich oral history tradition", which basically means that after dinner we sit around telling stories about each other. 

Many times, information differed according to who was telling the story and when.  Facts are further obscured by incorrect written documentation.  This was often done purposefully.  For example, Rifka Chizi lied about her age to get into the United States.  Birthdays translated from the Hebrew calendar may vary widely.  Fifty years later, "the Shabbos after Succot, 2 years after the big flood" isn't as helpful as you might think.  Heck, even 30 years later it wasn't all that helpful.  

English translations of names often changed over time, and I know for a fact that Rifka's headstone is incorrect -- Becky somehow became Betty, and because it wasn't really her name anyway, it doesn't really matter. 

What I find interesting is that by revisiting these stories over and over, I will often hear something I've never heard before.  Someone will toss out a random comment like "Oh I remember that!  That was when Zayda Louie got shot."  What do you mean he got shot?  Forty years and no one mentions this?  [He was a bystander in an alley while a robber was attempting to escape the police. You'd think this would have come up at some point. <laughing>]

Sometimes we are lucky in that secondary sources, such as naturalization papers and ship manifests provide confirmation of what we have been told.  Primary sources such as birth certificates and marriage records are rare, especially for those who lived their lives in Europe.

While sources for certified genealogical data might be sparse, we are lucky in that our family embraced the technological advances of the 19th and 20th centuries.  We have photographs, audio and video that we are trying to make available on this site.  I feel strongly that genealogy ought to be about more than names and dates -- a website such as this one has the ability to bring people alive for future generations and lets them see a fuller picture of who and where they came from.

It is obvious that the content on this site has gone far beyond what one person could do alone.  I am tremendously grateful to all who have helped, but certain contributors deserve their own mentions.

• For answering my questions many times over, especially once the immigrant generation had all passed away, my "go to" sources: Sheila Barill, Doris Gottlieb, Harry Bick, Myer Bick
• For all those who took the time to create the Sefer Vladimirets and give testimony at Yad Vashem -- they are both great resources & a starting point.
• For sponsoring not one, but two photographic trips to Vladimirets and doing a lot of the geographical research:  Victor Feldman
• For taking on the task of translating the Yiddish chapters of the Sefer Wlodzimierzec:  Diane Moore
• For helping translate the Hebrew chapters of the Sefer Wlodzimierzec:  Lior Burko, Victor Feldman (who sponsored the translation of a large chapter)
• For tremendous work on sections of the family tree:  Tuvia Chizi, Izhar Brill, Yael (Burko) Glaser, Lior Burko and Marilyn West.

• Sheila Barill
• Doris Gottlieb
• Deborah Waldman
• Amnon Chizi
• Terryn Barill
• Victor Feldman
• Diane Moore
• Lior Burko
• Moshe Burko
• The modern day photos of Vladimirets were all taken by Vladyslav Tsarynnyk, of Lviv EcoTour.  Slav went above and beyond, and we appreciate it!
• Photographs of the Vladimirets museum exhibits graciously allowed by permission of the museum. Thank you Lydia!
• The Vladimirets museum is also helping to locate and scan pre-WWII photographs of Vladimirets and the surrounding areas.

Note on name usage and photographs-- I struggled with how to enter surnames with photographs.  I finally ended up with using the name in use at the time the photograph was taken, although I had originally been using the maiden names to match the database.  Please be patient with me, if you notice I missed a name, just drop me a line.

We are currently using the Rootsmagic genealogy database program to capture all the information we have on Vladimiretsers and their descendants. It is not a perfect program, and we are still looking for a program that will allow easy maintenance and publishing. 

Not all the information in the database is perfect.  Many times I have put something into the database, only to get an email from a distant cousin later, telling me where that person belongs and making corrections to their portion of the family tree.  My experience has been that people will not help add to the database, but they are happy to correct it. 

Correct information in the database is critical for so many efforts:  to make connections between families; to capture information that would otherwise be lost; to account for everyone in the mass grave; to help us gather information on who lived in Vladimirets from 1700 - 1942.