Maybe my ancestors heard the Yiddish expression “to live like God in Odesa!” and believed Odesa was the land of opportunity. Whatever the reason, members of three branches of my family emigrated there from within the Russian Empire. Mythical in the Jewish imagination, Odesa was a polyglot, free port city founded…
Category: Odessa
Volochisk families in the 1897 Odessa census
The following is a list of Volochisk families who were listed in the 1897 Odessa census. My own family was just one who left Volochisk for the warmer climes of Odessa, where they stayed for a generation before traveling west. There were many Jews from Volochisk in Odessa, but unfortunately…