Galician Records of the
JDC War Orphans Bureau
1921-1922
Speaker and Project Coordinator:
Dr. Alexander Feller
Sunday December 6th 2026
9:30 – 10:00 AM (MT)
Schmear, Schmooze, and Share
10:00 AM (MT)
Program Begins
Location: Zoom
After World War I, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) established the War Orphans Bureau to aid thousands of European Jewish children who had lost one or both parents. Many of these children lived in devastated towns across former Galicia.
A key function of the Bureau was creating detailed orphan lists to manage aid distribution and track each child’s needs. These lists were compiled at the town level through local networks of rabbis, teachers, orphanages, and relief workers. Each entry included the child’s name, age, birthplace, parents’ status, guardian, physical condition, and educational background. Children were classified as full orphans, half-orphans, or displaced, helping prioritize the level of assistance. The lists enabled the Bureau to provide stipends, clothing, food, education, and medical care. They were updated regularly and submitted to the JDC’s headquarters for monitoring and planning. Orphan lists also supported efforts to reunite children with relatives, and when available, included addresses of relatives abroad. These records were vital for accountability and long-term care coordination.
Today, the lists serve as valuable historical resources documenting Jewish communal rescue efforts and as important genealogical records on Galician children and their parents. Given the disruption to vital record keeping during World War I, these lists can provide information of a deceased parent’s year and cause of death which may not be recorded elsewhere. This project transcribed orphan and parental information from lists for towns of former Galicia into a format that will allow members to search names in the All Galicia Database.
Benefits to Researchers
World War I was a turbulent time for many towns within the former province of Galicia. Death, disease, and poverty affected almost every family. Men were called up to be soldiers by the Austro-Hungarian Army, deported into Russia by the Russian Army, or died because of disease or war. Mothers and their children were left to survive in their hometown or relocated to other towns. Given the disruption in vital record keeping due to the war, and the movement of families, this period presents a challenge to genealogists in tracing the whereabouts and disposition of family members. These records provide information on children and their parents in the aftermath of World War I that can fill in those gaps. Information on a child’s birth year and birthplace can be used to locate birth records or add vital information where birth records no longer exist. Information on a parents’ death or health status provides additional data to better understand the fate of a child’s parents during the war that was otherwise frequently unknown. Names and addresses of relatives abroad mentioned in these lists may help connect previously unknown relations.
Registration is required:
https://www.jgsco.org/event-6718954
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Members: No charge
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Non-members: $5
The Zoom link will be emailed upon registration.
