The Together Plan For Belarus Research

Join us on Sunday, February 11 at 11 am CT when genealogist Carl Kaplan from the United States and researcher Vasily Zaitsau from Minsk, Belarus, will give a presentation, Engaging The Together Plan For Your Belarus Archives Research, about The Together Plan, which provides research assistance in the Belarus archives. Many people engaging in researching their family history find that their Belarus family records are not online. The Together Plan helps genealogists while supporting Jewish communities in Belarus. Until those records go online, research must be done inside the Belarus Archives, mainly in Minsk and Grodno. Traveling to Belarus being a burden for most people, along with not being fluent in Russian, requires engaging with professional archivists. London based and non-profit, The Together Plan's Archives Group offers an excellent way to continue family research, along with supporting The Together Plan's numerous efforts on the ground in Belarus to support the Jewish communities there. In this presentation, along with an all important Q & A, attendees will learn the process for initiating archives research, along with the process and proper expectations. Importantly, examples of previous results will be shown.

Carl Kaplan, who lives just outside of Boston, is an amateur genealogist, and member of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston. He engaged with The Together Plan in 2020 to research his family roots in Minsk. The resulting research was so successful that Carl became a volunteer case worker for The Together Plan, guiding new clients through the process, and interfacing with members of The Together Plan in Belarus. Besides his family research and volunteering with The Together Plan, Carl is also a certified historical tour guide in Boston (including the Jewish north End of Boston), and participates with his dog, Buster, as a therapy dog team, visiting hospitals and schools.

Vasily Zaitsau is located in Minsk Belarus and coordinates heritage and archive projects. He interfaces between The Together Plan's Archive Services case workers and the team of archivists, who do the day-to-day research in the Belarus archives. Having a coordinator on the ground in Belarus who speaks English and Russian is instrumental in moving the research process ahead.

The program will take place on-line via Zoom. Questions can be emailed to MNJGS at https://www.mnjgs.org/contact. The program is free for MNJGS members, $5 for non-members. MNJGS members also will have access to the recording on our member page. Payments can be made at https://www.mnjgs.org/support-us.