Miriam Weiner () is an American genealogist, author, and lecturer who specializes in the research of Jewish roots in Poland and the former Soviet Union. Weiner is considered to be one of the pioneers of contemporary Jewish genealogy through her work to open up archives and is described as a trail-blazing, highly respected guide and leading authority on archival holdings and resources in pre-war Belarus, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, and Ukraine.
Personal life Weiner was born in Los Angeles, California, to Edward (who grew up in St. Louis, Missouri) and Helen Weiner (who grew up In Tulsa, Oklahoma). Weiner's parents were married in Los Angeles, California and both died in Florida. Weiner grew up in Des Moines, Iowa.
Weiner's family comes from Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova. Her surname, Weiner, was originally Vinokur in Ukraine.
In 1960, Weiner graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School in Des Moines. She attended the University of Oklahoma and Drake University in Des Moines. In 1986, she received a B.A. in Historical Studies with a concentration in Modern Judaic History and Holocaust Studies from Empire State College, SUNY.
Since 1986, Weiner has been based out of Secaucus, New Jersey. She also has an apartment in Mohyliv-Podilskyi, in southern Ukraine, which she uses as a base to conduct research.
Career Early career After attending college, Weiner moved to Southern California and worked for the Orange County Sheriff's Department in Santa Ana, California. During this time, she also took courses in criminal justice at Orange Coast College.
From 1969 to 1971, she was country singer Bobbie Gentry's assistant and road manager. She got the job by answering an advertisement in the newspaper.
Weiner worked as a paralegal for various attorneys in Beverly Hills, California. Weiner was then licensed as a private investigator by the State of California, which she said helped her later in her “next life” as a genealogist. Weiner moved to Northern California and lived on a horse ranch and worked as a real estate agent. In 1984, Weiner moved to Albany, New York, where her mother was born and many family members still lived, while she finished her college degree.
Genealogy
In 1985, with the recommendation of Rabbi Malcolm H. Stern, genealogist for the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists, Weiner became the first Jewish genealogist to be certified by the Board for Certification of Genealogists in Washington, D.C. As part of the ongoing certification process, the Board for Certification of Genealogists has required intensive review and continuing education, resulting in separate renewals (every 5 years) of Weiner's genealogical work over 30+ years. In 2015, the Board for Certification of Genealogists awarded Miriam "Emeritus" status based upon a "long and distinguished career with BCG." Noted rabbi, historican, and genealogist Malcolm H. Stern, considered her "the most valuable person in the field of genealogy" and a standard bearer of all that BCG upholds."
From 1986 to 1988, Weiner was executive director of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors (AGJHS) in New York City, which was founded by Benjamin Meed. Amongst her duties, Weiner helped develop the database of Holocaust survivors, now known as the Benjamin and Vladka Meed Registry of Holocaust Survivors, that is now housed at the United States Holocaust Memorial.
From 1987 to 1996, Weiner was a syndicated columnist, writing the column "Roots and Branches", which was published in more than 100 Jewish newspapers and periodicals, both domestically and internationally. Some of Weiner's articles were published in "Together" (a periodical published by the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors).
In 1988, inspired by reconnecting with her extended maternal family from Albany at a funeral, Weiner expanded the research of her family's roots with a renewed focus on Eastern Europe. This was before the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, when it was virtually impossible to obtain access to archives for genealogical purposes in that part of the world. In 1989, as a result of the genealogy research and outreach from Weiner's syndicated column, "Roots and Branches", the Polish National Tourist Office (PNTO) extended an invitation for Weiner to visit Poland for the purpose of meeting with the head archivists and also to make plans for subsequent Jewish tour groups to visit their ancestral towns in Poland. Weiner found that the perception that Jewish documents were completely destroyed during World War II by the occupation of Nazi and Soviet governments was untrue. Weiner gained permission from the head archivist in Poland to create a town-by-town index to surviving Jewish and civil documents in archives throughout Poland. She did this with the official cooperation of the Polish State Archives.
Also in 1988, an agreement was signed between the Museum of Jewish Heritage (MJH) in New York City and Miriam Weiner wherein Weiner would serve as a paid consultant to the Museum's Learning Center. This work later evolved into Weiner's work with the Ukraine Archives and how the MJH could also collaborate with the Ukraine Archives via bringing an exhibition to the U.S. and publishing a catalog in cooperation with the Archives.
Routes to Roots In 1990, Weiner founded the company, Routes to Roots, which offered archival research services to individuals throughout the world. Through Routes to Roots, Weiner organized customized tours to ancestral towns for individuals and groups interested in Poland and the former Soviet Union, including Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Lithuania, and Poland. Weiner undertook these tours of ancestral towns at a time when there was little to no technology, and difficulties specific to Jewish genealogy included the lack of surnames until the late 1700s, the fluidity of surnames due to immigration and language, and the destruction of documents during The Holocaust. Through Routes to Roots, Weiner has conducted genealogical research in the archives of Poland and the former Soviet Union.
Routes to Roots Foundation In 1994, Weiner founded the Routes to Roots Foundation, a nonprofit organization. The Routes to Roots Foundation hosts a website which includes a town-by-town index and inventory of surviving Jewish and civil documents held at archives and institutions in Eastern Europe, Israel and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. The website includes articles by archivists, historians and scholars; maps; document examples; name lists for about a dozen towns; as well as other reference material. Much of this information now available online was originally published in two books by the Routes to Roots Foundation, although the books include additional detailed content and images. As part of the activities of the Routes to Roots Foundation, Weiner donated copies of the books to the individual archives in Poland, Ukraine, and Moldova in appreciation of their assistance and as a way to improve the discoverability of their holdings relating to Jewish genealogical sources. Weiner also donated copies of the books to Jewish genealogical organizations.
Jewish Roots in Poland
In 1997, in official cooperation with the Polish State Archives (Naczelna Dyrekcja Archiwów Państwowych in Warsaw, Poland), Weiner authored and published the book, Jewish Roots in Poland. The book includes archival holdings of the Polish State Archives, the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, local town hall documents throughout Poland, Holocaust documents found in the archives of the death camps located in Auschwitz near Kraków and Majdanek near Lublin. The book also features document examples, maps, antique postcards depicting towns and daily life, and modern-day photographs. There are individual town listings for localities with more than 10,000 Jews in 1939. Zachary M. Baker, Head Librarian of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research stated, "This book is a testimony to its author's resourcefulness, years of hard work, persistence, and meticulous attention to detail. She has skillfully identified and addressed several gaps in Jewish genealogical and family historical literature. Jewish Roots in Poland provides the means for researchers to go out and "do it themselves," through its extensive chapters on Polish Jewish communities, on Polish state, municipal, and concentration camp archives and on the Jewish Historical Institute; and through its exhaustive bibliographies, abundant photographs, maps and lists of addresses. These features, taken together, promise to make this a very successful reference book."
This book received high praise from fellow authors including:
Chaim Potok (author of The Chosen) who said: "Miriam Weiner has produced a monumental work of research into primary sources on pre- and post-World War II Polish Jewry. In a volume replete with pictorial and map material, she not only provides the scholar with hitherto undiscovered data, she also offers rich material to those who wish to engage in private quests for family origins." Leon Uris (author of Exodus) who said: "For centuries, Poland was the hearthstone of the Jewish religion and culture. The Holocaust, mostly on Polish soil, nearly obliterated this great community. Miriam Weiner, through her vital book, Jewish Roots in Poland, has given credence to the proposition that a civilization gone and its people destroyed, will never be forgotten. Ms. Weiner has painstakingly reconstructed Jewish Poland, town by town, unearthing documents and haunting archives. With hundreds of color photographs, this book is an extremely important one and a must book for every Jewish library." Elie Wiesel (author of Night) who said: "This impressive reference book is of great importance to all those wishing to discover the Jewish past."
Jewish Roots in Ukraine and Moldova
In a recent interview with Weiner, Tasha Ackerman commented,"Miriam's work hasn’t been just about extracting documents; it’s been about building trust and forming relationships with archivists who were often skeptical and who sometimes took a risk in order to help Miriam on her mission. When she began her trips to Ukraine, Miriam faced the enormous challenge of not speaking the language while attempting something unprecedented in her field. In the early years of her work, particularly when visiting small villages, she knew she might be the first American that many archivists and residents had ever encountered. Compensating for her lack of Ukrainian language skills, she arrived with big smiles and hugs." In 1999, in official cooperation with the Ukraine State Archives (Ukraïnskyi derzhavnyi arkhiv) and the Moldova National Archives (Arhivă Naţională a Republicii Moldova), Weiner authored and published Jewish Roots in Ukraine and Moldova. The book includes archival holdings of the Ukraine State Archives and its branch archives throughout the country and the Moldova National Archives in Chișinău as well as local town hall documents throughout Ukraine and Moldova. The book also features document examples, maps, antique postcards depicting towns and daily life, and modern-day photographs. There are individual town listings for localities throughout both countries.
This book received high praise from fellow authors including: