Who are we?

The Upper Rhine Jewish Origins (URJO) Project is a Jewish Origins Research Project for Genetic Genealogists who share an interest in learning more about their family's origin prior to living in the Upper Rhine Region. This region used to be the Grand Duchy of Baden before the unification of Germany. Today it is a small part of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

 

Our members have ancestors in the URJO region shown in the red-bordered area in the map below and have been tested by Family Tree DNA by at least one of the many tests available there. All tests are done by a simple cheek swab. The primary area of consideration is shown within the dark dashed border east of the Rhine River but west of the Black Forest (green area at right). It includes Altdorf, Schmieheim, Rust, Ettenheim, Friesenheim, Kippenheim, Lahr, Nonnenweiler, Orschweier, Rust and Kenzingen).

 

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What's unique about the Upper Rhine Region?

These were small rural communities which admitted Jews at various times during the 18th Century to serve as craftsmen, proprietors and traders, especially for livestock. The Jews settled there from other areas inside and outside Germany. This was one hundred years before Jews were required to adopt surnames in Baden (1809) and before vital records for Jews were maintained in Germany. Most Jews were living in cities which admitted them. The Jewish populations of these small communities flourished for many generations, frequently sharing religious, educational and social resources between them.

 

What do we hope to learn?

Our goals are to:

 

(1) establish connections among genealogists interested in the former Jewish communities of the Upper Rhine River Plain and look for genetic connections among members

 

(2) employ our genetic genealogy to study the pre-eighteenth century geographical origins of the former Jewish communities of the Upper Rhine River Plain of Baden.

 

Please join us if your any of your ancestry lived in one of these villages or perhaps was buried in the Schmieheim cemetery (a common burial ground in this area). The group administrator and perhaps additional members can help with some of the genealogical records available for these villages. We'd like to hear from you about other villages that we might wish to include.

 

If you are already tested at FT DNA that great! Just join our project. If not, then....

 

To verify validity of the members, please send me (padreifuss@me.com) an email with your relative names, the village name and possible dates. Indicate whether this might be a patrilinear or matrilinear connection.