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| Lake Svir |
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Generally speaking the Svirsky lines would have been associated with the town of Svir, (75 km from Vilna) at the time surnames were adopted in the Russian Pale. Typically this took place in the early 19 century in the Russian Pale, as a result of the transfer of the territories to the Russian state. Surnames were required for administrative purposes, notably the management of the military draft.
There are significant connections between the town of Svir and the agricultural colonies of the southern Ukraine, notably the Nadezhnoye colony founded in 1824. This was known as "Der Vilner" referring to its foundation by people from the Vilna area (possibly because Vilna was a more recognizable reference point than Svir, or possibly because several such communities were involved). So a number of Svirskys turn up in the southern Ukraine as a direct result. Generally they turn up in Svir records as having gone away, sometimes as having gone to Yekaterinoslav, the gubernia (as in this example from 1858).
We collect the various mentions known to us.
There is one entry at the end for a Zelman Svirsky with an illegible patronymic, born about 1820, who left Svir in 1855. There are also some Shnaiders who may have become Shnaiderman, with one Chervin in the family. The other group of Chervins shown here went to Yekaterinoslav (the gubernia with the agricultural colonies) in 1853.
Yankel Velvel Czerwin's 1899 death certificate refers to him, in Yiddish and in Russian, as Svirsky Yakov Welkowitz / Svirskii Yankel' Velkovich Tservin. This appears to be more a descriptive term ("from Svir") than a name.
It appears that about the time of the foundation of the "Vilner" agricultural colony, some Chervins from Svir emigrated there, and others remained. Yankel's ancestry has not been traced back that far, however.
Bernshtam's only mention of a Svirsky (with the spelling Svirski in our translation) comes from Tsygutkin, and will be found below.
Children
The family is associated with Donetsk, at least from the time of Beylla. David Chervin fought in WWII (and survived). Riva was evacuated to Tashkent.
Coming at this from the Chervin side, we have not explored around it. David traces back only one generation to Koifman (Konstantin) Chervin.
Concerning Lana Svirsky (which we take to mean Svetlana) Tsygutkin writes as follows.
In 1910 [my father] married; he was a fine bridegroom and earned well. His chosen one, Lana, was from the Svirsky family, a well-off "clan". They were good farmers; she had two brothers, Meyer and Perets. (I remember them.) In 1918 Lana died of the typhus then raging, and father was left with four children: Mendl, born 1911, Genya (born 1913), Ele-Khaim (born 1915) and Rakhilya (born 1917).
Thus we have the siblings Meyer and Perets but not the names of the parents.
Concerning Velvel Svirsky, born ca. 1918, Tsygutkin has quite a bit to say, so we leave that on Velvel's page. This material gives no direct connection to any other Svirsky. They formed a "clan" in Tsygutkin's words, and he lists four prewar Svirsky households within the colony, given below.
Tsygutkin also mentions the paratrooper Naum Svirsky, as one of the three recognized heroes coming from the area (the most famous being Rear Admiral Vladimir Konovalov).
Also from Tsygutkin: "The whole Svirsky family died during the evacuation." This is not literally the case but he was not in a position to know all those who made it to Tashkent or elsewhere; and it may very well apply to the Svirskys in the male line.
House lists: Tsygutkin gives detailed lists of pre-war households in the colony by number, but without patronymics. This gives four entries for Svirsky.
There is also a Mikhl Levitan household and it should be noted that Riva Svirsky married Vulf (Velvel) Levitan.
Among those who survived the destruction of the colony (and the mass murder at Balabanovka) Tsygutkin mentions "the family of Aizik Svirsky with children." This would seem to be the Isak Svirsky mentioned above.
Svirsky entries from Zaporozhe.
| Evacuated | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Patronymic | Birth Year | Location | ||
| Davyd Agrapina |
Abram | 1899 | Magnitogorsk | ||
| Agrapina David |
Mikhail | 1900 | Magnitogorsk | ||
| Rozaliya | Davyd/Agrapina | 1923 | Magnitogorsk | ||
| Vladimir | Davyd/Agrapina | 1926 | Magnitogorsk | ||
| Yelizaveta | Abram | 1879 | Mariyental | ||
| Masha Grigori |
Boris | 1905 | Mariyental | ||
| Fanya | Grigori/Masha | 1933 ["1833"] |
Mariyental | ||
| Semyon Yefrosiniya |
(Ye)froim | 1914 | Omsk | ||
| Asya Samson |
Osip | 1905 | Stalingrad | ||
| Iosif | Samson/Asya | 1926 | Stalingrad | ||
| Isaak | Samson/Asya | 1930 | Stalingrad | ||
| Yevgeniya | Abram | 1905 | Tatarskaya | ||
| Sofiya | Yevsey/Yevgeniya | 1924 | Tatarskaya | ||
| Abram | Yevsey/Yevgeniya | 1932 | Tatarskaya | ||
| Ida | Isak | 1898 | Uralsk | ||
| Leonid | Abram/Ida | 1927 | Uralsk | ||
| Mira | Abram/Ida | 1929 | Uralsk | ||
| Murdered | |||||
| Name | Patronymic | Birth Year | Location | ||
| Etya | Isaak | 1907 | Balabanovka 10/1942 |
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| Grigori | Isaak | 1937 | Balabanovka 10/1942 |
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| Izya (f.) | Isaak | 1939 | Balabanovka 10/1942 |
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| Anna | Moisei | 1897 | Balabanovka 10/1942 |
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| Praskoviya | 1876 | Balabanovka 10/1942 |
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| Rakhil | 1932 | Balabanovka 10/1942 |
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| Roza | 1930 | Balabanovka 10/1942 |
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| Fanya Domashevski née Svirsky |
Rafail | 1898 | Mariupol 1941 |
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| Lev | Rafail | 1915 | Mariupol 1942 |
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| Died in war | |||||
| Name | Patronymic | Birth Year | Location | ||
| Samson Asya [Asna] Shal'man |
Isaak | 1899 Odessa |
Missing in action 1943 |
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Sima Svirskaya at geneanet.com
Born May 15, 1930 at Nadezhnoye. Died September 16, 2008, in New Jersey.
Svir Yiskor List (many entries).
2026