The Jewish Genealogical Society of New York invites members of the public to a two-part lecture featuring Madeline Vadkerty speaking on “Letters to Jozef Tiso, President of the Slovak State 1939-1945,” and Jeff Edelstein speaking on “Czech Records in the JDC (Joint Distribution Committee) Archives Names Index.” The program will be held Sunday, January 23, at 1 p.m. on Zoom.

Between 1939 and 1944, thousands of ordinary people wrote to then-President Jozef Tiso of the Slovak State about the so-called “Jewish question.” Some wanted mercy from anti-Jewish persecution; others coveted Jewish property. In her talk, Madeline Vadkerty will describe her research at the Slovak National Archive. She will also read some letters to Tiso and discuss their outcomes, as well as discuss the fates of the letter writers.

Immediately following Vadkerty’s talk and Q&A, Jeff Edelstein will discuss “Czech Records in the JDC Archives Names Index.”

Vadkerty is a Samuel P. Mandell Fellow in the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Program at Gratz College in Philadelphia, where she is pursuing her PhD. Jeff Edelstein’s responsibilities at the JDC Archives include management of the collections database and website, the digitization of text collections, and the JDC Archives Names Indexing Project.

For more information on the Jewish Genealogical Society, Inc. and to register for this event, go to https://jgsny.org.