March 2012
1 post
It Only Took 5 Years Of Patience...
As most Jewish genealogists know, there are many interesting places to source a family genealogy.
My father had photo-copied the signature and some handwritten text that was penned by his grandfather.
For 5 long years I have been turning my parents’ house upside down in search of the original book within which I was seeking more information on my great grandfather.
My great grandfather...
November 2011
1 post
Footsteps
Almost two years ago I was approached by a fellow mixed media artist, Jill Berry to submit a piece of artwork for her upcoming book on art and cartography known as Personal Geographies. Hence I began the process of making one of my mixed media artist books.
As all my life-story books do, this book began with research. Combining art and genealogy resulted in my hand-made book “Arnold...
August 2011
1 post
Evidence
For 68 years, my father was seeking the answer to the question, what happened to his mother, sister and brother during The Shoah? What was their final destination? It was assumed that they were either killed in Auschwitz or Treblinka. The pain of not knowing was always present for my father.
{Gitel Wilkenfeld nee Fluss/Wein}
There was no grave.
There was no Yahrzeit date on which to grieve.
...
July 2011
1 post
Connecting Families
I have just spent 2 weeks in Lithuania and following that Paris tracing my mothers side of the family. Those posts will follow soon.
In New York, I am chasing the history of my fathers side, mainly his maternal family, The Wein’s of Pysznica. Many people ask me why I do this. It is hard to respond to such a question and justify this passion of mine to recreate my family’s history, to...
June 2011
1 post
A Box Full of History
Finding this humble box has turned out to be a remarkable find for me in terms of the history of searching for my family.
It certainly would have made my search a lot easier had my father shown it to me years ago.
But then again, I would not have done the extensive research had it simply been handed to me. I guess there is a reason for everything.
After this mammoth discovery, I spent about...
April 2011
1 post
Erev Pesach Deportation
Last night was Erev Pesach, the first evening of Passover. Jews all over the world sat down together and celebrated our Freedom from Slavery in Egypt. The Seder, as it is called is a long evening as we recount the Exodus.
But last night, I sat at the table and thought about three family members in particular.
My Grandmother, Gittel, after whom I am named
and two of her children, Berta
and...
March 2011
1 post
A book, a photo, a label...
Thank you Google!
By googling a family members name I managed to come across a book with a partial history of some of my extended family.
I immediately ordered the book from Amazon but posting to Australia would mean a wait of a few weeks. So I rang the Holocaust museum here to see if they had it. They did!
I read as much as I could and then patiently waited for the books arrival.
It came a...
February 2011
1 post
Here is a story of serendipity for you.
On friday I was at the Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney doing a tour of the old Jewish cemetery grounds with the President of the Jewish Burial Sociery. I am getting involved with their restoration project which entails restoring many of the oldest graves.
Amongst the 1000’s of graves in the old cemetery, a newly refurbished grave struck my eye as it...
