AUSTRALIA (Sharpe)
Jewish Genealogy Downunder Vol. 10, Nos. 2 & 3, May-August 2008. Australia’s first national Jewish genealogical conference was held in Canberra, October 26–29 (see <www.ajgs.org.au/conf08/>). <> The Australia Jewish Historical Society website documents Australians’ graves the world over <www.bd-bd.info>. <> Stories of the first group visit for genealogy research to the International Tracing Service in Arolsen, Germany. The 42 genealogists shared research techniques with ITS staff and learned that the most complete records were those for residents of Germany. An individual’s file includes previous information requests sent to ITS, but Peter Nash discovered that the ITS files might not match documents available via the Australian or Lithuanian Red Cross. Inquiries are now processed in about 8 weeks; the backlog is rapidly diminishing. <> Australia’s National Archives announced its Making Australia Home project in July 2008. The goal is for all Australian immigration records to be searchable online.
BELGIUM (Apsel)
In Belgium, most Jews (formerly and) currently are living in the country’s two main cities: Brussels (the capital) and Antwerp. Little is known about the small communities of Liège, Charleroi, Gent, Mons and other localities that in the past had small Jewish communities or a few Jewish families.
Lily Marquardt and Adam Richard, two members of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Belgium, who live near Mons, the capital of the province of Hainaut in southwestern Belgium, have researched in depth the tiny Jewish community of Mons and environs. Although the Jewish community in Mons was never large, they managed to find considerable information about Jewish life there and the surrounding area. Concentrating on the years 1792 to 1900, they searched birth, marriage and death records in the state archives in Hainaut and some local archives.
They searched birth, marriage and death records of the area; records of population; address records; patents and license records and some other minor records and archives of the city of Mons and surrounding rural localities. They gathered considerable information about birth, marriage and death records of Jews living in Mons and surrounding areas permanently or for a certain time. In some cases, they also were able to trace the origins of those people as well as the places to which they moved after they left the area.
For privacy reasons, they stopped their searches at the beginning of the 20th century. Belgium’s privacy law forbids publishing information about citizens within 100 years of the creation of the record. Thus, information for events after 1908 is not easy to obtain.
Although the absolute number of people researched is small, the results provide a substantial base for future research. Request information about the project from the Jewish Genealogical Society of Belgium at <d.dratwa@mjb-jmb.org>. The society’s website is <www.mjb-jmb.org>.
CANADA (Lederer)
Shem Tov Vol. 24, No. 2, June 2008. Descendants of Avrom and Frima Kaminker began biennial reunions by visiting Ukraine and ancestral shtetls: Koslov, Konich, Pomuran and Rohaten. <> Bill Gladstone just published One Hundred Years in Canada: The Rubinoff-Naftolin Family Tree (Now and Then Books, 2008). Gladstone’s family includes the surnames Cohen, Patlik, Slovim and Edson. <> Stanley Diamond provides an update on JRI-Poland. <> Elaine Slavens coordinates the JGS project to photograph and index graves in Toronto’s oldest Jewish cemeteries: Jones Avenue (now associated with Beth Tzedec Congregation) and Pape Avenue/Holy Blossom. <> Brian Cugelman ponders the origin of his family’s original name—Kugelfresser, or gobbler of ammunition balls. The term kugelfresser describes front-line soldiers killed by cannon fodder (small metal balls and rocks). <> Harry Glasner recommends books on 19th-century Jewish pirates such as Jean Lafitte and Moses Cohen Henriques. Includes a reprint from Eastman Genealogical Newsletter on a unified search engine for Canadian federal, provincial, territorial and commercial archives. Find That’s My Family at <www.voicemafamille.info>.
ENGLAND (Joseph)
Shemot, publication of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain, September 2007.
Shemot’s new editor, Bernard Valman, in his inaugural editorial column, extends a welcome to all who wish to contribute and invites lively constructive correspondence. He suggests that brevity is preferable to maximize the scope for as many as possible to “have a say.” Valman is a distinguished and experienced (now retired) pediatrician; one of our members whose daughter once benefited greatly from his skill and expertise contributes a profile of our new editor. Valman himself has also written an article about how he used the services of the College of Arms to obtain a grant of arms for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. At the time, the president-elect of the fledgling new college was also a distinguished Jewish pediatrician (the late David Baum from Birmingham and Bristol).
Richard Cooper explains how he was able to visit Rzeszow in Galicia with his elderly mother to explore their roots in a “trip of a lifetime.” The trip was well prepared and, both from a research and emotional perspective, deeply satisfying.
Saul Issroff offers details of another emotionally satisfying discovery: the burial place (in Abadan) of a young Jewish serviceman who died on duty just after the end of World War II. A suggestion from Mike Gordon to the society’s membership that they trawl their memorabilia for clues for further family research proved delightfully positive. Gordon lists some of the fruits of this exercise including a family portrait discovered by Henry Waxman and details of Jewish friendly societies supplied by Raymond Kalman who examined the picture.
Gary Snapper begins his account of some family research with a religious tragedy in his ancestry: His forbear Reverend Louis Goldberg of Nottingham died in 1858 as a result of head injuries inflicted on him when he fell down some stairs while attempting to affix a mezzuzah. The hammer he was using followed him and smashed into his head. This appalling event led Snapper to explore Goldberg’s prolific descent with branches in Australia as well as many English provincial communities.
Anthony Rudolf details his personally inspired research starting from apparently unconnected dates, but, Rudolph explains, they are the bar mitzvahs and one bat mitzvah of seven generations of his family. Jill Whitehead follows with another chapter from her ancestral connections (in this case based in Manchester and Harrogate), and Doreen Berger continues her regular column, “Footsteps in the Past,” which presents abstracts from issues of 19th-century (London) Jewish newspapers.
This year is the 200th anniversary of Wilberforce’s bill for the abolition of slavery; Rosalyn Livshin’s story of a Jewish family originally denied permission to settle in the UK because of suspected involvement in the white slave trade seems aptly timed. Luckily the problem was resolved, and the resultant large dynasty added significantly to the numbers of the Anglo-Jewish community.
Howard Cuckle gives details of progress in forming a Hull Jewish archive; this port played a major role in Anglo-Jewish immigration, making the details he provides most welcome. Paralleling Richard Cooper’s visit to Galicia, Georgina Marks presents an account of her visit to numerous areas of Jewish interest in Italy. Hazel Dakers reminds readers of some basic research tools (in this case, with details from wills), and Gillian Joseph (no relation) advises on sensible exploring of websites.
This issue concludes a review of a useful new publication by Susan Fifer on researching Jewish ancestry in Poland titled Jewish Ancestors? A Guide to Jewish Ancestry in Poland. Polish Jewish research has been long established, of course, but as this book demonstrates, researchers can always use a new approach to the material.
Shemot, publication of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain, December 2007.
This issue starts with a reference to the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain’s (JGSGB) annual conference. The 2007 conference was particularly well planned and well attended, despite the resignation for health reasons of its organizer, former JGSGB Chairman of Council Lorna Kay. Her immediate successor, Louise Messik (also an excellent editor of two Shemot issues), has now “moved on” and has been succeeded by Laurence Harris.
Robin Merton eulogizes his uncle, Cecil Merton, and gives the background to this quintessential Anglo-Jewish family, which descends from a Moses family. The name metamorphosed in the UK to several variations, including Merton, Marsden, Moss and Beddington.
Jeanette Rosenberg discusses the growth of modern German Jewry, and Harvey Kaplan (AVOTAYNU contributing editor for Scotland) reports on his genealogical tour of Poland. David Lewis presents Jewish marriage data from the 18th century to the present for the significant port community of Hull. David Conway describes his Cohen family (quite interesting for a common Jewish name), and Diane Barnett (a seasoned researcher and Shemot contributor) follows with additional data on some of her family lines.
Cyril Fox updates readers on Yad Vashem sources, and John Gould describes tracking down details of an illustrious Birmingham Jewish family that had made a significant contribution to the city’s growth and development. Harold Pollins tells of an improbable character from Dahomey (an African country not noted for having a Jewish community of any size or importance!), followed by Hazel Dakers’s (another seasoned researcher and contributor to Shemot) advice for newcomers to Jewish genealogy based on the pitfalls she has encountered in her own delvings. Sue Fifer appraises the IAJGS Salt Lake City (2007) conference from the Anglo-Jewish viewpoint. Doreen Berger’s abstracts from the 19th-century Anglo-Jewish press presents an English perspective on American presidential elections. It seems that Ulysses S. Grant, a Republican Party candidate, was unpopular with the Jewish community!
Shemot, publication of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain, June 2008.
This issue starts with Mike Gordon’s discussion of “Genealogical Cruises” and Jews. Saul Marks, relatively new on the Anglo-Jewish genealogical researching scene, but already a “major player” for those with Liverpool interests, presents data on restoration and archival recording work on Merseyside Jewish cemeteries. Some important families with wider Anglo-Jewish and Israeli historical significance are mentioned, such as the family of Lord Samuel of Liverpool, whose clan provided a Jewish governor of (then) Palestine.
Israel’s 60th birthday is reflected in an interview with Reverend Leslie Hardman, now 95, the first Jewish chaplain to enter Bergen-Belsen on April 16, 1945. With no training in coping with the effects of unbelievable depravity, Hardman set about infusing simple humanity (let alone Judaic compassion) into the camp. The story has been told before, but it is still almost unbearably horrific, and just reading about it from the vantage point of more than 60 years and with no personal involvement is profoundly disturbing. Hardman’s eloquent testimony is a most effective rebuttal to Holocaust deniers.
Thea Valman reviews movingly a book on Daniel Mendelsohn’s personal search for his lost family “killed by the Germans,” as his grandfather expressed it on a family photograph.
Angela Shire reports on more personal research into her 18th-century Jewish forebears. She describes how to negotiate a scarcity of available records, the commonality of Hebrew names and their Anglicizations (it would seem everyone in this exercise became “John Harris”) and the need for hard work!
Rose Feldman revisits the 1839 Montefiore Census of Eretz Israel, and Alec Shapiro reminds readers of the importance of the interaction between the Hebrew and the secular dating systems when establishing time frames. At least the former has been consistent since its inception, whereas the latter, while perhaps today easier to use and less complicated in its adjustments to seasons, moon phases and so forth, has needed major overhauls to bring it to its present state of perfection.
Hazel Dakers discusses problems similar to those of Angela Shire but in a later time frame and with different pitfalls. Her research in Leeds, London, Grimsby and Hull has been effective.
David Conway presents material on Jews with Armed Forces records, and Jill Whitehead unravels some obscure name changes that made researching some of her family lines a real challenge. The issue includes articles on South African research, and the Yiddish theatre and music halls. Finally, Ian Ellis continues to explain the mechanisms of genetic data transmission and its implications both for medical purposes and tracking Jewish peoplehood.
Shemot, publication of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain, November 2008).
Overall, this issue of Shemot is vibrant and with much of interest to the world of Jewish genealogy. In this issue, Jane Moulding describes a recent visit to the important London Jewish cemetery on Balls Pond Road with its 930 interments, many of illustrious Anglo-Jewish personalities. Details can be viewed at <www.apex. net.au/~tmj/ balls-pond>. Stuart Rosenblatt (who can be contacted at the Irish Jewish Museum, 76, Dame St, Dublin, 2, Ireland) offers an informative overview of Irish Jewish sources. Louise Golding presents a genealogical investigative story arising out of an old haggadah (prayer book) printed in 1770 that has been in her family for nearly 200 years. Golding follows with a more general description of the genealogical nuggets that may be gleaned from consulting copies of subscribers’ lists to haggadot held in the British Library.
In another article about cemeteries, David Lewis lists considerable detailed information available from the Jewish graveyards of Hull (Humberside). Since Hull was a major port of arrival for many Jews hoping ultimately to immigrate to the United States, the cemetery information may be especially important for American Jewish genealogical research. Lewis makes the fascinating point that death dating in Jewish custom may be derived from a Hebrew tradition of using the weekly sedra (Torah portion) to pinpoint the date. Lewis provides illustrations of cases in the Hull cemeteries where this has been applied. He also provides an explanation of the highly technical way in which Hebrew letters and even sentences can convey dating numerology, but the Gematria (as this technology is called) requires considerable expertise in using and understanding. (David Lewis can be contacted at the Hull Jewish Archive, 30, Pryme St., Anlaby, Humberside HU10 6SH, UK).
Still on the subject of cemeteries, Martin Hill reports his concerns that the (London) Western Synagogue cemetery is in considerable disrepair with threatened loss of important primary source material. Later still, Martin Sugarman tells how the tombstones of Jewish soldiers may be “corrected” if they have been previously misidentified ethnically. Finally, on this theme, the editor offers a poem by Henry Longfellow which was inspired by his visit to a Jewish cemetery in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1852.
Tony Solomons, struggling to disentangle his correct Levy forbear data from a mass of information on other Levy families, despaired of making progress when so many of his ancestors had such similar names. However, a fortunate side entry in the 1881 census made by an enumerator (now for Tony of ever-blessed memory!) provided a clue to a fascinating trail through “lunatic asylum” records—and Solomons located details of the sad life and death of his great-grandmother. This information had never been passed down his family line, presumably for reasons of stigma. Later in this issue, Mike Gordon provides data on lunatic asylum records and their impact on Jewish family research.
Irina Shrub explains how a cryptic newspaper cutting led her to find details of a tragic World War I Jewish suicide, and Steven Levey tells of his great-uncle and his World War I experiences. Levey’s work embraces more than simply military records.
Joe Isaacs from Netanya, Israel, updates uses of the Old Bailey website <www.oldbaileyonline.org> and tells how it solved a family mystery for him, disentangling two people with the same name. Margot Bailey presents a portrait of Adelaide’s first Jewish Lord Mayor, Sir Lewis Cohen (although the knighthood postdated the mayoralty), and his widespread family connections. Kenneth Zucker then tells of his research into four people bearing similar (Anglicized) names to try to establish if they were related to each other; despite much effort, the jury is still out on the problem.
Peter Ferdinando describes his research into his male ancestry over nine or ten generations, establishing descent most likely from Antonio Fernandes Carvajal, one of the Portuguese “marranos” who “came out” as Jewish after Cromwell’s discussions with Menasseh Ben Israel. Carvajal was part of the nucleus of Portuguese Jews who established the first London resettlement Sephardi congregation (now based at Bevis Marks). Ferdinando’s family ceased practicing Judaism at the end of the 17th century, but the genealogical linking remains of great interest, and he is to be much congratulated on his thorough investigation.
Seasoned researcher Hazel Dakers reminds us of a methodology for looking at Eastern European Jewish records. David Conway discusses his family research activities with special emphasis on occupations, explaining how this data assists in piecing together a family tree. Doreen Berger, after an absence for a few issues of Shemot, again provides interesting extracts from 19th-century Jewish newspapers. Deborah Berman explains the importance of adding to the Yad Vashem database as any new, previously unknown, names of victims of the Shoah come to light. She emphasizes how Jewish genealogists worldwide can help in this work of remembrance and also its relevance to present-day life where Holocaust denial is trying to establish itself as a respectable stance.
FRANCE (Kallmann)
Revue no. 95, publication of the Cercle de Genealogie Juive. “Who was the Father of Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Zeppo and Gummo Marx?” is the title of an article by Pierre Kogan. After many arguments about the paternal ancestry of the famous comedians, Kogan offers a definitive family tree, fully documented and illustrated. The main difficulty encountered was the various given names and even surnames used by the members of the Marx family in Alsace.
In the previous issue of Revue, Pascal Faustini had published an article entitled “More about Todrosse from Schalbach” about this individual’s ancestors. In this issue, several members of the Cercle de Généalogie Juive have offered additional information about the same Todrosse, connecting him to their own family. Faustini describes the various approaches in their research and shows how the available research tools can best be used.
Writing about “The Leghorn Jews in Tunis,” Jacques Taieb offers a two-part paper. Part 1 recalls the continuous flow of Jews from Leghorn (Livorno, Italy) to Tunis, starting just after 1600. The first immigrants, marranos from Spain and Portugal, were followed by Jews from Italy. Together they founded a Jewish community in 1710, separate from the local community, that accounted for 5 to 10 percent of the total Jewish population (some 60,000 individuals in 1948). In Part 2, Taïeb analyzes the names of these families by idiom of origin (Iberic, Italian, Hebrew and Arabic) and provides numerous details about their occurrence.
Bernard Lyon-Caen raises problems that should prompt reactions from our readers. In Ethics in Genealogy, he elaborates on recent articles about the publication of private data, noting that different life experiences probably result in differing behaviors. He expands the topic to unchecked and even erroneous data and information frequently found on the Internet and subsequently copied again and again. He advocates a cooperative examination of this moral problem by the genealogical community.
In “Our Surnames and Given Names,” Lyon-Caen notes how often questions raised on the Cercle’s website and during private genealogy discussions relate to the origin and history of our surnames and even sometimes given names. He suggests that a section be opened in the Revue for testimonies by our readers about the origin and evolution of their surnames. These contributions would produce a collection of factual reports, a possible further valuable research tool.
The society’s library has been given a copy of Danielle Delmaire’s doctoral dissertation, a 1,200-page reference book about the Jews in the North of France from 1791 to 1939.
ISRAEL (Pikholz)
Sharshert Hadorot, Vol. 22, no. 3–4, November 2008, publication of the Israel Genealogical Society (IGS). In a previous issue, the journal had discussed the newly opened archives of the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen, Germany, from the perspective of research possibilities at Yad Vashem. This issue presents a report from IGS member Rose Lerer Cohen, who participated in the Avotaynu trip to Bad Arolsen in May 2008. Her overall message is: “You really have to go there,” although Cohen notes that the preliminary research she had done at Yad Vashem made the task easier.
The English-language section of the Jerusalem branch of IGS paid a visit to the Central Archives of the History of the Jewish People, recently relocated to the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University. Rosemary Eshel reports on some of the resources available at this archive, as described by its director, Hadassah Assouline.
Other resources examined in this issue are the Yeda-Am Collection at the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem and a group of Krakow resources, described by Hagit Matras and Jacob Laor, respectively. Matras describes the role of the folklore collection in genealogical research and in understanding the context of time and place. Laor presents a selection of physical and online databases about this very important Jewish community.
Litvak SIG held a day-long seminar at Beth Hatefutsoth in April; Rose Lerer Cohen reports on that important event. The seminar program included lectures, a panel discussion with well-known archivists and a tour of the Douglas E. Goldman Jewish Genealogy Center.
Three IGS members offer articles on personal family research. Daniel Wagner discusses his Polish Kumec family as he “tried to make sense of a tricky genealogy brainteaser.” Ellen Stepak discusses the myths and facts regarding her Klots/Kalish family from Lithuania and shares her conclusions about the family’s development. Lea Gedalia tells us about the Gedalia family’s ancestral town of Nis, Serbia, and her research efforts there.
November saw municipal elections in Israel, which served as an unintended backdrop for veteran researcher Chanan Rapaport’s survey of the surnames of Jerusalem’s eight Jewish mayors. Perhaps he will add a ninth chapter. As a result of two family developments in the same week—one happy and one tragic—Israel Pickholtz offers some thoughts on the names we give our children.
Yehuda Klausner continues his series of rabbinic vignettes with the story of rabbi Menahem Nahum Friedman (1879–1933) of the Stefanesti “dynasty.” Harriet Kasow presents her final article in her “Notes from the Library” series as she concludes her service as IGS librarian.
LATVIA (Feigmanis)
In my previous genealogical research in Lithuania and Latvia, I used mostly vital statistic records, censuses, directories, old newspapers and police records. Within the past three years, I have started to use new resources in the Latvian State Historical Archives. These include university files, files of the Latvian security police for the years 1918–40, emigration files, court records and draft files.
Files of the University of Latvia in Riga (Record Group 7427 at the Latvian State Historical Archives) include detailed information about each student—birth record, occupation of parents, which secondary school the student finished, a picture of the student, detailed information about student’s studies at the University, subjects taken, tests passed and type of diploma obtained.
Files of the Latvian security police (Record Group 3235) contain information about communist or Zionist activity of individuals and organizations, including several albums with pictures of Jewish communists and Jews involved in illegal currency operations. (Free currency exchange was not permitted in Latvia during the 1930s.) Security police collected information about a large number of organizations, including Jewish religious ones. Security police informers existed in every sizeable Latvian enterprise. In 1939 for example, one spy reported that young Jewish workers at the Abram Leibovitch radio factory liked to hear Russian communist songs from Moscow and to sing them. A list of “unreliable citizens” was composed, and my grandfather, Osher Prezma, a salesman in the Leibovitch photo and radio shop in Riga, was included in the list because he subscribed to the Kovno Yiddish newspaper, Naye Wort, which was prohibited in Latvia.
Emigration files for the years before 1917 are incomplete, but some files about Jewish emigration for the years 1890–1910 may be found in Record Group 412 (Chancellery of the Courland province governor). The files primarily hold passports of émigrés—which mention place of registration of each person, a fact that helps in further research. Often also cited are age of émigré, profession, height, color of eyes and hair.
Much easier to find is information about those who emigrated between 1920 and 1940. Such information may exist in the records of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), the Latvian Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Court records are especially useful. For example, in Rec-ord Group 598 (Mitau District Court), I found numerous files about Jews of Courland. Some files contain information about business conflicts, but marriage contracts also provide valuable data. For example, in 1912, a marriage contract was concluded between Abram Zausmer and Mere Salomonsohn. Information in the file shows that Abram was a citizen of Polangen, but resided in Libau on Kornstrasse 24. Mere Salomonson nėe Heydeman was divorced and resided in Mitau on Doblen Street 28. According to their marriage contract, after the marriage, all their property will be separated; they will not have common debts. In the case of the death of one spouse, the other will not inherit the other’s property.
In the Lithuanian State Historical Archives in Vilnius, Lithuania, I recently undertook considerable research about the Jewish families of Kibarty and Mariampol in Suwalki province. Few records remain from Kibarty, but a good collection of vital statistic records from Mariampol may be found in Fond 1236 apyrasas 3 and in Fond 1104 apyrasas 2. These include marriage records for Mariampol for 1810–44, 1846–54, 1859, 1860, 1863–67, 1869–75 and 1893. An important resource for genealogical research about the Jews of Suwalki guberniya is Record Group 1009 (Suwalki province administration) in the Lithuanian State Historical Archives. This collection contains files about emigrants, smugglers, Jews who avoided conscription into the Russian army and owners of trade firms and shops.
For many years, overseas friends and clients have asked me to recommend a good and reliable genealogist in Russia. Recently I met such a genealogist, Konstantin Simonov. He lives in Moscow, has access to almost all Russian archives, and is able to search for living relatives. His e-mail is <genealogija@mail.ru>.
Aleksandrs Feigmanis is available for genealogical research by e-mail at aleksgen@balticgen.com. His website, <www.balticgen.com>, includes a large number of databases, pictures and videos about Jews and Jewish sites in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, White Russia and Poland.
SOUTH AFRICA (Issroff)
SA-SIG Newsletter. Vol. 9, No. 1, September 2008. Saul Issroff reviews 2008 IAJGS summer conference sessions catering to non-U.S. citizens. <> The Centre for Jewish Migration and Genealogy Studies plans a comprehensive database on Jewish immigration to South Africa, featuring immigration from England, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia and Belarus, 1850–1950. Data are available onsite at the South African Jewish Museum in Cape Town and at the matching web site, <http://chrysalis.its.uct.ac.za/CGI/CGI_ ROOTWEB. EXE>. <> Ancestry24 is a web site for South African genealogy. <> David Bloom publishes information on the dwindling Jewish community of Zimbabwe at <www.2jc.org.il>.
The Jewish community centered in Bulawayo began in 1894 and peaked at 7,500 in the 1970s. About 200 senior citizens remain after the country’s disastrous economic downslide. The site features family biographies, a growing number of headstone photographs, and the manuscript “Rhodesian Jewry and Its Story,” by Eric Rosenthal. <> Maurice Skikne remembers tailor and friend Marcus Jacob (1915–2007). Jacob was born in London to parents originally from Poland. At age 19, Jacob left Depression-era London for South African relatives with a tailor shop. <> Reprints from The Maccabean of Perth, Australia’s Jewish weekly, describe the 1900s and Zionist youth activities for South African members of Habonim and Ohrus summer camp. See the Book of Memoirs: Reminiscences of South African Jewry, by Nechamiah Dov Hoffman. <> Adam Yarney describes the ITO (Jewish Territorial Organization) that urged a safe home for Jews wherever possible rather than insisting on Palestine. Yarney’s great-grandfather, Franz Ginsberg, was a politician and humanitarian.
