AUSTRALIA (Sharpe)
Jewish Genealogy Downunder, quarterly publication of the Australian Jewish Genealogical Society (Victoria), Vol. 11, No 3, October 2009. Bubbles Segall, well known for her work over many years with the South African Special Interest Group (SIG), recently settled in Melbourne, having lived for the past 33 years in the Northern Territory of Australia. In her article, she shares some of her genealogical gems about her country of birth and advice on getting started on South African genealogy.
Melbourne researcher, lecturer, and consultant Krystyna Duszniak addressed a meeting of the AJGS (Victoria) in August on “Accessing Polish Family History Records.” She has had many years of experience researching Polish archives and maintains professional links with researchers in Poland. Her consultancy, Lost Histories, specializes in obtaining birth certificates and other documentation from Poland. She provided a comprehensive list of databases and outlined how personal family research was contributing to an understanding of Jewish history in the context of Polish history.
Short profiles are provided on four international visitors who will attend the Second National Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Melbourne in March 2010: Dr Sallyann Amdur Sack-Pikus, Schelly Talalay Dardashti, W. Todd Knowles, and Claire Bruell.
Jewish Genealogy Downunder, quarterly publication of the Australian Jewish Genealogical Society (Victoria), Vol. 11, No 4, December 2009. Broken Hill, a mining town in far northwest New South Wales, was first settled circa 1886. Jews began to move to this isolated town, and by 1911 a synagogue was erected. The Jewish population grew and reached about 250 by the 1920s. By 1962, the synagogue closed its doors as Jews moved to the larger cities. The Broken Hill Historical Society is planning a two-day event to celebrate the centenary of the synagogue, which now serves as a meeting place for the Society. The organizing committee in Melbourne is seeking photos, letters, and memorabilia for the Broken Hill celebration. Contact <admin@ajgs-vic.org.au>.
“Searching for Answers in Lünen” is the title of an article by Margot Pogos (neé Eltham), a member of the AJGS in Melbourne. Pogos set out to visit the birthplace in Germany of her late father, Werner Elsoffer, as well as the place where her grandfather was murdered on Kristallnacht. The Pogos family visit to Lünen attracted attention from civic leaders and the media, and photos and articles appeared on the front page in several local newspapers. A special reception at the town hall, near the river Lippe, was attended by the full town council, and the family received a presentation by the mayor.
This issue has reproduced a popular article by Peter Landé, “A Holocaust Geographic ‘How To’ for Genealogists.” The Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation at Monash University, Melbourne, is hosting its inaugural Holocaust and Genocide Studies conference on March 14–15, 2010, titled “Aftermath: Holocaust Survivors in Australia.” A number of well-known international researchers are presenting papers at this unique conference.
The issue gives an update of the program of the Second Australian National Conference on Jewish Genealogy to be held in Melbourne in March. Full details were published in the Fall 2009 issue of AVOTAYNU.
CANADA (Lederer)
Shem Tov, publication of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Canada (Toronto), Vol. XXV, No. 4, December 2009/Kislev 5770. Michael Goldstein, IAJGS president and professional genealogist, summarized his experiences accessing the Red Cross records from the International Tracing Service (ITS), <www.its-arolsen.org> housed in Bad Arolsen, Germany, during a society meeting in November 2009 (which coincided with Holocaust Education Week). Goldstein has visited the Arolsen archives twice, first two years ago when ITS opened to the public. Until then, access to the records was by mail only.
Goldstein reported that the archives has a central index with approximately 17 million names compiled from Nazi concentration camp lists, death records, ship manifests of survivors, deportation lists, personal effects, and wartime history of the victims. Most records were obtained from Allied forces. Records that fell into the hands of the Soviets typically are housed today in Moscow. The Archives’ holdings have been supplemented over the years by records of inquiries from relatives regarding Nazi victims. In-person searchers must fill out a form providing first and last name and significant dates (if possible) for the computer search. The name will appear on the computer screen if documents are located, along with the names of other researchers who have made inquiries. Relatives often have reconnected via this methodology. CBS’s 60 Minutes aired a story about the opening of the Arolsen Archives in 2006, viewable at <www.CBSnews.com/stories/2006/05/15/world/main1618307. stmhl?tag=contentmain;contentbody>.
Reprinted from Eastman Newsletter is a useful tip for family surname timelines on Google <www.google.com>. Enter surname family history, then substitute the surname of interest (e.g., Eastman) for “surname” and scroll down to “timeline,” and further “more timeline results.” Eastman discovered some new information regarding his Eastman ancestry (and his mother’s ancestry).
Bill Gladstone’s review of A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire, by Alexander Beider. Bergenfield, NJ: Avotaynu, 2008, <www.avotaynu. com>, entitled “A Masterpiece of Scholarship on Jewish Names” is reprinted from the Canadian Jewish News (CJN) of Thursday, February 19, 2009. Alexander Beider, the author of this work, is a Moscow-born statistician, linguist, and onomastician, who has lived in Paris since 1990. He single-handedly has produced a scientific compendium of the origin and meaning of the Jewish surnames, focusing on geographic locations. The 1,000-page hardcover tome and its smaller softcover companion (which has the soundex index for all surnames in the dictionary, no matter how they are spelled) are gold mines of information regarding an accurate perspective on Jewish surnames from a host of countries and languages.
In a lecture delivered to the society in September 2009, Rob Leverty, executive director of the Ontario Historical Society, discussed the Ontario legislation of 1989 that permits removal of burial plots “in the public interest.” Interested parties are rallying against this law in order to preserve all existing cemeteries in the province, and Jim Brownell MP is planning to rescind the existing law with the introduction of Bill 149 (2009).
An article that appeared in Venturing into Your Past, (August 2009, Vol. 4, Issue 11) is reprinted (with permission of JGS Conejo Valley and Ventura County, California), outlining the usefulness and pitfalls of Facebook. While Facebook has great advantages in connecting with people and sharing information, personal opinions, photographs, and more, great emphasis also is placed on the risks of using Facebook, such as the permanence of all the information and security risks (identity theft). An article entitled “10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know” is invaluable in preventing some of the dangers (but it is doubtful most new clients would be aware of this when they sign up—R.L.). The article may be viewed at <www.allFacebook.com/2009/02/Facebook-privacy/>. Canada’s privacy commissioner stated (on July 16, 2009) that “Facebook breached federal privacy law by keeping users’ personal information indefinitely even after members close their accounts.” Facebook promised to rectify this. A follow-up to Facebook’s seemingly encouraging response to the privacy commissioner of Canada’s concerns is provided by Judy Kasman, who also refers to additional information at <www.priv.gc.ca/index_e.cfm>.
Harvey Glasner (co-editor of Shem Tov) summarizes his experiences following a study of the August 2009 California article, after he joined Facebook. He found that Facebook “acquired” all the contacts of his e-mail address book; he received replies from people who were only casually connected to him (who were either upset or very happy); and he spent more time answering replies from people than he was willing to spend. Mention is made of an article in The Lawyers’ Weekly of August 7, 2009, in which Geoffrey Miller, adjunct Professor of Law and Literature, Faculty of Law, University of Western Ontario, succinctly summarizes Facebook’s breach of PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act).
Library and Archives Canada (LAC) announces that a new version of the Canadian Naturalization online database is available for 1915–32 and includes the names of 206,731
individuals. Copies of the actual naturalization records are available on request at <www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/data bases/naturalization-1915-1932/index_e.html>. The Canadian Genealogy Center <www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/ genealogy/index_e.html> offers online genealogical services of LAC, including advice, resource tools, and opportunities to work on joint projects.
Immediate past president Shelley Stillman reports on a successful workshop held in October 2009, conducted by Lil Blume <www.lilblume.ca>, which attracted 12 individuals eager to hear about “Writing Jewish Family Stories and Memories.” Topics covered various formats under the headings of genealogy, autobiography, memoir writing, and family stories. Subsets included writing about family traditions, holidays, life-cycle events, memories and experiences during major world events, a childhood meal table memory, family songs and music.
Information compiled by Dick Eastman and the Eastman Newsletter (November 13, 2009, reprinted January 1, 2010) informs readers that various documents in the U.S. National Archives Holocaust Collection are accessible online for a fee (after January 1, 2010) at <www.footnote.com>. The holdings can be accessed for free at the National Archives. The Holocaust Collection consists of more than one million Holocaust-related records, including millions of names and 26,000 photographs. The records consist of concentration camp records and documents from Auschwitz, Dachau, Flossenburg, and Mauthausen. Also included are the “Adelia Hall Collection” of records relating to Nazi looting of Jewish possessions including art, captured German records including deportation and death lists from concentration camps, and Nuremberg war crime trial proceedings. In addition, the collection held at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has nearly 600 interactive personal accounts of those who perished or survived the Holocaust.
A short note announces the establishment in Antwerp, Belgium, of the Red Star Line/People on the Move Museum, <www.redstarlinememorial.be/smartsite.dws?id_= MHE_landing&ch=MHE>. The Red Star Line Shipping Company transported almost three million people from Antwerp to the United States and Canada between 1873 and 1935. Artifacts and personal accounts of immigrants related to their experiences are solicited <www.redstarline @stad.antwerpen.be>. The 29 steamships operated by the Red Star Line are also listed.
Debbie Raff , Shtetl Leader of Nowy Sacz SIG, reports on the Shoah Connector, a project started by Logan Kleinwaks, <http://genealogyindex.org> and <http://shoah connect.org/ begin.php>. Kleinwaks also has devised a method for connecting individuals who filled out a “Page of Testimony” at Yad Vashem. This system may be viewed at <http://video.google. com/videoplay?docid= 164717810340 6109799#>.
ENGLAND (Joseph)
Shemot, publication of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain, December 2009, Volume 17, nos. 3–4. This issue opens with an article by Gina Marks on an incident in the 1860s in the skein of the Anglo-Jewish Mendoza family which also was used as a basis for a satirical entry to Punch (an English humor magazine published for about 150 years). Numerous 18th- and 19th-century English publications were fascinated by the “exotic” (as they perceived it) items in the fabric of English life that Jewish people contributed. This particular matter appears to be another example of the genre.
Carole Reeves gives an account of how recent digitization of records concerning the medical profession can be a useful source if your ancestor was a registered doctor. John Cowell then discusses a book he recently published on the Preston Jewish community which includes in its title reference to such professionals since they were the backbone of the early community. Preston is a town a little north of Manchester where Jews have had an important presence but not in any way to the extent of its southern neighbor. Two articles on Polish Jewish researching are well written and useful, but for most AVOTAYNU readers will cover well-trodden ground.
Harvey Kaplan, an erudite Scottish expert and AVOTAYNU contributing editor, updates the availability of Scottish Jewish cemetery records. This is followed by Lucien Gubbay describing his research into his family background from India and the Middle East. David Conway presents more of his family data, primarily from Manchester, and Diane Barnett tells an interesting account of a centenarian kinsman whom she knew of as a great-uncle but was, technically, a cousin of her grandfather.
Doreen Berger’s usual extracts from early issues of the London Jewish Chronicle are included, and Ruth Levitt, who works at the London Wiener Library, presents a modern overview of Dutch Jewry and its research potential for genealogists.
The Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain, in common with so many other cultural groupings in the Western world, is suffering from economic downturn. The frequency of its publication Shemot is affected by this, and now is likely to appear only three times a year rather than quarterly. It has also been downgraded to black and white print without the colored illustrations that had been possible for an issue or two.
FRANCE (Kallmann)
Revue, publication of the Cercle de Généalogie Juive (Jewish Genealogical Society of France) no. 100. In an article entitled “From Senior to Schneerso(h)n,” Eliane Roos-Schuhl elaborates Jewish names derived from the Latin root senior, meaning the older, the lord. According to the pronunciation (Ashkenazic or Sephardic), the variations are many. The author selects examples from all periods and all regions in the world, thus letting us know many famous bearers of the name.
Louis Vorms and Guy Worms publish the descendant list of the older son of Raphaël Worms, Hayman, over five generations in “The Descendency of Raphaël Vorms from Bionville, Part Two.” They know additional descendants, but limit themselves in accordance with the Cercle’s rule not to publish data about living persons. A number of well-known personalities who could have been listed nevertheless are given. Two members of the list have required in-depth research to be identified; the authors reveal the details of their research.
“About the Family Name Haas (Guebwiller – Belfort)” describes Denis Ingold’s major discovery about the origin of the Christian Haas family whose descendants include a French representative, Emile Keller, and the Paris archbishop, Cardinal Maurice Feltin. Their common forefather, Leopold Haas, was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Guebwiller in about 1617, at age 22. In his 1963 publication about the Haas-Mayer family, François Klée had placed Leopold’s birthplace near Ottmarsheim. Ingold discovers that Klée has misread the Latin citation in Leopold’s death record and elaborates on a recently discovered document by a remote descendant. The birthplace is, in fact, Jungholz, where a Jewish Haas has been documented at the same period. Ingold evaluates the pros and cons of two possibilities: Leopold adopting the Christian name Haas after his baptism or David/Leopold carrying over his Jewish nickname Haas/zum Hasen into his Christian life. The author opts for the latter possibility.
In late 2007, the Cercle issued a questionnaire to all members in order to obtain a true picture of them. Some 35 percent replied in early 2008. The answers have been analyzed according to strict professional rules by a team of five board members under the leadership of President Joëlle Allouche-Benayoun. The statistical results are published in this paper and cover all aspects of the relationship each member can have with the society: the Revue, the monthly lectures, the special interest groups, the library, the website, the sections in the French provinces, and so forth. They are related to the sociological analysis of the constituency, as it appears from the answers to the first sets of questions.
Prompted by her grandchildren’s birth, Patricia Haas has begun to trace her genealogy described in “Trying to Find My Dilsheimer Family.” Her paternal grandmother, Renée, born in Versailles in 1881, was the daughter of Samuel Schorestène and Sophie Dilsheimer. The ancestors of Samuel Schorestène/Schornstein come from Alsace and are well documented; they originate in a rabbi/cantor family. Sophie Dilsheimer’s origin is harder to find, but a stepwise approach through the Internet and visits to Paris cemeteries, including proving one is the legal owner by descendency of the tomb and thus entitled to access the corresponding file, finally cracks the nut; Sophie comes from Aschaffenburg, Bavaria. The author neither speaks nor reads German but, by joining the Cercle de Généalogie Juive, receives the needed assistance to trace her Dilsheimer ancestors back to one born around 1720.
SOUTH AFRICA (Plen)
South African place names with a Jewish connection interest most of us. The December newsletter has a list of place names that Dennis Kahn has researched diligently. Kahn’s article reminded me that years ago when I was a keen philatelist, a postmaster had a collection of postmarks of South African place names mentioned in the Bible. I think he had more than 100 post marks in his collection.
Maurice Skikne also has delved into history and written an interesting piece on the Jews who first came to South Africa and formed the Jewish population. Skikne does not talk about the always ongoing argument regarding the origin of the term Peruvians to denote people who ate without manners. The best explanation we have seen is that these Grieners set up a society of Jews from Poland and Russia that somehow in Yiddish was called the Peruvians. Later, as the more cultured Jews disdained them, they were called the Peruvians, this time as an insult.
Beryl Baleson, a former newsletter editor, grew up in Cape Town, and she has reminded us of all the fun we used to have. A very special rabbi, Rabbi Moses Chaim Mirvish, made a history for himself in Cape Town. We have a history of his life.
Cecil Gerald Helman died this year, and we have an obituary on his life and times.
