San Francisco: South African Jewish research, Sept. 26

Roy Ogus will present "Jewish Genealogical Research in South Africa," at the next meeting of the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society on Sunday, September 26.

The program starts at 1pm, at Congregation Beth Israel Judea, 625 Brotherhood Way, San Francisco. The meeting is free, there is free parking and doors open at 12.30pm.

Many researchers have South African connections as our ancestors, siblings or cousins emigrated there. During the great wave of migration from Eastern Europe (1881-1930s), many Jews - especially Lithuanians - left for the economic opportunity and freedom of South Africa.

The presentation is a summary of key sources of documentation and information of genealogical value to be found in South Africa, and how these materials can be accessed and researched. It also provides an overview of South African history as a backdrop for the discussion of Jewish migration to that remote area.

Additionally, more recent political changes in South Africa mean that many Jews from the region have now resettled in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Israel and elsewhere.

Born in South Africa, Roy has been researching his family history since 1985 and has traced his ancestors to Lithuania and Belarus in the early 18th century. He's been living in the Bay area since the 1970s and is a computer engineer. He's the vice-president of the Jewish Gen Southern Africa SIG (SA-SIG) and has been a SFBAJGS member for more than 15 years.

For more information and directions, click here.

JewishGen: Worldwide burial registry updated

The JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) database has been updated with more than 108,000 new records and some 13,000 additional photos.

There are 170 new cemeteries with updates to another 155 cemeteries in 19 countries. The database now holds more than 1.4 million records from some 2,700 cemeteries or sections in 46 countries.

View JOWBR here. New users should click here for information.

Here are some of the new additions:

-- Iasi, Romania: nearly 32,000 added; database now 65,000.

-- Lodz, Poland: Organization of Former Residents of Lodz in
Israel has given permission to add their burial register names to both JOWBR and JRI-Poland, totalling some 70,000-75,000 records. This update offers the first 12,000 records.

--Lodz, Poland: More than 2,000 burials recorded by the IDF and the Yad LeZehava Holocaust Research Institute in three sections of the Lodz cemetery; database now has 3,400 burials.

-- Louisville, Kentucky: Herman Meyer & Son Funeral Home has compiled extensive information on burials from seven Jewish cemeteries in the city; database totals nearly 11,500 records. Additional information on Kentucky resources and headstone photos.

-- Baltimore, Maryland: Jewish Museum of Maryland and Deb Weiner for 9,900 records from the Belair Road and Berrymans Lane Baltimore Hebrew Cemeteries.

-- Maine: Harris Gleckman of Project Shammas - "Documenting Maine Jewry" - for nearly 6,500 records from 16 Maine cemeteries and sections.

-- American Jewish Archives (AJA): US and Caribbean cemetery records from The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives (AJA), Cincinnati, Ohio; more than 6,000 records from 36 cemeteries.

-- Pennsauken, New Jersey: Rabbi Gary Gans submitted 6,000 records from the Crescent Memorial Park.

-- Liepaja, Latvia: 3,600 records from the town of Liepaja,
Latvia.

-- Bathurst Lawn Memorial Park and Pardes Shalom Cemetery, Ontario: JGS of Canada-Toronto; more than 3,200 records from 122 updated and new sections of these Canadian cemeteries.

-- South Carolina Cemeteries: Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina; 2,200 burial records and 365 photos from five South Carolina cemeteries.

-- Petach Tikvah, Israel: TSegulah Cemetery; some 2,200 additional photos.

-- Sacramento, California: 2,200 records from the Home of Peace Cemetery.

-- Various US States: More than 2,100 records from 25 cemeteries in nine states, by Julian Preisler.

-- Colma, California: San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society, nearly 2,100 records from the second book of burial records from Home of
Peace Cemetery & Emanu-El Mausoleum.

-- New Jersey: Jewish Historical Society of North Jersey; more than 1,000 records from
five cemeteries.

-- Bavarian Cemeteries: JewishGen and the Bavarian State Ministry of Science, Research and Arts/Center of Bavarian History. ; nearly 700 translations from seven cemeteries, and other civil document data.

-- German Cemeteries: 650 records from 21 small German cemeteries.

-- South Africa: 450 records and 550 photos from 13 cemeteries. For more information, click here.

Many donors - individuals and societies - have submitted information. To see how you can help, visit JOWBR at JewishGen.

South Africa: Seeking Ochberg Orphan descendants

Genealogists are detectives, so here's a case many of us might be able to help solve.

David Solly Sandler of Australia is seeking 2,000 South Africans - the descendants of 60 Ukrainian war and pogrom orphans, known as Ochberg's Orphans.

Writes David: 

In 1921, Isaac Ochberg, representative of the South African Jewish Community, travelled to Poland and the Ukraine and brought back with him to Cape Town 167 "Russian, Ukraine and Polish War and Pogrom Orphans" plus 14 "attendants and nurses," mainly older siblings.

Half the children were placed in the care of the Cape Jewish Orphanage (later Oranjia) and half went to Johannesburg, under the care of the South African Jewish Orphanage (later Arcadia). Many children were adopted by Jewish community members, who contributed generously to a fund to bring the children to South Africa and care for them.

What's David's connection to Arcadia? Born in 1952, David grew up from age 3-17 at Arcadia, the South African Jewish Orphanage in Sandringham, Johannesburg. Now a semi-retired chartered accountant, he lives in Western Australia and has completed two books on Arcadia (see below for more information). For the history of the orphanage - established in 1899 - click here.

David is now in month 18 of the 27 months he's allocated to record the life stories of the Ochberg Orphans. Of the 181 children, the stories of 90 have been recorded, contact has been made with another 30, but 60 still remain to be contacted.

How did he arrive at this number? David believes - for the so far "missing" 60 - that each child was born around 1910, married and had three children, nine grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren, thus there should be more than the estimated 2,000 descendants cited above. Of course, no one knows for sure.

However, what is really important in this story is that many descendants might not know their connection to the Ochberg Orphans. The children did not often speak about this and many tried to hide the fact from their children because of the stigma of being an orphan.

One descendant wrote, says David:

Today, as for the general South African Jewish community, half  of the 2,000 descendants likely have left South Africa and now live around the world in Israel, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US.

“The general attitude of the community was that it was a mitzvah to have adopted one of those poor orphans, a good deed in a dark world, but you really wouldn't want one of them to marry into your family, would you? After all, you knew nothing of their parents and extended family, their health history and their genetic background. This is a generalisation that isn't true of all the adopters but it was certainly true of a fair number, nervous, insecure, only to do nothing that would jeopardise their increasing prosperity and emergent social solidity.”

Here's the kicker - here are the names of these orphans. If you have someone with this name in your family tree, born c1910, there's a chance you might be an Ochberg Orphan descendant, so read the list carefully and if you find a name of interest, contact David (email below).

-- BARMATCH Sara, BARUCH Leya, BERNFELD Hersh,
-- CWENGEL Saul,
-- ELMAN Blume, ELMAN Jentl/ Izzy, ELSHTEIN Abo, ENGELMAN Jakob,
-- FREMD/FRIEND Max,
-- GARBUS /GOLDSTEIN Shmul, GAYER Chawa, GEBENCOL/GOLZ Rochel, GERYNSHTEIN Abram, GINSBURG Mintcha, GUBER/GEIBER/GRUBER Tcharna (Charlotte ODES),
-- H/GURWITZ Rosa,
-- ISRAELSON Chaim,
-- JUDES Rubin,
-- KAHAN Channe, KAHAN Golda, KAHAN Morduch/Mordche, KAHAN Shachna, KAILER Rywka, KAUFMAN Cypora, KAUFMAN Soloman/Shlama, KAWERBERG Mayer, KAWERBERG Mees/Moshe, KIGIELMAN Jacob, KNUBOVITZ Zlata, KREINDEL Rejsel, KRUGERr Rejsel, KRUGER Abram, KRUGER Jacob,
-- LIPSHIS Moishe, LIPSHYTZ Perel,
-- MARGOLIN Sara, MILER Braindel, MORDOCHOWITCH Gutro, MORDOCHOWITCH Estel,
-- NUDERMAN Gdalia,
-- OCHSTEIN Salomon, ORLIANSKY Abram,
-- PERRCHODNIK/PERECHODNIK Ussr, PINSKY/PINSKA Faywel, PINSKY/PINSKA Feyga (Birdie GLASER), PINSKY/PINSKA Maisha, PINSKY/PINSKA Zlata,
-- REICHMAN Abram, REICHMAN Chaim, REISENDERRubin, REKLER Leya, RINSLER/RINZLER Chaskiel/Chaykel, ROSENBAUM Leon, ROSENBLIT Gdalia, ROSENBLIT Szamay,
-- Y/J/SAGOTKOWSKY Jacob/Jacov, SCHTERN/SHTERN Szlema/Solomon, SCHWARZ Josef, SHTEINER/STEINER Chaskel, SHTEINER/STEINER Hersh, SHTEINER/SZTEINER/STEINER Isaac, SMITH Morduch/Mordche, SHTRASNER Feyga, STILLERMAN Hersh/Harry,
-- TREPPEL Jacob
-- WEIDMAN Sheindel.

David adds that by the end of 2010, the lifestories of some 130 of the children will have been collected. They will be included in a book to be published and sold internationally with all proceeds going to Arcadia and Oranjia, as are the Arcadian Memory Books.

Readers who recognize names of interest should email David for more information, or if you are a descendant and want your family's story included.

"100 Years of ARC Memories" (March 2006) celebrates the centenary book of Arcadia, formerly the South African Jewish Orphanage.

"More ARC Memories" (December 2008) is the sequel to the first volume, and includes 17 chapters on the Ochberg Children.

Together, the books total 1,100+ pages and hold the memories of more than 250 children. All proceeds go to the Arcadia Children's Home that still exists and looks after children in need. By the end of 2009, some Rand 365,000 had been raised and the target is Rand 1 million. The set of two books costs $100 plus $10 shipping (click here for more information).

South Africa: Mendel Kaplan dead

The South African Jewish community suffered a major loss last week with the death of prominent leader Mendel Kaplan, 73, following a stroke in Cape Town, where the funeral was held on Sunday.

A major Jewish philanthropist, the billionaire industrialist was a citizen of both Israel and South Africa and lived in both.

Kaplan was also interested in Jewish genealogy, particularly the South African Jewish community's Lithuanian roots. He had authored several books.

His grants enabled the computerization of the Registers of the Poor Jews' Temporary Shelter and the database, -at the University of Leicester (UK) School of Historical Studies - is an important source of demographic, genealogical and migration information.

He founded the Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Cape Town in 1980, and was involved in the founding of the South African Jewish Museum (via the Kaplan, Kushlick Foundation), opened in 2000 by Nelson Mandela. He funded the museum's multimedia equipment as well as the reconstruction of a Lithuanian shtetl.

He promoted Soviet aliya after the Soviet Union's collapse, was known for his commitment to Jewish education and the belief that unless education was at the heart of the Jewish community, the Jewish people would not continue, and he was involved in many social projects in both Israel and South Africa.

He was involved with many global Jewish organizations, serving as chair of the Jewish Agency's board (1987-1995), Keren Hayesod's World Board chair (1983-1987) and Keren Hayesod honorary president from 1995 until his death. Other major organizations also benefited from his leadership and he was Jerusalem Foundation chair (1995-1999), United Communal Fund of South Africa national chair (1974-1978), Israel United Appeal South Africa national chair (1978-1987) and South African Jewish Board of Deputies vice president.

In 1936, he was born in South Africa, graduated from Wynberg Boys' High and the University of Cape Town with a law degree (1958) and earned an MBA from Columbia University (1960). His honorary degrees included UCT, Yeshiva University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He is survived by his Jill Lazar Kaplan, two daughters, two sons and grandchildren.

For additional information, click here.

South Africa: New newsletter online

The Southern Africa Special Interest Group (SA-SIG) at JewishGen publishes a quarterly newsletter. The latest issue (September 2009) and all previous issues are available online.

The purpose and goal of the group is to bring together Jewish genealogy researchers with a common interest. It provides information to Jewish family history researchers with roots in South Africa, Lesotho, Basutoland, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Swaziland, Mozambique, Kenya and the former Belgian Congo.

Many researchers of these areas also share a common Lithuanian heritage.

SA-SIG has published a quarterly newsletter since 2000.

At the recent Philly 2009 conference, some 22 individuals attended the SA-SIG meeting. On the agenda were the South African Jewish Rootsbank Database, which plans to document an estimated 15,000 core families who migrated to Southern Africa 1850-1950 from England, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia and Belarus.

The September issue includes articles on the Feitelberg family, on the meaning of surnames, on the late Bernhard Herzberg and more. It also details the Muizenberg Exhibition, which will open at the Cape Town Jewish Museum on December 16. More than 1,000 photos, and a lot of material will be included.

The issue also contains information on joining the SA-SIG, or click here.

Sacramento: Southern Africa Jewish genealogy, Oct. 18

South Africa's Jewish history is the program for the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Sacramento, California, on Sunday October 18.

San Francisco Bay area resident Roy Ogus was born in South Africa and is vice president of JewishGen's Southern African Jewish Genealogical SIG (special interest group).

The meeting begins at 10am at the Albert Einstein Residence Center, 1935 Wright St., Sacramento.

The South African Jewish community is large. While we may not know it, many of us may have South African connections through ancestors who emigrated there.

Tracing the Tribe has located distant cousins there, and also confirmed that some relatives who came to the US kept up communication with their South African family.

From 1881 through the 1930s - the major emigration wave from Eastern Europe - many Jews, especially those from Lithuania, left for South Africa's economic opportunity and freedom. And many South African Jews again emigrated from South Africa during more recent political unrest.

Roy’s program will summarize key sources of documentation and genealogical information of genealogical value in South Africa, and how these materials can be accessed and researched. He will also provide an overview of South African history as a backdrop for discussion of Jewish migration to the remote area.

For more information, about the JGS of Sacramento, click here.

South Africa: Their WDYTYA started this weekend

South Africa's version of the BBC series "Who Do You Think You Are?" starts Sunday, May 31 at 9pm on SABC2.

The family-orientated documentary series allows some of the country’s top celebrities to go face-to-face with the hidden history of their ancestors and provides a journey of emotional discovery for them and the audience.

“These are highly personal films, yet the wider historical themes they reveal relates each personal story to a wider history that the audience shares in,” says SABC2 publicity manager Zandile Nkonyeni.

This format allows us to get to know the celebrity better, but mostly it allows us to explore our history in a fascinating and neutral way. It allows us to discover areas of our country which today look very different.”

The six episodes connect by combining documentary, revelation of a detective story, biography and big picture history, shared by the audience of a nation.

Well-known personalities include actress Nthati Moshesh, TV presenter Candice Moodley, singer HHP Jabulani Tsambo, SABC2 news anchor Riaan Cruywagen, Isidingo star Meshack Mavuso and comedian Kurt Schoonraad.

The celebrities' stories demonstrate the history that created modern South Africa and will encourage viewers to start exploring their own history.

Ancestry24, a comprehensive ancestral and genealogical service, assisted the producers and researchers, while its channel manager spent hours in the archives and other repositories to assist with the research of the individual celebrities. If you have South African ancestry, you might want to check out the website, which offers a beginner's guide, the 1907 Who's Who, directories, vital records, biographies, community history, government gazettes, tombstones, a forum and a blog - even DNA testing.

“We effectively travel back in time to meet the featured celebrities’ extended family and those who knew them, and walk where their ancestors lived and worked,” she said.

The international series format has triggered a general interest in family history and a return to libraries, museums and domestic travel as people go back to the small towns they or their families came from.

The first episode focused on actress Nthati Moshesh, who's also the great-great-granddaughter of King Moshoeshoe, the first king of the Basotho people. In the segment she crosses into Lesotho to speak to historians and family members.

It seems everyone in the world is already watching the show in a local version, except for the US. Oh well.

Read more here.

South Africa: Online newsletter, other resources

Did your Jewish ancestors land in South Africa? The South African Special Interest Group (SASIG) offers an online newsletter with articles sure to assist you in finding information.

The December 2008 issue is the latest online, but the earliest one is from 1999, so enjoy nearly a decade of informative articles and resources.

This issue's articles include:

Insights into South African Genealogical and Historical Holdings
Rose Lerer Cohen writes about holdings in the Central Zionist Archives, details genealogical databases and offers document images.

Databases of South African Jewish Births, Marriages and Deaths
Louis Zetler references the South African Rootsbank Jewish Database, Johannesburg Chevra Kadisha and Netcare Hospital, mentions the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) and his own databases of vital records, which he began keeping ni October 2001.

It's Not All Black and White: The South African Jewish Story
Roslyn Sugarman, John Saunders Curatorial Chair at the Jewish Museum in Sydney, Australia, writes on the collection of memories (artifacts, Judaica, oral history, etc.) of South Africa exhibit that opened in December 2008.

Book Review: The Jews in South Africa: An Illustrated Story
Saul Issrof reviews the first comprehensive history of South African Jews in more than 50 years. The authors are Professors Richard Mendelsohn and Milton Shain

The Ochberg Orphans
David Sandler edited, in 2006, 100 Years of Arc Memories, about the Arcadia Jewish Orphanages (in Johannesburg), where David lived from 1956-1969. For the past century, it has cared for more than 3,000 children. He is now compiling several new books (More Arc Memories, early 2009; and The Ochberg Orphans). The Ochberg Orphans were a group of 167 children brought to Cape Town in early 1921; 78 were taken to Johannesburg on their arrival and placed in the South African Jewish Orphange.

South African Small Country Communities Project, Vol. 1
Volume 1 of Jewish Life in South African Country Communities hs been reprinted, covering Northern Transvaal (Limpopo Province) and the Great Escarpment (Mmpumalanga). There is a list of communities covered in the article, and an order form to obtain a copy.

Revisiting Muizenberg
An exhibit - "Memories of Muizenberg" - is being planned for December 2009, and material is being sought for the project, including photographs and information on families, shops, schools, etc.

Additionally, there's a list of books for sale and an index of surnames appearing in this issue.

Other resources at the SASIG homepage include the JewishGen South African files , a more detailed explanation of the South African Jewish Rootsbank project to document some 15,000 core families who arrived in Southern Africa 1850-1950.

South Africa: Yiddish Theater book

A new book on the South African Yiddish theater has been published by Veronica Belling in Cape Town.

"Yiddish Theatre in South Africa: a History from the Late Nineteenth Century to 1960" was published by the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Research, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, 2008. 194p. 1SBN 978-0-7992-2335-4.

The price is $25 (including airmail postage); order at Kaplan-Centre@uct.ac.za
Belling previously published "Bibliography of South African Jewry" (1997) and an English translation of Leibl Feldman's classic work on the Jews of Johannesburg (2007)

Beijing: Olympic Jewish athletes

Thank you to readers who have added more names (please see comments below).

This August 6 list (JTA) of Jewish athletes at the 2008 Summer Olympics includes participants from Israel, the US Australia, Argentina, Britain and Canada:

Argentina
Hockey: Gisele Kanevsky;
Judo: Daniela Krakower;
Swimming: Damian Blaum;
Table Tennis; Pablo Tabachnik;
Weightlifting: Nora Koppel;
AustraliaTable Tennis: David Zalcberg;

Austria
Swimming: Maxim Podoprigora;

Canada
Baseball: Adam Stern;
Wrestling: David Zilberman, 96 kg; Ari Taub, 120 kg plus;

Chile
Tennis: Nicolas Massu;

Great Britain
Rowing: Josh West;

Israel
Artistic Gymnastics: Alex Shatilov, all-around;
Canoeing: Michael Koganov, K-1 500 and 1000 meters;
Fencing: Tomer Or, foil; Dalilah Hatuel, foil; Noam Mills, epee;
Judo: Ariel Ze'evi, 100 kg; Gal Yekutiel, 60 kg; Alice Schlezinger, 63 kg;
Rhythmic Gymnastics, Individual: Ira Risenzon, Neta Rivkin;
Rhythmic Gymnastics, Team: Kayta Pizatzki, Racheli Vidgorcheck,Maria Savnakov,Alona Dvorinchenko,Veronica Witberg;
Sailing: Gidi Klinger and Udi Gal, 470; Shahar Tzuberi, windsurfing; Vered Buskila and Nika Kornitzky, 470; Nufar Eledman, laser radial; Ma’ayan Davidovich, windsurfing;
Shooting: Doron Egozi, 50-meter rifle 3, 10-meter air rifle; Gil Simkovich, 50-meter rifle 3, 50-meter rifle prone; Guy Starik, 50-meter rifle prone;
Swimming: Itay Chama, 200-meter breaststroke; Gal Nevo, 200 and 400 individual medley; Guy Barnea, 100 breaststroke; Tom Be'eri, 100 and 200 breaststroke; Allon Mandel, 100 and 200 butterfly; Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or, 200 freestyle; Anya Gostamelsky, 50 and 100 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 100 butterfly; Synchronized Swimming: Anastasia Gloushkov and Ina Yoffe, duet;
Taekwondo: Bat-El Getterer, 57 kg;
Tennis: Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich, doubles; Shahar Peer, singles; Tzipora Obziler, doubles with Peer;
Track and Field: Alex Averbukh, pole vault; Niki Palli, long jump; Haile Satayin, marathon; Itai Magidi, 3000-meter steeplechase;

United States
Fencing: Sara Jacobson, sabre;
Kayaking: Rami Zur, 500-meter individual
Swimming: Jason Lezak, 100-meter freestyle, relays; Garrett Weber-Gale, 100 freestyle, relays; Ben Wildman-Tobriner, 50 freestyle, relays; Dara Torres, 50-meter freestyle, relays;
Track and Field: Deena Kastor, marathon.

Thanks to Jan Meisels Allen for her pointer to the Jewish Journal's special page, as reported by editor Rob Eshman in his editorial:

...I suggest you check out the special web page we've created that tracks Jewish and Israeli Olympic stories. Because remember the First Rule of Jewish Journalism: If it didn't happen to a Jew, it's not news.

And read a reader's comment below indicating that there's another name to add: Adam Duvendeck who cycles for the United States.

South Africa: SA-SIG Newsletter now online.

The June 2008 issue of the SA-SIG Newsletter is now online here; earlier issues are also available. The issue includes the following: - The South African Friends of Beth Hatefutsoth have been documenting early Jewish life in the country communities of South Africa. Three volumes of "Jewish Life in the South African Country Communities" have already been published with another two in the pipeline. A chapter about Wolseley (Vol. 2) is presented, as well as an index of Vol. 3 and an order form for additional volumes. - The South African Jewish Genealogy Society (Johannesburg) has offered outstanding programs. Chair Maurice Skikne and program chair Ada Gamsu provide a list of the lectures, 2005-2008. These may provide programming ideas for other JGSs - Ivor Kosowitz (ex-Cape Town and now Perth, Australia) offers his memories of growing up in South Africa, 1950s-60s. - Sandra Cassel writes a eulogy about her late father - Leslie Jacobson - who spent his life farming in the small community of Philippolis, Orange Free State. - Muizenberg Revisited: Joy Kropman from The Revisiting Muizenberg Team is still looking for information for a forthcoming exhibition. She particularly would appreciate information on accommodation, hotels and the synagogue. Information on how to contact the team is provided. Learn more about the SA-SIG Newsletter here.

California: South Africa resources, June 16

South African research is the program focus at the next meeting of Los Altos Hills branch of the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society (SFBAJGS).

Southern Africa Special Interest Group (SA-SIG) vice president Roy Ogus will speak at 7pm, Monday, June 16, at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills.

South Africa’s Jewish community is large and important. Although we may not know it, many of us have South African connections because our ancestors’ siblings or cousins emigrated there. During the great wave of emigration from Eastern Europe (1881-1930s), many Jews, especially Lithuanians, left for the economic opportunity and freedom of South Africa. Following the recent emigration of many South African Jews during periods of political unrest in the country, the end of apartheid in 1994 has revitalized our cousins’ homeland.

The program is a summary of key sources of documentation and genealogically valuable information of genealogical value that can be found in South Africa, and how to access them. It will also provide an overview of South African history for the discussion of Jewish migration.

For more information, click here.

South Africa: German Jewish refugees

Readers interested in locating family from Germany that survived the Holocaust should view this site. It focuses on German Jewish refugees to Johannesburg, South Africa.

There are 35 biographies, photographs and more information about these refugees and their communities. The material was part of an exhibit, "Seeking Refuge."

Among the names (there are many more): Auerbach, Benedick, Blumenthal, Czapski, Gerschlowitz, Giesenow, Grunebaum, Heinemann, Levi, Lowenstein, Meyer, and Wreschinski.

Thanks to Ann Rabinowitz for this pointer.

South Africa: 2009 Jewish Migration conference

Jewish genealogy is a main category in the call for papers for the 2009 "Jewish Migration and the Family" conference.

Conference dates are January 5-7, 2009, at the Kaplan Centre, University of Cape Town, South Africa.

The concept of the family is perhaps one of the most mythologised and stereotyped in Jewish history and culture. This conference will explore, within a multi- and inter-disciplinary framework, how Jewish families have been constructed, reconfigured and reconstructed from ancient to modern times.

Papers are especially welcome from those exploring ... the reasons behind the phenomenal growth of Jewish genealogy; and developing from the 2007 Kaplan Centre/Parkes Institute conference on ‘Jewish Journeys’, the role of and changing ideas about the family in Jewish migration patterns across the ages.

Program proposals (250 words) are due May 1, 2008 to to Dr James Jordan, jaj1@soton.ac.uk. Acceptance notices will be made by June 30, 2008.

For more information, click here.

UK: Natasha Kaplinsky's family secrets

The hit BBC show "Who Do You Think You Are?" will be back on the air in the UK at 9 p.m., September 6, with British newscaster Natasha Kaplinsky as the subject and focusing on her father's family. The show takes her to Slonim, Belarus, where she learns about the family's fate, and to South Africa, where she discovers information about her ropemaker grandfather.

It was, says Natasha, like an agonising game of Pass the Parcel, unwrapping more of the truth every day, afraid of her family's response. "Of course I talked to my father about going over to Belarus and finding out what happened. It wasn't that he didn't want to know. But the generation above him didn't want to speak about it. There's a level of trauma across the entire family which is a familiar story among families caught up in genocide."

As you'll have gathered, the Kaplinsky saga doesn't end happily. Natasha, in her pristine white polo-neck and matching fur hood, discovers the village of Slonim, once in Poland, now in Belarus, from where her father's father, Morris, emigrated to South Africa in 1929 with his sister and brother. Family members who stayed behind fell foul of the Nazis, who invaded in 1941 and bundled the Jewish population into ghettos. Abraham, her great-uncle, killed himself in 1942 after his children, aged nine and two, were strangled. Great-Uncle Isaac, a Paris-trained doctor, escaped a massacre of 2,500 Jews and joined the partisans in the woods. The family patriarch and matriarch probably died when their family synagogue was torched.

In the article, Kaplinsky says the producers took her on a "mystery tour up the branches of her family tree." They told her to pack clothing appropriate for South Africa and for Belarus, and was taken to airport not knowing where she was going. She kept asking, "What have you found? Please tell me."

Last year, the show was also seen in Israel and elsewhere, so check your TV listings.

To learn more, read the article here.

London: South Africa at the Jewish Museum

If you are a former South African living in Britain, you're invited to meet the curators of the Jewish Museum in London and bring along family history materials on March 11.

The museum is looking for objects, photographs, documents, ephemera, memoirs (unpublished) and reminiscences relating to the lives and family histories of Jewish South Africans now in Britain.

Of particular interest:
• Jewish immigrant journeys to South Africa, especially if via Britain
• Early settlers' lives, including family, work and religion.
• Jewish life in relation to apartheid
• Journeys from South Africa to Britain, migration and rebuilding lives.
• Contemporary community life – South African Jewish community organizations in Britain

A significant Jewish South African community has settled in Britain, mainly in London and, according to the museum, it deserves representation in collections reflecting the diverse roots and history of the Jewish community.

The Jewish Museum is undergoing redevelopment, with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund - a new flagship museum will open in 2009, with a new gallery that explores the contemporary British Jewish community. Donated materials will be of great value for research and display.

If you are a Jewish South African living in the UK, and are prepared to donate relevant items, they'll be happy to see you. Items should be in good condition with strong personal stories attached to them. If you have old family photographs, the museum will digitally copy them and return the originals.

For more information about the event, click here.

Cape Town: A conference on Jewish Journeys

When Saul Issrof of London sent me the information on this program, I wanted to take my own Jewish journey to South Africa, at least for January 8-10.

The event features a series of fascinating programs with presenters (including Saul) from New Zealand, the U.K., South Africa, the U.S., Israel, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. It is a rare conference whose every presentation hits my emotional buttons – Jewish Journeys gets a gold star in this department.

The conference call for papers invited those covering history, literature, sociology of genealogy, philosophy, theology, Jewish Studies, Bible Studies and a wide range of perspectives from ancient through modern traditions.

In case you’re already in South Africa, planning a quick visit, or just want to see what you’ll be missing, here are some highlights:

• Journeys in ancient Judaism: the migrations of the ancestors
• When Rivkah left home: Women’s Journeys from Eastern Europe to South Africa
• Iceberg or Goldberg? Jewish and Non-Jewish Narratives of the Titanic
• Who do you think you are? Journeys and Jewish identity in the narratives of David Baddiel and Stephen Fry
• Going East? Coming Home? Jewish Journeys in Eastern Europe before 1939
• Keeping Kosher: Policies deployed by British and German shipping companies to develop the transoceanic Jewish passenger business.
• The Role of Travel in Jewish Identity Formation: The Ohlmert Family Sojourn to China as a Case Study
• German Jewish Immigration to Johannesburg during the 1930s
• Visiting der Heym! The significance of Jewish ancestral visits
• Litvak Migratory Decisions in the second half of the C19th and their consequences
• Layers of Identity in a Jewish Community: from Crypto Faith in Mashhad to Mashhadiland, USA
• Sephardic Merchant Journeys
  
  

I hope that some of these speakers decide to present at future International Conferences of Jewish Genealogy. My Sephardic and Persian personas jumped for joy when I read the titles of the list's final two programs!

The conference is at All Africa House in Cape Town, and is sponsored by the Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Research

The Kaplan Centre, founded in 1980, is the only one of its kind in South Africa. Its goals are to stimulate and promote Jewish studies and university research focusing on the South African Jewish community. Multi-disciplinary, it encourages scholar participation in such fields as history, political science, education, sociology, comparative literature, Hebrew and Judaic studies.

South Africa's disappearing Jews

Many South African Jewish communities in small towns have withered, while remaining Jews have headed to the large communities in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

The Southern Africa SIG (special interest group) is collecting information on these former centers of Jewish life, many of which exist today in name only.

Among its projects:

South African Jewish Rootsbank, Centre for Jewish Migration & Genealogy Studies.

The project's main goal is to research the estimated 15,000 families who migrated (1850-1950) to southern Africa from England, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia and Belarus. It also plans to map the history of Jewish migration to South Africa and provide data for the Discovery Centre at the South African Jewish Museum, and to integrate genealogical data at the Kaplan Centre at the University of Cape Town.

Many families were fragmented; siblings immigrated separately to the U.S., UK and southern Africa, and sometimes lost contact with each other.