Museum of Family History: New exhibits

What's new at the Museum of Family History this month?

Walk in My Shoes: Collected Memories of the Holocaust

-- Chaim Basist (Lida, Belarus): He and his family hid in the forest with the Bielski partisans. Hebrew/English.

-- Peter Kleinmann (Munkacs/Mukachevo, Ukraine). Nine of 12 chapters of his autobiography are online with more to follow very soon. He was in Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen and Flossenburg.

MOFH Film Series (through April 18): World War II and the Holocaust

-- "The Jews of Krakow's Kazimierz District." 1936 archival film shows Krakow's Kazimierz Jewish district. Most buildings can be visited today and are in a similar condition - only the people who walked those streets are long gone. Note: A YouTube version of this film states the years are 1938-9, not 1936.

Exhibit: "The Jewish Ghetto" (coming in 2010)

-- "The Ghettos of Dabrowa Grnicza and Bedzin" (10:51). Two parts shot in the ghettos of Dabrowa Grnicza and Bedzin, probablywhen the ghetto was founded in May 1942, although deportations began in October 1940. Despite cooperation with the occupiers, as shown in this film, several large deportations took place in 1942; the last major ones were in 1943: 5,000, 22 June 1943; 8,000, around 13 August 1943. The 1,000 remaining Jews were subsequently deported. An uprising took place August 1943, was quelled and the ghetto eliminated. Both films are in the Polish film archive (ul. Chelmska, Warsaw.

Al Jolson Film Festival

-- Jolson stars in and sings in the film trailer to "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum." Don't forget to visit the Museum's large Al Jolson exhibit, "The Immortal Al Jolson" (see and hear many more videos, more than 40 sound clips).

ERC Lecture Series: The Development of Yiddish Literature

-- Since the Czernowitz Conference: In October 2008, Boris Sandler, Forverts editor-in-chief, gave a Yiddish speech at the IAYC (International Association of Yiddish Clubs) conference about the development of Yiddish literature since the 1908 Czernowitz conference on the future of the Yiddish language. A transcript of the talk is now available in English and can be found within the "ERC Lecture Series" at the Museum's Education and Research Center.

Visit the Museum of Family History online. Learn what's new at the Steve Lasky's blog.

Questions for Steve on new exhibits or material you'd like to share? Contact him.

Michigan: 'The Brothers Warner,' April 26

Join in the nosh-and-a-movie fundraiser for the Jewish Genealogical Society of Michigan, on Monday, April 26.

The event starts at 7pm, the film screens at 8pm, in the Commerce Theatre, 14 Mile and Haggerty, Walled Lake, at the Lenore Marwil Jewish Film Festival.

This is the inside story of the little known major player in the Warner Bros. studio legend, Harry Warner, honest Abe, visionary Sam, and volatile Jack – the original Hollywood independent filmmakers. This close-knit band of brothers was the first to use mass media to “educate, entertain, and enlighten.”

“‘The Brothers Warner’ is a well-made, fascinating documentary. Cass has not only honored her grandfather’s legacy with this work, she’s also paid homage to one of the guiding principles of the four Warner brothers who founded the studio by producing a film that will educate, entertain and enlighten audiences.” —Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO of Warner Bros. Entertainment

Their legendary scrappy rise from nothing, their overcoming of personal tragedies, and their battles are all woven together with the times they lived in. From opening their first storefront theater by hanging a sheet on the wall and borrowing chairs from a funeral parlor to creating one of the top studios in America – four brothers built an empire on a dream and revolutionized Hollywood creating the first major studio with a social conscience.

Fee: $18 per person ($8 goes to support JGSMi; additional donation appreciated); for more information or to order tickets, register online.

Ancestor Approved: 10 things about my ancestors

Tracing the Tribe has received the Ancestor Approved award from Pat and Judy, the GenealogyGals.

Their blog is a joint effort.

Award recipients are supposed to report on 10 things learned about our ancestors that have surprised, humbled, or enlightened us, and then pass along the award to 10 more genealogy bloggers who are doing their ancestors proud.

1. Surprised: At the life of my maternal great-grandmother Riva BANK TALALAY - born in a shtetl outside Kovno - who was ran away to the Gypsies - so the story goes - to avoid a disliked marriage. Along the way, she learned herbal healing, midwifery, reading tarot cards and palmistry. When she did marry Aron Peretz Talalay and moved to his agricultural colony Vorotinschtina, some 12 miles southwest of Mogilev, Belarus, she was known for creating the first closet in the shtetl. In Newark, New Jersey, she was also a midwife and healer and well-known for getting her way to make living better for her family.

2. Surprised: That the generation-to-generation one-liner - "This was our name in Spain" - has been corroborated by archival research in Spain and DNA genetic testing.

3. Enlightened: Our TALALAY family's first immigrant ancestor met an English-speaker on the boat over in 1898 who advised him to change his name as no one would give a job to Mr. Tell-a-lie. Thus TOLLIN, TALLIN, TAYLOR, TOLL, TALL and - of course - those lost Philadelphia FEINSTEINs, came about.

4. Enlightened: My maternal FINK (Suchostaw, Galicia -> Ukraine) grandfather and his brothers had a large building maintenance company in New York City. Once, during a window-cleaners' strike, a worker was quoted as calling his employers, "those rats, the FINKs." According to family story, the term "rat-fink" was born.

5. Surprised: On hearing that my mother, as a teen, used to swim across Kauneonga Lake (Catskills, Sullivan County, about 10 miles from Monticello) frequently. It is a very large lake!

6. Humbled: To have found at least one lost branch of the Dardashti family, and thus fulfilling a request of my husband's eldest aunt Nane-jan - made more than 35 years ago in Teheran - to find the lost branches (descendants of relatives who became Moslem) and tell them that they had cousins who thought about them all the time.

7. Humbled: To think about the difficulties Nane-jan underwent as the first Jewish girl to go to school in Teheran in 1902. The community stopped buying from her father, a butcher, and she endured taunts and attacks on her way to school. All her sisters also went to school, with some of them becoming French teachers. It wasn't easy being a father with such advanced enlightened thinking in those days.

8. Frequently flabbergasted when thinking of our newly-connected TALALAY-KATSNELSON relatives (from Bobruisk, Belarus) in Melbourne, Australia. Their eldest daughter Nelly is a journalist and her daughter is Miliana. I'm Schelly, a journalist and our daughter is Liana. Do you also hear Twilight Zone music?

9. Surprised at how much cousin Leon in Melbourne and I resemble each other. His mother was a Talalay whose father (Gamshei) had moved (reasons still unknown) from Mogilev to Bobruisk.

10. Still shocked: My late cousin Victor Talalay (Toronto) and I both located information about the family branch in Israel at the same time, decades ago, when we separately visited Israel and found the data in the English phone book. We each dutifully copied the info and held onto the scraps of paper with name, address and phone number for decades. I finally wrote and located the granddaughter as her grandfather, who placed the entry every year, had died only a year or so prior. He had placed the info in the English phone book every year hoping that US relatives would find it and contact him. He had arrived from Berlin (after leaving Mogilev in 1902 and going to London and Germany) to Israel in 1933. Moral: Never procrastinate when it comes to following up on all clues to family history.

Since I am coming into this award late - procrastination still runs in our family - and I believe almost all bloggers have already been tagged, I am awarding this coveted prize to everyone who has not already been noted.

Yom HaShoah: 2,000 memorials database, April 12

On April 12, Yom HaShoah - Shoah (Holocaust) Remembrance Day - commemorates Jewish communities that vanished all over Europe. It also marks the results of pogroms following the creation of Israel in Arab countries.

The Israel Genealogical Society has a database of nearly 2,000 memorials and monuments for such communities. They are in cemeteries and towns, synagogues, forests and also live in street names.

IGS invites readers to search the database and see if your ancestral towns have memorials in Israel, see photos of them and note their locations. Here's the search box:

Search parameters:

-- Select the "country" list to see all lands where Sephardim used to live. According to IGS, the project is dedicated to an Algerian Jew who perished in Auschwitz.

-- Search by town name, region name, or country; near town, country, or location of the monument in Israel.

-- Places may be listed with different spellings depending on pronunciation in native language or in Yiddish.

-- Search by "is exactly," "starts with" (three-letter minimum), "contains"(three-letter minimum).

-- Search by Hebrew name of the community.

-- If you can't find a memorial in Israel that you know is there, search by country (today) name of that location.

-- Use creative spelling.

Readers aware of memorials in Israel not found in the database are invited to send in photos and documentation so locations may be added.

South Florida: Third Genealogy Fair, April 10

What are you doing tomorrow?

South Florida residents can discover their roots at Nova Southeastern University's Third Genealogy Fair, set for Saturday, April 10, from 9am-4pm.

The free event takes place at NSU's main campus - 3301 College Avenue, Davie (Broward County) - in the Alvin Sherman Library, Research, and Information Technology Center.

Local genealogy experts will assist with all research topics, including Revolutionary War lineages; African, Spanish and Jewish roots; research methods and locating tombstones. Participating organizations include the JGS of Broward County, Cuban Genealogy Club, DAR, FamilySearch.org, Genealogical Society of Broward County, International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG), Mayflower Society and the Guild of One-Name Studies.

The program includes genealogy database demos, breakout sessions, genealogy-related exhibitors and individual consultations throughout the day.

Speakers include:

-- Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, chief family historian for Ancestry.com, and author of the NBC show's companion book. Her other claims to fame: Cold case researcher for the FBI & US Army; discoverer of the “real” Annie Moore, the first immigrant processed through Ellis Island; expert on genetealogy – DNA and genealogy; and founder and president of Roots Television.

-- J. H. Fonkert, Certified Genealogist (Dutch and English ancestry); president, Minnesota Genealogical Society; columnist, The Septs; director, Association of Professional Genealogists, Midwest Region; and recipient of the American Society of Genealogists Scholar Award in 2009.

Attendees will receive a free genealogy workbook and materials to begin and continue their family history and free access to and lessons on using such genealogical databases as Ancestry Library, Heritage Quest and Family Search, and Family Tree Maker software.

They'll also have time to explore the Genealogy Room and browse the library’s specialized books, journals and how-to manuals

The Sherman Library's 4,000+ item collection was donated two years ago by the Genealogical Society of Broward County. There are also printed materials, periodicals and personal family histories to benefit patrons of all skill levels. This gen collection is in addition to digitized holdings at the library's two primary gen databases - Ancestry Library and Heritage Quest Online.

For more on the event, click here.

Breaking News: JGSLA 2010 program now live!

BREAKING NEWS!

We've all been waiting anxiously for this announcement.

The program for the 30th IAJGS International Conference of Jewish Genealogy - JGSLA 2010 - is now live!

Just a cursory glance will leave you breathless as you peruse the amazing collection of programs.

CAVEAT: Some programs are not yet listed and there will be many changes, additions and adjustments to presentation times and days. Remember to check back frequently.

Have you registered? Do you have your hotel reservation? Your ticket to ride? Your T-shirt?

Time to get cracking, people, and enjoy early-bird registration discounts.

Tracing the Tribe will be spotlighting various program categories in the coming days, so stay tuned for much more.

Washington DC: Coming to America, April 18

What was it like for our ancestors to arrive at Ellis Island?

Learn about the experience with Barry Nove at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington, on Sunday, April 18.

The program takes place at Beth El Hebrew Congregation, 3830 Seminary Road, Alexandria, Virginia. The event begins at 1pm with the main talk at 2pm.

Barry Nove will share the story and the techniques he used to learn what it was like for his ancestors and many of our own to arrive in America through Ellis Island. He began his family history quest when he organized the first family re-enactment tour of Ellis Island, filmed by PBS as background material for a 1997 genealogy documentary series, "Ancestors."

Nove received unique access to the Ellis Island Museum, worked with its archivists and gained understanding and appreciation of what his grandparents and great-grandparents experienced.

On his journey he gathered photos of the ships his family arrived on from Bremen, Danzig, Hamburg and Rotterdam; naturalization documents, passenger manifests and historical research.

Fee: JGSGW members, free; others, $5. For more information and directions, visit the JGSGW site.

Florida: Orlando's online computer research forum, April 27

As Tracing the Tribe has often said, genealogy is the great equalizer. It crosses all boundaries of faith, ethnicity, cultures and other issues that might divide us.

Genealogy doesn't care what you eat, how or when; what you wear on your head or not; or any other issues that often separate communities and cause tension within even similar communities.

All of us are joined by our common interest in learn more about our ancestors and our unique family history.

The Internet can also be considered a great equalizer, and an online computer research forum sponsored by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Orlando will help to break down brick walls, on Tuesday, April 27.

The program begins at 1pm in the main social hall of the Congregation of Reform Judaism, 928 Malone Drive.

The focus will be on breaking through brick walls, aided by five experienced computer genealogists - Herb Adler, Irwin Feldman, Paul Enchelmayer, Larry Morrell and Jose Valle - who will attempt to resolve difficult problems by demonstrating online techniques.

JGGO program chair Jerry Kurland established a working committee in early February to set up the Forum, with Carl Migden as a special advisor. Kurland surveyed society members and requested that they submit their major stumbling blocks.

Among the problems received:

-- A member cannot find any trace of his great-grandfather despite the fact that he died in 1898 and is buried in Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago.

-- A member is looking for the date and port of entry of his parents from Austria.

-- A third person had been trying for years to find his mother-in-law on a passenger list.

Kurland says that the forum should provide some successful results and that, as a result, researchers should become more comfortable in browing the Internet and sampling websites from home.

Society members and guests will be able to view a large screen projection on how to connect to various websites.

For more information, address, directions, visit the JGSGO site.