Antwerp, Begium: Foreigner indexes at FamilySearch.org

Did your family pass through Antwerp, Belgium on their immigration journey?

If so, then you might find information in the Foreigner Index at the Felix Archive in Antwerp, which contains files of foreigners who lived there from 1840-1930. Many of these individuals were Eastern European Jews.

Previously researchers could find names, file numbers, date and place of birth at the archive, but now these details can be found at FamilySearch.org using a name search.

Here's a portion of a page, with Joseph Aaronowicz from Czernowitz highlighted:

Read more about the Police Immigrant Index here.

While I did not find any of my TALALAY in the index, I did find numerous FINK that might be related. Now all I need is more time to check out those names.

To search this index, click here.

New York: Red Star Line emigrants, Oct. 17

Jewish emigrants of the Red Star Line will be the topic at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of New York, on Sunday, October 17.

The program begins at 2pm, at the Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, Manhattan.

Speaker Erwin Joos Erwin Joos is the curator of Belgium’s Eugeen Van Mieghem Museum and president of the non-profit Eugeen Van Mieghem Foundation, with more than 1,000 members.

A mass emigration of Eastern European Jews took place from Antwerp to America from 1873-1934. Most arrived after the pogroms (1900-1914). The grueling steerage journey to American ports took from seven to 14 days. Some 30-40% of Jewish Americans have ancestors who sailed with the Red Star Line, one of the most important American lines.

Many stories have been written about the emigration experience from Antwerp by such Jewish authors as Sholom Aleichem and Yuri Suhl. Some famous passengers were Irving Berlin, Golda Meir and Albert Einstein.

Antwerp artist Eugeen Van Mieghem created a collection of works of art about these emigrants. His parents' tavern was located on Montevideo Street opposite the Red Star Line warehouse.

Joos has spoken at international Jewish genealogy conferences, organized exhibits in numerous museums and has authored five major art books, including "Antwerp New York: Eugene Van Mieghem" and edited 12 albums.

Early arrivals for the program may use the Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute from 11am for networking, access to research materials and the computers.

Jewish History: Sephardic articles - Spain, Antwerp, Sicily

The "Jewish History" quarterly journal offers several articles and a book review of interest to Sephardic researchers.

"Jewish History" (Vol. 24, Issue 2 - June 2010) offers diverse content to researchers. Find it in local public and university libraries (more likely) as it is available online only to subscribers. Read more here.

Jewish History, the sole English language publication devoted exclusively to history and the Jews, expands the horizons of historical writing on the Jews. Not only does the journal publish contributions from the field of history, but also from the intersection of history with art, literature, sociology, and anthropology.

The diverse personal and professional backgrounds of the journal's contributors represent a truly international meeting of the minds and are reflected in the journal's innovative essays. Special issues have included women and Jewish inheritance, the Jews of Latin America, and Jewish self-imaging.

In the latest quarterly issue find three articles of interest:

-- Renee Levine Melammed: "Judeo-conversas and Moriscas in sixteenth-century Spain: a study of parallels." (pp. 155 - 168)

Though interesting research has been done on Jewish women conversas in Spain, as well as on Morisco women converts, no comparison of the activities of the two groups has been made. This paper comes to fill this lacuna, examining their commitment to Judaism and Islam and ritual practices, especially as reflected in Inquisitional records. Despite basic differences, a surprising number of parallels appear in the behavior of both groups, suggesting the importance of women in preserving ties to the past and maintaining the converso mentality.

-- Timothy De Paepe: "Diego Duarte ii (1612-1691): a converso's experience in seventeenth-century Antwerp." (pp. 169 - 193):

From the early sixteenth century onward, many conversos or New Christians left Spain and Portugal and went to Antwerp. One member of the converso community in Antwerp was Diego Duarte ii (1612–1691). Diego Duarte ran a thriving jewel business and had a large commercial network. He was also a highly cultured man, who forged many friendships through his love for music and paintings. Antwerp was, however, still off-limits for Jews. This article seeks to explore Diego’s professional, religious and, in particular, his artistic background seen against the place and time in which he lived.

-- and a book review. Lucia Finotto: Shlomo Simonsohn's "The Jews in Sicily" - Volume 15: Notaries of Trapani. A Documentary History of the Jews in Italy." (pp. 213-216) (Brill, $340, 746pgs). To see more about each volume in the series, click here.

Although there is no summary, the first page of the review is on view.

The review indicates that Simonsohn provides information on Palermo notarial deeds and legal documents from Trapani, the focus of this volume. There are administrative materials and court cases involving Jews. There is an index of people and geographic locations, a glossary of Sicilian terms, a bibliography and a subject index. Here's some of the index:

The volume demonstrates classes in the community - wealthy merchant families, financial and administrative elites, religious leaders, ordinary families and artisans. It includes cases of complaints against powerful family groups in the community.

As is the case with most of Brill's publications, they are beyond the economic reach of most Sephardic family history researchers, so do check your local public (less likely) and university libraries (more likely).

The journal's editorial board includes: editor Kenneth Stow, University of Haifa, Israel; co-editor Adam Teller University of Haifa, Israel; book review editor David Starr, Hebrew College, Newton, MA; with assistant editors and an editorial board based at Hebrew University, Princeton, Smith, Michigan, TAU, UCSan Diego, Yale, Penn, Brandeis, and UWashington and elsewhere.

Southern California: Red Line Jewish Immigrants, Aug. 1

The Red Star Line brought 2.7 million immigrants - half were likely Jewish - from Eastern Europe, via Antwerp, to US ports from 1873-1934.

Artist Eugeen Van Mieghem of Antwerp is probably the only European artist who captured the lives of the Jewish immigrants. His parents had a tavern in front of the Red Star Line warehouse, providing a front row seat.

Eugeen Van Mieghem Museum (Antwerp) curator Erwin Joos will speak at the Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County (JGSCV) on Sunday, August 1.

The program will run from 1.30-3.30pm at Temple Adat Elohim, 2420 E. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks.

Joos' topic is "One Foot in America: Eugeen Van Mieghem (1875-1930) and the Jewish Emigrants of the Red Star Line."

The largest number of Jewish immigrants came following programs (1900-1914). Joos will also address Jewish writers who described their travel experiences on one of the most important shipping lines.

Joos is also president of the non-profit Eugeen Van Mieghem Foundation, which has more than 1,100 members. He has spoken some 100 times in Dutch, English and French, in Antwerp, Amsterdam, Paris, New York and Philadelphia; has written five art books, 12 albums, and organized 15 exhibits.

He will be speaking at several Jewish genealogical societies on this tour, so look out for notices and try to attend his talk.

The book and DVD -"One Foot in America, Eugeen Van Mieghem (1875-1930) and the Jewish Emigrants of the Red Star Line" - will be available for $20 each.

For more information, visit the JGSCV or contact president Jan Meisels Allen.

Feeling stressed? Maybe this will help

Forbes.com just put out the list of the top 10 happiest countries to live in.

According to a British Medical Journal 2005, research in several countries indicated that although individuals typically get richer during their lifetimes, they don't get happier. What brings joy is family, social and community networks.

Tracing the Tribe hopes that includes genealogy communities!

Here's the list:

1- Denmark
2- Finland
3- Netherlands
4- Sweden
5- Ireland
6- Canada
7- Switzerland
8- New Zealand
9- Norway
10- Belgium

Data was used from last year's Gallup World Poll conducted in 140 countries, which asked respondents whether they had experienced six different forms of positive or negative feelings within the last day.

Sample questions: Did you enjoy something you did yesterday? Were you proud of something you did yesteday? Did you learn something yesterday? Were you treated with respect yesterday? No more than 1,000 people, age 15 or older, were surveyed in each country. and the poll was scored from 1-100. The average score was 62.4.

Genealogists would likely answer these questions positively!

Overall economic health was a strong factor. Although the global economic crisis has been felt in every nation, those scoring highest in this poll had some of the highest GDPs per capita in the world.

However, wealth wasn't the highest indicator. Although Norway ranked highest in GDP per capita, it ranked ninth in the list, despite a GDP per capita of nearly $100,000. New Zealand's GDP per capita was only a little more than $30,000, yet ranked eighth.

Another important factor is work-life balance. Scandinavian countries work 37 hours per week or less. Low-scoring China has a 47-hour workweek and a GDP per capita of only $3,600.

Low unemployment contributes to happiness. The OECD resercher says "not having a job makes one substantially less satisfied." Top-ranked Denmark has an unemployment rate of only 2%; the Netherlands, 4.5%; the US, 9% - which didn't make the top 10.

Read the complete article here.

Brussels: Low Countries Jewish Studies, May 20

It seems to be conference time again, and here's one at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, on Jewish Studies in the Low Countries, set for May 20, 2009

The Institute of Jewish Studies organizes for the second time an interdisciplinary conference concerning Jewish Studies on the Low Countries at the University of Antwerp. The purpose of the conference is to facilitate contacts between researchers working within this area of study.

We especially encourage young researchers to participate in the workshop. We also hope for contributions from more established researchers, in order to establish a positive exchange between different research generations.

Presentations may include works in progress. We welcome all themes and disciplines within Jewish Studies concerning the Low Countries. Proposals need not be limited to a specific historical period. Both individual and panel proposals are possible. The conference languages are Dutch and English.

A 400-word abstract and CV must be received by December 18, 2008. For more information, contact Karin Hofmeester.

Antwerp and the Red Star Line

Many of our immigrant ancestors traveled to America on the vessels of the Red Star Line, out of Antwerp, Belgium.

Artist Eugeen Van Mieghem (1875-1930) recorded many scenes at the port, and in fact Antwerp has a Van Mieghem Museum.

Joy Rich of New York informed me about two events in Philadelphia and New York where the program, "Eugeen Van Mieghem and the Emigrants of the Red Star Line," will be presented. Both are free and open to the public.

The Philadelphia program is set for noon, Wednesday, April 30, at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, while the New York program is at 6.30pm, Wednesday, May 7, at the Museum of the City of New York. For more information, contact van.mieghem.museum#skynet.be

An exhibit, "Antwerp=America=Red Star Line," is at the National Maritime Museum in Antwerp through December 28. Click here or here for more details.

For more information about the Red Star Line, click here.

From 1873-1935, the line brought nearly 3 million people from Antwerp to America and Canada. The Red Star Line buildings till exist in Antwerp on the Scheldt, from where their ships set off across the Atlantic. The old buildings will soon accommodate a historic heritage center museum being developed by the Antwerp Tourist Department and the Museum on the River.

Other website sections include history, why emigration, heritage center, ships, buildings and the museum.

Among the ships listed were several which brought my ancestors. Sara Talalai arrived from Mogilev in 1902 on the Vaderland; there were others on different ships.

Brussels: Godfrey the Crusader

Why should Jewish genealogists be interested in Godfrey of Bouillion's adventures during the First Crusade, or his statue in Brussels. It was so long ago.

For starters, the names of those murdered nine centuries ago were only sporadically recorded, and about one-third of European Jewry was lost forever. These were our ancestors, but we don't know their names.

The Crusades previewed tragic future events including expulsions and conversions. Some historians call the Crusades "the first Holocaust."

Michael Freund, in the Jerusalem Post, writes about Godfrey, who went off to the Holy Land at the start of the First Crusade.

Godfrey has long been revered by Europeans as the liberator of Jerusalem, the man who helped free the city from the hands of the Muslim "infidels" more than nine centuries ago. He has been the subject of epic poems and operas, as well as a topic of literary tribute, and was once even selected to appear on a list of the "greatest Belgians."

Pope Urban II's call to arms caught Godfrey's attention in 1096. He is reported to have told his army of thousands, "In this, our Holy War, we shall slay all the children of Israel wherever we shall find them. I shall not rest content until I have exterminated the Jews."

Several communities - such as Cologne and Mainz - paid the then-fortune of 500 silver marks each as protection money. Godfrey took the cash and attacked them.

May is the 911th anniversary of the Crusaders' jaunt across France and Germany, destroying entire communities: Speyer, Worms and Mainz. It is estimated that 25-30 percent, if not more, of European Jewry was lost forever.

It took three years to reach the Holy Land and, in July 1099, the Crusaders broke into Jerusalem, killing Jews and Moslems.

This disaster, writes Freund, led to the Av Harachamim prayer still recited as part of the Shabbat service. A portion: "the pious, the upright and the blameless, the holy communities who laid down their lives for the sanctification of His name."

Is this really the kind of person who should be celebrated in the center of Europe ? Sure, you might be wondering, that may very well be correct. But who really cares? After all, it was a long time ago, so why bother dredging up the distant past?

Click here for the entire piece.

Is a cover-up behind the destruction of Belgian Holocaust-era deportation archives?

According to the December newsletter of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors, Belgian authorities have "destroyed archives and records relating to the deportation of Jews in Belgium in the 1930s and 1940s."

Author Paul Belien says some of the destruction of records happened as late as the 1990s, according to a report tied to Belgian Senate hearings last spring. The Senate report was released May 4, but according to the newsletter, newspapers in Belgium have not reported the activities. The report says that “documents about the period 1930-1950 have been destroyed on a massive scale.”

"The systematic destructions of the records of police and judiciary from the 1930s and ’40s happened chiefly in Brussels and Wallonia, the French-speaking south of Belgium. The Senate report states that in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking north of the country, archives have been saved thanks to conscientious archivists."

According to Belien, Antwerp Jewry records are intact, but documents about Jews in Brussels and in Charleroi and Liege, which had large pre-war Jewish communities, were intentionally purged. Charleroi's municipal and judicial archives from the 1930s and the war years were destroyed in the 1970s. Judicial archives in Brussels exist for the years until the early 1930s, with little after that.

Says Belien, "By destroying paper trails people are made to forget that certain events ever took place."