APG: Election congrats to familiar faces

Some very familiar faces - from New Hampshire, Florida, Utah, New York and Israel - were among the 17 individuals recently elected to the Association of Professional Genealogists board.

Special congratulations from Tracing the Tribe go to the following:

Laura G. Prescott of Brookline, New Hampshire was elected president.

Andrew M. “Drew” Smith of Odessa, Florida, was elected secretary. Drew is the Florida Genealogical Society of Tampa president, and co-hosts (with George Morgan), the Genealogy Guys Podcast.

Among elected regional directors:

West Region: Suzanne Russo Adams AG of Utah, is a specialist in Italian research and employee of Ancestry.com.

I've known Suzanne for what seems like years and she was my host when I visited Ancestry's Provo headquarters a few years ago. We meet at the Southern California Genealogical Society's annual Jamborees as well as the annual IAJGS international Jewish genealogy conferences, where she is usually an Ancestry.com speaker.

Northeast Region: Debra Braverman of New York, is a national speaker and forensic genealogist who regularly testifies as an expert witness.

She is a JGS of New York member; we meet at the annual IAJGS conferences.

International Regions: Michael Goldstein of Israel, traces roots worldwide, specializing in family reunification, heir searches and Holocaust research.

Well-known to all genealogists in Israel, Michael wears several hats as president of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) and president of the Israel Genealogical Society. He speaks at Jewish genealogical societies in North America and at IAJGS conferences.

The Association of Professional Genealogists, established in 1979, represents nearly 2,000 genealogists, librarians, writers, editors, historians, instructors, booksellers, publishers, and others involved in genealogy-related businesses. APG encourages genealogical excellence, ethical practice, mentoring, and education. The organization also supports the preservation and accessibility of records useful to the fields of genealogy, local, and social history. Its members represent all 50 states, Canada, and 30 other countries.

Congratulations to everyone elected this year!

Philly 2009: Session recordings available

Everyone agrees that Philly 2009 was a great conference but, as usual, there were hard choices to be made as so many good sessions were at the same time slots.

Did you have trouble choosing among several sessions at the same time slot? Or perhaps you couldn't attend the conference at all. Never fear - help is here.

All the sessions recorded at the 29th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy (August 2-7, Philadelphia) are available for purchase on a CD or for online use.

While individual sessions are $14 each, and two-hour seminars or workshops are $28 each, the best deal is the complete package with more than 140 recordings for only $149. Even the mathematically-challenged among us can see that this is a much better return on investment.

Some presenters have also included their PowerPoints (as well as audio) on the CD, so that's an extra bonus - almost like being there in person!

To order online, go to Softconference.com/IAJGS, click on "Educational Content," then "click here for content from the meeting."

Content Management Corporation handled the recordings. Note that not all the sessions were recorded (presenters were required to give approval for recording).

Philly 2009: You thought it was over?

The excellent Philly 2009 event isn't over, not by a long shot!

Conference program co-chair Mark Halpern, who is also the JGS of Greater Philadelphia webmaster and editor of the group's publication, Chronicles, has informed Tracing the Tribe that the society is archiving for posterity relevant material for the 29th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy.

So far, the JGSGP has gathered a selection of thank-you messages posted online or received by the society.

And here are links to articles about the conference in newspapers and other media (such as Tracing the Tribe's blog postings for Philly 2009) about the conference or speakers.

Read about JGSGP founder/first president/author Harry Boonin who was honored by both the IAJGS and the society.

The online Philadelphia-Area Jewish Genealogical Resource Guide, prepared by Steve Schecter and a team of volunteers is here.

New geneablogger colleague Steve Lasky, award-winning creator and founder of the Museum of Family History, created an exhibit honoring Philadelphia's Jewish heritage.

The JGSGP is also planning an extensive photo exhibit. If you have conference photos, please send the images (or a link to them) to jgsgp@comcast.net

Additionally, Mark is planning a special conference edition of Chronicles, and he's also asking speakers and attendees to submit articles about their experience in Philly. Suggestions are research you did at the conference, a brick wall breakthrough, a new family connection, a great session you attended, general observation of the event regardless of whether you were a first-timer or a veteran. Speakers can even submit their talk or a summary of it. Deadline for article submission is September 30.

What a great idea, Mark! Contact him to submit photos, links or articles (by September 30). Tracing the Tribe hopes future conferences will do the same.

South Jersey's Jewish genealogists spotlighted

I first met Rabbi Gary Gans back at the Boston IAJGS conference a very long time ago.

He's the First Rabbi of Rabbit World, over at the International Jewish Graveyard Rabbit blog (in fact, I've got to get some of his new posts up there!). His congregation, Beth Tikvah in Marlton, is the meeting place of the South Jersey affiliate of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Philadelphia, and he's also active in DNA genetic genealogy.

So with all these interconnections, Tracing the Tribe was happy to see this story in Jewish Voices, published by the Southern New Jersey Jewish Federation, which covered several South Jersey Jewish genealogists.

For Rabbi Gary Gans of Marlton's Cong. Beth Tikvah, the best week of the year is when the international conference on Jewish genealogy takes place.

"This is one of the most creative weeks, when fellow genealogy addicts end up in the same place. It brings about a great new energy level," said Gans, whose synagogue is the meeting site for the Jewish Genealogical Society's South Jersey affiliate group. The rabbi, a tombstone maven, presided over two well attended workshops on the history of grave markers, focusing on how to decipher Hebrew inscriptions and use them to gain clues valuable in family research.

At the conference, Gans also discovered more contacts and resources to aid his own research. He has already found his great-grandmother's Lithuanian postal bank account in rubles, and noted that with the fall of the Iron Curtain and archives from Eastern Europe resurfacing, there has never been a better time for budding genealogists.

The story noted that conference co-chair David Mink who lived in Cherry Hill (where the paper is published) for more than 30 years before moving to Philly. The area proved important at the conference:

"South Jersey's Jewish agricultural communities are a story that isn't told too often, but this was an opportunity to tell that story," he said. Workshops and panel discussions about the Jewish agricultural colonies were followed by a mid-week bus tour of key sites.

The story covered other researchers from the area, such as David Brill, whose great-great-grandparents settled in the Carmel colony in the early 1880s but later moved to Philadelphia.

"A lot of the Philadelphia Jewish community find they have connections to these Jewish colonies," Brill said. He ran one of the workshops that gave the conference a unique local flavor, and helped lead the bus tour, which stopped at the one-room, circa 1890 Garton Road Shul in Rosenhayn, and visited the Alliance, Carmel and Woodbine colonies.

Ruth Bogutz, also of Cherry Hill, is president of the Tri-County Jewish Historical Society, and the story mentioned Rosenhayn, Jewish community buildings in Camden, Springville and Mount Laurel. Her conference session attracted area residents as well as those who had moved away.

"The dedication of the generations that came before me was quite amazing," said Bogutz, who plans to make a film about the Jewish communities of Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties.

Mount Laurel resident Steve Schecter, who created the excellent 200-page Philadelphia and New Jersey resource guide for the conference (which he's planning to turn into a book or larger CD), was mentioned as well. He became interested when his mother talked about the old days in South Philadelphia.

"She'd refer to folks as 'boat relatives,' meaning they came over (from Europe) on the same boat. After my mother died and I did more research, I learned that they did come over and band together, but frequently they were related through marriage or were distant cousins," Schecter said.

Read the complete article at the link above.

Philly 2009: 'Inquirer' covers opening night

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on this year's conference in this story of a few days ago.

It covered keynote speaker Father Patrick Desbois and his Ukraine project, tours, workshops and more.

The conference, which continues through Friday at the Sheraton Philadelphia Center City Hotel, will not dwell on the Holocaust.

With walking tours and workshops bearing titles such as "Mapping Madness" and "The Role of Philadelphia Jews in the Rise of Basketball," its overall tone is buoyant and industrious.

Yet, program chairman Mark Halpern pointed out, the "imperative" that compels Jewish interest in genealogy is serious.

"Jewish families have been fractured for a long time," said Halpern, an amateur genealogist. Decades before the Nazi extermination of six million, hundreds of thousands of Jews fled Eastern Europe to escape persecution.

For many of their children and grandchildren, he said, genealogy is "a way to reclaim the lives and history" of those who fled or were executed.

As of Thursday morning, the count was about 950 attendees, and the conference featured some 125 presenters.

The 12-page list of workshops and activities includes "Finding Places in the Russian Empire," "Learning the Cyrillic Alphabet," "The Changing Borders of Eastern Europe," "Common Genetic Traits and Diseases" of Jews, and "Finding Your Jewish Ancestors on Ancestry.com."

One of several field trips - some 100 signed up for the tours - visited the South Jersey chicken farms where many Jewish immigrants started their lives in America.

Although many programs focused on Eastern European Jewish identity, there were also several Sephardic topics and many technological sessions.

Read the complete story at the link above for more on Father Debois.

Philly 2009: IAJGS award winners

At tonight's conference banquet, the annual International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) awards were announced.

The award committee was chaired by Marc Manson (Michigan), and committee members Daniel Horowitz (Israel), Phyllis Kramer (Florida), Kahlile Mehr (Utah) and Gary Mokotoff (New Jersey).

Outstanding Programming or Project that

Advances the Objectives of Jewish Genealogy

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston, for its genealogy course. Accepted by president Heidi Urich.

Outstanding Publication by a

Member Organization of IAJGS

The New York Genealogical Society, for its Dorot quarterly journal which has been published for 30 years. Joy Rich is editor, and the award was accepted by president Linda Cantor.

Outstanding Contribution to Jewish Genealogy

via the Internet, Print or Electronic Product

Harry Boonin of Philadelphia for his two books, The Jewish Quarter of Philadelphia and Life and Times of Kesher Israel. He also received a special award from the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Philadelphia, conference co-host, for his work.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Joyce Field was honored for her tireless efforts on behalf of JewishGen's Jewish Online Worldwide Burial Register, Holocaust Database, Yizkor Book Database and content acquisition.

The Malcolm H. Stern Grant

The Stern Grant committee was chaired by SallyAnn Sack (Maryland), with Saul Isroff (UK) and Rochelle Kaplan (Utah). A $2,500 grant was awarded to Shamir of Latvia for its project: "The guide to Jewish materials stored in the Latvian Historical Archive.

Although the award was not announced publicly at the banquet, society voting delegates received the information in their information packets at the business meeting.

Its main purpose is to prepare a comprehensive overview of existing materials about the Latvian Jewish community in the Latvian State Archive for a guide that will benefit Jewish genealogists and others.

The archive holds unique materials from the 16th century which have never been catalogued and never made available to the public. Only a few archive workers are aware of the amount of that information.

Shamir is a non-profit organization in Riga, Latvia. It's main goal is to commemorate the memory of Latvian Jews. Its activities are also aimed at genealogical issues, such as renovation if the Jaunjelgava Jewish cemetery to recover more than 300 names of Jews buried there; Latvian synagogues and rabbis (1918-1940), and the current project is the Latvian Jewish Encyclopedia. tracing the history and fate of Latvian Jewry from 1561 to today.

Philly 2009: Making it all relative

Making it all relative is a story in today's Jewish Exponent, focused on the current international conference of Jewish genealogy by writer Hillel Kutler.

Read the story here.

Soon after Laurel Katz moved from Los Angeles to South Philadelphia three years ago, she began investigating her local roots. She joined the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Philadelphia, and at meetings wore a badge reading "Magen," the surname adopted by her great-great-grandfather Samuel -- Shmuel Megadenke in Ukraine -- when he moved to the city in 1904.

A genealogy society official informed Katz that she had just completed research on the Magen family for a friend's son who was celebrating his Bar Mitzvah. Katz reaped the windfall of information.

Networking and collaboration, learning and sharing are the highlights of each annual conference on Jewish genealogy.

The event drew nearly 900 attendees and featured sessions geared to genealogists from beginners to experts. A handful of talks were area-specific, such as on city and state genealogical research, the participation of Jewish Philadelphians in the establishment of professional basketball and Jewish agricultural colonies of Southern New Jersey.

Some genealogists, like Katz, were new to the field, but many more had been at it a while. Befitting the topic, several generations of families attended.

Technology feeds the addiction of Jewish genealogists, and includes online resources, DNA genetic genealogy, genealogy education, medical research, international research around the world, countries and much more.

Read the complete article at the link above.

Philly 2009: A thousand family detectives

Attendees at the international conference of Jewish genealogy ran the gamut of age, experience, family status, ancestry origins and more.

According to The Forward's story on the event, everyone's a detective!

Some, like Ann Francesconi, of Tavares, Fla., have been on the trail of their extended family’s past, as she said, “pretty much all my life.”

Francesconi’s most recent discovery was the passenger manifest that pinpointed her son-in-law’s Italian roots. “And when I found it, I went: Yes! Yes!” she said, reliving the wow moment of even the smallest find that can lead to the next, larger discovery and, in turn, to sites that were towns before the
Holocaust, or to places around the world where newly discovered family members
live.

“Genealogists never die,” declared the slogan on the T-shirt she
was wearing. “They just lose their census.”

Others, like Philadelphia freelance writer Stacia Friedman, have been tracing their roots for little more than a year. Friedman struck gold on her first trip to Philadelphia’s National Archives office when curiosity about her paternal grandmother led her to a document that listed the place where her great-uncle was born.

There are some moving borders; it might have been in Ukraine one day and Russia the next,” she said. No matter. The information placed a part of her family in a locale two generations back, and gave her more of a perspective. In little time, Friedman was hooked and volunteering at the conference.

A common refrain is that we all come from somewhere, no matter what area we research. How we got into this pursuit of finding family also demonstrates diverse reasons.

New resources and technology help in this process.

“This is an attempt to connect with something larger than yourself,” said David Mink, a Philadelphia restaurateur and international conference co-chair who wanted to give his children a sense of their ancestry, and then began researching his family four years ago. “I felt a desire to give the people not just names, but personalities,” he said. “We are the results of everything that preceded us, I believe. There’s probably a lot of my grandparents in me.”

Read the complete article at the link above.

Philly 2009: JewishGen's presentation

JewishGen's presentation on what's new at the site is always a big draw evening at the annual conference.

Managing director Warren Blatt welcomed people from all over, from Ashkenazi and Sephardic communities, to JewishGen's resources.

There have been changes (the logo, a new stable platform using six new servers at Ancestry, a new Board of Governors) in a year of transition, while the commitment to resources continues. Volunteers are still needed and contributors are sought as well to fund the site.

Warren provided a general overview of the multi-faceted JewishGen

Founded in 1987 as a dial-up service (an electronic forum for PC users) with 150 members, founded by Susan E. King, to an Internet presence in 1993, with databases online in 1996. Thousands of people worldwide centered on Jewish roots and history. Staffed by volunteers until 2004, when it became part of the Museum of Living Jewish Heritage, it is still dependent on volunteers for contributions and projects, while the museum partnership provides viability and stability.

The most popular components of JewishGen include the discussion groups with the general one attracting 30-40 messages per day as well as 30 SIGs and specialized discussion groups, InfoFiles, how-to, FAQ, Yizkor books (translations, necrologies), many important resources, how-to, ShtetlSeeker, Family Tree of the Jewish People, Jewish Online World Burial Registry (JOWBR), All-Country Databases, Holocaust Database (with some 2 million records), and some 450 other databases.

Warren said that he spent a week in the winter to relaunch and transit all of JewishGen to six new servers. Since January, JewishGen has been down only one hour, he added. There are still many software issues and they need techie people to help out. The Ancestry/JewishGen agreement also provides for transcription and scanning.

An overview of the new website design, which now includes the home page and a few top level pages. Soon the Kingdom of Poland Duma voter lists will be added as well as the Yizkor book master name index.

This week the new Beider-Morse Phonetic Matching (BMPM) will be added, which produces fewer false positives, improved soundex and determines the source language. In an example provided by Michael Tobias, a search for his own name written in the original Polish produced 12 hits with the regular soundex, but with BMPM, only 5 hits.

Visit JewishGen.org for more announcements.

Philly 2009: Day one activities

Tracing the Tribe saw many old friends today such as Steve Morse.

Some conference attendees arrived late as Philadelphia Airport was closed due to a thunderstorm. Now, however, the sun is shining. Unfortunately, Pamela Weisberger was one of those stuck in Chicago and her anticipated program on "New and Improved Jews in the News: Historical Newspaper Research" had to be cancelled.

This morning I interviewed Dr. Dorin Dobrincu, the Romanian national archivist and will post that tonight, as well as a report on the JRI-Poland luncheon on the current state of Polish cemeteries and property restitution.

One table receiving major traffic is that of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles, hosts of the 2010 conference. The co-chairs were providing T-shirts for donations of $20 and they were going , as well as logo stickers. The logo is great and Tracing the Tribe will unveil it here this week. Many were sporting the JGSLA 2010 stickers as well as Tracing the Tribe's new logo stickers.

More later, but now I'm on my way down to the IAJGS reception for society presidents. I'm the representing delegate for JFRA Israel, so will be attending.

Not yet sure about dinner plans, but at 7.30pm the opening session begins with keynote speaker Father Patrick Desbois ("Holocaust by Bullets: A Priest's Journey to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews").

Philly 2009: Digital photography for genealogy

Whale tracker expert Sally Mizroch of Seattle offered a fascinating take on digital photography for genealogy to a standing-room only crowd.

Sally, who is also president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State, shoots and handles thousands of photos on various whale-tracking projects, as well as for her genealogical research at cemeteries and other relevant information.

In July alone, on one long trip in Alaska, she shot 2,700 photos, each Geo-referenced with latitude and longitude.

She explained - with humor and expertise - that photos shot today are the historic photographs of tomorrow and thus her work and these techniques are relevant for genealogical research.

What's handy for her work is that there are many ways to work with Google Earth, and to enter many tagged photos showing the whale's name, place spotted, marks or comments and other fields. These can be uploaded to Google Earth and a map of all the points can be seen.

Here are some of her tips on working with digital technology:

1. Always work with the highest resolution of the current available technology and use software to make smaller (edited/cropped) copies JPG format) quickly. While RAW uncompressed photos might range up to 12mg, the same photo in JPG format might be from 400-800k.

2. Use a computer with 2GB RAM – Less will make you sad, she shared. GB storage devices are becoming cheaper and the technology is always improving.

3. Before leaving on a trip, take a day or so to test and compare all your new equipment (scanners, cameras, printers) to make sure the quality stays high. Get new stuff and try it out, and check the various settings.

4. RAW is the highest resolution. she used to convert to TIF but doesn't do that any longer, just straight to JPG. She usually stores the smaller files on a compact flash drive.

5. JPGs are compressed small files. The “lossy” format, guesses or predicts patterns, and can provide false information. JPG format sees the "dots" (as in newspaper photos), which is good for art, not so good for data. It's important for her whale work on ID'ing the mammals by their varying tails. The dots are not so important for genealogy purposes.

6. It's important to remember that each time a JPG is saved, it is compressed again and loses data.

There is no disadvantage to shooting in RAW format, and saving those shots as your negatives (with the same name as the JPG). New digital cameras write RAW files so fast that there is no lag time. Also, she added that the new compact flash cards are very fast and rather inexpensive.

Another distinction is that distant or badly lit JPG are unusable, while distant or badly lit RAW files can almost always be saved.

Sally uses two simple tools: A simple, not expensive photo editor which allows editing of metadata and batch process files and GEO-reference software and hardware.

She personally uses ACDSee Pro 2.5 for her editor (about $100) adding that it is not fancy editing and has a tool to browse renaming and is very practical - it's not for pretty art. It gives high-quality JPGs from RAW. For geo referencing, she has used RoboGeo, a RedHen/Holux GPS combo, and Dawn GPS.

Here are the steps from RAW to JPG conversion: Shoot RAW files to work with and match to the JPG files. Batch convert RAW files to small JPGS, select all, convert to JPG and best compression and turn them all into JPGs. In one example, the RAW file was 16mg, and the JPGs from the same file were 400-800k.

Her demonstration compared the quality of various formats, images and enlargements.

Digital cameras automatically store data as well as image information for each photo, such as time, date, camera model, shutter speed, focal length, exposure settings. This data can be imported directly into an Access database. In a batch edit mode, datafields can be changed.

The bottom line is that photos are data, not just images.

She repeated that attendees should "label, label, label" their photos.

Sally also spoke about digitizing old photos. She uses an Epson photoscanner or a Nikon film scanner, recommends using a copy stand, setting the camera on "text," and then to point and shoot.

In her genealogy research, she suggested that original photos, if possible, should be the basis for the RAW file. She's taken shots of sepia photos under glass when visiting relatives, and offered comparison photos taken using various methods, recommending to shoot at an angle, and taking from several angles and to not use the flash.

If you are in the market for a new digital camera, choose one with good low-light capability.

An expert in the audience commented on using the new smart phones to imbed GPS in photos.

And what about the old 35mm slides that many of have? Scan them using a Capermate projector.

What technology will we be using 50 years from now? Sally recommends keeping track of new technology, converting from the older technology, store on newer generation devices, and make sure you can view them.

This was an excellent program and I learned much more about my digital camera and what I could do with it. I was going to take a photo of Sally presenting this program, but my digital camera's battery had died.

I've just come back to my room to recharge the battery, and hope to bring you pix from the conference.

Philly 2009: Learning something new

Tracing the Tribe just spoke with Ellen Silverman of Philadelphia who is attending the conference.

Ellen demonstrates the diversity of attendees. While not Jewish herself, her husband was and she's helped Jewish friends with their research. Our conferences provide many general topics as well as specifically unique Jewish topics.

Each year we learn something new. Ellen just told me about the First Friday program at the NARA branch here in the city at Chestnut near 9th Street.

On the first Friday of each month, genealogists and researchers gather noon to 2pm to share success stories, ask questions, collaborate, network. These are people who regularly use the archives and gather once a month.

She's even found a family member at one of these meetings - they discovered that they were researching the same families from the same localities!

A staff archivists is always on hand to answer questions and assist.

Jefferson Moak, one of the local NARA archivists, will be presenting three talks at the conference this week. Ellen reports that he is often the archivist who joins in the First Friday get-togethers.

She suggested that other attendees may want to join the group this Friday after our conference ends.

Thanks, Ellen, for the information!

Philly 2009: Pre-event day

Many attendees were already in the hotel today. It did take us awhile to get the Internet connection working in our room, but did get it accomplished with the help of great tech guy Ryan.

I went downstairs and saw many old friends, joined a bunch of people in the bar area for some hellos, such as JewishGen's Warren Blatt and his wife Debra, Michael Tobias and his wife, as well as Stephanie Weiner and others.

Dinner was with Bob Wascou of Sacramento and Romanian national archivist Dr. Dorin Dobrincu, a truly charming man making his first appearance at the Jewish genealogy conference.

Many people registered tonight after 9pm and it was quite efficient: pick up the basics and bag at one station, ribbons at another, CD/syllabus at another. I gave Tracing the Tribe stickers to attendees still around the registration area.

It was great to see so many old friends!

I've just spent some time going over tomorrow's schedule and highlighted internal passport records of the Russian Empire, the JRI-Poland luncheon on cemeteries and property restitution, historical newspaper research, digital imagery for genealogy, the major opening session at 7.30pm and much more. During the day, I'm planning to access records in the Resource Room, visit the vendor room and start working in covering sessions.

Right now, though, it is time to get some sleep before tomorrow's busy day!

Philly 2009: Film festival highlights

The 2009 Film Festival at the conference offers these highlights:

- Sunday afternoon: "The House of Life: The Old Jewish Cemetery of Prague," (2.50pm) with filmmaker/artist, Mark Podwal, followed by "The Tree of Life" (4.20pm) dealing with the magical and mystical history of the Jews of Italy with documentarian, Hava Volterra. (repeated 5.15pm Monday with Volterra)

- Join us for the hilarious, short film "My Nose," about the standards of "beauty" in the Jewish world, with Gayle Kirschenbaum (accompanied by her mother, the impetus for this documentary). 11.50am.

- Tuesday, 5.35pm - Composer Jeff Hamburg, now living in Amsterdam, will discuss his film, "Terpe Kind Mains, Terpe," in which he returns to his Ukrainian ancestral village, and also travels to Uman.

- John Kovacs, a child survivor of the Abonyi Street Jewish School in Budapest, which is the topic of this new Hungarian film, "Captain Laszlo Ocskay: The Forgotten Hero," will discuss events in Budapest during WWII. 5pm Wednesday.

- Sharon Rennert - Tuvia Bielski's granddaughter - will introduce "Defiance" at 8.30pm Wednesday and "present her own full-length program: "The Bielski Partisans: A Granddaughter's Story" at 11.15am Thursday.

- Gabriella Bohm will discuss her film "The Longing: The Forgotten Jews of South America" at 9.45am Wednesday, and her film "Passages," on her Argentinian, Hungarian, and Israeli life-changing sojourn at 3.25pm.

- Richard Kollins takes us along on his surprising shtetl trip to Ukraine in "Bashert," at 2pm Thursday. If you've ever thought of undertaking a trip like this, this is a film worth seeing.

- No genealogical film festival would be complete without a screening of the hit UK program: "Who Do You Think You Are?"The festival will screen two episodes: Zoe Wanamaker, (11:15am Wednesday), covers UK, Chicago and Nikolayev, Ukraine research; and Esther Rantzen's (2.45pm Thursday) shocking discoveries in London's East End and Warsaw. Two Rantzen researchers - Hadassah Lipsius and Laurence Harris - will answer questions. after the screening.

- To view the complete film program, click on "film festival" on the program page. Click on the film title to see a complete synopsis.

All films and discussions are scheduled for Salon 3/4.

Popcorn, anyone?

Philly 2009: Game show night, August 4

Who said genealogists don't know how to have fun?

Calling all groyse machers, alter kockers, yentas, balabustas and mavens to the Jewish Genealogical Game Show Night, at 8.30pm, Tuesday, August 4, produced by Pamela Weisberger and Ron Arons.

Hosted by the always-hilarious and wildly-inappropriate, Jordan Auslander,
this will be an evening of entertainment in which conference attendees can
demonstrate their genealogical knowledge, historical acumen and research
skills by participating in game show formats adapted to the world of Jewish
genealogy, including: "Jewpardy," "Family Feud" and "Name that Jew!"

We will have Litvaks squaring off against Galitzianers, Ashkenazis versus
Sephardim, and experts versus amateurs, demonstrating how much they know and how much they like showing off how much they know.

The surprises and prizes will range from a genuine Golem clay figurine from Prague (made in Japan, no doubt); autographed books including "Talk Dirty Yiddish," "Chanukah Guilt" and "Jewish Fairytales;" tea named after your Uncle Irving; Bernie Madoff souvenirs; Soviet-style Polish candies that Bubbe used to make back in the shtetl; MP3 players with Jewish tunes, designer T-shirts for the 2010 IAJGS conference (be the first on your block!) and more.

Want to participate? Just put your name in the shtreimel. Contestants will be chosen at random that evening. The producers are also seeking contestants for the following Family Feud teams: Galitzianer, Litvak, Ashkenazi and Sephardic. Email Pamela Weisberger now to be categorized and take your shot at stardom.

Even if you can't yet talk dirty in Yiddish, can't tell an Ahnentafel from a Gedcom, and don't know if your first cousin twice removed is closer to you than your third cousin once removed, come to have fun, be enlightened, show off your chutzpah, and laugh out loud.

See you on Tuesday night!

Philly 2009: Arrived in Philadelphia!

Tracing the Tribe has arrived at the Sheraton City Center and the Internet connection is up and running.

The blog is now open for business at the 29th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy.

Stay tuned for announcements and events!

Philly 2009: A search in Galicia

Judy Maltz has a first-person account of her Galician search in today's Jewish Exponent.

"In Search of a Shared Past in East Galicia, With Camera in Hand" covers her visit to Sokal, where her father was born and her grandpaents lived.

It's one of those many little towns in the area known as East Galicia that every few years seemed to change hands. When my grandparents were coming of age, it was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire; between the two World Wars, it found itself on the edge of Poland's eastern border; during the Second World War, it was occupied by Nazi forces; and after the war, when the border moved west, it became Ukrainian territory.

But unless your family happens to have roots there -- as I've discovered -- most people have never heard of this part of the world.

For years, I'd try to imagine what it must have looked like. I'd picture the little farmhouses along the Bug River, the town square with its lively marketplace, the majestic synagogue where the Jews would gather each week for Shabbat prayers.
Judy Maltz entering Francisca Halamajowa's home at No. 4 Street of Our Lady for the first time; Maltz has made a documentary of her experiences.

Two years ago, she finally visited the town as she arrived to film a documentary on how her family had survived the Holocaust.

Before the war, some 6,000 Jews lived there, about 50% of the population. At the end of the war, only 30 had survived.

Maltz's film, "No. 4 Street of Our Lady," tells the story of Francisca Halamajowa, a Polish-Catholic woman, who risked her life to save 15 of these Jews, including eight members of my own family.

She hid two families -- the Maltzes and the Kindlers -- in the hayloft of the pigsty behind her house, and another family, the Krams, in a hole dug under the kitchen floor. For almost two years, she fed and cared for her Jewish boarders, even while German forces had their tanks parked on her property and had moved into her tiny two-room house.

Her grandfather, Moshe Maltz, kept a diary of those years which offered details of daily life. she was able to locate the house where three families had been hidden, using the diary as a guide. She also found the old Jewish ghetto, the three-century old synagogue ruins and the old Beit Midrash. Everything else had vanished.

On this journey, Maltz has discovered an international network of friends and others who have Sokal in common. Connections were made on the website for the film.

Among her new friends:

- Alan Charak of Sydney, Australia, whose father survived as a teenager working at the Sokal train station, where Maltz's great-uncle Shmelke watched out for him.

- David Zugman, a hidden child from Sokal, shared his extraordinary tale of survival from FLorida.

- New York Times' former executive editor Max Frankel's mother was from Sokal, and still remembers a trip there as a 6-year-old.

- Poland's first full-time Reform rabbi, Burt Schumann's great-uncle was a neighbor and friend of Maltz's grandfather.

The film will be screened at Philly 2009; check out the online program to see the schedule.

Read the complete article at the link above.

Philly 2009: Hate group protest planned

While our annual Jewish genealogy conferences are always exciting for many reasons - usually focusing on family history - this year's edition may have a bit more.

Daniel Sieradski, digital media editor at JTA.org, sent me a press release he had received concerning a planned protest at the conference by the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas.

Yes, the name is familiar and you've seen them on the news. Led by Fred Phelps, it is the same group that spouts anti-gay, anti-Jewish and anti-black rhetoric. The ADL lists it as a hate group.

Tracing the Tribe was simply going to ignore it, not wanting to give them any publicity.

However, the Jewish Exponent just posted a story on the planned protest this weekend in Philadelphia, which will target the conference, area synagogues and Jewish institutions. Tracing the Tribe felt its readers should be informed.

According to the press release, Philadelphia is on their radar because of the International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, at the Sheraton City Center Hotel. They plan to protest for 45 minutes mid-day Saturday and for 30 minutes very early Sunday morning.

As soon as Tracing the Tribe received the information, conference co-chair David Mink was informed.

Why are they targeting a Jewish genealogy conference?

The conference is co-hosted by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Philadelphia and the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS). According to the hate group, it is targeting the IAJGS. In the church's words:

"Yes. Israel has dealt treacherously with the Lord, and long ago trashed (thereby invalidating) His ancient covenant with her. The Jews killed Christ, and the genealogical lines of the 12 tribes and the Levitical priesthood are lost, until Christ returns and saves 144,000 (12,000 from each tribe). Hence, the IAJGS is a fraud."

The Exponent spoke to the hate group's attorney:

Shirley Phelps-Roper, an attorney for the group, who was contacted by phone, said that church members are targeting Jewish institutions in as many cities as they can get to, and that their message to Jews is clear: "You killed Christ, and you are not going to get away with that and you know it."

Philadelphia's police department spokesman was interviewed by the Exponent:

Captain William Fisher, a police department spokesman, said that nearly two weeks ago, the church informed police of its plans. Fisher noted that officers will be stationed at each of the designated buildings.

"They themselves are not a violent group of people, although some of the things they protest for can infuriate other citizens. They use the First Amendment greatly to their advantage," said the officer, who added that Westboro members have shown up in town numerous times in the past decade to protest various events.

"They don't just protest against Jewish people. They protest against Catholics, gays and government, and everything in between," said Fisher, adding that the Jewish community appeared well-informed and prepared for the demonstrations.

Some Greater Philadelphia synagogues have received more than 20 faxes from the church.

ADL associate regional director Nancy Baron-Baer told the Exponent that it just seems like their primary goal is to gain publicity for themselves.

She also provided good advice to conference attendees and to other sites where protests may take place:

Baron-Baer stressed that Jewish groups should not organize any counterprotests and that individuals attending services or other events should not speak to the protesters.

"My advice would be not to react, don't directly engage them or confront them. Just go about your business," said Baron-Baer, who added that any instance of hate speech can be made into a teachable moment about spreading a message of respect.

Read the complete Jewish Exponent story at the link above.

See you in Philadelphia!

Philly 2009: PJAC revised information

Corrections have been made to the post, Philly 2009: Resource Room adds more records, as communicated by Sarah Sherman.

Sarah's information has been incorporated into that post, but for the sake of clarity and reducing confusion, please note the following:

The address of Paley Library is 1210 West Berks.

Conference attendees visiting the Philadelphia Jewish Archives should note that, the PJAC will be operating out of the Lecture Hall in Paley Library, where resources will be. Both the Lecture Hall and Urban Archives (PJAC's new administrative home) are in the basement of Paley Library, Temple's main library, at the address above.

Additionally:

REVISED HOURS: Tuesday-Thursday, August 4-6, from 1-5pm. (No Monday hours).

ACCESS: Each visitor will need to present a photo ID (such as a driver's license) to enter Paley and to use materials.

PROCEDURE: Visitors should inform Paley Library entrance attendants that they want to go to Urban Archives. Visitors will be asked to show ID and sign-in. They may use microfilm one reel at a time, after handing their photo ID to Urban Archives personnel. Urban Archives personnel will search cards for relevant names. Copying will be done by Urban Archives personnel.

For more information on what records will be in the Resource Room at the hotel and what records will be accessible Tuesday-Thursday afternoons at Urban Archives at the Library, see the post at the link above.

Tracing the Tribe thanks Sarah Sherman for the updated information.

Philly 2009: Conference check-in details

As is normal for this annual conference, attendees will be checking in from several days prior to opening day or during the week for day visitors.

Here are the hours for conference check-in or on-site registration:

Saturday, August 1: 9:01-11pm (begins after Shabbat ends)
Sunday-Thursday, August 2-6: 7am-5pm
Friday, August 7: 7am-10am

Registration location: Liberty Ballroom level.

With so many people checking in early, Saturday night registration will be very busy. However, anyone on line before 11pm will be registered. If you show up later, you'll have to come back Sunday morning, so plan accordingly.

There will be six registration lines, so things should go smoothly.

Also, no tickets will be sold Saturday night. To purchase available tickets, attendees must return Sunday afternoon.

Remember: Bring a government-issued photo ID to register.

Did you order a printed syllabus or an extra syllabus CD? After you register, visit the special table to pick up those items.

See you in Philly!