Washington DC: 'Women in WWII,' dual program, April 17

Women in World War II is the topic in a dual program presented by the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington on Sunday, April 17.

The program is in two parts at Beth El Hebrew Congregation, 3830 Seminary Road, Alexandria, Virgina.

From 11am-1pm, the first part is an intermediate workshop on "Women's World War II Resistance," presented by Patti Maslinoff. It is open only to JGSGW members and is free.

Following a short business meeting, the second part begins at 1.30pm. Davi Walders will read from her book and tell the stories of women throughout Europe whose heroic acts fighting fascism during the Holocaust saved thousands of lives. This part is free to JGSGW members and first-time attendees ($5 for others).

See below for more details on both programs.

Maslinoff's program - My Journey in Genealogy: Tips, How-To's & Rewards - is a two-hour multimedia presentation packed with resources, helpful hints and motivation for genealogists primarily at the intermediate level, although she says even beginners will find much information useful.

She will share some insights, joys and frustrations from 15 years of researching family history.

Included will be techniques she developed for improving research, data collection, organization and presentation, with valuable tips that only come from experience. Also in the presentation is a focus on digital technology and its tools, such as scanners and new software that can help make unreadable documents more legible.

Maslinoff will demonstrate video and audio clips during her own genealogical journey, and will discuss preparation for and conducting video-recorded oral history interviews. Attendees will learn about common mistakes made by beginners intermediate and even advanced researchers.

Ms. Maslinoff’s effusive enthusiasm and involvement with Jewish genealogy will be a motivation to all attendees. She teaches detective skills that will enable us to uncover the records, facts and other information about our families that generate those thrilling “Aha” moments that we treasure. Registration: Pre-registration required. Class is limited to 40 students. Register here

The main program -Women’s World War II Resistance - with writer and educator Davi Walders, will discuss what led her to research and write a moving collection of stories about woman throughout Europe whose heroic acts fighting fascism during the Holocaust saved thousands of lives.

She will read from her newly-published book ("Woman Against Tyranny: Poems of Resistance During the Holocaust;" Clemson University Digital Press).

The book tells the stories of Jewish, Christian and Muslim women who resisted in many ways, from helping others escape, to parachuting into hostile territory, to providing translation support and many other actions.

She will share stories of those who survived and those who perished - known as well as unknown. Included are Dr. Rita Levi-Montalcini, Emilie Schindler, Baroness Germaine de Rothschild and others.

The session will address the question of why women's stories are so often unknown. Walders spent 15 years researching, traveling, and writing this collection. These women’s stories take place in such countries as Germany, Poland, France, Yugoslavia, Denmark, Slovakia, Albania, Greece, and elsewhere. The session will include discussion and a book-signing.

Walders' poetry and prose have appeared in more than 200 publications including CCAR Journal, Conservative Judaism, JOFA Journal, Judaism, Lilith and Midstream. She received Hadassah of Greater Washington's Myrtle Wreath Award for her work at NIH and its Children's Inn. For more biographical information, click here.

For more information and directions, click on the JGSGW website.

Denver: Border changes & migration routes, February 27

Do you know how border changes impacted your ancestors? How did they find their way to the boats that would carry them to new worlds?

"Chasing Border Changes and The Choice of Migration Routes for 20th Century Eastern European Jews" with Dr. David Shneer PhD, will begin at 10am on Sunday, February 27, at the Jewish Community Center, Denver. There is no fee.

When American Ashkenazi Jews think of their migration stories, they almost always involve a small town in contemporary Poland or Ukraine, a boat across an ocean, and a story of triumph in the new world. What about those Jews who took trains to other places in Eastern Europe like Moscow, Kharkov, Lodz, or Budapest? In this lecture, we will learn more about Jewish migration patterns, changing European country borders and ask how the mass emigration of many of our relatives fits into a larger story about Jewish migration throughout Eastern Europe.

David Shneer is associate professor of history and director of Jewish Studies at University of Colorado at Boulder.

His newest book project - "Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War, & the Holocaust" - looks at the lives and works of two dozen World War II military photographers to examine what kinds of photographs they took when they encountered evidence of Nazi genocide on the Eastern Front.

Shneer has lived and worked as a scholar and writer in Russia, Germany, and Israel and has written for the New York Times, Huffington Post, Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post as well as magazines dedicated to Jewish life and culture, including The Forward, Pakntreger, Jewcy, and Nextbook.

He has served as the Resnick Fellow at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Stern Senior Scholar at the South African Holocaust Foundation.

For more information, view the JGSCo website.

USHMM: Soviet Jewish officers and Germany, March 18

"Jewish Revenge? Soviet Jewish Officers' Encounters with Germany, 1945" is the 2010 Ina Levine lecture at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum on Thursday, March 18, in Washington DC.

It starts at 7pm in the Helena Rubinstein Auditorium, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW.

Professor Oleg Budnitskii will present his work on Soviet Jewish identity through the lens of the Soviet Jewish military experience of World War II.

In Moscow, Budnitskii is: Senior research fellow, Institute of Russian History, Russian Academy of Sciences; academic director, International Center for Russian and Eastern European Jewish Studies: and professor of history, Department of Jewish Studies, Institute of Asian and African Studies, Moscow State University.

The author of numerous works, he most recently published (2008) Den'gi russkoi emigratsii: Kolchakovskoe zoloto, 1918-1957 (Money of the Russian Emigration: Kolchak's Gold, 1918-1957) and (2005) Rossiiskie evrei mezhdy krasnymi i belymi, 1917-1920 (Russian Jews between the Reds and the Whites, 1917-1920) of which an English translation is being published by the University of Pennsylvania Press.

For more information or to register, click here. To learn about past presentations and hear recordings, click here.

San Francisco: 'Jews in China' series during March

Jews in Modern China is a series of programs touching on the Jewish experience, sponsored by the American Jewish Committee San Francisco.


The exhibit of photographs, documents and memorabilia portrays a little known chapter in Chinese and Jewish history. It follows three ethnic streams of Jewish communities that lived in harmony with their Chinese neighbors in Shanghai and other Chinese cities, 1840-1949:

-- Sephardic merchants, originally from Iraq, who played a significant role in the commercial and real estate development of Shanghai. Settling mainly in the British sector of the city, they built synagogues and established Jewish social service agencies, schools and other institutions that laid a foundation for Jewish communal life.

-- Russian Jews escaping czarist pogroms from the 1880s to World War I and after World War I, the Russian Revolution. This community brought Zionist organizations, Yiddish publications and other cultural activity to Shanghai’s French Concession, as well as to Harbin, further north.

-- European Jews escaping the coming Holocaust. Shanghai was an open city that did not require visas or passports to enter. Despite the Japanese occupation of Shanghai when they arrived, Jews lived in relative comfort, thanks to the previously settled Jewish community. However, in 1942 the Japanese, bowing to the wishes of their German allies, confined Jews who had come from Europe since 1937 to a squalid ghetto area until the end of the war.

The program is part of the Shanghai Celebration, a year-long program for the San Francisco Bay area, with exhibitions, films, performances, lectures. and other events. It also includes the Asian Art Museum's major Shanghai exhibit (February 12-September 5).

"Jews in Modern China" series includes:

Tuesday, March 2, 5:30pm - Officers Club, the Presidio, San Francisco

Exhibit viewing and a conversation between Professor Pan Guang, dean of Center for Jewish Studies, Shanghai; and Professor Thomas Gold, UC-Berkeley. Sponsors: American Jewish Committee San Francisco Office, Asia Society of
Northern California.

"Shanghai Jews: Art, Architecture and Survival"
Thursday, March 4, 7pm - Contemporary Jewish Museum

From the mid-19th-mid-20th centuries, Shanghai was transformed into a multi-cultural, international city. Presented by Nancy Berliner, Chinese art curator, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts. Sponsors: Asian Art Museum, Holocaust Center of Northern California, American Jewish Committee San Francisco Office.

"Remembering Rena"
Sunday, March 7, 2pm - Officers Club, Presidio, San Francisco

A program honoring the late Rena Krasno, a Shanghai native whose books, lectures, and archival projects crafted a legacy of connection to the Jewish experience in China. Speakers will include colleagues, friends and family. Sponsors: The Sino-Judaic Institute, Pacific View Press.

"A Young Man in Shanghai: Troubles and Triumphs"
Wednesday, March 10, 7pm - Officers Club, Presidio, San Francisco

Author and educator Audrey Friedman Marcus, who will discuss the Shanghai experiences of her late husband, Fred Marcus, who fled Germany at age 15. His recently published diary depicts the challenges and struggles that he and some 20,000 fellow Jewish refugees encountered. Sponsors: American Jewish Committee San Francisco Office, Bureau of Jewish Education of San Francisco.

"Founders of the Shanghai Jewish Community: The Sephardic Story"
Sunday, March 14, 2pm - Officers Club, Presidio, San Francisco

Presented by Shanghai-born Leah Jacob Garrick - the fourth generation of her family to live there. She will discuss the history and legacy of Sephardic families who laid the foundation of the Shanghai Jewish community while playing a significant role in the business and architectural development of the city itself. Sponsors: China International Cultural Exchange Center, American Jewish Committee's San Francisco office.

Lehrhaus Judaica will also sponsor the related "Jews in Modern China" lecture series, at 4pm, March 21, at Netivot Shalom, Berkeley, and at 7pm April 29, at the Officers Club, Presidio. The series features Bay area residents who represent the Sephardic, Russian and Holocaust-refugee communities of China (1840-1949). Speakers include Rabbi Theodore Alexander, Leah Jacob Garrick and Inna Mink. Moderator: Linda Frank.

For more information, visit the AJC San Francisco.

UK: 1939 census may hold answers

Looking for ancestors who lived in the UK in 1939? The following new resource may help, according to London researcher Laurence Harris.

While census records are a major source of information for family historians and genealogists, access to recent records is limited in most countries, thus access to this 1939 collection may be useful to researchers.

Laurence writes that there has been a UK census (England and Wales), recording individual names and other relevant details, every 10 years since 1841, with 1911 being the last publicly released census data for individuals:

• There was a 1921 census (data to be released in 2021).


• The 1931 census data was destroyed during WWII.


• There was no 1941 census due to the war.


• There is a massive gap (1911-1951) in currently available UK census information.


• In preparation for war, an effective census (1939 National Registration Act) was taken on September 29, 1939, including such details as name, sex, age, occupation, marital status and membership in the armed forces.


• Data was later used for issuance of ID cards, post-war National Insurance numbers, and other purposes.

In a recent development, individuals may now apply to have a copy of the data in this 1939 register (relating to those then living in England or Wales) by applying to The Information Centre of the NHS (National Health Service).

CAVEAT: Data is only supplied about individuals known by the NHS to be deceased (they know about the deaths of most individuals who died in the UK) or whom the researcher can prove is deceased.

Laurence has personally contacted the NHS department handling applications for 1939 data and shared the following information.

There are two main ways of applying:

• Supply the full name and (exact) date of birth of an individual - and you will be sent all the details they have about that individual including their 1939 address, OR


• Supply a 1939 address in the UK and they will supply the details of up to 10 persons living at that address at that time.

The data is not publicly available online, and each application costs a hefty non-refundable £42. CAVEAT: The fee is non-refundable even if no information is found or if it is incomplete or illegible, or if information is located but cannot be released because it relates to a person whose death cannot be proved by the NHS or the researcher.

However, says Laurence, "Despite the high cost of obtaining this data and the restrictions on its availability, this unique source may provide some researchers with breakthrough information about their ancestors at the outbreak of WWII."

For details about the process (England and Wales only), click here for the application form, payment information and more. For access to the 1939 Scottish data, click here for more information.

Researchers should bear in mind, adds Laurence, that to get details of family members in 1939 - if you don't know their September 1939 address - might require two separate sequential applications:

• Step 1: Apply to obtain an address, AND


• Step 2: Apply to find out who else was living at that address.

No information will be given for individuals who are or could be living.

Those who request an address search will only be provided the names and details of people known to be deceased. If there were other family members who could still be alive, the researcher will not be told.

Readers who would like more information about this data or other sources for tracing people who lived in - or passed through the UK - from 1880-1950, should contact Laurence, who is a specialist in UK Jewish family history research.

Footnote.com: WWII collection free in December

Today, Footnote.com has opened its extensive WWII collection to free public access during December.

In honor of Pearl Harbor Day, this largest WWII grouping, including the first-ever interactive USS Arizona Memorial, offers more than 10 million records, documents and photos from the National Archives. These resources will help more people to better understand the historical events and to find family members who served in the various military branches.

A quick check for COHEN resulted in 283 mentions in various categories. Try your own names of interest to see what information is available.

The Interactive USS Arizona Memorial online version allows viewers to see the actual wall of names and search for those they know. An interactive box for each name features additional information for each veteran, and provides a place where viewers can contribute photos and stories. As an example, view Franklin Van Valkenburgh - The USS Arizona's captain - on the wall.

Although more than 2 million WWII veterans are still alive today in the US, thousands of veterans are lost each month - taking their WWII stories with them. Footnote's efforts to help preserve and transmit these stories is assisted by digitizing National Archives documents and providing tools to help people connect and honor their family members.

Footnote.com's press release mentioned Christina Knoedler of Pennsylvania, who used the Missing Air Crew Reports to discover information about her WWII vet father-in-law. “The other night, I showed him what I had found,” explains Christina. “He couldn’t believe that these papers existed. They had not only his name but also his buddies’ names. He started to reminisce and it was quite an evening. This will allow me to go back and document many more events in our family’s history for the generations to come.”

In addition to the Missing Air Crew Reports, the other WWII collections at Footnote.com include:

Pearl Harbor Muster Rolls
U.S. Air Force Photos
Submarine Patrol Reports
Japanese Air Target Analysis
Army JAG Case Files
Navy JAG Case Files
Naval Press Clippings
Allied Military Conferences
Holocaust Records

According to Footnote.com CEO Russell Wilding, people are making fascinating discoveries in the records. Reading the first-hand accounts helps viewers develop a different view and appreciation of WWII heroes and their experiences.

Experience the Interactive USS Arizona Memorial and the World War II collection.