Monday, February 23, 2015 at 7:30PM

Holly Golightly Was a Nice Jewish Girl:

Our Ancestors Reinvented

with Pamela Weisberger

Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90049

Who can resist a mystery?

Ever wonder if there was more to your family history than meets the eye? Poor immigrant Jews arriving in Der Goldene Medina (the promised land) not only shed their old world clothing and shtetl names, but often completely reinvented their personalities, creating new identities and obscuring old ones. From deadbeat, bigamist husbands to sweatshop maideles transformed into Ziegfeld chorines, explore the trajectories of these extraordinary lives through genealogical case studies. Hear the tale of two foster-home Bessarabian beauties who became muses to a teenage Truman Capote, Russian immigrant fishmonger Avram from Odessa who got “whacked by the mob” as gun-runner “Barney Blum” in the film-noir 1920s Los Angeles, and follow the trail of Charles Kaufman born in 1847 Lichtenau, heading to make his fortune in San Francisco, the west’s mining industry, then on to Australia’s Eastern Goldfields and finally to high society London, establishing three citizenships along the way. Using creative methodology and genealogical travel we’ll explore the twisted roads our ancestors traveled to establish a new life — or run out on an old one. Learn investigative techniques for uncovering the truth about your own amazing (but often hidden) family history.

Pamela Weisberger is the 1st vice-president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles, president of Gesher Galicia, and was co-chair of the 2010 IAJGS Conference. A professional genealogist, writer, and international lecturer, she specializes in Eastern European archival and historical newspaper research and created the Galician Archival Records Project.

JGSLA members free, guests $5.00. The JGSLA traveling library will be available starting at 7:00PM. For directions click here.

Click to enlarge the photos.

Sunday, July 21, 2013 at 1:30 PM

University Synagogue
11960 Sunset Blvd.
West Los Angeles, CA 90049

From helpful tools to must-search record collections, Ancestry’s Crista Cowan will demo the top five recent latest additions to Ancestry.com. She will tell you where to find them, how to use them, and how to “tweak” your results to be successful, plus answer your questions about how to get the most from each. Five isn’t enough for you? Then you’re in luck: the “barefoot genealogist” (as she’s cheerfully known) has never been good at limiting herself so expect a few bonus newbies, too with plenty of time for Q & A afterwards. Make sure to bring your detailed Ancestry research questions. We’ll have live Internet and she can show you the best way to tackle difficult research stumpers to knock down those brick walls. Whether you are brand-new to genealogy and don’t quite know where to start, or an experienced researcher who finds Ancestry a bit overwhelming (or confounding) at times…she will explain it all for you!

 

Crista Cowan

Crista Cowan has been with Ancestry.com since 2004; her interest in family history, however, reaches all the way back to childhood. She is currently working in the Corporate Communications/PR department at Ancestry.com and her primary responsibilities are bi-weekly internet broadcasts, teaching basic genealogy methodology, speaking at conferences and events, and interacting with our members through social media. She also works with the Ancestry World Archives Project – helping people preserve historical records, managing the indexing portion of digital production services, responsible for converting, keying, auditing genealogical records for posting on Ancestry suite of websites.Come at 1:00 PM for the JGSLA traveling library. Refreshments will be served.

“A Genealogical Journey to Heritage Citizenship: Reclaiming Historical Rights”

Monday, June 17 at 7:30 PM

Valley Beth Shalom Synagogue
15739 Ventura Blvd
Encino, CA 91436

UPDATE: This talk was recorded! Watch the video here:

Citizenship and legal status affected every aspect of Jewish life in the “Old Country”. Follow a 100 year circular story of how Lithuanian national laws were misapplied causing multiple Jewish deaths in 1922 and how the same government repeated the identical behavior towards the same family four generations later.

Follow the documented saga of deportations, starvation, massive death, abductions and movements of one Jewish family, and understand the implications of heritage citizenships for past, current and future generations.

(A handout explaining the different pathways to acquiring citizenships for countries in Central and Eastern Europe will also be provided.)

Grant Gochin

Speaker: Grant Gochin is a Litvak who has been researching his family history for the past 30 years. Professionally, he is a certified financial planner and a wealth advisor in Encino. He also serves as the Honorary Consul for the Republic of Togo and as secretary of the executive committee of the Los Angeles Consular Corps. He is married with one son.The traveling library will be available at 7:00 PM and refreshments will be served. JGSLA members are free, guests are $5.00.

Chutes & Ladders: Innovative Approaches to Genealogy

Monday, May 13 at 7:30 PM

Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049

If you treat genealogical research like a game to be mastered or a puzzle to be solved, it makes the adventure of finding your family that much more enjoyable and rewarding. This lecture covers unusual databases and imaginative strategies that can lead to research breakthroughs.Highlights will be overlooked resources, new approaches to well-known Internet resources and creative ways to Google, along with thinking “outside of the box” and revisiting old research with fresh eyes. Also covered will be the surprising riches found in newspapers, directories, real estate, court, bank records and criminal records and how to tweak “people finder” sites to really find missing and elusive relatives.

Pamela Weisberger

Pamela Weisberger is the program chair for the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles and president and research coordinator for Gesher Galicia, the special interest group for people researching their roots in the former Austrian province of Galicia. She co-chaired the 2010 IAJGS Conference and several IAJGS film festivals, and has produced several genealogically-themed documentaries. She has lectures internationally on a variety of genealogical topics and as a professional researcher she has worked in Ukrainian, Polish and Austrian archives. Pamela holds a B.A. from Washington University and an M.S. from Boston University.

Monday, April 29 at 7:30 PM

Toyota USA Auto Museum
19600 Van Ness Ave.
Torrance, CA 90501

One of the first things that the newly created United States of America did was to establish laws covering naturalization. These laws, however, were administered by the states with many variations. Finally, in 1906 the Federal Government took control of the entire process. The standardized documentation after 1906 has proven invaluable to genealogical researchers. Similarly, laws controlling immigration have also changed over time, generally becoming more restrictive. As immigration and naturalization documentation can be key information in tracing one’s roots, understanding how the process worked over time, understanding how the information was recorded and where it might be found is essential. This lecture will provide a short history of immigration and naturalization laws and provide general guidance in finding your ancestor’s documentation.

Hal Bookbinder

Hal Bookbinder has been researching for 28 years, identifying 4,000 relatives and tracing two of these lines into the mid 1700s. A former president of JGSLA and IAJGS, he created and continues to edit the annual Jewish Genealogical Yearbook. Hal has spoken at numerous conferences, synagogues and society meetings on topics from computing to geography to brick walls. He is the director of IT infrastructure and operations for the UCLA Health System, teaches business, mathematics and information technology for the University of Phoenix and directs continuing job readiness programs at two substance abuse recovery facilities in Los Angeles; the Midnight Mission and its sister organization, the Family Housing Facility.

JGSLA members, is your research stuck in a rut? Brick walls to scale?
Searching for that elusive missing link on your family tree?
The JGSLA can help!  Join us for the JGSLA spring members-only

ASSISTED RESEARCH AFTERNOON
AT THE LOS ANGELES FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY

Sunday, April 7, 2013
1:00 PM – 6:00 PM

L.A. Family History Library
10741 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Los Angeles, CA 90025

Join us for an afternoon of mentor-guided research using the microfilms, books and records at the Family History Library.  Free document translations in Russian, Polish, Yiddish and Hebrew!

Knowledgeable JGSLA members will guide you at the computers and in the microfilm room. Use the abundant resources, including Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, Fold3 (military records), FindMyPast (UK records), JewishGen and more. Bring your research notes, family trees, copies of documents and written questions so we can serve you better.

Join us for free classes and a Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) film screening:

1:45PM – 2:00PM: “IAJGS Boston Conference Preview”
Learn about the headline speakers and programs for this summer’s IAJGS Conference from August 4 -9.

2:00PM – 2:40PM: “Using the new JGSLA Members-only Databases”
Your JGSLA membership now provides access to Newspaper Archive, Jewish Data, Fold3, and the Godfrey Library. Learn about the riches of these databases, including cemetery photographs from many states, naturalization records, newspaper finds and how they can add to your research.
Speaker:  Pamela Weisberger is the program chair for the JGSLA and president and research coordinator for Gesher Galicia, a special interest group for people researching roots in the former Austrian Province of Galicia.

2:45PM – 3:45PM: “Finding & Using Records in Southern California”
Learn about the history of Southern California record-keeping at the state and county level, and how to acquire CA records and documents. Mara will discuss different resources and the best approaches to your California research.
Speaker:  Mara Fein, Ph.D., CG, earned her doctorate in English from the University of Southern California, has served as a grader for the National Genealogical Society (NGS) American Genealogy Home Study course. She is a member of the NGS, the Association of Professional Genealogists, and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles. She may be reached at: mfein@ancestrywest.com

4:00PM – 5:45PM: Yom HaShoah Screening: “Lala: Legacy of Silence”
In this poignant documentary film, filmmaker Catherine Galodé retraces her mother’s steps from growing up in Dobrzayn nad Drweca (Pomerania district of Poland) to her life in a concentration camp, escape from the train to Treblinka, and eventual flight to France. Buoyed by a set of old photographs carried by her mother, Galodé tries to understand the mystery surrounding her mother’s suicide and the role the Shoah played in it.
Speaker:  Samuel Prum has been pursuing genealogy since his retirement from a career in aerospace, where he worked on the development of satellites such as GPS, mobile communications systems, air traffic management, and large data management systems.  He is actively researching his family history, which includes Polish, Ukrainian, and Spanish (Sefardic) roots.  Sam’s father’s family comes from Dobrzyn nad Drweca, Poland, where Catherine’s mother, Lala was also born and raised.  Dobrzyn is a small town about 100 miles northwest of Warsaw in the Pomerania District of Polish Prussia.  Prior to the start of WWII, Dobrzyn had about 5000 inhabitants and was about fifty percent Jewish.  Today there are no Jews in Dobrzyn.

TRANSLATION APPOINTMENTS – BOOK NOW!

If you want to book a 30 minute translation appointment (from 1:00P – 5:00P) with Miriam Koral (Yiddish), Judith Springer (Polish & Russian) and/or Bracha Rappaport (Hebrew & headstones) please contact Pamela with your time preferences: pweisberger@gmail.com BY Friday, April 5th!

You can bring food to eat in the lunchroom (there is a refrigerator and a microwave) and there are vending machines.

BARTON’S CHOCOLATE KISSES FOR DONATION!

Back by popular demand, the JGSLA is offering decorative tins of the famous Barton’s kisses for a donation of $15.00. (These are kosher and each tin had 21 individually-wrapped pieces in them.) Limited supply, so if you wish to pre-order, please contact me. They will be available at the FHL on the 7th and the procedes go to support the JGSLA.

YOM HASHOAH NOTES

We hope that many of you will schedule your work to conclude by 4PM so you can view our special Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) screening  of “Lala: Legacy of Silence.”  Below is a bit more biographical information about JGSLA member, Sam Prum, and his relationship to those who made this film:

All of my family, except for two uncles and my father perished in the Holocaust.  My father immigrated to Mexico in December 1938, to join one brother already there.  A second brother, Stefan, survived the Holocaust in the underground, after escaping the Warsaw ghetto.  He was reunited with the remaining family in Mexico in 1947.

As part of my genealogical research into my family, I got to know Frank Dobia, another Holocaust survivor and former “Dobrzyner,” now living in Australia.  We struck a very close friendship; Frank actually had known my family and had also met my uncle Stefan in Dobrzyn after the war, when they both returned to Dobrzyn, seeking to find other survivors.

Frank is a cousin of Lala, Catherine’s mother. He is also seen in the film. Frank flew to Poland in 2010 as a guest of the German government to speak at the Commemoration of 65 years since the liberation of Buchenwald.  On his way back to Australia, he stopped in France and met with Catherine, who had just completed this film.  Frank offered to help her share this beautiful film with other interested people.  Frank asked me if I was interested in also sharing this film.  After watching it, it touched me very deeply; I felt it was a beautiful and meaningful work that deserved recognition.

It also turns out, though I did not know it at the time, that I had a connection with Lala’s brother, Idek, who is mentioned in the film. As it turns out, Idek and my father were good friends in Dobrzyn.  I recently found an exchange of letters between my father and Idek dated 1973; my father had actually visited Idek in Paris and they were elated to reconnect.  Sadly, Idek passed away a few years later, and my father passed away in 1994, before I knew any of this.

This meeting is for current JGSLA members, but you can join or renew at the door. This is fun, popular afternoon…and the perfect opportunity to get expert help or to begin your family research. Encourage your friends to join up and try us out.

On the Chocolate Trail:
A Delicious Adventure Connecting Jews, History, Travel,
Religion and Rituals to the Magic of Cacao

Explore the surprising Jewish connections to chocolate

During this gastronomic talk for chocolate-lovers of all backgrounds, writer and educator Rabbi Deborah Prinz will share stories of Jews in the early chocolate trade and examine into how Jews, Pre-Columbians, Catholics, and Protestants all connected through chocolate’s religious rituals and narratives. Also find out how chocolate outed the Jews in Mexico after the Inquisition, why Israelis are meshuga for chocolate, and more.  A Q&A and book signing of Prinz’s new book, On the Chocolate Trail, follow the program.

Reservations required! Every JGSLA member can invite one guest for free – yes, two free tickets, and after that the price is $11.50 each. Our Discount Code is 99780. You must register yourself. Please don’t contact JGSLA staff to make your reservations. If you have to cancel, however, you may contact Pamela Weisberger at pweisberger@gmail.com

Rabbi Prinz currently serves the Central Conference of American Rabbis as Director of Program and Member Services and the Director of the Joint Commission on Rabbinic Mentoring, having held a number of leadership positions in the national and regional Reform movement. She was honored to conduct the worship services at regional and national biennials of the Union for Reform Judaism. Deborah R. Prinz’s book, Jews on the Chocolate Trail, was published in 2012 by Jewish Lights. She was awarded a Starkoff Fellowship and a Director’s Fellowship from the American Jewish Archives as well as a Gilder Lehrman Fellowship from the Rockefeller Library to pursue this research. She has lectured on this topic around the country in a number of settings, including historical societies, JCC’s, rabbinical associations, synagogue groups, food conferences. Elected by her colleagues, Rabbi Prinz held each office of the Board of the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis and assumed its presidency in 2005. For many years she served as a member of the Executive Committee of the U.R.J.-C.C.A.R. Commission on Outreach & Synagogue Community. The Rabbi Emerita of Temple Adat Shalom, Poway, California, she served as its Senior Rabbi for almost twenty years. Prior to that she was, for seven years, the Rabbi of a synagogue in Bergen County, New Jersey, and also the Assistant Rabbi of Central Synagogue in Manhattan. She has delivered many talks to community organizations. Rabbi Prinz is married to Rabbi Mark Hurvitz and is the proud mother of Avigail, Noam & Rachel.

HERE ARE THE RESERVATION INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Go to http://www.skirball.org/programs/readings-talks/deborah-prinz (or link from home page: www.Skirball.org via their Calendar or “What’s on” section.
2. Click the blue “Buy Tickets Online” button on that page to go to the ticketing site.
3. Click the quantity of tickets you would like on the arrow box. Click “Add to Cart.”
4. NOTE: JGSLA or Skirball members get a discount for up to 2 free tickets. Any additional will be charged regular fee of $10 each, plus $1.50 service charge ($11.50 each total.)
5. Click on “My Account” to log in to the Skirball ticketing system.  YOU MUST BE LOGGED IN TO PURCHASE TICKETS!
6. NOTE: If you have already completed a profile based on previous programs, log in with your user name and password.  If you don’t already have a profile, click on “New User – Complete and Account” to complete the “Personal Details and Address Information” lines that are marked with an asterisk.  If you have an account, but forgot your password, click “Forgot Password” link and it will send you a reset email message right away.  You can also phone them for help during business hours.
7. Once logged into the member section, click on “Cart” and on the “Complete Order” page, click on the “Click Here to Redeem Discount Coupons” box.
8. That click will bring up a small box where you will type in the 5 digit coupon ID (in this case it is 99780). After typing in the code, click the purple “Add Coupon” button to the right next to the Order Summary table at the far right.
9. That should apply the discount ($11.50 per ticket, max of 2) and if you have additional tickets in this transaction you will need to type in your credit card to cover the rest of the transaction.
10. The $1.50 service fees are included in this discount and should be waived for this discounted transaction. You should print your transaction or save to your computer to verify that it has gone through.

NOTE: Please do NOT share this discount code with anyone else. The JGLSA will check our current membership list and any name reserving tickets with this discount code who is NOT a JGSLA member will be contacted to have their free tickets canceled.

Troubleshooting tips:

• If you are a current Skirball Member, this JGSLA discount code will not work, our system will only recognize one discount and Membership is considered a discount status in this ticketing system.
• Don’t worry if the item count says 3 when you’ve ordered only two tickets. The extra number reflects the free service fee you’ve received. Make sure to print up your order so you are certain it went through!
• If you have any problems, call the Skirball Ticketing Office during business hours: 310-440-4500

Genealogical Adventures in Shtetland

Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N. Sepulveda Boulevard
Los Angeles 90049

To Heller and Back: From home office to Grandpa’s home in five crazy weeks

Lauren Farasati at her ancestral shtetl Bukaczowce, Ukraine

Lauren Farasati had never dabbled in genealogy until last August when she cleaned a closet and found a treasure. That treasure sparked her curiosity and launched her into a whirlwind of research, new friends, new family and the trip beyond her wildest expectations. Within five weeks of discovering that treasure and the clues it contained, she was standing in front of her grandfather’s ancestral home in the town of Bukaczowce, Ukraine. In her presentation, she’ll share her approach to warp-speed family research, planning a genealogy trip and enjoying the adventure of a lifetime.

The Originals: A Story of Origins

Randall Babtkis

Author Randall Babtkis began writing a novel about his father, a Los Angeles automobile mechanic said to be in possession of an “original” mind. When an excerpt from this work won a small prize, he seized the moment and found himself boarding an airplane after 10 years of “flight abstinence.” He traveled to shtetl villages his ancestors fled along the endless belt of grassland, which today makes up Ukraine. At least two strands of his “tribe” vacated that familial realm – what was then known as Galicia – at the end of the 19th century. One strand would emerge as Hollywood moguls, the other, esoterics, authentic Landsmanshaftn of a world gone by.

Sneak Preview: The USHMM & the ITS Database at the Skirball with Lisa Zaid

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum

This year the United States Holocaust Memorial in Washington, DC is celebrating 20 years of honoring memory and inspiring action. To mark this milestone, the Museum will be going on a national tour. All in LA are invited to join us for a free, daylong public event at the Skirball Cultural Center on February 17, 2013.

Guests will have the opportunity to participate in a special tribute honoring Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans with the U.S. Army Honor Guard, discuss profound questions about the Holocaust with distinguished panelists, view rarely seen archival films and learn about the fascinating stories behind artifacts in our collections, conduct family research in the ITS International Tracing Service Archives (archives which have never before been available in the United States outside of the Museum), meet one-on-one with curators to discuss or donate family collections, watch the one-man theatrical performance “Time Capsule in a Milkcan” about Jewish cultural life and identity in the Warsaw ghetto.

This event is free and open to the public of all ages but advanced registration is required. To attend, guests should register online at http://www.ushmm.org/neveragain. A full schedule of the event is also available on our website. Free transportation may be available for Holocaust survivors and WWII veterans. Please contact Lisa Zaid at  lzaid@ushmm.org for more details. Or…you can register on February 11 at our meeting!

Speaker Biographies

Lauren Heller Farasati is a practice management coach to financial advisors and wealth managers. Her focus is on designing, recruiting and developing world-class teams for her clients. Lauren used her coaching skills – to quickly uncover data and develop a plan of action – when she entered the world of genealogy last year. Lauren lives in Pleasant Hill, California, with her husband, Reza, and has two grown children, Adam and JoJo.

Randall Babtkis is the author of a poetry chapbook, Banister, and The Originals, a novel-in-progress. Randall is the founder of an early free media/cross-genre work, The Telephone Project, produced in Venice, CA. He has contributed work to national literary magazines, including Five Fingers Review and The Quarterly (Vintage). He currently teaches literature and writing courses in a graduate Master of Fine Arts program at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco where he serves as editor of Mission At Tenth http://www.missionattenth.com.

Lisa Zaid is Special Projects Manager of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and based in Los Angeles. She previously worked in the Museum’s Washington, DC headquarters at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies where she engaged in a broad range of research related projects. Lisa was also part of the research team assembled by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany to help substantiate Holocaust survivors’ claims for compensation. A graduate of Scripps College, Lisa is the granddaughter of four Holocaust survivors.

Reservations required.  JGSLA & Skirball members will be provided with a code by February 8.  Members are free and can reserve for one free guest.  Additional guests are $10.

American Jewish Rescuers: The Lehman Family

Wilshire Boulevard Temple – Irmas Campus
11661 W. Olympic Blvd. Los Angeles 90064

The Mayer Lehman Charity Fund facilitated the rescue and support of almost 200 European Jews prior to the Holocaust, many of them Lehman family members. Established by the Lehman family, The Mayer Lehman Charity Fund was named for one of the three German immigrant brothers, Mayer Lehman (1830-1897), who founded the investment bank that would later become Lehman Brothers.

Karen Franklin’s illustrated lecture will explore the activities of the family and, in particular, the efforts of New York Governor Herbert H. Lehman, who worked tirelessly, both politically and personally, to support the rescue efforts (including enlisting the personal assistance of President Franklin D. Roosevelt). She will share stories about the experiences of those who were aided, and how she used genealogical research to identify how they were related and what happened to their descendants.

The Lehman family initiatives will be one of several featured in Brothers’ Keepers: American Jewish Rescuers opening in March 2013 at The Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York.

Karen Franklin

Karen S Franklin is currently an exhibit researcher at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York and Director of the Lehman Family Rescue Activities Project. Karen is co-chair of the Board of Governors of JewishGen, a past president of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies and past chair of the Council of American
Jewish Museums. She was recently appointed to the Advisory Board of the European Shoah Legacy Institute. Karen is a vice-chair of the ICOM (International Council of Museums) Committee of Memorial Museums. In May she received the 2012 International Service Citation from ICOM-US, ICOM’s highest honor, in recognition of her contributions to international cooperation among museums and scholars in the field of Holocaust-era property restitution.

Gabriela Bohm

Filmmaker Gabriela Bohm will be our pre-meeting speaker, offering a short presentation about her work-in-progress documentary, “In Rachel’s Footsteps,” about an ordinary woman — Raquel Liberman — whose story was buried and forgotten. Raquel was a victim of Jewish sex trafficking in South America in the early 20th century. The film traces her journey from wife and mother to exploited woman to — in the end — a defiantly free woman.

The JGSLA traveling library will be available at 7:00PM. JGSLA members free, guests $5.00. Coffee, tea and refreshments will be served.