International Holocaust Remembrance Day

For International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I want to bear witness to the families destroyed and commemorate the tenacity of survivors whose testimony kept alive the names of those who perished. 

When I began my genealogical journey 25 years ago, I had only a vague thought that anyone in my family tree had been directly harmed by the Holocaust. My parents and grandparents never spoke of it, mentioned no names.

It is only because of Yad Vashem testimonies, a photo in one testimony that looked so much like an old photo I'd inherited, and a survivor's video interview that I was able to discover how the horrors of the Holocaust stole the lives of too many of my ancestors.

Last week, my wonderful niece Kay said Kaddish for our murdered ancestors during a visit to Auschwitz. She also felt a sense of relief that some imperiled family members ultimately survived.

I now know the Holocaust victims and survivors in my family tree were descendants and in-laws of my great-grandparents, Herman Yehuda Schwartz (1857-1921) and Hani Simonowitz Schwartz (1858-1933). Herman and Hani raised their children and welcomed grandchildren at their home in Ungvar, Hungary (now Uzhhorod, Ukraine).

Schwartz family survivors

Viola Schwartz (1925-2019), a granddaughter of Herman & Hani, who was held at Auschwitz before being transported to a work camp and then being liberated in May of 1945. My sister met Viola and her family in Israel some years ago!

Dezso Gyula Winkler (1900-1995), a grandson of Herman & Hani, who made his way to Israel after World War II and became a citizen before moving to America, where he later became a naturalized US citizen.

Albert Bela Winkler (1912-1993), a grandson of Herman & Hani (and twin brother of Lili Winkler Feldman, who died in Auschwitz). Albert survived, arriving in America after the war and becoming a naturalized US citizen in the 1960s.

Leni Louise Winkler Price (1909-1997), a granddaughter of Herman & Hani, who evaded capture by first fleeing to Belgium and then sailing to America from Portugal, arriving in America in 1941 with her husband and child. 

Schwartz family victims

Rezi Schwartz Winkler (1881-1944) was the oldest child of Herman & Hani. Fate unknown of her husband Moritz Winkler. Their son Albert Bela Winkler survived and submitted testimony about his mother's death in Auschwitz and the death of others in the immediate family:

• Lenke Lena Winkler Zeller (1899-1944), daughter of Rezi, died in a forced labor camp. Her husband Ignatz Zeller survived concentration camps and came to America. One of her sons died in Buchenwald (Tibor, a 15-year-old baker's apprentice), the other survived and came to America. 
• Ludwik Winkler (1902-1944), son of Rezi, probably killed in Auschwitz (fate unknown of Ludwik’s wife Masha).
• Blanka Winkler Rezenbach (1904-1944), daughter of Rezi, probably killed in Auschwitz (husband Peter Rezenbach also died in Holocaust).
• Lili Winkler Feldman (1912-1944), daughter of Rezi, killed in Auschwitz (fate unknown of Lili’s husband Sam Feldman).
• Yuelko Feldman (1936?-1944), grandson of Rezi, son of Lili Winkler Feldman & Sam Feldman. 

Etel Schwartz Stark (1892-1944), a daughter of Herman & Hani, died in Auschwitz (fate unknown of Etel’s husband Fissel Ferencz Stark and their child Mici Stark). 

Paula Schwartz (1898-1944), a younger daughter of Herman & Hani, was killed at Auschwitz. Her daughter Viola survived Auschwitz and also submitted testimony to Yad Vashem, which started me on my quest to learn more a decade ago when I found the written testimony and the photo of Paula.

In-laws who perished in Holocaust include Gyula Preisz (1908-about 1944), who died as a result of being in a forced labor battalion, according to Yad Vashem database. Others were in the Simonowitz side of the family, no specifics known at this time, sorry to say.

May their memories be for a blessing. Never forgotten. Never forget.

Fleeing War on the SS Nyassa

My maternal grandfather Theodore Schwartz (1887-1965) was the first of his family to come to America from Ungvar, their Hungarian hometown. He then helped his brother Sam and sister Mary to come to America. 

Unfortunately, many of their siblings were killed in the Holocaust, including the oldest sister, Rezi Schwartz Winkler (1881-1944). 

Happily, in recent weeks, I've discovered that some of Rezi's descendants escaped Europe during and after World War II. As it turned out, in-law connections proved pivotal.

Fleeing the war

Rezi's daughter Leni Louise Winkler Price (1909-1997), her husband Eugene Preisz (Price) (1906-1979), and their daughter Edith came to America on the SS Nyassa, which left Lisbon on April 15, 1941. This trip was made possible because blocks of tickets were purchased by HIAS, the Jewish relief group working to get people out of harm's way.  

The Prices had their passports issued in Marseilles, France, in January of 1941. Waiting for safe transport from Europe, they had lived in Belgium for a time and then made their way to Lisbon, somehow, for their voyage. 

Fleeing on the very same ship were the parents and grandparents of Bettie Lennett Denny, whose blog post vividly brings to life this agonizing ordeal, truly a flight for life.

Nearest relative in America

According to the SS Nyassa's passenger list, Leni and Eugene were going to join Eugene's older brother David Price (1893-1985), who was already established with his family in Brooklyn, New York. 

After the war, Eugene Price (now also living in Brooklyn) was the US contact noted on the 1948 passenger list for his brother-in-law Albert Winkler. I wrote about Albert recently in this blog post. Albert and Leni were my first cousins, once removed. 

Thankfully, I've connected with a couple of cousins in my extended Winkler and Price families, thanks to public family trees and ancestor memorials on Find a Grave.

This week's #52Ancestors challenge by Amy Johnson Crow is "extended family." 

My 2022 Genealogy Paper Chase

Here we are, halfway through 2022, and already it's been quite a year for family history! 

Thanks to the big Census releases, my genealogy paper chase has been extremely productive in the first half of this year. 

In fact, I'm making good progress on all my projects and plans:

• Find ancestors and the FAN club in the 1950 US Census (results: yay, lots and lots of info and really interesting clues).
• Look for hubby's ancestors in the 1921 Census of England (results: found some, will look for a couple more).
• Write and post bite-sized bios for aunts, uncles, and great-grandparents on genealogy websites (results: some completed, a few in draft stage)
• Reorganize family photos into archival albums (results: hundreds of 20th century snapshots reorganized, but oldest photos and negatives still to be reorganized--a big project to accomplished in small chunks). 
• Follow up on genealogy clues from Burk/Birk branch of my father's side and Schwartz/Winkler/Preisz branch of my mother's side (results: yay, made new cousin connections!).
• Continue making presentations on genealogy topics (results: talks scheduled July through autumn of this year).

Next steps

One top priority is to write more bite-sized bios, with the goal of keeping these ancestors' names alive for future generations. Currently, I'm finalizing details for bios of my hubby's great-grandparents and my great-grandparents (actually just posted hubby's great-grandpa's bio). Even when I know very little about these people, I can still write about milestones in their lives (BMD), number of children and/or siblings, where/when they lived, and the social/historical context of of their lifetimes.

Another priority for the second half of 2022 is reorganizing older photos, captioning, and maybe even writing brief narratives about a few of the series photos. I did this with one of my late dad-in-law's albums chronicling the summer of 1917, when his father drove the family from Cleveland to Chicago in a new 1917 Ford. 

I'll also be testing additional archival photo storage possibilities during the summer, to see which are best suited to the small and odd-shaped old photos and negatives inherited from my late dad-in-law. As I wrote in my book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past, life by the inch is a cinch--life by the yard is hard. I'm stretching out my photo reorganization and taking small steps to keep this project from becoming overwhelming. Digitizing these photos is only part of the process. It's just as important to keep the originals safe for decades to come.

Paper chase in my future

I'm still busy following the paper trail to trace more of my Eastern European ancestors. DNA has less helpful than I'd hoped. Yet there are documents and family tree clues about a few branches that came to America, some around the time of World War I and some after World War II.

In recent months, I found a couple of distant cousins I never knew about. Together, we're pooling information and coordinating research to try to connect with more descendants while documenting those who came before. 

The second half of 2022 promises to be as productive as the first half! And of course I'll be blogging about challenges, breakthroughs, techniques, issues, and more. More than 13 years of genealogy blogging, with more to come.

Fixing a Mistaken Assumption by Buying a Record

Albert Winkler was my first cousin, once removed, the nephew of my maternal grandfather, Theodore Schwartz. His mother, Rezi Schwartz Winkler (1881-1944) was my grandpa's oldest sister.

I know Albert's name because he submitted Yad Vashem testimony about the Holocaust killings of his mother and other close relatives. But I knew almost nothing else about him, other than he died in May of 1993. 

Don't assume anything!

Without any proof, I made the assumption that Albert was born in the early 1900s, given that his parents Rezi and Moritz Winkler were married in 1898 and their children began arriving in 1899. At this point, the youngest child I'd found was Lili Winkler, who was born on March 20, 1912. 

Traditional sources didn't help me much in my research for Albert. Then I took a look at summaries of birth records available for purchase from the specialized site Sub-Carpathia Genealogy. 

Doing a record search on this site for "Winkler" birth records from Ungvar (now Uzhhorod, Ukraine), I found TWO Winkler children born in March, 1912. 

Father of both: Mor Winkler. Mother's maiden name of both: Schwartz. One baby Winkler was named Lili, the other baby Winkler was named Bela. A Winkler cousin confirmed that Bela was almost certainly Albert.

Paying to fix my mistake

Of course I quickly clicked to buy the records for Bela Winkler. Within an hour I had proof that he was born on March 20, 1912, the same day as his twin sister, Lili Winkler! (Twins run in the Schwartz family, by the way. Bela and Lili had twin first cousins, my Mom and her twin sister.)

As soon as I plugged in this birth date for Albert Bela Winkler (using Ancestry, MyHeritage, and FamilySearch), I had multiple results.

Never, in a million years, would I have been able to find out so much without paying for this unique record to get Bela's original name and exact birth date. Why? Because Bela had yet another name!

Bela, Albert, Voytech

As shown at the top of this post, Albert entered the United States under the name of Voytech Winkler. Not a name I've ever seen before. It only turned up once I searched for Bela Winkler with the exact birth date and residence city.

This single index card, for Albert's naturalization, gave me a wealth of information. I tracked down the passenger list, his naturalization petition, and his naturalization papers. I learned that Albert married in 1962, and his Hungarian-born wife was naturalized around the same time as Albert. There's more to discover, but already I have many more facts than I had before.

UPDATE: "Voytech" on the passenger list was phonetic...I found "Wojtek Winkler" (born in Uzhhorod) on a list of Vilna Refugees in 1940, "Polish Jewish Refugees" who had been helped out of Krakow. Now to investigate further! 

All because I invested in a unique genealogical record to fix my mistaken assumption. Now my trees show Albert Bela Winkler, 1912-1993.

--

"Mistake" is this week's #52Ancestors prompt from Amy Johnson Crow.

Honoring the Memory of Ancestors Killed in the Holocaust

 

Rezi Regina Schwartz Winkler was the oldest sister of my grandpa Theodore Schwartz. Sorry to say, Rezi and too many other family members were killed in the Holocaust. As I learn more, I've been adding their names to my online family trees, to honor their memory and not let them be forgotten in the future. 

Also I'm specifically identifying the cause of death for these ancestors where they appear on my family trees. 

• MyHeritage adds an automatic designation of the yellow star when the user selects "Holocaust" as the cause of death from the drop-down menu. This is a visual indication of the fate of that ancestor.
• WikiTree has different Holocaust stickers that can be posted on an ancestor's profile. I can separately identify an ancestor who died, an ancestor who survived, and so on, depending on each person's circumstances.
• Ancestry allows me to add a custom TreeTag to ancestors. I created one to indicate any ancestor who was a Holocaust victim. If I choose, I can create a custom TreeTag for Holocaust survivors.
• On FamilySearch, I created a custom fact for the "other information" field to indicate an ancestor who died in the Holocaust.

Prior to World War II, most of my grandfather's family lived in and around Ungvar, which is now Uzhhorod, Ukraine. One way I'm supporting relief efforts in Ukraine is by attending the all-virtual Jewish Roots in Ukraine workshop on April 3d. The four experts will be talking about research strategies, sources of information, and understanding Ukrainian ancestors in context. I'm registered and ready to learn as well as to aid Ukraine.