Thoughts on Being Jewish and Jewish (Recent) History

I am of Jewish descent. Not Jewish, as my Jewish heritage comes from my paternal grandfather, and I was not raised Jewish. But I have spent a lot of time digging into my family roots. And I know I have only scratched the surface. Each time I learn something new about what was done to my grandfather's people, it hurts just a little bit more.

The dialogue about the holocaust is very cut and dried. The Nazis killed as many Jewish people (and others) by putting them in camps. By putting them in "showers." But that narrative leaves out so much. So very much. There wasn't one camp, not even one camp per country or region. There were hundreds of camps all over eastern Europe. And before the camps, there was a string of events that eventually led to the camps, which were the "final solution." The key word there is "Final." They knew what they were doing, and had been doing it all along. And on every step of the way, they killed off thousands. And I wish I was exaggerating.

As soon as the Nazis came into power, it became acceptable for gentiles to harass, harm, and in any other way hurt Jewish peoples and their businesses. This culminated in 1938 in an event now called Kristallnacht, a pogrom focused on Jews across the German empire at the time. Pogroms had existed against Jewish people for some time, though the word we know comes from Russian and is defined as: 'to destroy, wreak havoc, demolish violently.' They were specifically used against Jewish people as a way to control or decimate their numbers. This night was only special in how wide-spread it was across Germany.

Even before 1938, Jews were fleeing Germany, desperate to escape what the Nazis were doing to them.  Papers in England and America are full of ads begging for help to flee Germany, or to at least take on their children. Anne Frank's father famously applied for a visa to the US and was denied. But people say that no one could possibly have known what the Germans were doing. People knew. They just didn't care. To them, Jews weren't important enough.

My grandfather's family left Germany in 1933 and fled to France until his father was able to get them a visa to America and arrange money for a passage there on a boat. We were the lucky ones. His father's side of the family were all in England or America, so they were safe. His mother's side weren't quite as lucky. One of her brothers vanished shortly after World War I, so we do not know what happened to him. Her elder brother left Germany after his sister, and fled to South America with his wife and daughter and her family. I do know that one of her three sisters managed to reach America as well. But the youngest two were stuck. The youngest brother managed to escape, and his family ended up in Israel. Their youngest sister did not.

When we talk about these things, everyone always assumes a camp name will be attached to that death. The truth is, killings happened from the time they started this "extermination" policy. They would raid homes, kill off the "useless" ones, then pack the remaining Jews in ghettos (a term originally coined in Venice as a place where Jews were housed to keep them away from the gentiles in the city), where they were more easily controlled, abused, and killed in many ways, including sickness and famine. After a time, when the deaths were not happening fast enough, only then were they packed onto trains to the death camps. Some were killed before they even got on the trains. Some died on the trains from sickness or what had been done to them. Some were killed as they got off. Some were only killed once they got to the camps, decreed to be "useless" to the extreme labor they were going to be put to. Every step of the way, some were chosen to be got rid of because they could not be useful.

I just feel it needs to be made clear. This was not a single thing. Not even a little. The Nazis did everything they could to eradicate as many Jewish and other "unwelcome" people as they could. They were methodical and brutal. They killed millions.

Dora's sister Esther, who we lost to the Nazis, has no memorial stone. No one knows how she died. She was not in a camp. All we have of her is her son's entry to her in Yad Vaschem, a memorial place for those lost to the Nazis. She was the only one of my family I am certain did not escape. I would say that we're lucky. But that does her a disservice, because we have no way of knowing how she died, or where, or what she suffered before they murdered her. 

I don't know how to end this, except to say, please, don't think this was a simple, one-deal problem. This was mass genocide. And there are still people alive who know just how bad it got. Most of the victims are gone. But their families remember. And we still hurt.

Surname Sunday 3.0 - Hillinger/Hilinger

Starting a new version of my Surname Sunday posts. Hopefully these will be interesting to everyone. I'll go over major versions of my surname, and the places they are from, and the stats as found at the site Forbears.

Hillinger/Hilinger: 

According to Forbears, the name Hillinger is held by 1,361 people in the world. The largest number of which live in Austria. Germany is the second most populous, which is where my grandfather was born, and the US where we now live, is third. 

Here's the distribution of the Hillinger name throughout the world. The darker the color, the bigger the representation of the name:

Here is the distribution in Austria:

And here is the distribution in Germany, where my grandfather was born:

By all rights, I should look at the numbers in Poland, because that's where my grandfather's grandmother, from whom we get the Hillinger name, was likely born. However, there don't appear to be any now, so that map is entirely grey. But in this instance, her name was spelled with only one L, so I also did a glance of the distribution of the name Hilinger as well.

According to Forbears, the name Hilinger is only held by 92 people in the world. The largest number of which live in Spain. There are only three other countries with people using the name Hilinger in the world, Austria, Poland, and Sweden. I include this because I find it curious, with a possibility that perhaps our family has some Sephardic heritage because of this connection? I have no proof aside from this result, but it still fascinates me.

Hilinger:

The distribution across the world:

And the distribution in Spain:

Now, these are modern numbers, so it may mean nothing at all, but it still makes me wonder. I had hoped my DNA results might confirm this guess, but I presume it's either so wrapped up in my Eastern European Jewish results, or so slight that it just doesn't show. Or I never inherited that strain from my father. I don't know that this is a mystery that will ever be solved, given how hard it is to find records for this side of the family, but I can hope.

Visual Family Tree I – The Hillingers and ancestors

I did this way back when I first started posting to this blog, but the pictures no longer exist where I linked to them, so time to try again.

My sister and I ca 1981 or so in Ashland, Oregon.

 The Hillinger Family at Christmas ca 1971 or so

The Hillingers skiing ca 1960 (my dad is taking the photo)

Dora and Alex with their first grandchild, ca 1948

 The Hillinger family ca 1933:

Back row - Sam, Dora, Ben, Alex, Minna

Front Row - Helena, Selma, Peppi

Feige Golda Kresch (nee Reich) ca 1929

 The Kresch sisters in 1919, Dora & Minna

Alex Seneft ca 1916-1918

 Leon (aka Lewis) Seneft, unknown period

And that is as far as I am able to go back on this side, tree or photo. If you have any photos you think should be added, feel free to send them my way, or post them below. :)

My DNA Results!

So for my birthday, I asked for a DNA test for my genealogy. We have several spots that have questions, and I was hoping to prove or disprove some of them. I just got my Ancestry DNA results back this morning. A perfect week to get them back, because I'm home today and tomorrow, so I can really play around with it all. And tomorrow I go over to see my family, so I can show it to them. The mix was a bit different than I expected, but then I expected a few surprises, so I guess that's par for the course.

My Mix:

55% Great Britain

This one was one of my surprises. I have a grandmother who is full-blooded Welsh, and a great-grandmother who was Northern Irish, so I did expect some English, possibly even more than 25%, but more than half is shocking. Until I look at the map Ancestry provides about each grouping of DNA. This one includes Denmark and Germany. And given that Danish is another 25% of my Ancestry, 55% suddenly makes a lot more sense.

30% European Jewish

At first this one made sense, until I realized it's more than one grandparent's worth of DNA, which would only be 25%. Wow. This means that I have hidden Jews in my tree. A whole 5%, at least. More, really, given that the Jewish lines married into the area in many cases. And when I take into account two of the smaller strands in my tree below; the Iberian and Caucasus lines, that brings the percentage up to almost another 10%, if I am right about those also being Jewish in origin for my family.

4% Europe West

This includes the central body of Europe: France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, etc; but also bits of England, Denmark, Italy, and the Czech and Slovak regions of Eastern Europe. I expected this piece to be much higher, given that I have at least four different areas of my tree that link back to Germany, and one that links to France. I was hoping to have some proof for the Huguenot ancestry on my great-grandmother's side, but unfortunately, this doesn't help that at all.

4% Scandinavia

This was a major shocker, given that two of my lines are strongly Scandinavian. Nana was the daughter of two full-blooded Danish Immigrants, and Grandpa's father was "full-blooded" Norwegian. Until I remember that Danish is also included in the Great Britain results, at least partially, and that several of Grandpa's line actually came from Germany, but that still doesn't explain the Europe West part. Perhaps several of the Hidden Jews were in this line, and that's why they moved to Norway?

3% Ireland

This was one of the things I was hoping to prove. My great-grandmother was Northern Irish, which tended to be more Scottish and English than actual Irish, but now I know for certain we have a small amount of Gaelic blood, whether from the Scottish or the Irish, I'm not sure. The test doesn't separate out the two, which isn't a shock, given how close the two are related. Still, I'm very glad to have this confirmed. We are not just English Transplants.

2% Iberian Peninsula

And then there's this, which makes me even more excited. My family surname, Hillinger, was actually spelled Hilinger by my great-great grandmother. I know nothing of her line aside from her and her descendants. But when I look up the surname, I find that there are a larger percent of Hilingers in the Iberian Peninsula than anywhere else in the world. Which made me wonder if we might have some roots there. If this result is right, and not from some other line, this means that we most likely have some small Saphardic heritage. Very exciting.

2% Caucasus

This is the middle east, basically, which implies that this is the origin branch of my Jewish Heritage, so unsurprising, but still nice to see.

So what does all this tell me? Well, I'm still very Northern European, which I knew before. But the Jewish Heritage (34% total if I include Iberian and Caucasus) is far larger than expected, so I will have to look into that, and I have definitely proved the Irish connection, even if it is way far back there.

Off to look into the connections they suggest now. Wish me luck!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: My Family in 16 May 1865

For this week's mission (should you decide to accept it), I challenge you to:

1)  Determine where your ancestral families were on 16 May 1865 - 150 years ago.

2)  List your ancestors, their family members, their birth and death years, and their residence location (as close as possible).  Do you have a photograph of their residence from about that time, and does the residence still exist?

3)  Tell us all about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook Status or Google+ Stream post.

My family on May 17, 1865:

This would have been my great-great grandparents and their parents in most cases. I've detailed as much as I know. Feel free to fill in details if you have them and would like to contribute.

Leon Seneft may have been born or not, but given that his wife was born about 1851, it seems likely he was. However, I know nothing about his childhood, his parents, or even where he was born. I suspect he may have been born in Galicia, as that is where his children were born.

Mindel Hilinger was born about 1851, so she would have been 14 or thereabouts. But like Leon, I have no information before her children were born, so I don't even know where she was born, let alone how many siblings she had or the names of her parents. We'll just call these two "Eastern Europe" for now, and leave it at that.

Like the Senefts, I have little on Benzion Kresch aside from a location and general date of death. His wife was born in about 1870, so it is possible he wasn't even alive yet. If he was, I'd venture to say he lived somewhere in Northern Galicia, possibly in or around Resezow.

Jens Christian Hansen was born in 1858 in Vejle, Denmark, which would have made him about 7 years old. His parents, Hans Knudsen (born 1824) and Christine Jensdatter (born 1834) would have been 41 and 31 respectively. I believe they had a farm in Vejle, and lived there with their children. At the time, there would have been three: Jens, Ane Marie (born 1860), and Karen (born April 1865). His paternal grandparents Knud Knudsen (born 1794, died 1866) and Ane Marie Hansdatter (born 1797, died 1876) and his maternal grandparents Jens Christian Pedersen (born 1798, died 1876) and Mette Matisdatter (born 1804, died 1898) were also still alive at that time. Knud would have been 73 and Ane Marie 70. Jens would have been 69, and Mette would have been 61. Both sets of grandparents also lived in Vejle. I believe all of the rest of the previous generation were gone by that point, though I could be wrong, as I do not have all the death dates for that generation.

Else Larsen was not alive yet, as she was born in October of that year, but her parents, Jorgen Larsen (born 1837) and Ivare Kirstine Christiensen (born 1845) had just married two years before in 1863. In 1865, Jorgen would have been 28, and Kirstine 20. They also lived in Vejle, Denmark. At this time, I do not have death dates for Jorgen's parents, so they may or may not have been alive at the time. Lars Andersen was born in 1794, which would have made him 73, and Birthe Marie Sorensen was born in 1798, which would have made her 69. If alive, they would also have been living in Vejle. Kirstine's parents, Kresten Hansen (born 1809, died 1890) and Else Katrine Ivarsdatter (born 1815, died 1893) were definitely alive at that time. Kresten would have been 56, and Else only 50. I do not have a complete listing of their children, but it seems the other daughter I do have listed for them, Katrine, was born about this time. And even if I am wrong, it is likely their younger children would still have been living at home. The Hansens also lived in Vejle. I only have one death date for the previous generation, which is well before 1865, so I will assume most or all of the ones I have names for were gone.

Rasmus Hansen was born in Soro, Denmark in 1845, which would have made him 20. He had a farm there he inherited from his parents, which I am certain he was living on at the time. I do not believe he had inherited it yet, however. His parents, Hans Nielsen and Maren Rasmusdatter would also have been living on the farm at the time. Hans was born in 1816, and so would have been only 49. Maren was born in 1817, so she would have been 48. Of the children I have listed for them, two were older than Rasmus, but I do not have records for either of them after 1860, so I am uncertain if they were alive at the time. I also have records for three younger children, but again, nothing after 1860, so I am uncertain if any were alive or not. Hans' parents were both gone more than ten years by this time. I have no record of Maren's parents at all.

Maren Sofie Olsen was born 1855 in Soro, Denmark. She would have been almost 10 years old in May of 1865. Her father Ole Larsen was born in 1812, which would have made him 53 or so. According to the family story, Ole left Denmark around the time Maren was born and came to America, settling in Minnesota with his brother Oscar. If that is true, at this time, he would have been living in Minnesota, though I do not have evidence yet to back this up beyond the family stories I have gathered. His wife, Birthe Marie Schroder (born 1819) would have been 46. He left her behind and never sent for her, so she and her daughter (or daughters—she had two from a previous marriage, though I am uncertain if they were alive at this time) remained in Denmark, struggling to make ends meet. I have no information on his parents, and no death date for her father, but her mother had been dead for more than thirty years by this time.

Henrik Bergithon Bordewich was born 1862 in Nordland, Norway, so he would have just turned 3 in February of that year. He was his parent's second child, and one of two living children at that time. His parents, Hans Henrik Bordewich (born 1834) and Karen Dorothea Angell (born 1835) would have been 31 and 30 respectively. Hans's father, Johan Petter Bordewich (born 1802) was still alive at that time, and would have been 63, living with his second wife, Henrikke (who we will get to in a bit here…). His first wife had died almost 20 years before. Karen's father had also been dead about 20 years, but her mother, Rechardina Hendricha Klaeboe (born 1795) was still alive, and would have been 71.

Leonharde Marie Bordewich was born in 1861, also in Nordland, Norway, so she would have been 4. Her father was Johan Petter (the same as Henrik's grandfather), her mother was his second wife, Pauline Henrikke Roness (born 1828). She would have been 37 years old. Three of their four children would still have been living in the household with them: Ida Amalie Bernhardine (born 1858), Leonharde, and Anna Magdalena (born 1862). Their youngest was not born for another two years. The whole Bordewich family lived in the Lofoten Islands in Norway. Johan's parents were both gone by this time, and I do not have dates of death for Henrikke's parents. Henrik Hansen was born in 1793, which would have made him 73, and Susanne Pedersdatter was born in 1787, which would have made her 79. I believe they lived in So-Trondelag, Norway, or would have if they were still alive.

Robert James Park was born in 1851 in Antrum, Ireland. He would have been almost 14 in 1865. I have almost no information on his family, but it's likely one or both of his parents, John Park and a Miss Dunlop (I still suspect her name was Mary) were alive at that time. I do not know when they were born, or where, or when or where they died. Nor do I know how many other children they had.

Elizabeth Curran was born in Antrum, Ireland in mid 1862, so she would not have even been 3 at that time. She was the eldest of her siblings, and was about to become a big sister in fall of that year. Her parents, Thomas Curran (born 1840) and Jennie Blair (born 1838) were 25 and 27 respectively. From the few records I have been able to gather, Thomas's father, Francis Curran (born 1814) was also still alive at that time, and living in Antrum as well. He would have been 51. I have no information on his wife, or their other children at this time. And I do not have enough information on Jennie's father, John Blair, to determine if he was alive or his age at that time, and absolutely no information on the rest of her family at all. All of the family seems to have been born or lived in Antrim.

Benjamin Jones was born about 1837 in Southern Wales. He would have been about 28. The earliest record I have found for him is a 1871 Welsh Census with his brother Joseph, who was 13 years younger than him, and their mother, Mary, who was 58 in that Census, and therefore would have been 52 in 1865. I am uncertain where they would have been living in 1865 aside from saying Southern Wales.

Hannah Griffiths was born in 1849 in Southern Wales. She would have been 16 or so in 1865. I have absolutely no information on her parents or siblings.

Gabriel Howells was born in 1849 in Northern Wales, so he would have been almost 16 at that time. His parents, Howell Gabriel (born 1822) and Catherine Jones (born 1825) would have been 43 and 40 respectively. They had six or seven children at the time: Gabriel, Evan (born 1854), Edward (born 1856), Lewis (born 1859), Catherine (born 1862), and Hugh (born 1864). Howell (listed as born 1865) may also have been born at this time, and one more was born after as well. The family lived in a farm in Dolgelly Wales, that was later inherited by Edward, I believe. For Gabriel's grandparents, I have only spotty information. His grandfathers are both listed as deceased by this time, but I have no birth death dates for either Gwen Evan, or Catherine Evans, so they might have been alive.

Selina Roberts was born in 1846 in Northern Wales, so she would have been just shy of 19. Her parents' names were Hugh Roberts and Ellen Pugh (or possibly Griffiths) I have no information on her parents' birth or death dates, but I do know they survived long enough to meet at least one of her children, as I have a shot of them with one, so they were likely alive at this time as well.

As you can see, my family was pretty spread out at this time. Ireland, Wales, Denmark, Norway, Eastern Europe, and even America. Of my great-great grandparents that I know exist, all but one were born by this time, which makes 15 ancestors alive.  Of the parents I know for those ancestors, I have record of another 21 living. And a possible 15 more the generation before that. For a total of 51 known ancestors living at that time.