Keepers of the Flame--Part One

It seems that in every family there is one person who remembers everyone's birthdays, the dates of important occurrences, and the names of all the cousins no matter how far down the family tree. Usually that person has at least one child with the same characteristics. Sometimes all this information gets written down, no matter how haphazardly, but a lot of it is committed to memory. Over time a lot of this information gets lost. That's a real shame.

Right now the generation that was "of age" during WWII has grown very small. There are not that many of them left to tell the stories that truly form who we are and how we got there. For some of you this may be your parents; for others, your grandparents. Or they may be elderly aunts and uncles or cousins. They may have shared stories over the years, but these stories have no permanence, never having been recorded for posterity.

This year I am suggesting to all of you to become "Keepers of the Flame." As Jews with direct connections to The Shoah we are told "Never Forget." Unfortunately, for many, by the time we remember to do this, our "source material" will no longer be here.

First step: a family tree. You may know who you were named for, but who were they named for? Or why are some parts of the family named one thing and another part another thing? Go back as far as you can and list every name--Hebrew and English--and any dates of birth that you can. For each person list a town and country of birth. Also list dates of death, when known, and yes, causes of death when known. What are the yahrzeit dates? Where are these people buried, if known? You are going to need to personally interview the oldest members of your families to get all the information. And don't be surprised if there are some gaps in the information. Be sure and leave yourself some space for new additions to the family tree--and be sure to enter them.

A note here: many of the sites online that help with tools for doing the family tree limit that tree to yourself and your direct ancestors--they do not leave space for aunts and uncles and cousins and machatonim. A Jewish family tree should include this information. The interconnection in many parts of a family don't become clear unless you do this. See the tools below.

Include maps with your family tree and mark on the maps all the locations that your family inhabited and still inhabit. The Internet is an excellent source for maps going back to the time of the Shoah and before.

Take a recording device with you when having an information gathering session. For one thing, it gives you an oral record in the voice of someone who "was there." For another, it's a backup of information in case you miss something in writing down answers.

So the first step is to gather the basic family information and get it down on paper. Enlist your siblings to help if the job is going to be a large one. Or try a first cousin. While you are doing this your relatives may volunteer other information, stories of what once was. That's where the recording device is a life saver. Take the stories while you can.

Don't put off this first step--it only takes a pen, some paper and a willingness to listen for a little bit, and to ask questions. The value is priceless. No, not next week or next month or "later," whenever that might be. Do it NOW. My husband and I, our siblings, and our first cousins and their spouses have among us 11 living parents/aunts and uncles, ad meyo v'esrim. Yes, 57 people and only 11 of the past generation. The youngest member of that group is turning 79 this year; the oldest is over 90. If not now, when?

Some tools that can help are listed below.

http://genealogy.about.com/library/free_charts/bl_family_tree.htm

http://misbach.org/charts/

More to come in the next posting.