A nostalgic trip down Eastern European lanes

LIONEL SLIER

“I have a passion for Jewish genealogy,” Rabinowitz said as he traced Jewish lineage through East European shtetls.

Rabinowitz, now living in Perth, explains in his give-away “Souf Effriken” accent that his mother came from Latvia and his father from Volksrust in Mpumalanga!

Rabinowitz has a popular website “Transgenital Travel” and he is a constant blogger- all about Jewish family connections. He mentioned other sites one could visit to get more information to trace one’s genealogy, such as the well-known Jewish Gen based in the United States.

A valuable source remains Google with its excellent Google Maps, according to Rabinowitz. Then there is Soundex (which he called brilliant). For instance, he said, if one has an uncertain place name, Soundex will call up the original shtetl name.

Rabinowitz also mentioned “Kehillah Links” where one may be able to locate past and present family names.

The presentation took the form of a photo show, put together from six visits to Eastern Europe by Rabinowitz. He culled this from more than 18 000 photographs he had taken.

Many of the photographs were of restored synagogues, repaired cemeteries and local non-Jewish people who are involved in memorialising the Holocaust. There were photographs of people who were previously from South Africa, although none have a connection in South Africa today. There were depictions of 200 shtetls in Lithuania and some of the names in the photographs resonated with the audience.

He showed a “Holocaust Map of Lithuania”, which brought a shudder of reality to the audience.

When he showed photographs of tombstones in Latvia, two well-known South African connected names cropped up. One was Anstey and the other Skikne, the renowned British actor, Laurence Harvey was a Skikne.

From Estonia, we saw photographs of Grodno which once boasted a sizeable Jewish presence. In a cemetery in Sedova we saw restorations paid for through South African funds. He showed pictures of locals there who are educating their fellow citizens about the Holocaust. There are centres where such lectures take place on a regular basis.

It was heartening to learn that in Kiev in the Ukraine there is an ORT day school with over 1 000 children. 

Then there was a clip of an Australian boy (about 12 years old) singing The Partisan Song in excellent Hebrew. The song recalls the Bielski Brothers in Belarus who fought in the forests for years against the German invaders.

Said Rabinowitz: “My mission is to help people in their searches for their lost families. Then, when a connection is made it should be shared. This way you can possibly/probably connect with other unknown family members. As I