Our next meeting in the JGSGB Virtual Meeting Programme is from the JGSGB Dutch & Sephardi Special Interest Group (D&S SIG) by Zoom.
• Date July 12th 2020
• Time 14:00 London
• Title: Cousins, three per crate
• Speaker: Bernard Miller
• Description: When Bernard Miller volunteered to be a guide at the Anne Frank exhibition last year, he knew that he was related to her in various ways. What he didn’t suspect was that researching facts and people would lead him to a whole series of family discoveries, some incredibly sad, some really heartwarming. They included one shared Dutch relative who was kept in hiding by a farming family and, like Anne, kept extensive diaries. Unlike Anne, he survived the war and even wrote a novel about his experiences. Discovering him led to a fascinating group of gay Dutch resistance fighters, many of whom were blood relatives. And when he was asked to give a talk about some of them, a chance comment led to a Swedish diplomat less well known than Raoul Wallenberg, who it turns out, under very strange circumstances, actually rescued two, possibly three, of Bernard’s cousins from Bergen Belsen. Intrigued? Join the Zoom presentation!
About Bernard Miller
================
Bernard Miller was born in The City, grew up and has been based in North London for most of his life in England. He lived over thirty years in a dozen other countries, worked in many more and is fluent in several languages. Originally trained in architecture, planning and economics, most of his life has been devoted to research.
His mother’s family was Sephardic, his father’s Ashkenazi but there was little talk of them or their history. Not until three weeks before his mother’s death in 1977 did she even speak about close family she had lost in the Holocaust, leaving no time for questioning or investigation.
His interest in genealogy, although he didn’t know it was that then, was triggered by a his grandfather’s cousin who, in the 1960s mentioned an ancestor, one of the Dutch Burghers who came to petition Oliver Cromwell to ‘readmit’ the Jews, a saga he decided to follow up in the 1990s when internet searching became available. That led to discovering some amazing stories.
Since then his interest in his family history and genealogy more broadly has flourished. At his first JGSGB meetings less than two years ago, he met long-lost friends and unsuspected (and unsuspecting) blood cousins and relatives by marriage.
As some of you may know, Bernard has not been in the best of health recently, but we have been delighted to see him join our JGSGB Zooms from his bed or his hospital room. In the unlikely event that Bernard cannot present on the day, I will step in with a rendition of “Udla, Udla, Udla! – The Szatkowskis of Lask, Piotrkow, Poland.” And Bernard will speak at a later date.
After the talk, there will be an opportunity for Q&A on the talk.
The invitation to register is below, but please keep it to yourself! Please note that we are trying registration for our Zoom meetings in July to see if the automated emails generated are better than manually sending out Zoom invitations.
==============================================================
Leigh Dworkin is inviting you to register for a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: D&S SIG: "Cousins, three per crate" by Bernard Miller
When: Jul 12, 2020 02:00 PM London
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUpf-2sqD8pE9XJ8HE1Bev8TEBuRi38yO8I
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
• Date July 12th 2020
• Time 14:00 London
• Title: Cousins, three per crate
• Speaker: Bernard Miller
• Description: When Bernard Miller volunteered to be a guide at the Anne Frank exhibition last year, he knew that he was related to her in various ways. What he didn’t suspect was that researching facts and people would lead him to a whole series of family discoveries, some incredibly sad, some really heartwarming. They included one shared Dutch relative who was kept in hiding by a farming family and, like Anne, kept extensive diaries. Unlike Anne, he survived the war and even wrote a novel about his experiences. Discovering him led to a fascinating group of gay Dutch resistance fighters, many of whom were blood relatives. And when he was asked to give a talk about some of them, a chance comment led to a Swedish diplomat less well known than Raoul Wallenberg, who it turns out, under very strange circumstances, actually rescued two, possibly three, of Bernard’s cousins from Bergen Belsen. Intrigued? Join the Zoom presentation!
About Bernard Miller
================
Bernard Miller was born in The City, grew up and has been based in North London for most of his life in England. He lived over thirty years in a dozen other countries, worked in many more and is fluent in several languages. Originally trained in architecture, planning and economics, most of his life has been devoted to research.
His mother’s family was Sephardic, his father’s Ashkenazi but there was little talk of them or their history. Not until three weeks before his mother’s death in 1977 did she even speak about close family she had lost in the Holocaust, leaving no time for questioning or investigation.
His interest in genealogy, although he didn’t know it was that then, was triggered by a his grandfather’s cousin who, in the 1960s mentioned an ancestor, one of the Dutch Burghers who came to petition Oliver Cromwell to ‘readmit’ the Jews, a saga he decided to follow up in the 1990s when internet searching became available. That led to discovering some amazing stories.
Since then his interest in his family history and genealogy more broadly has flourished. At his first JGSGB meetings less than two years ago, he met long-lost friends and unsuspected (and unsuspecting) blood cousins and relatives by marriage.
As some of you may know, Bernard has not been in the best of health recently, but we have been delighted to see him join our JGSGB Zooms from his bed or his hospital room. In the unlikely event that Bernard cannot present on the day, I will step in with a rendition of “Udla, Udla, Udla! – The Szatkowskis of Lask, Piotrkow, Poland.” And Bernard will speak at a later date.
After the talk, there will be an opportunity for Q&A on the talk.
The invitation to register is below, but please keep it to yourself! Please note that we are trying registration for our Zoom meetings in July to see if the automated emails generated are better than manually sending out Zoom invitations.
==============================================================
Leigh Dworkin is inviting you to register for a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: D&S SIG: "Cousins, three per crate" by Bernard Miller
When: Jul 12, 2020 02:00 PM London
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUpf-2sqD8pE9XJ8HE1Bev8TEBuRi38yO8I
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
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