When trying to put together the family story we set out on a journey leading us to unknown locations. Along the way, we are assembling pieces of a puzzle in which each piece is found in another location (a different document, another archive…). At times we have a story that we have been told that we can use instead of the picture on the puzzle box but sometimes this image is missing or inaccurate. In these cases in order to complete the puzzle it is important that we feel comfortable in following the information we find even to far and unfamiliar locations as the next piece might be hiding there.
Allow me to clarify this with a story from my own research:
Moshe Shmuel Fajnzylber
Moshe Shmuel Fajnzylber, my great-grandfather, is a person I have very little information on. I know when he arrived in Israel, his death date, and his burial information. I know he came from Poland but I hardly have any documentation about his life in Poland.
Last month I received his file from the “Search Bureau for Missing Relatives”. This file provided information about a brother and sister living in Israel as well as a cousin whose descendants had no idea she had a surviving family.
Israel Fajnzylber
Now that I have located the name of a sibling I started researching him and so, using the GRAVEZ app I have found a grave in Tel Aviv. It is on this tombstone that his place of birth in Poland is mentioned, a town not associated with my research in the past.
Based on this location I went to the birth records for this town and to my surprise found the birth record for this sibling as well as an additional sibling previously unknown to me.
Abraham Fajnzylber
Going back to GRAVEZ I have searched for the surname and found another grave suspected to belong to a family member.
I started searching for him and found myself looking at post-WW2 documents on the Arolsen Archive website. These documents mention the names of his parents and they are the same names as the parents of my great-grandfather (based on stories – as I have no documentation for his birth) and of Israel (based on the birth record uncovered).
The next step was using Facebook to connect with the descendants of Abraham. Abraham’s son confirmed that we are related and that he is my grandmother’s cousin. He also remembers my dad as kid.
From the son, I have learned that his father testified in several court proceedings in Germany.
Though I have very little practice with the German Federal Archive I decided to attempt to find the testimonies given by Abraham. I logged into the Computerized catalog an found a file that mentioned the last name FEINSILBER. Next, I sent the archive an email explaining my interest in the file and providing some information in order to identify this is indeed a testimony by my relative. It did not take long for the archive to confirm the file is indeed the one I am searching for.
In this case, venturing out of my comfort zone was worthwhile. Don’t hesitate it’s worth the trouble.
