Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Happy lockdown


Here in the picture are seven of my grandmother's nine sisters. One sister is not in the picture and the brother is missing. My grandmother is one of the little girls sitting.

 The photo was taken in Leipzig, Germany. My grandmother was born in 1900 and was probably five or six years old when the picture was taken. My journey through Corona time brought me up with each of the sisters most of whom I knew nothing about.

Each of the sisters has a dramatic and often tragic life story. Their grandchildren and great-grandchildren are scattered in many places in the world. Mostly in the places they came to and lived there.Two of the sisters did not survive the Holocaust and died in Auschwitz.
The grandchildren and great-grandchildren live in Israel, England, Germany, Denmark, South Africa, the United States, Australia and Brazil. One sister emigrated to Norway but had no children.
Oddly enough a large proportion of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren are doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists, artists and painters. My grandmother was a painter.
One of the grandchildren is even an English baron.
I now know the personal story of each sister. Her date of birth and who her children and grandchildren were. We now have contact with a large number of them and it seems that everyone has been happily drawn to this fascinating journey of discovering the roots.
We have a WhatsApp group that connects all the ends of the world, and it gets small all of a sudden especially in the days of the

lockdown.

17 comments:

  1. What a lovely story Yael amongst all the negativity. I am pleased that you have all found each other.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It really is an amazing journey.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is amazing. I am so glad you showed us this picture and told us the stories.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We also have a family site where each of the sisters has a page and there are pictures and things written by the grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a precious photograph and a wonderful journey of discovery.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The 2nd German war was responsible for so much family grief. Families are now split, many didn't survive, and finding lost family members has only recently been made a little easier.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It's amazing how easy it is to find people today and also to find documents on sites around the world.

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a wonderful journey of discovery and sharing! I enjoy looking into family history. I love that you have a family site online where the history and memories can be shared and continued. There is nothing I would love better than to know that my grandchildren and future ancestors would do exactly what your family is doing! Enjoy every minute of this wonderful trip!

    ReplyDelete
  9. You make my hear smile, that you have been able to connect so many family members together and now can keep current with each other. How I wish all of you joy and love.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Family history and family stories ... there is nothing more exciting, interesting and wonderful in any family. So please 'the virus' has given you the time to explore your family, and that you are keeping in touch with each other

    ReplyDelete
  11. Having family history documented as well as a system for keeping in touch is impressive. How nice for the generations to come as well.

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a wonderful family history, I hope future generations keep up with it. Personal histories can be very interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  13. How lovely to have been able to find out more about your family history during this time of great uncertainty! It's amazing to think that technology is able to bring you all together from distant points around the globe. Be well, Yael. x

    ReplyDelete
  14. I have been researching family history for 25 years now, and what I like about it more recently is that, like your whatsapp group, not-so-distant relatives are now finding each other and exchanging what often turn out to be family memories in common.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm glad that your far flung family is rediscovering each other! What a lovely picture of the sisters!

    ReplyDelete