The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot has introduced C U Robot – a robot tour for those who are unable to visit the Museum in person. This is a major event for those with disabilities. The robot provides a full guided tour and is the first such service in Israel and one of the few in the rest of the world.

To read more and book your free tour go to:

https://www.bh.org.il/visit-us/c-u-robot-accessibility-device-for-people-with-special-needs/

The website also has a short video, the audio is in Hebrew with English subtitles.  

Thank you to Saul Issroff for sharing this information with us.

Jan Meisels Allen

Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee

The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide has relaunched its Holocaust Explained an online educational resource created with the British school curriculum in mind. They have republished the sixth section of Holocaust Explained, “what were the ghettos and the camps?” This now features revamped content on what ghettos and camps were like, how they were developed and what life was like for those imprisoned in the camps. Included are original documents and photographs from the Wiener Library archives, including their digital copy from the Arolsen Archives, formerly known as the International Tracing Service (ITS).

To access the What Were the Ghettos and Camps go to:

https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/the-camps/

From there you may  access various topics by clicking on the topic name.

If you click on “continue to next section” you will get to the exhibit “What Was the Final Solution”. From there you can access the next section, “Responses to the Holocaust”, then the section “Survival and Legacy.”

To read more from their September newsletter go to: https://tinyurl.com/y2yh44qf

Original url:

https://users.selectmailer.com/campaigns/reports/viewCampaign.aspx?d=r&c=F139391EBD19588D&ID=00E4CC1252AA8CD12540EF23F30FEDED&temp=False&tx=0

Jan Meisels Allen

Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee

Germany announced that descendants of those who were persecuted by the Nazis will find it easier to regain Germany citizenship. Plans were announced late this week to revise the Nationality law creating new categories of eligibility. The new categories include descendants of women who were forced to emigrate after marrying non-German men. This is being done by decree rather than legislation by the German interior Minister. Some are concerned that by doing this by decree may take longer than by legislation.

The German constitution states descendants of Jews or others who were persecuted either religiously or politically, have the right to have their German citizenship reinstated. However, many have been told they are not eligible because their parents or grandparents were forced to flee abroad and their claims were made through a female descendant or because of adoption.

This change in policy is partly due to a UK-based group that lobbied the German government for liberalizing the citizenship laws for descendants of those persecuted by the Nazis. Article 116 is that part of the German nationality law regarding whom may restore their German citizenship. Part of the issue is for those who due to BREXIT want to maintain their ties to continental Europe and after the BREXIT referendum were denied but now would be able to reapply and get approval.

To read more see:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/29/germany-to-ease-citizenship-law-for-descendants-of-nazi-victims

Jan Meisels Allen

Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee

The John Pritzker Family Fund has made a gift to the National Library of Israel to support the digitization and expansion of century old photographs. The collection will be named Pritzker Family National Photography Collection at the National Library of Israel.  The collection has been curated over a century and provides a record of Ottoman and Mandatory Palestine and Israeli Society form the mid-19^th century to the present. There are over two million items in the collection. Hundreds of thousands of photographs have already been scanned and uploaded to the National Library of Israel’s website with free public access.

https://web.nli.org.il/sites/NLI/english/Pages/default.aspx  I was not able to find the collection but their blog post says there are photographs already uploaded.

To read more see:  https://blog.nli.org.il/en/pritzker-family-national-photography-collection/

Jan Meisels Allen

Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee

Free access to Ancestry collection of over 400,000 (US) yearbooks through until 02 Sep 2019 at 11:59 p.m. ET. To find your local comparable time use time zone converter  Yearbooks provide  personal photographs, quotes which may be humorous, best in class etc. There is also a daily challenge

Go to: https://www.ancestry.com/cs/yearbook-pictures

You will have to register with name, password and email address- no credit card information required.

When your search finds the record you are looking for, If you try to access any of the suggested records that appear on the right side you will be invited to subscribe. Same if you try any collections other than the featured Year Book Collection. Only the yearbook records are free access.  Not every schools’ yearbooks are available on Ancestry. While I could not find my school year book, I was able to find other relatives’ yearbooks. You are able to copy the photos to your computer by right clicking on the photo and save image as…

I have no affiliation with  Ancestry and am posting this solely for the information of the reader.

Jan Meisels Allen

Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee

The Department of Veterans Affairs and National Cemetery Administration has announced a new searchable online tool for fallen service members buried in national cemeteries across the United States. This covers 136 national cemeteries with 3.7 million veterans are buried. There is a profile page for each service member.

To find a memorial profile, go to https://www.vlm.cem.va.gov  search the name of your veteran, using their first and last name. 

To read more see:

https://connectingvets.radio.com/articles/search-veterans-va-national-cemeteries-tool

I don’t know how complete the online tool may be. If you are unable to find your relative please do not write to me but to vlmcustsupt@...

Jan Meisels Allen

Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee

Forgot to include the link, sorry:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/customers-handed-over-their-dna-the-company-let-the-fbi-take-a-look-11566491162

Jan

The Wall Street Journal had an article on August 23 about FamilyTree DNA being approached by the FBI requestiong uploading DNA for two casaes to see if there were genetic links to other users. The two cases involved a dead child whose body was never claimed and other was from a  rape scene. Bennett Greespan is interviewed as why he made the decision he did and the further involvment with law enforcement –50 agencies--and the  resulting changes in terms of service and creation of an advisory panel.  Less than 2 percent of customers requested opting out of the law-enforcement searches.The article also addresses the privacy concerns for those who believe a court order/warrant is needed to do the comparison in genetic genealogy. The issue of other family members included by the submission of the DNA test which could be compared with the DNA sample from law enforcement is also addressed.

In addition to Bennett Greenspan, Stefani Elkort Twyford, president of the Greater Houston Jewish Genealogical Society, is also quoted.

Thank you to Saul Issroff for sharing the article with us.

Jan Meisels Allen

Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee

The Wall Street Journal had an article on August 23 about FamilyTree DNA being approached by the FBI requestiong uploading DNA for two casaes to see if there were genetic links to other users. The two cases involved a dead child whose body was never claimed and other was from a  rape scene. Bennett Greespan is interviewed as why he made the decision he did and the further involvment with law enforcement –50 agencies--and the  resulting changes in terms of service and creation of an advisory panel.  Less than 2 percent of customers requested opting out of the law-enforcement searches.The article also addresses the privacy concerns for those who believe a court order/warrant is needed to do the comparison in genetic genealogy. The issue of other family members included by the submission of the DNA test which could be compared with the DNA sample from law enforcement is also addressed.

In addition to Bennett Greenspan, Stefani Elkort Twyford, president of the Greater Houston Jewish Genealogical Society, is also quoted.

Thank you to Saul Issroff for sharing the article with us.

Jan Meisels Allen

Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee

At the opening session of the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) conference in Washington D.C  it was announced that the  FGS and National Genealogical Society (NGS) intend to merge.  The two organizations, will form one consolidated group that will continue to operate as the National Genealogical Society. The merger will be completed October 1, 2020. Until then, both organizations will continue discussions and both will hold their 2020 conferences as planned: FGS in Kansas City and NGS in Salt Lake City. The first merged conference will be held in May 2021 in Richmond Virginia. That conference will expand from 4 to 5 days allowing for a society management additional day.

The FGS is an umbrella organization for genealogy societies and the NGS is an organization predominately of individuals with organizations allowed to join but without a vote. At the joint press conference conducted by both societies’ presidents, Ben Spratling, President of NGS, said  NGS will incorporate FGS in society related activities and societies will have voting rights. The difference between societies and individuals in voting  is still being worked on during this “engagement” period.

The periodicals will be “merged” with the FGS Forum being incorporated into the NGS Magazine.

FGS, NGS and IAJGS jointly sponsor the Records Preservation and Access Committee  which will continue, but after the merger/marriage with two sponsors not three.

To read the press releases see:

https://www.ngsgenealogy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/NGS-FGS-Intent-Merge-PR-2019-0821-FINAL.pdf

https://fgs.org/ngs-and-fgs-announce-intent-to-merge/

Jan Meisels Allen

Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee

I incorrectly said September in the last paragraph of the email, the month was correct in the header and in the date and time portion of the email. Sorry for the inconvenience.  Its October 23,2019.

Jan Meisels Allen

Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee

The (US) National Archives will host their 7^th annual live virtual Genealogy Fair via a webcast on their YouTube Channel

(https://www.youtube.com/user/usnationalarchives).  This is their biggest genealogy event of the year!  This year there will be sessions on preserving personal collections; using records on immigration, World War l, soldiers and marines; Homestead Act and more.

Date and Time:  October 23, 2019  10 AM EDT  ( use  http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc to convert to your local time)

In addition to the YouTube station (see URL above) you can visit the webpage https://www.archives.gov/calendar/genealogy-fair

For more information and handouts will be available on this page later this summer.

Participants can watch individual sessions, download materials, ask questions, and interact with presenters and other family historians. No need to register - just click and view! If you can’t make it on October 23 the videos and handouts will remain available after the event.

Jan Meisels Allen

Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee

The (US) National Archives will host their 7^th annual live virtual Genealogy Fair via a webcast on their YouTube Channel

(https://www.youtube.com/user/usnationalarchives).  This is their biggest genealogy event of the year!  This year there will be sessions on preserving personal collections; using records on immigration, World War l, soldiers and marines; Homestead Act and more.

Date and Time:  October 23, 2019  10 AM EDT  ( use  http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc to convert to your local time)

In addition to the YouTube station (see URL above) you can visit the webpage https://www.archives.gov/calendar/genealogy-fair

For more information and handouts will be available on this page later this summer.

Participants can watch individual sessions, download materials, ask questions, and interact with presenters and other family historians. No need to register - just click and view! If you can’t make it on September 23 the videos and handouts will remain available after the event.

Jan Meisels Allen

Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee