Week 8 - Heirloom #52ancestors

Initially when thinking about what to write about for this weeks post, I couldn't think of any heirlooms that had been passed down in the family. I them thought of my grandmother's letters and photographs.

When my grandmother Ilse Frankenbusch left her home in Vienna, Austria in 1938, she left behind her mother Hulda and grandmother Gisela. These letters are from Hulda and Gisela to Ilse through out the war and tell of the hardships that they faced in exile as they were Jewish.

I inherited these letters in 2004 after my grandfather died and my father and his sisters had no idea that they existed until I went through them all. My aunt used the letters to tell the story of their war time experiences which has been published and is called "Escape to Auschwitz".

In January this year I donated the letters to the Wiener Library in London. The Wiener Library is the world's oldest Holocaust Library and I know they will be looked after and they will allow the letters to be used by other researchers researching the Holocaust.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Black Sheep

Image
Finding an ancestor with a criminal past, can stir up all kinds of emotions.  If the ancestor is a distant relative or far removed by time, then it may be interesting or exciting to find out what they got up to.  So far in my research I have found two ancestors with a criminal past thanks to Findmypast's Criminal Records.  The first was known about within the family, while the other was a completely new discovery.  Today I am going to write about the former. David Cynon Jones was born in 1877 in Llandysul, Cardiganshire, Wales.  In the 1881 and 1891 census' he is living with his parents Evan and Margaret Jones in Llandysul.  Between 1891 and 1897 he becomes a printer and on the 24th December 1897, he marries Martha Evans in Newcastle Emlyn Register Office. Martha and David, live with with Matha's family at Velindre in Carmarthanshire and they go on to have two children, Jonathan Ifan Ifor Evans and Hugh Ceredig Jones in 1898 and 1899 respectively. This is were the fa
Read more
Image
In the middle of January 1943, Sidney sent a post card and letter to his parents and a letter to his fiance Amy. In January 1941, Sidney had obtained a marriage license for Amy and himself, but he never used it. 10th January 1943 Dearest mum & Dad, I have only had 1 letter this week - Mothers of 26th Nov. Sorry to hear you are not getting my mail regularly - things seem to be so disorganised at present. This week has been one of continual snowfall as we have quite a depth on the ground now. Last night I went to a lecture - "Experences of a Reporter in New York" which was very good, and that is about all I have to tell you this week. I hope no-one has any ill effects from the Xmas Rush. I am still very well. Give my love to all - Your Loving Son - Sidney 16th January 1943 18th January 1943 It appears from this letter, that Amy has called off her engagement to Sidney and this is his reply to her.
Read more

Week 6 - Favourite Name

# 52ancestors Most of the forenames in my family tree are fairly similar, I have generations of John's and Richard's, with some Seymours on the Waterfall side. But I think my favourite forename has to be on my father's maternal line. It is the name of my grandmother Ilse Frankenbusch, so much so in order to remember her I have given the name Ilse to my daughter as a middle name. I have written about Ilse before here and here . I suppose my favourite surname has to be the Waterfall name as that is my name and I get a lot of comments about how unusual it is. This does help when I come to researching my family history as there are not huge numbers of Waterfalls around. It also makes a change from the Williams, Evans and Jones names that are on my maternal line.
Read more