A brief history of the search for my ancestors

(See my list of genealogical publications here)

H. Daniel Wagner

 [daniel.wagner@weizmann.ac.il ]

INTRODUCTION

I started researching my family in the beginning of 1995. Before I tell you about the stories, let me share with you what I knew at the time.

There were my maternal grandparents Dawid KRELL and Esther nee POTAZNIK, from Warsaw and Zdunska Wola (near Lodz) respectively. They emigrated to Liege, Belgium, in the early 1920s. Dawid had lost his parents (Hanoch and Sura Rachla RECHTDYNER) and his brothers and sisters (names unknown) in the Holocaust. Esther had many brothers and sisters as well, and only 3 of them survived: Aron, Ewa BRUNENGRABER, and herself. Her parents, Abraham Wolf POTAZNIK and Gitel HERSZKOWICZ, also disappeared either before or during the second wold war.

My paternal grandparents, Dawid WAGNER and Dora BAUM, also came from Poland. Dawid was born in Warsaw and Dora in Lodz. Dawid had no brothers (he actually had a half-sister from his stepfather), and Dora had 11 brothers and sisters.

Dora BAUM (top) and three of her sisters in 1911

Dora BAUM

Dawid's parents were BenZion WAGNER (well, not really, see The Myths below) and Malka RYTEN. That is about all I knew about Dawid (except for the story I'll tell you in a minute). Dora's parents were Itzhak-Meir BAUM, born in Bedzin (near Katowice) and Chaya GOTHEIL, born in Lodz.

Besides my parents, I therefore was aware of my 4 grandparents and 8 greatgrandparents, thus 14 direct ancestors.

I have a brother, Michel, who lives in Australia with his wife Zita. They have two children, Marcelle and Celine. I am married to Linda JANKILEVICH and we have three children, Jonathan, Noa, and Itamar. We live in Rehovot, Israel.

What I will do now is to tell you a few stories about my genealogical search, based on some of the myths told in my family. I am a professor in Materials Science at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel. I enjoy the family research and the discoveries almost as much as my scientific research.

THE GREATGRANDPARENTS (they were nine...)

SELECTED MYTHS

SOURCES

Last updated on April 3, 2005

The BAUM FAMILY REUNION

16-18 April 2,000

See details here

(as of August 20, 1999)

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