Award-winning author Daniel Mendelsohn will describe his search to discover the fates of family members who perished in the Holocaust at the inaugural Jewish Genealogy Lecture on Sunday, December 9, at 3:00 p.m., in Hebrew College’s Berenson Hall.

The new annual lecture is part of a collaboration between Hebrew College and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston (JGSGB) that will also include a course in Jewish genealogical research this spring. The genealogy lectureship and course are made possible by a generous grant from Harvey Krueger of New York.

Mendelsohn, the Charles Ranlett Flint Professor of Humanities at Bard College, is author of The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million (HarperCollins, 2006). The poignant history and memoir chronicles his global quest to uncover what happened to the family of his great-uncle Shmiel Jäger, who sent letters to American relatives pleading for help as the Nazis tightened their grip on Jews in his Polish town.

Daniel Mendelsohn Photo by Matt Mendelsohn

The Lost became a New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Boston Globe bestseller, and was awarded the National Book Critics’ Circle Award, the National Jewish Book Award, the Salon Book Award and the American Library Association Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Jewish Literature.

The spring genealogy course will be coordinated by Heidi Urich, President of JGSGB, and Thomas Weiss, JGSGB board member, and taught by experienced researchers of the society. Sessions will cover such topics as how to identify immigrant ancestors, how to find records in European archives, how DNA research is expanding genealogy, and technical tools and online resources for genealogy. The course is geared toward both beginners and students who have already begun researching their ancestors.

“We thought that both the lecture and the course would be of interest to the community because of the methodology, and the fact that so many Jewish families have lost family members in the Holocaust,” says Urich. “There were distinct obstacles to tracing Jewish family histories in the past, but in recent years it has become possible to overcome these obstacles.”

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston, founded in 1982, is a nonprofit organization with over 400 members that has promoted the growth, study and exchange of ideas among all people interested in Jewish genealogical research and family history. Former HC President Eli Grad was instrumental in the society’s founding and the College has remained involved throughout its history.

For more information on the Jewish Genealogy Lecture and course,
click here or contact Shira Persky at 617-559-8614 or spersky@hebrewcollege.edu. To learn more about the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston, visit www.jgsgb.org.

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