Cousin Nathalie's story....as told to me during my visit with her Aug 2018

I met my cousin Simonne Nathalie Szbrenic Chuteau  during my visit with cousin Lilianne in France last August. I initially discovered Nathalie after I discovered her nephew Remy Binsztok had followed me on Twitter, 2015.  Here I share the family stories she shared with me.

Nathalie's Family - branch of my tree

Nathalie's dad - David Szbrenic

At the beginning of the war, 1940,  David enlisted in the French army & was imprisoned in Germany. When his rank was captured, the German commandant instructed all Jewish prisoners to step out of line. David complied. The German officer approached him and told him to "Stop fooling around". David's Aryan looks had saved him. 

Nathalie's mom - Chaja Sura (Helen) Srebrnik (born Binsztok):

During the day Helen was working at M. Strausberg's atelier. October 1943, the French police came in the night to capture Helen, who tried to escape and ran downstairs into the street, but she could not fight with the policemen who sent her to Drancy, and Auschwitz. Upon her arrival, she was chosen to work.  April 1945, Helen returned in very bad shape, but alive.  She had survived Auschwitz, liberated by American soldiers.

Nathalie's sister - Rose

A couple of days before Nathalie's mom's capture, her sister Rosette (born 1937) had been taken away by a gentile woman, Madeleine Gallois living in a small village, Grisy les Platres.  Nathalie's maternal uncle Albert Binsztok knew Madelaine because he had sent his daughter Nicole to spend holiday with her in Grizy... (near Pontoise, near Paris).  Fortunately, Madeline Gallois' daughter rescued Rose two days after La Rafle and just one day before her mom's capture.  Madeline's mother was a nurse and already had cousins Fanny and Lucienne Lerner to take care.  Thanks to the Gallois', Nathalie's sister remained alive.

Unfortunately, Fanny and Lucienne were deported in August 1942, shortly after their mother Madelaine, returned for them. She could not bear to be without them.  Fanny was sent on convoy 16 August 7, 1942, and Lucienne on convoy 24, August 26, 1942 along with cousin Robert Binzstock. The three small children were murdered in the gas chambers.

 

 

Visiting the Strausbergs in France

This past August I visited my newly discovered cousins in France. Liliane Strausberg invited me for holiday with her and her daughter Catherine, in a small port town near Nantes (Pornic) France. It was a vacation and also a genealogical mission.    

I brought the FamilyTree DNA kit for Catherine to take... to help her track down her dad's half-sibling. Back in March 2015 I had relayed the story my mom told me about Catherine's paternal grandma, Jeanette Karetchsky Sztrausberg.  Jeanette came to France from England when she was unwed and pregnant.  My dad's parents helped Jeanette put the baby up for adoption in Paris & kept it a secret. I am hoping that the DNA results from Catherine's sample could connect us to this lost child's family, who may not be aware of their Jewish heritage.  

Lilianne's Story:
I videotaped Lilianne sharing testimony from her childhood during the Holocaust.  Her father had been taken by the French police and never returned, leaving Lilianne as a toddler,  alone with her mother in Paris. One day the French police came for them. "Madame you must come with us". Lilianne's mom Sonia Linderman Konkowksi told them "I need more time, I will give you all my money". They took the money and warned that they would return. Sonia took little Liliane to hide in the cellar for the whole day. At night Sonia ventured back to the apartment to get some food. She overheard voices in her apartment, speaking Flemish. Her Uncle Menachem Konkowski, her mothers brother, had sent them to smuggle Liliane and her mom out of France, to safety in Belgium.  Liliane survived the Shoah in Belgium in hiding with her three cousins: Henriette 7, Rene 5, Claudine 3.

Lilianne knew my parents and my Aunt Claire. She retold the terrifying ordeal my Aunt shared of getting stuck under a train during her clandestine escape across the border at the Vierzon train station in 1942.  The train began to roll as my Aunt was left frozen in place lying between the rails and train wheels.

Lilianne also shared her concern that her granddaughter Justine was disconnected from her Jewish heritage.  Justine did not consider herself Jewish and was trying to hide it. I felt that if she knew her family's story, she would not be ashamed.  Her grandmother's uncle,  Menachem Konkowski was the hero of her family and also a nationally recognized hero of Belgium.  His brigade committed many acts of sabotage against the Nazis in Belgium.  He also saved many Jewish family members and children, including Liliane, with his factory as a front.  I showed Justine a Facebook post of the
commendation letter from President Eisenhower to Konkowski.  I also showed her the family tree. The Shoah and what happened to her family should not be a source of shame.

Lilianne and I also went to meet Simonne Nathalie Sebrenick.  I had connected with Nathalie late 2014.  It was quite amazing that I discovered Nathalie through Remy, her nephew. He followed me on Twitter. I don't know how he found me or why he followed me. I believe it to be beshert, fate.  I had been searching for family on my dad's side and they found me online; first Yael on JewishGen and then Remy. Remy was not even looking for me.

Nathalie lives in a medieval chateau in Huile, France, about 2 hours from Catherine, near Angers. For someone going through chemotherapy she looked amazing, young.  She loves classical music, her 3 dogs and her 3 horses.  Her dogs are named after classical music/ musicians: Amadeus the beagle, Fantasia the Labrador, Barcarole the Schnauzer. Since her husband Claude Chuteau died she lives in this big chateaux alone with her dogs.

Nathalie's Story:
She shared some old photos and heart-wrenching stories. The violin story stands out: Nathalie wanted to play the piano since she was 4 years old.  But her parents were against it, wanting her to focus on your schooling.  One day she told a teacher that she could not have a piano. The teacher suggested a smaller instrument. When Nathalie found a broken violin in her basement she showed her father to ask to play.  He was enraged.  It turned out the violin belonged to her young cousins Fanny & Lucienne Lerner, the sisters were music child prodigies. They were deported from Paris and sent to the gas chambers; The loss of those precious children and their musical gifts never shared with the world. The murder of these children were now more real and tragic.  I discovered their picture on the Serge Klarsfeld site. 

Finding the Strausbergs – confirming cousins through chance conversations

In Sept., 2011, I connected with Diane Davison through JewishGen. We were both searching our Binsztok from Bedzin, Polish roots.  According to the Bedzin census there were four Binsztok families living there in 1939. Diane shared with me that her Great Grandma was Marja Bienstock Konkowski.  Most of her family settled in Brussels. She also had cousins in  Paris and Canada. Whatever she knew was based on conversations she had with her mom’s two cousins, daughters of Marja and Josek Zelman Konkowski: Lilianne in Paris and Renee in Canada.
 
We did not know how we connected. When I connected with Marilyn, I was able to confirm we were cousins with the Y-DNA test, because we shared the Bienstock surname through our fathers. My brother Claude matched Marilyn’s father with a distance of 0. That meant that Marilyn and I were related within 4 generations. With Diane the connection was on her mother’s side.

Diane and I shared and compared  old family photos.  I had a photo from 1920 of my dad’s Aunt Sheindle with her family.  On the back my dad wrote “all killed in the Holocaust”.  Diane was convinced that this was a photo of her great grandparents,  Josek and Marja (Bienstock) Konkowski. The older boy was her grandfather Menachem (Maurice), the younger boy her great uncle Adolphe, and the girl was her great aunt Sonya. Sonya’s daughter, Lilianne, was living in France. The resemblance was undeniable.

Diane posted a photo of her ancestor Josek Konkowski.  Again, he looked like Sheindle’s husband.  All photo clues pointed to my Sheindl Bienstock as a match with Diane’s Marja Bienstock Konkowski . In my 2^nd vinatge photo, my ggma Screnca (ggpa Alexander’s wife) appears as a match to Marja’s mother: Hana Malka Szajndel Kownkowski.

Images compared on TwinsorNot.net website

My Screnca on left matches Diane's Malka on right

After more than a year of research, including Jewishgen,  Facebook and email discussions,  a chance conversation with my brother Claude in early January 2013 gave us the key to our connection.  Claude randomly mentioned that he visited cousin Adolf Konkowski in Montreal Canada in 1974.  Adolf had also visited us when we lived in Paterson.  As Diane relied on her older cousins for advice, I relied on my brother. Claude was 11 years older and had a good memory for details of family names and dates.

This solidified that we were related. Diane and I connected our family trees on MyHeritage. She had done extensive research on our tree, so connecting with her provided me with a goldmine of data.  By end of 2013 Diane was able to identify her connection with Marilyn, through CRARG, Czestochowa-Radomsko Area Research Group (www.crarg.org), Szczekociny records.   We still could not figure out how my grandpa David matched on the tree, because for some unknown reason, according to his immigration records, he was born in Poltava Ukraine while all the other Binstoks were born in Bedzin area.

It was 2 years later, 2/26/2015, that I had a conversation with Diane about her mom’s first cousin, Lilianne. Diane told me that Liliane remembered my Aunt Clara, my dad Jacques, and their father David!  Lilianne had met my family in 1970.  Lilianne told her my gpa David was first cousins with her mother Sonia, Diane’s Gpa Maurice, & his brother Adolfe! 

I dug deeper into Diane’s tree, and discovered that Liliane was a Stzrausberg!    I knew that surname well. That was the cousin my dad often spoke about.  I shared two pictures of Jean Strausberg from my dad’s photo album.  Lilianne confirmed that she was the woman in that photo with her husband Jean. Jean was the 15-yr-old boy who hid in Ceyroux with his father Max, from 1942 until liberation.

In my dad’s memoire, he writes ….  

CEYROUX Chapter:  My father’s cousin Jeannette, originally from London, was married to Max Strausberg, my father’s business partner, in the early 1930's.  In August 1942 they left Paris for Ceyroux with their 15 year old son Jean.  Unfortunately as they were crossing the demarcation line into the free zone, the Germans spotted them.  They ran as fast as they could.  Jean and his father made it, but Jeanette did not.  They caught her and she was never seen again.  It was a terrible thing.  Mr. Strausberg and his son found a room to rent in Ceyroux.  Later they received some work from Paris and were able to survive the rest of the war.  Occasionally Marie worked for Max as a seamstress.

When my niece Danielle visited Ceyroux to meet the farmers who rescued our family, she spoke with someone who remembered Max and Jean having dinner at the restaurant in Ceyroux.   

I posted & tagged the Strauzberg photos with Lilianne, and her daughters Val & Catherine on FaceBook.  After many interactions in email, online and by phone, I finally met Diane and her mother Claudine in-person in April 2015.  This August, 2018, I will be traveling to France to finally meet Lilianne and her daughter Catherine. 

Reflecting on Finding Family, Retracing my Genealogy Journey on Social Media

I started exploring social media with bevmargo accounts on Facebook (FB), YouTube, Twitter,.... Now, I am reflecting back on my genealogy quest, trying to remember how it started, the twists and turns, surprises, discoveries, over the years. Here is my list broken down into 5 major areas to reconstruct my searches and successes.  I've come a long way.
Tracking my Genealogy Journey:

1.  JewishGen: Family Finder bulletin board - posted surnames & towns, since ~2000

• 2011 triple success story published JewishGen testimonials page Jan. 2011
• Marc Ast photo of Abramowitz family matches my Henry Abramowitz
• Marc Gelkopf - found him by revisiting old JewishGen emails for missed clues.
• Yael Michaeli  - finds me in her first week on JewishGen - She sends me a photo, which unbelievably was my brother's Bar Mitzvah picture.
• 2015 - Mary Fay Emanuel contacted me - another Gelkopf in Australia 
• 2017 - Recently: Stephane Gehlkopf  found me through JewishGen, his first week, like Yael, July 2017. He connected me to Sylvie who lives between NYC, Florida & Paris.&  I met her for lunch in NYC.

2.  Sharing & Gaining Followers on Social Media - since 2008

• Facebook:  added photos, videos, documents to genealogy albums. (> dozen albums).
  My niece Danielle reconnected with Larry Bugaisky.
• YouTube.com/bevmargo:  added videos: ~20 videos, including a dozen digitized and extracted from the 4-hour Steven Spielberg Survivors of the Shoah VCR tapes for my mom, dad & uncle.
• Followers on YouTube, Twitter, Blogspot - at IAJGS Tammy Hepps referred to this as cousin bait, posting content that attracts cousins.

• Twitter - Remy Binsztok from Paris 9/17/2014 - random follower
• Blog & YouTube - Erwan Grandais  - 3/30/2015 Erwan found my TonTon videos and subscribed to my Youtube channel & also commented on my Blog 

3.  FamilyTreeDNA.com - DNA started with Y-test & Mt  11/2011 - added autosomal FF 2016.
I suspected Marilyn Binstock was a cousin.  We share personality traits and our dads look like brothers in photos!  Marilyn's dad & my brother Claude took the Y test to confirm our connection with a distance of 0, which means that our grandfathers or great grandfathers were brothers.

4.  MyHeritage.com Family Tree Smart Matching - joining other family trees & networking with other genies who share common branches,  since 2011.  Be wary, any wrong info will get propagated to many other Trees.

5. Traditional Classic Research Methods

• Conversations 
• 1/2013 confirmed cousins with Diane - based on my brother Claude remembering visiting Konkowski from Canada.
• discovered Liliane Stzrausberg based on conversations with Diane.  Diane kept talking about "asking her cousin Liliane". One day I asked who she was & discovered she was the Strausberg cousin I had been seeking, on Diane's tree....just waiting for me to pay attention.

• Research & Records
• BMD records - found on Jri-Poland & Jewishgen - ordered from PSA- 2008-09 Gielkop marriage, ggpa Kiva Dawidiowicz marriage, gpa Shmul Dawidowicz birth
  
• USHMM onsite visit 8/2011 - searched ITS & DP archive records
• discovered my dad's cousin Maurice as Mordka Binsztock -  I recognized the  Paris address as my dad's apartment! My dad documented dates, names, places. However, could not locate living kin.....
• until REMY !!!!  a Binsztok from Paris follows me on Twitter 9/2014

• Red Cross ITS Tracing - provided me with Robert Binsztock birth record, son of Mordka. He was deported and murdered at age 8.
• Columbia U - onsite visit to view shoah videos in  usc archive   8/2011- discovered Israel Binsztok from Bedzin - with 3 sons in Florida

•  Meetings in-person and Face-Time 
• FB face-time / video-chats with Yael, Stephanne, Quentin Schneigeiger
• my sister Simone & niece Danielle went to Israel to meet Gelkopf cousins, Rosalyn & Marc.  Simone also went to Australia to meet other Gelkopfs - Mary Emanuel
• met Sylvie in NYC
  

IAJGS 2017 - International Assoc of Jewish Genealogy Annual Conference -

This was my 2nd time attending the IAJGS conference, my first time as a presenter. My Facebook for Collaborative Family History Research  was well attended. One attendee asked me why I did not use Facebook groups for storing my albums. I wish I knew about them when I started with Facebook back in 2008. 

Some highlights from IAJGS sessions I attended:

Tammy Hepp's session, Cousin Bait, described ways to lure & respond to family with social media. I have been successful with this, since this blog & my YouTube channel were both instrumental in allowing unknown cousins to find me: Erwan Grandais found my video of TonTon.  Tammy found photos of her family on Flicker, with Google. I googled "Bienstock family" and discovered https://www.genealogytoday.com/surname/finder.mv?Surname=Bienstock.  Another Google search format to try: "site:website.com keyword ". 

Linda Levy presented on Jewish Joint Distribution Committee;  archives.JDC.org  holds 80,000 index cards for 1945 Displaced Persons camps.  1914-74 is searchable online. I learned that the Dominican Republic accepted 700 Jewish refugees during the Shoah.  Alaska Airlines was responsible for airlifting of 50,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel, in Operation Magic Carpet. Operation Salomon, May 1991, rescued 14,500 Ethiopian Jews.

In How to Preserve your Research – Merle Kastner described how anecdotes and photos bring dry historical details to life. She creates spiral-bound family tree books, to give as gifts at family reunions, baby namings, unveilings.  I took  Emily Garber's advice from her talk on BLOGs & submitted my blog to her genealogy blog list on extrayad.blogspot.com . Now my blog is listed on geneabloggerstribe.com .

In Keys to Involving Students, Jeff Schrager discussed how he motivates teenagers in a 3-week Genealogy program. He uses storytelling to connect events & to tie genealogy to any subject – inherited disease, history, writing. Because genealogy has a start, but no end he teaches students context and focus. The earlier they start the more ancestors are alive to interview.