In My Dad's Own Words: Wearing the Star 1942

In December 1941 the US entered the war. For a short time we felt reassured, but it was only a false sense of security. In early 1942 the newspapers announced that all Jews under occupied territories must report to Police to pick up a star of David with the word "JEW" printed on it. The Star was a 3x3" piece of yellow fabric that we had to cut and sew ourselves with black thread onto our clothes over our left breast. Any Jew caught not wearing it would be arrested.

This caused pandemonium, like a bomb shell. Every Jew, now, was involved. I now realized fully that being a French Jew was of no help to me. My country had betrayed me and was completely working with the Germans. I cannot describe the way I felt at that time having to wear the Star of David in the street. I felt humiliated, degraded, branded like an animal. The hurt inside me was killing me and I knew right then and there I could not take it anymore. I would have to do something. The due date to attach the star was June 6, 1942.

...Finished was the sense of security that I had for being a French citizen. I learned and realized the hard way that I was a Jew, and nothing else. By wearing the Star of David we were sitting ducks. Wherever we went they could spot us a mile away. I decided I would leave the German-occupied zone and go to the Free Zone which was under the Vichy Government, but not German rule.

In My Dad's Own Words: Why write this?

My dad's story in his own words as a teenager in Paris, France 1930's - written by Jack Bienstock - edited by me © Beverly Margolies

There is something unique and extraordinary about our past. We were born in Europe, me in France in 1921, and my wife in Germany in 1923. We were both born to Jewish parents and were living in France in 1939 when the second World War started. We lived under the German occupation of France. We escaped the Germans and were lucky to survive. What we went through during the occupation can not compare to what happened to the Jews that were deported to concentration camps where six million Jews lost their lives. But the fact is that because we were Jews living in Europe at that time our lives were always in danger during the war years 1939 to 1945. We are Jewish survivors of the holocaust.

In My Dad's Own Words: Rene Duschler - neighbor & friend

My dad's story in his own words as a teenager in Paris, France 1930's - © Beverly Margolies

The period between 1934 and 1939 up to early 1940 was for me a happy life. I was young with little responsibilities making good money and no worries. I had friends, especially one very good, close friend living in my apartment building on the second floor. His name was Rene Duschler. He was 2 years older than me. When the war started in September 1939 he was old enough to be drafted and I was not. Rene lived with his father who was a divorced man. He was a peddlar who sold ties and various items from a suitcase, traveling to cafes and restaurants to sell his goods...

Rene Duschler had to report to the military authorities and was sent to the front line in France by the Maginot line where he was taken prisoner by the Germans a few months later..... Somehow he escaped from Germany as a Prisoner of War and returned to his apartment in Paris in early 1940. His father was afraid the Germans would come looking for him, so my parents hid Rene in our apartment, which was on the fourth floor, 31 Rue Fessart, 19th arrondissement.

In Memory of my dad Jacques Bienstock 7/1921-7/2011

My dad passed away last year on July 18th, 2011, 17 days after his 90th birthday. The date on record is 7/19/11. In tribute to his legacy I will be posting episodes from his autobiography. It was actually a joint effort. He wrote his life story in his own words, in his own handwriting, no computer or electronic device to help him. I later edited his handwritten version into an electronic Word Perfect version and later converted it to Microsoft Word. I corrected any grammatical errors or incorrect wording. For example, when he described the events in Paris in turmoil as "titanium", I eventually deduced that "pandemonium" was the word he intended.

Please pay tribute to my dad by visiting http://youtube.com/bevmargo and listening to testimony in his own words. I could not duplicate the intensity of his emotion, in my writing. He does a good job of describing how he felt in the videos, in his own words.

JewishGen Success Story

After 10 years on JewishGen, this year, 2010, has been a triple header. I discovered a new branch of my family tree on my dad's side and another branch on my mom's.

On My Dad's Family Tree:
Yael contacted me during her first week on JewishGen. We were both researching the same town and surname (my maiden name). I could not confirm the connection, until she sent me the photos. The first photo was quite familiar to me, since I had the identical photo in my own photo album. It was my brother's Bar Mitzvah photo from 1959. The second photo was a family photo with me in it as a gawky 13 year old. That's when we knew we were cousins.

Discovering Yael was perfectly timed. Since I was having my family over to celebrate my son's college graduation, we planned a Skye session to introduce Yael and her twin boys to my family.

researching my Family History online

I recently helped my mom, an elderly Holocaust survivor,  find the cousin in the Netherlands, that she had been seeking for more than 15 years! 

I have been a genealogy researcher for more than 10 years. Jewishgen.org has helped me tremendously. By posting surnames and countries, Jewishgen researchers can connect with others searching for common ancestors. In the past 10 years I have found some Polish records online for my mom's family and emailed many other JewishGen researchers in attempts at finding connections, around the world.

For 10 years I searched for potential cousins that were lost or dispersed in the Holocaust. For the victims, I want to learn their identity, to memorialize them in my family tree and in Yad Vashem yadvashem.org. Familyecho.org hosts free Family Tree software that can be edited and shared.

Online Job hunt - Job Boards

I've been jobhunting online. Very high tech but very frustrating.
Here are some of my discoveries...
visualcv.com allows you to create a really cool multimedia resume. You can upload your reference files, photos, video clips. Use your imagination.

I just wish more job boards and corporate websites would link to it. Instead you have to answer millions of minute details, one at a time, repetitively, on each individual employer website. Some sites do recognize your visualcv - what a time saver!

• njhire.com - for NJ high shcools
  
• higheredjobs.com - for colleges - I wish that I could limit the results by zip code.
  
• indeed.com - will search a whole bunch of job boards based on keywords and distance from your zip code.

Cooperating Tools - Everyone Cooperating

It's easy to get from my Blog to my website, my twitter, or my Linkedin. I recently enabled my recent Tweets to appear on the lower right-hand side of my blog. Blogger makes it easy to place it anywhere on the page. You can even email updates to your blog with embedded images.

Blogging can be used by high school teachers, to share info on class lessons. Like a bulletin board, the teacher can allow students to post comments on blogs: Or, even authorize students to create posts. What a great cooperative learning tool!

Aspiring writers can practice and gain an audience. Small business owners can share their expertise to stay in contact with customers and attract new business.

My programming skills are useful but not required. As a programmer I can create and test value-added resources, gadgets or widgets, to share with others. It must meet blogspot's quality control. I am already thinking of what I could create.