My Vision
My parents thought they could avoid reminding themselves of their painful past by not speaking of it, preferring to keep those memories locked up. That lack of stories, that lack of knowledge, is what fuels my motivation and drives me to keep researching and sharing their experiences. I have a strong desire to help others uncover their own family stories, so they will not find themselves in the predicament I was in…
What brought me to genealogy research?
What led me to family research was a curiosity about my parents’ lives, most of which was kept secret throughout my childhood. I actually lived with parents who lacked much about sharing their past. What I do know is that my parents went through many hardships of life under persecution and restrictions in World War II.
My father was drafted into the forced labor companies in Hungary, captured by the Russians and held captive for about three years in harsh conditions.
My mother who was during the war in Budapest probably under a false identity beyond that we do not know.
My parents met in Budapest after the war, immigrated to Israel and got married in Israel. The extended family has disintegrated, and went all over to live in different countries.
The communication and discourse in my family was complex and challenging when it came to my parents’ past during the war. The parents were introverted people when it came to their adulthood in the shadow of the Holocaust.
Parents do not tell
My parents’ chose not to tell what happened to them during the war. There were many secrets kept from us, the children, and from all around. It was evident throughout our childhoods that it was difficult for them to deal with their past. These secrets, which were kept from me and from my sister, resonated throughout my childhood and adulthood and created in me a strong desire to know about my parents’ past and the family past as a whole. Lack of communication about my parents’ past leads me to delve into my family genealogy and help other people and families explore and know more about their past. Living in my family in the shadow of the secrets and the lack of knowledge and understanding of what my parents went through made it difficult for me.
The secrets in the family created a personal desire to investigate and understand what happened to my parents during and after World War II and after these hard times. After my parents passed away, I embarked on an investigation into their past. I was able to obtain information and partially complete the information about my father’s past. After his death this information was significant for me to crack his character and life. I was very saddened that I had not become acquainted with the story of his life while he was living and that I could not talk to him about it.
Genealogy research as a correction
I have found my own correction to explore the past and tell my children and others as a living memory. Tell others about our parents’ experiences during and after the war.
The lack of what “the parents did not tell” motivates me to keep telling and try to help others know more.
So that others, whose parents did not tell their stories, would not experience the lack I am in, I try to help and explore the shortcomings. Compensate for the lack of my parents’ stories, the secrets they kept for themselves.