As the 2018 Family History Writing Challenge comes to a close, I observe that I solved a few mysteries; came up with several more; and reaffirmed the importance of genealogists who pass along stories rather than genes. A Divorcee and a Bastard (That’s A Technical Term) It seems that my great uncle and aunt, Adolf… Continue Reading
Author Archives: Edie Jarolim
What’s Freud Got to Do With It? An Earlier Look at My Family History
In this home stretch of the family history writing challenge, I’ve been thinking about a time when I dipped my toes into the dark sea of my parents’ past–and then retreated. The Second Generation Revelation It was the late 1970s. I was working on a doctorate at NYU and seeing a therapist, Mildred,* for anxiety… Continue Reading
My Father’s Story: Remembering Paul Jarolim
It’s the 23rd day of the Family History Writing Challenge and I see no reason to leave my father out; after all, he’s 50% responsible for my genes and 100% responsible for my name. His sister, my aunt Edith Jarolim, was my namesake. More relevant to this challenge: He had almost literally the same history… Continue Reading
Commemorating Rita Rosenbaum
George Washington would have been 286 years old today. My mother would have been 105. The robbing of George (and, to be fair, Abe) of his own holiday in the face of the national commerce fest called President’s Day happened in 1971 but for the rest of her life, my mother was annoyed that her… Continue Reading
The Sweet in the Bittersweet Schmerling Story
This is Day 20 of the Family History Writing Challenge, wherein I continue the story of the Schmerlings, who returned to Vienna after the war. I realize I’ve spent more time with other members of my mother’s family than I’ve spent with Adolf and Bertha Schweizer, the ostensible subjects of this challenge, but a bigger… Continue Reading
From Vienna to Tel Aviv and Back: Reparations Gone Awry
This is Day 19 of The Family History Writing Challenge. I’ll pick up where Day 18 left off, with Helene and Siegmund Kornmehl fleeing Vienna to Palestine. The context: I was describing the mystery of the late-life adoption of Erika by the subject of this challenge, Adolf and Bertha Schweizer, and went off on the… Continue Reading
Adoption Musings, Part 2: What Happened to Helene Kornmehl?
On Days 18 of the Family History Writing Challenge, I turn again to a topic that I’ve touched on before: Nazi record keeping. In “Emigration Questionnaire Raises More Questions,” I discussed the agency created to “accelerate the forced emigration of the Austrian Jews and (starting in October 1939) to organize and carry out their deportation.” But it wasn’t… Continue Reading
Late Life Adoptions, Part 1
This is Day 17 of the Family History Writing Challenge, the first of two about family adoptions. The second story is odd on the surface — two adults adopting another adult who already has living parents –but I have a great deal of detail about it; that’s for tomorrow. This first is more traditional, but… Continue Reading
A Meaty Heritage
It’s day 16 of the Family History Writing Challenge and I’m feeling grateful that I’m not a vegetarian. It’s bad enough to have to face the dire fates of various family members while exploring the past; I’m not sure I could cope with feeling guilty about the fact that they were butchers. My ambivalence –nay,… Continue Reading
The Gift of Gab
This is day 15 of the Family History Writing Challenge — the one where I do a little backtracking, a lot of mea culping, and some not-so-gentle admonishing. The Family Picture Once upon a time, a mysterious picture hung in my mother’s apartment in Atlanta. The people pictured in it, those featured at the top… Continue Reading
