Events in My Family Tree: January 31

January 31 marks the first date that a relative of mine who died in the Holocaust appears in my list of family events.

Births

Noela Agnes Walton, daughter of Jerome B. Walton and Susan Sellers, was born January 31, 1859 in Union Township, Auglaize County, Ohio.  She is my 4th cousin 3x removed via the Sellerses.

Edward Lee Gaunt, son of Arthur Lee Gaunt and Rachel Lavinia Stutsman, was born January 31, 1889 in Jay County, Indiana.  He is my 4th cousin 2x removed.

David M. Stein was born January 31, 1917.  He was married to Ruth Schumeister, daughter of Henry Schumeister and Celia Perlmutter, who is my 3rd cousin once removed on my Nowicki line.

Frank Gaunt, son of Walter Clayton Gaunt and Lulu Sherman, was born January 31, 1919.  He is my 5th cousin once removed.

Edward Lee Gaunt, Jr., son of Edward Lee Gaunt (above) and Ethyl Fay Davison, was born January 31, 1921 in Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana.  He is also my 5th cousin once removed.

Robin Cohen was born January 31, 1980 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.  She is my 3rd cousin.

Shannon Elizabeth Kandel McStroul was born January 31, 1984.  She is the niece of my aunt Mary McStroul.

Robert Andrew Herritt was born January 31, 1992.  He is the 2nd cousin 2x removed of my 1st cousin Albert Lore.

Marriages

Harry L. Borton and Lillian Mae Easlick, daughter of Jonathan Easlick and Susannah Sever, were married on January 31, 1891.  Lillian is my 2nd cousin 2x removed through my Gauntt line.

Kenneth Hunter and Charlene Suzanne Allen, daughter of William Ledger Allen and Edna Hankins, were married on January 31, 1976.  Charlene is yet another 5th cousin once removed on my Gauntt line.

Deaths

Joseph Gantt, son of Joseph Gaunt and Mary A. Lobaugh, died January 31, 1867 at the age of 70, probably in Pennsylvania.  He is my 1st cousin 5x removed.

Daniel Mack Holsinger, son of John Holsinger and Elizabeth Mack, died January 31, 1886 at the age of 73, possibly in Pennsylvania.  He is my 2nd cousin 5x removed.

Mobsza Eli Szocherman, son of Chanania Szocherman and Rojzla Perlmutter, died about January 31, 1943 at the age of 23 in Auschwitz.  He is my 3rd cousin once removed.

Audio Files of Auschwitz Survivors Are Online

The Fritz Bauer Institute, dedicated to studying the Holocaust, has posted 100 hours of audio recordings of Auschwitz survivors and guards online.  The recordings are from the 1963–1965 Frankfurt trial of Auschwitz guards and includes testimony from survivors along with responses from the defendants.  An article about the release of the records is on Yahoo!.

2013 East Bay International Jewish Film Festival

I just received a brochure for this year's East Bay International Jewish Film Festival, its 18th year, which runs March 9-17.  Films for the festival will be shown at three locations:  CineArts, 2314 Monument Boulevard, Pleasant Hill; Orinda Theatre, 4 Orinda Square, Orinda; and Vine Cinema, 1722 First Street, Livermore.  Several of the films being screened are relevant to Jewish family history research.

Playing at CineArts, the primary theater for the festival:  Numbered (2012), 11:50 a.m. on March 10, is a documentary about the numbers that were tattooed on prisoners, both Jewish and non-Jewish, in Auschwitz.  The First Fagin (2012), 10:30 a.m. on March 11, portrays the life of British convict Ikey Solomon (possibly the inspiration for the villain in Charles Dicken's Oliver Twist), including his transportation to an Australian penal colony.  The Flat (2011), 3:00 p.m. on March 12, was shown in Oakland and Berkeley this past November.  It is the story of a man discovering unexpected secrets about his grandparents when he cleans out their apartment after the death of his grandmother.  Disobedience:  The Sousa Mendes Story (2008), 10:30 a.m. on March 13, is about the Portuguese Consul General in Bordeaux, France, during World War II who issued visas, against his government's wishes, that allowed Jews to flee the country.  The Fire Within (2008), 12:30 p.m. on March 14, relates the story of Moroccan Jewish men who went to Peru in the 19th century for economic opportunity and who married local women.  Some of their descendants immigrated to Israel, while others have stayed in Peru to maintain the community.  Süskind (2012), 7:30 p.m. on March 14, a drama "inspired by" actual events, is about a man who organizes the deportation of Jews from Amsterdam until he learns what happens when they reach their destinations, at which point he decides to become a double agent.

One film to be shown at Theatre I in Orinda is of interest:  Besa: The Promise (2012), 11:00 a.m. on March 15, is a documentary about the rescue of Jews in Nazi-occupied Albania by local Muslims.

Tickets are available for individuals films or as a pass for the complete festival.

Auschwitz Prisoner Photos

In 1941 and 1942, when Jewish and non-Jewish prisoners were brought into Auschwitz, they were photographed similarly to mugshots: front, right, and left views.  The photos were identified by the person's camp number and what type of prisoner (Jewish, political, Jehovah's Witness, etc.) but not by name.  Photos were not taken of people sent directly to the gas chambers.  By 1943 photographs were rarely taken.

More than 30,000 of these photographs have survived, out of what must have been a much larger number.  They are held at the Auschwitz Museum.  There is no public inventory of the photos, but a little more than 2,000 have been shared with the International Tracing Service, Yad Vashem, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.  The Auschwitz Museum also permitted Giuseppe Zambon to publish more than 600 photos in a book, Auschwitz: Abels Gesichter.

A searchable database with 2,255 names is now available on Steve Morse's One-Step Website.  This database includes the names from Auschwitz: Abels Gesichter and from the photos that have been shared.  The data were assembled by Peter Landé of Washington, D.C.  Information on how to order copies of photos is given on the site.

Mr. Landé hopes to add more information to the database when possible.