Family Story Finder
The sweep of family history across the generations
A milliner's daughter in Long Beach
Elly worked hard to earn a living as a hat maker while Helga adapted easily at Julia Richmond High School. In the summer, they took a room in a beach town on Long Island.
A surprising double marriage in London
Rosa Ringel married Pinkas Twiasschor in a borough of London in January 1911, at the same time that Twiasschor's sister wed another Berlin businessman. What was that all about?
Arson! The Paechter family store is targeted
In 1898, Paechter’s Kaufhaus in Tiegenhof came under repeated anti-Semitic arson attacks.
Dan's 2018 research trip to Berlin and Gdansk
Dan supplemented his attendance at a Warsaw genealogy conference with a tour of family locations. Read his blog postings and view the post-trip video coverage.
Edith and Gina — the Ringel cousins in London
Betty Ringel's two daughters were able to leave Germany before 1938. They were in the twenties and they settled in London.
Eilertsen roots in Farsund, Norway
Farmers and seafarers from the south Norway coast
Eilertsens at sea
Members of a farming family took to the sea both as an occupational calling and a means of emigration
Elly’s European travels
Elly lived out her senior years in a studio apartment on the Upper West Side. But she lived for her annual European vacations.
Escape from Berlin—last good chance to get out
Our reconstructed timeline: How Elly and Helga Ringel were smuggled with SS escort out of Germany and across the Belgian border in October 1938
Ghosts of Weißensee—the cemetery played on
How did Betty Katz meet her end in February 1942?
Helga at the Theodor Herzl School
Amid the chaos of the Nazi period, the Zionist school in Charlottenburg taught skills and values that lasted a lifetime
Hermann Ringel's German citizenship
When Hermann turned 21 in 1906, he presented documentation to secure legal German citizenship.
Lest we forget—family Holocaust testimony
Remembering our Ringel and Wohlgemuth/Paechter family members who perished in the Shoah.
Lisbon to New York—with a detour to Havana
The Ringel family crossed from Lisbon on the SS Guine—but their entry to the U.S. was anything but routine
Motives for mercy—the consuls of Toulouse
In July 1940, consular officials from three nations conspired to open an escape route for Jews out of occupied France. Why did they do it?
Our family during the Nazi years in Berlin
During the first five years of Hitler's reign of terror, Jewish families of Berlin faced one repression after another.
Paechter diaspora
Paechter descendants ended up on every continent after World War II.
Paechter roots in West Prussia
Our Paechter family prospered in the Vistula delta town of Tiegenhof. But their roots probably go back further in west Pomerania.
Ringel vs. Ruby in World War I
Herman Ringel and Walter Ruby wore opposing uniforms in the Great War
Split decision on restored German citizenship
Both Dan and Joanne applied for reclaimed citizenship under Article 116 of the German Constitution, but only Joanne’s application was approved
Stan finds love outside of a 20-block radius
Home from the war, Stan Ruby was a graduate student in physics at Columbia University. Helga Ringel was a smart, pretty war refugee from Berlin
The early history of the Wohlgemuth family
In 1812 in Preußisch Stargardt, an elderly Jew Moses and his sons Salomon and Herz took the surname Wohlgemuth in exchange for Prussian citizenship rights. Our family, descended from Herz Wohlgemuth, stayed in Stargardt for the next three generations
The North American Ringel branch
When his siblings went to Berlin in the 1880s, Jakob Schia Ringel went to Hamburg, then Glasgow and Montreal. His two daughters raised families in the New York area
The Paechters in Berlin
Most of the family from Tiegenhof found their way to Berlin by the early years of the twentieth century. At first they prospered—until the coming devastation
The Ringels in Berlin—time of prosperity
From 1880s to the 1930s, the Ringel family prospered in the garment trade in the German capital. Herman made men's outerwear.
The Scheunenviertal in the 1880s
Schija Ringel came from Poland to seek his fortune in Berlin’s old Jewish district.
The Wohlgemuths in Danzig
Before moving his family to Berlin in 1912, Isaak Wohlgemuth prospered as a mover in Danzig. His family roots were in nearby West Prussia.
The Wohlgemuths in Elbing
The Wohlgemuth family settled in Elbing, near to Tiegenhof, during the 1890s, where they owned and operated a water mill.
Two Ringel sisters manage on their own
The Ringel sisters, Betty Twiasschor and Rosa Schattner, lived with their children in adjacent apartments on Lothringerstraße.
Ze'ev and Penina Sharon of Kibbutz Afeq
A pioneer to Palestine in 1936, Ze’ev married Penina and they did their part to build the state of Israel as founders of Kibbutz Afek.