Recently visited the Los Angeles Public Library to do some genealogy research and also had the time to stop into this exhibit which will be on display till January 11. 2026
Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts
06 November 2025
17 March 2022
THE BERLIN AIRLIFT - VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE'S SUGGESTION to AID UKRAINE'S CITIZENS
Today is Saint Patrick's Day in the United States, a celebration of Irishness. More specifically Catholic Irish and the wearing of the Green. (Protestant Irish is the wearing of the Orange.) Though it's said everyone has a wee bit of Irish, and I tend to think of that meaning in spirit, I'm actually one of those Americans who has no Irish roots at all. (Several of my extended family members married Irish roots people and so the wee bit of Irish trope holds true in their children and grand children.) Never the less, it doesn't take personally having roots in a certain ethnicity or country to do the research or to understand the contributions of Irish Americans to the United States of America.
This morning as I prepared to post about Irish genealogy, I was listening to the latest war news. Having spent the last 22 days listening and reading about the war perpetrated by Russia against Ukraine, I've wondered what I could possibly say or do that would be appropriate. I have cried. I'm frustrated. I'm confused. I'm scared - in particular that more people on this earth are going to starve.
You see, I live in a city that already has thousands of "refugees" native to this land, the homeless. I do not think that we can absorb more refugees from any nation locally. Of course if a person is coming in from Ukraine to be supported by relatives, I would never object to that. The situation is tricky because there is most certainly a huge population of illegal immigrants here and large zones of the city have been taken over by certain ethnic groups, not because they were - as happened in the past - unable to live anywhere else and ghettoized. Rather there is an attitude that this is not the United States while accepting and relying upon every government program and benefit that we as a whole finance.
There is not enough affordable housing and people with long waits for Section 8 housing (a government program that pays some or most of the rent) have difficulty finding a landlord to rent to them. People who are working two jobs cannot afford to rent a one bedroom apartment and are in a room. The problem has been in the works for decades and our politicians and officials are part of the problem.
The other day I heard a British man - I think this was the House of Commons - talking about the $350 a month thank you that the British government is willing to pay people who will take in Ukrainian refugees. He mentioned the thousands in that country who are in "bed-sits" already. It's the same situation.
Canada's offer to take all who come is the most realistic frankly. There is plenty of room in Canada. 80% of the population there lives within 100 miles of the Unites States border. Already a huge Ukrainian roots based population is in Canada.
As I watch apartment buildings being blown up in Ukraine, I realize it is going to cost millions to rebuild apartments to rehouse the Ukrainians. Ukraine is where Ukrainians need to live.
It has been said by various persons in recent days that the West forgot World War II. I think that may be possible in the United States since The Greatest Generation is dying out and their grandchildren and great-grandchildren only have them to tell about that experience in Europe, in Japan, and domestically. (If this is your family be sure to interview and record your World War II era members about their lives before they pass. Many have to be prompted.)
However, I do not think Europe has forgotten because the war was carried out on their land and their cities. I think that memory, that HISTORY, is a factor in the overall ability to understand what the threat of Russia to Ukraine and to Europe is.
Things have changed since World War II. Now there is a much higher threat of using nuclear bombs that devastate whole cities and regions. There is greater variety of lethal weapons, including the potential of germ warfare, and surveillance and communication have changed our lives and how warfare is conducted.
I hate war, I hate violence, and it concerns me that there are so many humans on this earth who seem to be filled with hatred and do not create, cure, improve or enhance life, but destruct.
Ex Vice President Mike Pence made the statement that he thought the Berlin Airlift was an inspiration. He thought we should be taking Humanitarian aid into Ukraine. I would love it if something like this could be done, if those participating could be assured of their safety.
The evidence is that civilians are being targeted. Russia, Russian Military, and Russian soldiers who use civilians as target practice should be ashamed but apparently are not ashamed and also apparently are lacking any spirituality. Well, this is where I, as someone partial to reincarnation, and various Christian groups that talk about redemption (the deathbed confession or conversion at the last minute) differ. While any one of us can theoretically hit the restart button and be Born Again, I do not believe all that one did before is slate whipped clean, as if a person filed bankruptcy. There is a price to pay for harming others. And if it is not paid for on this corrupt earth in life, then there is still payment due.
I feel certain that those committing war crimes, upon their own death, will feel every bit of pain they have caused not just to the individual but their entire family. I am not God and do not know exactly how it works, but the testimonials of those who have had Near Death Experiences is rather consistent. These people report reviewing their lives, being told they need to go back, and often totally transform their lives with much less emphasis on materialism and ego, and a greater care and concern for other human beings.
I found this mini documentary on the BERLIN AIR LIFT.
05 January 2017
CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS into THREE KINGS
I'm lucky to live in a place where Christmas continues on for a few more days, through the feast of the Three Kings (or Wise men or Magi or Magicians or Astrologers) on January 6th, when these men, likely merchants who traveled the trade routes around the Mediterranean, followed a bright star in the sky that lead them to finding the baby Jesus and presenting their finest gifts. This means that many of my neighbors of the Eastern churches still have their holiday lights up outside and inside. So while others have thrown their live spent trees out for pick up to be turned (sans fake snow or flocking) into wood chips, I've kept mine up because of the children nearby who expect these lights to help their slightly delayed gifts arrive to the right homes.
It's been raining and the weather people say this is the wettest season in years, and that's a good thing because of the terrible drought we've been having. But I lived in Southern California for years without using an air conditioner or a heater, and the leaves changing color and falling from the trees is rather new too. My fairy lights have continued to twinkle in the dark and the rain, and I think they are safe, because I took care to wrap the electrical connections in plastic.
This year I met some Russians and Armenians, as well as Ukrainians, who are celebrating their traditional Christmas season, and who have not been here long enough to know that what they are experiencing is exceptional weather for Southern California. Coming from colder climates they seem quite happy for the relief of too high temperatures and dryness that characterized another rather insufferable summer. Also, they are quite happy when they go out of the city to smaller towns that are not so expensive, congested, or where the crime is so high. I completely understand.
For the first time in years, I decided to bake gifts. I toyed with a few recipes to make them my own and the results were quite pleasing. I hand delivered on the Winter solstice.
My dog is also very into the holidays. I'm sure that the smells of the earth and the leaves have changed as they became wet and fell and those trees waiting pick up have been interesting for her to do her business near too. My precious little one, who likes to stay under the warm covers when its cold outside! She is such a California girl that she does not know how to deal with the rain and thunder scares her. I get her out onto the front lawn, but she wants to make it fast, and run back into the house!
The Rose Bowl Parade is interesting to me (while football is not) because of all the creativity and hard work involved. I must say it was great fun to see that Lucy Pet Foundation surfing dogs float! What a talented surfer that one bulldog was, in particular.
So, slowly, I am gearing up for another year of challenging and rewarding genealogy research, so very slowly, for I too like to spend some extra hours under warm covers when it's cold and wet outside. I watched some films that I think would be of interest to my readers as well, so I think I'll start out this year's ANCESTRY GENEALOGY BLOG by covering some of them.
Happy New Year 2017!
It's been raining and the weather people say this is the wettest season in years, and that's a good thing because of the terrible drought we've been having. But I lived in Southern California for years without using an air conditioner or a heater, and the leaves changing color and falling from the trees is rather new too. My fairy lights have continued to twinkle in the dark and the rain, and I think they are safe, because I took care to wrap the electrical connections in plastic.
This year I met some Russians and Armenians, as well as Ukrainians, who are celebrating their traditional Christmas season, and who have not been here long enough to know that what they are experiencing is exceptional weather for Southern California. Coming from colder climates they seem quite happy for the relief of too high temperatures and dryness that characterized another rather insufferable summer. Also, they are quite happy when they go out of the city to smaller towns that are not so expensive, congested, or where the crime is so high. I completely understand.
For the first time in years, I decided to bake gifts. I toyed with a few recipes to make them my own and the results were quite pleasing. I hand delivered on the Winter solstice.
My dog is also very into the holidays. I'm sure that the smells of the earth and the leaves have changed as they became wet and fell and those trees waiting pick up have been interesting for her to do her business near too. My precious little one, who likes to stay under the warm covers when its cold outside! She is such a California girl that she does not know how to deal with the rain and thunder scares her. I get her out onto the front lawn, but she wants to make it fast, and run back into the house!
The Rose Bowl Parade is interesting to me (while football is not) because of all the creativity and hard work involved. I must say it was great fun to see that Lucy Pet Foundation surfing dogs float! What a talented surfer that one bulldog was, in particular.
So, slowly, I am gearing up for another year of challenging and rewarding genealogy research, so very slowly, for I too like to spend some extra hours under warm covers when it's cold and wet outside. I watched some films that I think would be of interest to my readers as well, so I think I'll start out this year's ANCESTRY GENEALOGY BLOG by covering some of them.
Happy New Year 2017!
14 November 2016
PRESIDENT ELECT DONALD TRUMP ANCESTOR RURIK the FOUNDER OF RUSSIA
EXCERPT:
According to the nationalists newspaper Estonian World Review Russian genealogist Aleksey Nilogov says Mr Trump has ties to European royalty but he claims Barack Obama is also a descendant of Rurik.
More descendants include Henry III of England, the first three King Edwards, and Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scots.
Mr Nilogov believes Mr Trump descends over the course of 35, 36 or 38 generations from the ninth century ruler, Rurik, via three distinct female lines.
02 October 2014
THE GOLDEN AGE SHTETL : BOOK REVIEW by ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY
THE GOLDEN AGE SHTETL
A New History of Jewish Life in Eastern Europe
by Yohanan Petrovsky- Shtern
Princeton University Press C 2014 and is the Publisher
BOOK REVIEW by ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY
Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern did a great job of bringing the long gone Eastern European shtetl to vibrant life in this new and popular book. It's valuable to genealogy researchers in that knowing what sort of life your ancestors lived realistically may move you to the right places to look for information or go on tour. You may also consider things like that they traveled for work from town to town or along trade routes, may have been the result of a mixed marriage or conversion to another religion, or that they became more liberal about such things as they moved to a larger town.
80% of the Jews of Eastern Europe in the 1790-1840 period that is this book's focus, lived in the three provinces covered. (That area does not include Austrian run Galicia, but it's likely the lifestyle revealed also occurred in predominately Jewish small towns there too.) The term shtetl is Yiddish for such a town, but as Jews moved to larger cities, the term sometimes was used with condensation. This book reveals that when Russia took over the government, the area had a kind of Russian-Polish-Jewish, or make that Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and Jewish, atmosphere in which much had to be negotiated. Over time Russia began to see patriotism as membership in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and both Catholics and Jews were expected to convert or were considered suspicious.
At the same time this area was known for the magnate owned town, the magnate being a Polish aristocrat who owned the town long before Russians took over, as if it were a business but who also ran it as nobility might, with an eye to patronage. This was a kind of town unknown to Western Europe (I know such towns existed in Slovakia and Hungary) and Russia tried to buy them out or outright take the towns from their owners. (After the 1830 rebellion, the Russian government confiscated the Potocki estate including the whole town and 44,000 gallons of vodka.)
There is a huge portion of this book devoted to the issue of trade in this political era, when Jews were considered to be rightfully employed in trade, and that included Jewish women, and the way that a Jewish house in a shtetl often became also a place of trade, smuggling when taxations occurred, the popularity of the Tavern as a place where people from all religious backgrounds - male people - could actually unwind, the vital and lively markets that drew both sellers and buyers, and the diverse number of goods available including things like Chinese Pekoe tea, tobacco and pipes, silk, apricots, and tons of other produce.
Perhaps more interesting to me, especially as a woman and feminist, was the issue of family life and the harmonious and conflicting relationships between Jews and Catholics in these towns. The author is Jewish and his goal was to bust through mythologies about shtetl life that have been promoted by the literary fiction called Fiddler's Roof. He emphasized how important the preservation of family was for the individual as well as the community, the emphasis on preserving family, even if that meant not reporting rape and sexual harassment or getting justice. How did the rabbi handle it when a woman who traveled for business came home pregnant? He states that an accusation of sexual offense was enough to destroy a competitor. And yet, he also states that (and this is where I thought "wrong, now you're peddling the Jewish version of the situation) that Jews didn't think sex was sinful and wrong LIKE THE CATHOLICS.
This is where the author lost me. He presents all these things a Jewish woman had to do, like be "ritually pure", to have sex with her husband, and for sex to be spiritual. She had to go soak in a mikvah bath after her period. She actually had to go ask a Rabbi if she wasn't sure, like if she had cramps but no bleeding. Her privates and private life were open to inspection by these authorities. (By my standards, all of this is cringeworthy!)
First I heard that for Catholics sex in marriage was considered sinful and wrong. (It's funny I think to hear some people tell it, though not this author, that Catholics are supposed to be overpopulating the word and yet married sex is sinful and wrong!) What about the dangers of childbirth that these women faced, not having access to modern, western, standards of medical care we take for granted today? Here he says the Jewish women had more children than Catholics, less death from childbirth, and so on, taking the hygiene rather than genetic or economic factors into consideration.
He also presents a scenario where a poor Catholic servant girl is involved in lying against someone for pay, and to do that she goes by the ritual bath and claims she is pregnant by a Jewish man. In the end she tells the truth. The author says that this is "no surprise" and that even the girl's mother would think that two cows would be good compensation for an illegitimate birth. Maybe that mother, but this is NOT representing Catholic values correctly.
Not then. Not now.
Some day I will trip upon my notes from years ago so that I can say where I read this, but there came a time when the Catholic Church's influence in parts of what was Poland but now taken over by Austria or Russia was such that no Catholic girl who went to be a servant in a Jewish home could stay there more than a year. The reason for this was that so many servant girls were turning up at the church unmarried and pregnant by their employers and there were no social services to help them. Of course the year's time is arbitrary.
Perhaps I should just back off and state that the author chose a few real life scenarios to present things that did happen but mention that news is the exceptional not the common.
I took lots of notes before returning this book to the library, and hope to read it again in the future.
A New History of Jewish Life in Eastern Europe
by Yohanan Petrovsky- Shtern
Princeton University Press C 2014 and is the Publisher
BOOK REVIEW by ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY
Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern did a great job of bringing the long gone Eastern European shtetl to vibrant life in this new and popular book. It's valuable to genealogy researchers in that knowing what sort of life your ancestors lived realistically may move you to the right places to look for information or go on tour. You may also consider things like that they traveled for work from town to town or along trade routes, may have been the result of a mixed marriage or conversion to another religion, or that they became more liberal about such things as they moved to a larger town.
80% of the Jews of Eastern Europe in the 1790-1840 period that is this book's focus, lived in the three provinces covered. (That area does not include Austrian run Galicia, but it's likely the lifestyle revealed also occurred in predominately Jewish small towns there too.) The term shtetl is Yiddish for such a town, but as Jews moved to larger cities, the term sometimes was used with condensation. This book reveals that when Russia took over the government, the area had a kind of Russian-Polish-Jewish, or make that Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and Jewish, atmosphere in which much had to be negotiated. Over time Russia began to see patriotism as membership in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and both Catholics and Jews were expected to convert or were considered suspicious.
At the same time this area was known for the magnate owned town, the magnate being a Polish aristocrat who owned the town long before Russians took over, as if it were a business but who also ran it as nobility might, with an eye to patronage. This was a kind of town unknown to Western Europe (I know such towns existed in Slovakia and Hungary) and Russia tried to buy them out or outright take the towns from their owners. (After the 1830 rebellion, the Russian government confiscated the Potocki estate including the whole town and 44,000 gallons of vodka.)
There is a huge portion of this book devoted to the issue of trade in this political era, when Jews were considered to be rightfully employed in trade, and that included Jewish women, and the way that a Jewish house in a shtetl often became also a place of trade, smuggling when taxations occurred, the popularity of the Tavern as a place where people from all religious backgrounds - male people - could actually unwind, the vital and lively markets that drew both sellers and buyers, and the diverse number of goods available including things like Chinese Pekoe tea, tobacco and pipes, silk, apricots, and tons of other produce.
Perhaps more interesting to me, especially as a woman and feminist, was the issue of family life and the harmonious and conflicting relationships between Jews and Catholics in these towns. The author is Jewish and his goal was to bust through mythologies about shtetl life that have been promoted by the literary fiction called Fiddler's Roof. He emphasized how important the preservation of family was for the individual as well as the community, the emphasis on preserving family, even if that meant not reporting rape and sexual harassment or getting justice. How did the rabbi handle it when a woman who traveled for business came home pregnant? He states that an accusation of sexual offense was enough to destroy a competitor. And yet, he also states that (and this is where I thought "wrong, now you're peddling the Jewish version of the situation) that Jews didn't think sex was sinful and wrong LIKE THE CATHOLICS.
This is where the author lost me. He presents all these things a Jewish woman had to do, like be "ritually pure", to have sex with her husband, and for sex to be spiritual. She had to go soak in a mikvah bath after her period. She actually had to go ask a Rabbi if she wasn't sure, like if she had cramps but no bleeding. Her privates and private life were open to inspection by these authorities. (By my standards, all of this is cringeworthy!)
First I heard that for Catholics sex in marriage was considered sinful and wrong. (It's funny I think to hear some people tell it, though not this author, that Catholics are supposed to be overpopulating the word and yet married sex is sinful and wrong!) What about the dangers of childbirth that these women faced, not having access to modern, western, standards of medical care we take for granted today? Here he says the Jewish women had more children than Catholics, less death from childbirth, and so on, taking the hygiene rather than genetic or economic factors into consideration.
He also presents a scenario where a poor Catholic servant girl is involved in lying against someone for pay, and to do that she goes by the ritual bath and claims she is pregnant by a Jewish man. In the end she tells the truth. The author says that this is "no surprise" and that even the girl's mother would think that two cows would be good compensation for an illegitimate birth. Maybe that mother, but this is NOT representing Catholic values correctly.
Not then. Not now.
Some day I will trip upon my notes from years ago so that I can say where I read this, but there came a time when the Catholic Church's influence in parts of what was Poland but now taken over by Austria or Russia was such that no Catholic girl who went to be a servant in a Jewish home could stay there more than a year. The reason for this was that so many servant girls were turning up at the church unmarried and pregnant by their employers and there were no social services to help them. Of course the year's time is arbitrary.
Perhaps I should just back off and state that the author chose a few real life scenarios to present things that did happen but mention that news is the exceptional not the common.
I took lots of notes before returning this book to the library, and hope to read it again in the future.
18 February 2012
RUSSIANS READ ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY : RUSSIAN GENEALOGY
Also through the Google Blogger statistics, I've learned that although this blog, ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY, gets the most hits by far from the United States of America, the second biggest readership comes from RUSSIA!
I'm very interested in why this is true! I would like some readers from Russia to please post on comments to let me know why they are reading Ancestry Worship Genealogy, if they are reading in English or using Google Translator (the flags on the front page of the blog will take you to that translator in many languages besides the actual flags themselves) and if you could tell me a little bit about yourself and your interest in genealogy in general.
I wonder if there is a growing interest in genealogy in Russia overall! I know this; Few databases link to genealogy information in Russia. If you are a Russian-American, you probably know that there were waves of immigration into the United States from Russia. I can separate this into two parts. The Industrial Revolution and Jewish people leaving Russia to Israel and the United States.
I have found some Jewish Russian communities on the United States census in place before Russians joined the rush to America to take industrial jobs. As we know the two World Wars and Communism changed the relationship of Russia to the West for many years.
Today there are still many Russians coming to the United States, many through the lottery that the United States holds which allows immigration to our country. I have met some of these Russians who have won the lottery, and they seem to be extremely well educated in the public schools of Russia, often coming here and bypassing their fellow students easily in math and the sciences.
Again, if you are a Russian reader, I would like to hear from you!
I'm very interested in why this is true! I would like some readers from Russia to please post on comments to let me know why they are reading Ancestry Worship Genealogy, if they are reading in English or using Google Translator (the flags on the front page of the blog will take you to that translator in many languages besides the actual flags themselves) and if you could tell me a little bit about yourself and your interest in genealogy in general.
I wonder if there is a growing interest in genealogy in Russia overall! I know this; Few databases link to genealogy information in Russia. If you are a Russian-American, you probably know that there were waves of immigration into the United States from Russia. I can separate this into two parts. The Industrial Revolution and Jewish people leaving Russia to Israel and the United States.
I have found some Jewish Russian communities on the United States census in place before Russians joined the rush to America to take industrial jobs. As we know the two World Wars and Communism changed the relationship of Russia to the West for many years.
Today there are still many Russians coming to the United States, many through the lottery that the United States holds which allows immigration to our country. I have met some of these Russians who have won the lottery, and they seem to be extremely well educated in the public schools of Russia, often coming here and bypassing their fellow students easily in math and the sciences.
Again, if you are a Russian reader, I would like to hear from you!
12 April 2010
TRAGIC : POLISH PRESIDENT and DIGNITARIES KILLED IN PLANE CRASH ON WAY TO SITE OF UNMARKED GRAVES
For some of us who have roots in Eastern Europe, the recent plane crash that astonishingly resulted in the death of the Polish President, Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and leading dignitaries, to the site of unmarked graves of Poles, killed and deposited there in 1940, will bring up the stories that our ancestors told us about life in the Old Country. "Katyn" is a place in the Russian forest where there are unmarked graves - about 20,000 people are in those graves, many intelligencia, priests, doctors, writers and artists.
IT HAS BEEN A STRUGGLE TO GET THE RUSSIANS TO OPEN THEIR FILES ON THE PRISONERS... Perhaps this is where some GENEALOGY ACTIVISM is required!?
Some of these prisoners are OUR ANCESTORS!
Let me say that about a year ago I discovered that a few persons with a surname in my family had been taken to Siberia... Now, I do not know who these persons are or how or if they are related to me, but possibly this ties in with the story I was told about the Russian soldiers taking my grandfather's brother away... A snippet of family story that I was too young to ask my grandfather more questions about.
Attaching to a Seattle Times article by Associated Press Writer
"Killed with President Lech Kaczynski in the plane crash near Smolensk, western Russia, were his wife, Maria Kaczynska, his closest aides, lawmakers, army commanders, church figures, historic figures, plane crew and relatives of the victims of the 1940 massacre of Polish officers in Katyn and in other places. They had been traveling to Katyn to mark the 70th anniversary.
The Soviet secret police killed thousands of Polish military leaders and intellectuals at Katyn and other places at the start of World War II. It was part of a strategy to subdue the country, whose eastern half it occupied starting in 1939, and better control it..." Minika Scislowska
IT HAS BEEN A STRUGGLE TO GET THE RUSSIANS TO OPEN THEIR FILES ON THE PRISONERS... Perhaps this is where some GENEALOGY ACTIVISM is required!?
Some of these prisoners are OUR ANCESTORS!
Let me say that about a year ago I discovered that a few persons with a surname in my family had been taken to Siberia... Now, I do not know who these persons are or how or if they are related to me, but possibly this ties in with the story I was told about the Russian soldiers taking my grandfather's brother away... A snippet of family story that I was too young to ask my grandfather more questions about.
Attaching to a Seattle Times article by Associated Press Writer
"Killed with President Lech Kaczynski in the plane crash near Smolensk, western Russia, were his wife, Maria Kaczynska, his closest aides, lawmakers, army commanders, church figures, historic figures, plane crew and relatives of the victims of the 1940 massacre of Polish officers in Katyn and in other places. They had been traveling to Katyn to mark the 70th anniversary.
The Soviet secret police killed thousands of Polish military leaders and intellectuals at Katyn and other places at the start of World War II. It was part of a strategy to subdue the country, whose eastern half it occupied starting in 1939, and better control it..." Minika Scislowska
18 November 2009
CZAR PETER
Did you ancestors live under a King, a Czar, a Prince or Princess, or a local Count? Or were they aristocrats and rulers themselves? (Pay attention to the history of the region they came from and learn who was ruling their lives.) Many towns that were under occupation have changed names several times. For instance, some places in Central and Eastern Europe have names in German, Polish, Russian, and local languages. Likewise, the records you are seeking may be moved from one archive to another. In some European countries, records were kept by the Catholic church for many villages, because the priest may have been the only person who could read and write - and your ancestor need not have been a Catholic to be recorded.
In the United States large counties were split into smaller ones as populations increased. Don't get "county bound" and research paths of migration.
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