German-Jewish SIG (GerSIG) Seminar

Overview

You are invited to book your place at our second seminar for those who have German-Jewish ancestors.
The seminar will take place on Sunday November 2 2025 via Zoom at:09:30 - 16:00 in New York (EST)14:30 - 21:00 in the United Kingdom (GMT)16:30 - 23:00 in Israel06:30 - 1:00 in Los Angeles (PST)
Each talk is 45 minutes long followed by 15 minutes for questions and answers. There will be a 15 minute break after sessions 1, 2 and 4, and a 45 minute break after session 3.
If you can't join at the scheduled time of the talks, all associated handouts and recordings of four of the talks will be made available to all registrants for one month following the seminar.
Fee: $20. We have made this a paid-for event so that we can remunerate our guest speakers.
To reserve your place please book using the following link: https://tixoom.app/gersigseminar/d9znqoi0

Seminar Schedule

09:30 EST / 14:30 UK / 16:30 Israel

Find your Mishpoche: Jewish Genealogy in Germany

Speaker: Dr Sabine Akabayov

Tracing Jewish ancestors in Germany requires different approaches than researching Christian families. While church records are often the backbone of Christian genealogy, registers for Jews were only systematically kept following Jewish emancipation in the 19th century, and their content and accessibility vary greatly across the many states, kingdoms, and landgraviates that once comprised Germany. In this talk, I will present historic events and laws that have influenced record keeping for Jews, as well as the different types of records available. Participants will also learn where to access these records today. I will also talk about using DNA to find family scattered after the Holocaust and to find your roots in Germany.

10:45 EST / 15:45 UK / 17:45 Israel

Exploring the archives of the Jewish Museum Berlin and the Leo Baeck Institute in Berlin

Speaker: Aubrey Pomerance

12:00 EST / 17:00 UK / 19:00 Israel

New Historical Finding: Kindertransport lists

Speaker: Dr. Amy Williams
Join us as we welcome Dr. Amy Williams for a talk on the recently discovered Kindertransport lists. Amy will discuss the historical as well as the emotional importance of their discovery, and how she aims to use this material in her up-and-coming co-authored book on the transnational history of the Kindertransport for Yale University Press as well as for several other projects, including a new database for the 90th anniversary of the Kindertransport in 2028.

13:00 EST / 18:00 UK / 20:00 Israel

45-minute Break

13:45 EST / 18:345 UK / 20:45 Israel

Solving Your German-Jewish Family History Research Queries

Speakers: Alex Calzareth and Jeanette Rosenberg OBE
Attendees are welcome to email German-Jewish genealogical questions to Jeanette and Alex and we will do our best to answer them after our three speakers have spoken. Please email questions by October 30, 2025.

15:00 EST / 21:00 UK / 23:00 Israel

Attendee Networking Sessions (Optional)

Speaker Biographies

Dr. Sabine Akabayov

Sabine was born in Germany and lives in Israel. She earned a PhD in Chemistry and now works as a genealogist and translator. Her primary areas of focus are German genealogy, German Jewish genealogy, the immigration of Germans to the US and Israel, and German citizenship for individuals persecuted by the Nazis.

Aubrey Pomerance

Aubrey Pomerance has directed the archives of the Jewish Museum Berlin, and the JMB branches of the archives of the Leo Baeck Institute New York and of the Wiener Holocaust Library, since 2001. He was born in Canada in 1959 and studied Jewish Studies and East and Southeast European History at the Free University of Berlin. In 1995/96, he became a research assistant at the Institute for Jewish Studies there, and from 1996 to 2001 was a research assistant at the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute for German-Jewish History in Duisburg. At the Jewish Museum Berlin, he has curated the exhibitions Roman Vishniac’s Berlin; Ruth Jacobi: Photographs; Shrines, Papyri, and Winged Goddesses: The Archaeologist Otto Rubensohn; and "My verses are like dynamite", Curt Bloch's Het Onderwater Cabaret. He was also one of the curators of the JMB’s new core exhibition, which opened in 2020. He publishes on German-Jewish commemorative culture, Jewish lives during the Nazi era, Jewish photographers in Berlin, archives, and archival education.

Dr. Amy Williams

Dr. Amy Williams was recently appointed the Kindertransport Scholar in Residence at the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR). She will be working with the AJR on new projects in the lead up to the 90th anniversary of the Kindertransport. These projects include a database, exhibitions, and academic books and articles, as well as dedicating new memorials. Amy was previously a fellow at Yad Vashem, Israel where she found many of the Kindertransport lists. She was also a fellow at the Zolberg Institute, The New School in New York.

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