I am searching for information about my father's wife and his two daughters, who were killed in the Holocaust. The girls' white dog was named Shpitzer, but what were the girls' names? see more
My name is Gidi Poraz, and not only I am searching for details. The number of requests we receive for help in finding information, locating family members, and creating family trees is enormous. You can find some of the requests on this website (by permission of the applicants).
Over the years I have built a family tree that includes more than 2,500 "blood relatives". I have personal connections with site managers, archivists, data bases and Holocaust museums. I work with professional and amateur genealogists, who assist in locating information. In response to requests, I have located more than 10,000 family members, and created and updated several hundred family trees.
As a representative of the family, I have worked with lawyers in Israel, Poland, and the United States, and have gained experience in locating heirs and in assembling the documents necessary to make a property claim.
I had joined the proficient team of KAV HADOROT after years of searching and exploring my own family roots during which, among other discoveries, I located my father's cousin in the far away land of Peru. This discovery was the result of an extensive research starting with zero information, not even a name or a surname.
The skill of analyzing presented data, extracting the right thread, planning the research that would pave the way for the right steps to be taken for resolving a given challenge are key to reconnecting families, solving family mysteries and finding missing information. The results bring great excitement for both sides as well as tremendous satisfaction.
My passion for genealogy is combined with an additional profession of mine, Graphic Design. I design covers of Yizkor books for JewishGen, publications for the Israeli Genealogy Society, as well as private family memory books, Commemoration books and any other requests people might have in connection to genealogy.
Ethel was the name of my grandmother, who was murdered in the streets of the Polish town of Zhashov, during the Holocaust. My parents saw fit to give me her name, which I bear. I have never doubted that this story has a presence in my life. And the story, like every life story, is a moving one.
My name, then, is Ethel, and I am a resident of Givat Yoav in the Golan Heights. For the past twenty-five years I have taught history at the high school in Katzrin. Through teaching I have learned about the dramatic presence of the story of the past, both the shared and the personal, in our lives. I have learned that this fascinating story enriches our insights into our lives here and now, so in addition to teaching I have also been engaged in recording people’s life stories and in producing biographical films.
Through my ability to listen to stories both cheerful and painful, and to write them down, the narrators are able to record thoughts about important decisions they have made in their lives, to express their wise insights about events they have experienced, and to recognize the importance of their place in the family and the society in which they have lived their lives.
