| 08/18/2016 Summary of the German-Jewish Special Interest Group Meeting in Seattle August 2016 Here is a quick note from the GerSIG Business Meeting which took place last week during the IAJGS Conference in Seattle.
Please refer to the slides from this meeting that were posted here
Around 55 Members of GerSIG attended the meeting.
Introduction:
Jeanette Rosenberg introduced all of the GerSIG Directors to the meeting:
John Lowens, the Moderator of the GerSIG List, Roger Lustig, the
GerSIG Research Coordinator, Nancy Adelson, the Volunteers
Coordinator, and Jeanette, who leads for GerSIG on Conference Matters.
Guest Speaker
GerSIG's Invited Guest Speaker to conference, Stephen Falk, was
introduced to the meeting. He would be giving us 2 talks: Firstly, at the GerSIG Luncheon: The Three Cemeteries of the Breslau Jewish
Community, then later about Archival Resources on the Jewish Community of Breslau 1791-1941 (Breslau, Germany, now Wroclaw, Poland).
Dr Arthur Obermayer and the Obermayer German Jewish History Awards
Former GerSIG Director, and Co-Founder Karen Franklin was introduced to the meeting, she spoke about the late Dr Arthur Obermayer. Giving a tribute to him on behalf of GerSIG. Karen also spoke about the Obermayer German Jewish History Awards. We heard about how these would work in future, that the deadline for nomination for 2017 is September 21 2016, and also about the awards given in January 2016 in Berlin.
Discussion List & Moderation Update
This was given by John Lowens who explained his role and encouraged
people to post messages, and to join, if not already a member of the SIG. He explained how to look for previous messages in the SIG
message archives.
Data Projects Update
Roger Lustig spoke about the status of GerSIG's current projects and previewed some that are forthcoming. In particular he mentioned the Hessen Gatermann Index where Phase 1 is complete and a forthcoming translation project for Die Geschichte der Juden in Jebenhausen & Göppingen by Aron Tänzer which has been sponsored by GerSIG member Steve Weil.
A New Webmaster & A New Website for GerSIG
Following the death of our previous webmaster, Arthur Obermayer,
GerSIG needs both a new webmaster and a new Website. Alex Calzareth was welcomed to this role by acclaim. He was also appointed a Director of GerSIG.
Alex has started work on the new website which will have a different page for each town and will shortly be seeking volunteers for their town. More information will be posted once the website is ready, and after the first few towns have been put online as prototypes.
The new website will not take over any existing websites (apart from the current GerSIG one) but will link to them. It will also be a home to many databases and small data sets. We promise Peter Lande that his databases will be included.
Forthcoming new project for Westfalia and GerSIG Guest Speaker for 2017
The meeting heard about the placing online of the Jewish registers for Arnsberg and Detmold. We hope to undertake a project to make a
database of the records in these registers, working with the local
archive at Detmold. GerSIG intends inviting Dr Bettina Joergens from the archive at Detmold to be the GerSIG invited Guest Speaker to our conference in 2017 which will take place in Orlando, Florida.
Volunteering to Help with New GerSIG projects
If you are able to help, please get in contact with Jeanette Rosenberg.
Thank You to GerSIG Donors
On behalf of the GerSIG Directors, Jeanette thanked donors to both the General Fund and the Speaker Bureau. We are grateful for your
donations, particularly to the Speaker Bureau, which help us to bring you great speakers at IAJGS Conference each year. Donations can be made here.
News, Updates & Announcements
Mention was made of the German-Jewish DNA projects being run by Janet Akaha and Rachel Unkefer. Those interested were encouraged to contact them for more information.
Mention was made of the German-Jewish Sig of JGSGB - those interested to find out more were encouraged to contact Jeanette.
There is an International Germanic Genealogy Conference taking place from July 28-29, 2017 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Gunnar Pudlatz was looking to find names of the German Jews hidden by her Grandparents. She had sent us some photos to share.
Nancy Adelson stood down from being a Director of GerSIG, with effect from the end of the conference in Seattle. Those present thanked Nancy for her work.
There were no items of Any Other Business.
The GerSIG Directors thanked everyone for attending the meeting and
look forward to meeting everyone again at Conference in Orlando, from July 23-28, 2017.
Jeanette R Rosenberg OBE
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