Yesterday (9 October 2011) I experienced something very interesting which just shows how surprised you can often get when puzzling with the family tree:

I was (and am still) looking for the family connections between Mr. Zvi/Hershel Beer, who was born in UStrzyki-Dolne (Galicia) and has lived in Dresden (Germany), and my great-grandfather, who was known to be cousins with Zvi Hershel Beer.

I thus contacted Mrs. Susan Edel who I have had contact with for already about more than a decade. She is, among a few different projects, also working for the Magen David Adom tracing service which helps people find lost relatives (you may read about that project in the document following this article).

Mrs. Edel searched and found the daughter of Mr. Zvi Beer and she gave me then phone number, I did phone the daughter and have spoken with her.

It  call was indeed a pleasant one and we will stay in touch. She told me among other things that exactly on that day she tidied up her cupboards and found some photo’s of my great-grandfather whom I am named after.

A couple of hours later she received that call from Mrs. Edel to let her know that Gershon Lehrer from Antwerp wants to talk to her, she just did not know was happening to her. And yes, she was indeed very surprised for this coincidence!

Read about Magen David Adom’s tracing’s service for lost family members:
[gview file=”http://www.gershon-lehrer.be/downloads/pdfs/genealogy-blogs/In search of missing family members -Yehuda Marks in Hamodia Magazine(14Jul11).pdf”]