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Genealogy Services

Please contact me if you’re in the need of Genealogy related services (research, preparations, trips, etc).

You may contact me for any country
(such as Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Israel, etc).

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  • Unveiling a Second World War Deportation List from Antwerp

    Unveiling a Second World War Deportation List from Antwerp

    A Forgotten List from the War Now Accessible at the Felix Archives

    Sometimes in genealogy, you come across documents that stop you in your tracks. Not just because of their historical importance, but because those documents suddenly connect to real lives, real families. Recently, such a document was added to the Felix Archives in Antwerp: a list of residents who disappeared from the city during World War II. Most of the names are from Jewish families, but it also includes political prisoners and people who were forced to leave their homes.

    Why This Matters for Family History

    Anyone who has ever done family research knows the frustration of missing pieces. You search for a last address, a clue in the population registers, a trace of where someone went—and sometimes the trail just ends. That’s where lists like this can be so powerful. Street by street, it shows who was still in Antwerp and who wasn’t. It’s heartbreaking to read, but at the same time, it gives descendants and researchers something solid to hold on to.

    The 6th District: A Snapshot of a Community

    This particular list comes from Antwerp’s 6th District, an area running from Central Station to the city park and Plantin-Moretuslei. Back then, it was the heart of the city’s Jewish community. Many of the names were people arrested in August and September 1942. For most, their journey ended in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Very few ever returned.

    For those tracing their roots, finding a family name here can be painful, but also illuminating. It might reveal an address you didn’t know, a date you hadn’t found elsewhere, or a detail that suddenly ties your family story together.

    Preserving the Memory

    The original document is now safe at the Felix Archives, where it’s being preserved so future generations can access it. A replica will also be kept at the police heritage centre (erfgoedcentrum van Politie Antwerpen), making sure that this painful chapter of the city’s history remains visible.

    How It Can Help Your Research

    If you’re working on your family tree or trying to piece together the fate of relatives, a document like this can be a key resource. It might help you:

    • Find addresses that show exactly where families lived.
    • Link dates of disappearance with known transport or deportation lists.
    • Compare with other archives—like Kazerne Dossin, Yad Vashem, the Belgian State Archives (Rijksarchief) or local municipal records, to build a fuller picture.

    For me, sources like this remind us that genealogy isn’t only about charts and names. It’s about people, their lives, and their stories—stories that were often cut short but deserve to be remembered and told.

    References:

    https://www.politieantwerpen.be/over-ons/erfgoedcentrum

    https://felixarchief.antwerpen.be

    https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2025/08/26/antwerpen-stadsarchief-deportatielijst-wo-ii

  • CABR Files Now Searchable – But Still Only Viewable Onsite in The Hague

    CABR Files Now Searchable – But Still Only Viewable Onsite in The Hague

    Important news for anyone researching Dutch wartime history: the Central Archives for Special Criminal Jurisdiction (CABR) are now digitally searchable through the Nationaal Archief’s online catalogue. While the complete files themselves remain accessible only onsite in The Hague, this new searchable index opens up major possibilities for genealogists, historians, and descendants seeking answers about World War II and its aftermath.

    I first wrote about accessing the CABR files onsite in 2020. These archives contain process dossiers relating to investigations and prosecutions of approximately 300,000 individuals suspected of collaboration with Nazi Germany during the occupation. However, the CABR files also hold much broader information.

    What Does the CABR Contain?

    The CABR dossiers include not only data on investigated persons but also information about (Jewish) victims, members of the resistance, and wartime events. Previously, this information was difficult to locate because the archive was organised only by the names of those investigated. As a result, references to victims or other parties appeared only inside dossiers indexed under others’ names.

    Now that the CABR is fully digitally searchable, descendants of war victims and investigated individuals alike can discover:

    • What happened to family members who were betrayed or otherwise affected during the war?
    • Additional details about their ancestor’s involvement or mentions in multiple dossiers.
    • Broader historical context, from resistance activities to the consequences of collaboration.

    How Is the CABR Organised?

    According to the Nationaal Archief’s detailed search help page:

    • The CABR archive comprises case files (‘strafdossiers’) from the postwar Bijzondere Rechtspleging (Special Jurisdiction), which prosecuted suspected collaborators between 1945 and the early 1950s.
    • Each dossier focuses on an individual case but may reference numerous other persons and events.
    • The files include depositions, verdicts, correspondence, and related documents.
    • Indexing was historically done by the name of the suspect or investigated person only, not by the names of victims or witnesses.

    What Has Changed?

    Thanks to a recent digitisation and metadata project:

    • The Nationaal Archief’s online catalogue now allows searching by person’s name, including names of suspects, victims, resistance members, and others mentioned.
    • This search determines whether a dossier exists associated with a given name.
    • However, the full CABR files remain physically available only at the Nationaal Archief’s reading room in The Hague, accessible through five designated computers.
    • Digital copies of files cannot be downloaded or viewed remotely at this time due to privacy and sensitivity concerns.

    Practical Tips for Researchers

    • Search the online catalogue first: Before visiting, check whether your person of interest appears in the CABR index.
    • Plan your visit: Since file consultation is onsite-only and computer access is limited, scheduling ahead is recommended.
    • Respect privacy restrictions: Some files are subject to confidentiality or legal restrictions, meaning access may be limited or delayed.
    • Use the search aid: The Nationaal Archief provides guides and help pages to assist with searching and interpreting results — see CABR Zoekhulp.

    Sensitivity and Context

    CABR files reveal difficult truths. Being named in a dossier doesn’t automatically mean guilt; many were acquitted or wrongly accused. Some files involve painful family or community conflicts.

    Approach these documents with care and historical understanding.

    Summary

    • CABR dossiers cover suspects, victims, resistance members, and wartime events.
    • Search names online via the Nationaal Archief catalogue.
    • Full files are only accessible onsite at the Nationaal Archief in The Hague (5 computers available).
    • Consult the official search aids and plan visits carefully.
    • Handle findings with sensitivity and respect for complex histories.

    This enhanced accessibility is a major step for Dutch and international genealogical research, opening new doors to understanding family histories affected by the war.

    If you want help navigating the CABR or interpreting what you find, feel free to contact me.

    🌐 Nationaal Archief CABR Announcement (2025):
    https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/nieuws/het-cabr-digitaal-doorzoeken-in-het-nationaal-archief

    🔍 Search CABR Dossiers in the Online Catalogue:
    https://oorlogvoorderechter.nl/

    📘 CABR Search Aid (Zoekhulp):
    https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/zoekhulpen/centraal-archief-bijzondere-rechtspleging-cabr

    📝 My earlier blog post on the CABR (2020):
    https://www.gershon-lehrer.be/blog/2020/03/02/cabr-files-in-hague/

    illustrative
  • How to Leave Important Digital Documents for Your Loved Ones – Even After You’re Gone

    How to Leave Important Digital Documents for Your Loved Ones – Even After You’re Gone

    Recently, someone asked me for advice about a very personal and important issue: he wanted to leave behind a document for his children – something they would only receive after he had passed away.

    “Ideally, I would upload it to ‘the cloud,’ and give my children a code so they can access it when they feel ready.”

    He had asked his computer advisor how to do that, but was told that it could only be done if connected to his Gmail account.
    That raised a new concern: “I don’t have eternal life, so at some point my Gmail account will become inactive or be deleted. Is there a better solution?”

    He had a digital copy of the document already, so his first instinct was to find a digital solution.

    🧩 Digital Legacy Tools – What Are the Options?

    I did some research, and it turns out there are quite a few tools and services that can help people pass on digital content after they die. These include services from big players like Google, Microsoft, and Dropbox, as well as niche companies that specialise in digital legacies and even offer AI-generated “conversations” with the deceased.

    Here are some of the most relevant options:

    🟢 Google Inactive Account Manager

    Google allows you to decide what should happen with your data after your account becomes inactive (e.g., if you don’t log in for a specific number of months). You can:

    • Choose up to 10 trusted contacts who will be notified and granted access.
    • Decide what kind of data they may download (e.g., Gmail, Drive, Photos).
    • Optionally delete your account afterwards.

    📄 More about Google’s Inactive Account Manager

    🔵 Microsoft: Access to Outlook, OneDrive, and More

    Microsoft offers a legal process for family members or executors to access a deceased person’s Outlook.com, OneDrive, or other services. It requires documentation (such as a death certificate), and Microsoft does not allow password sharing but may release content via a next-of-kin process.

    📄 Microsoft’s Policy on Digital Access After Death

    📦 Dropbox

    Dropbox also has a policy for accessing someone’s account after they have passed away. With proper documentation (including a death certificate), they may provide access to account contents.

    📄 Accessing a Deceased Person’s Dropbox Account

    🤔 But Does It Have to Be That Complicated?

    While these services are useful, they all rely on a platform that may change, shut down, or become inaccessible if accounts lapse. That’s why we also discussed a simpler, low-tech approach, which might be more reliable in the long term.

    Here’s what I suggested:

    Print the document (optionally in multiple copies), and place each in an envelope along with a USB stick containing the digital version. Then, store these envelopes in different safe places:

    • One in your desk drawer at home
    • One in a safe
    • One with a lawyer, notary, or trusted relative

    Why multiple copies? Because hardware breaks. A USB stick may stop working in 10 years – or be completely obsolete by then, just like floppy disks are today. A printed version, on the other hand, is more “future-proof.” And if your children later want a digital copy again, OCR (optical character recognition) tools like Google Lens, CamScanner, or even AI services like ChatGPT can easily convert printed pages back to digital files.

    You could also refresh the digital medium every 5 years or so – copy the content to a newer USB stick, SSD drive, or even cloud folder.

    🇳🇱 Bonus: Help from the Dutch National Archives

    If you read Dutch, the Nationaal Archief has created an excellent guide:

    📄 Eerste Hulp bij Digitaal Archiveren – First Aid for Digital Archiving
    🔗 Read or download the PDF here

    This is a practical manual for individuals and small organisations. It explains:

    • Which file formats are most suitable for long-term storage (e.g., PDF/A, TIFF)
    • Pros and cons of different storage media (USB, hard drives, cloud)
    • How to organise, label, and back up your digital collection
    • Best practices for ensuring documents remain readable over time

    It’s a clear, jargon-free resource – perfect for anyone who wants to better manage their digital legacy without needing to become a tech expert.

    🧾 Final Thought

    No matter how you choose to pass along meaningful documents – digitally, physically, or both – the most important thing is that you do it deliberately and with a plan. Don’t leave it to chance.

    Even a simple solution, well thought-out, can mean the world to your loved ones someday.

  • Stolpersteine in Antwerp: From Controversy to Recognition

    Stolpersteine in Antwerp: From Controversy to Recognition

    In 2012, a heated controversy arose in Antwerp regarding the plan to install so-called Stolpersteine – literally “stumbling stones.” These memorial stones, an initiative by German artist Gunter Demnig, are embedded in the pavement in front of the former residences of people who were deported or murdered by the Nazis. The brass plaques bear the name, date of birth, date of deportation, and—if known—the date of death of the victim. The project aims to keep the memory of individual victims tangible and visible in the public space.

    Nevertheless, this initiative led to division in Antwerp. Some Jewish organisations and community representatives felt it was inappropriate for people to walk on these stones or for them to become dirty. Concerns were also raised about the project’s commercial aspect and the artist’s financial compensation. Among others, the Forum of Jewish Organisations and the Central Jewish Consistory of Belgium expressed objections at the time. As a result, Mayor Bart De Wever decided not to allow the installation of Stolpersteine in public space.

    In the following years, the debate continued. Supporters emphasised the power of the personal and local approach of the project. Over time, resistance softened, especially as the project was embraced by many other cities, including several in Belgium.

    In 2023, Antwerp reversed its policy. In consultation with Jewish organisations, the city allowed Stolpersteine to be placed, with the consent of victims’ families. Later that year, the first stones were officially inaugurated. This marked a significant shift toward shared remembrance and historical recognition.

    Milestones in Antwerp

    • Before 2018: Two Stolpersteine were already placed.
    • 2018: Official policy change allowing Stolpersteine in the city.
    • From 2018 onward: Active placement by the Struikelstenen Antwerpen initiative.
    • By May 2025: Over 250 stones in more than 100 streets across Antwerp.

    Neighbourhoods with Stolpersteine

    • Berchem
    • Borgerhout
    • Deurne
    • Hoboken
    • Merksem
    • Wilrijk
    • Borsbeek

    Poetsdag – May 8, 2025

    To mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, a special cleaning day is being held on May 8, 2025. Volunteers will clean and polish the Stolpersteine to ensure the names remain legible. The event is coordinated by Struikelstenen Antwerpen in collaboration with:

    • Schools
    • Local residents
    • Families of victims

    Sources

    Stolpersteine in Frankfurt am Main
  • CABR files in Hague

    CABR files in Hague

    The original article first appeared in AVOTAYNU, the International Review of Jewish Genealogy, Vol. XXXV, no. 2, Summer 2019.

    End May 2018 I made contact, through MyHeritage (which is a very valuable tool for at least first contacts if not more), with descendants of one of my great-grandmother’s siblings from the Strauss family.

    During one of our conversations via e-mail, the resistance work of a mutual relative during the second world war in The Netherlands came up. I knew through one of my uncles notes that his name was Edgar Kan, he fought in the Dutch resistance and he was born in 1928, Edgar was my maternal grandmother’s cousin. My new-found cousin wanted to know more about the resistance work, and how Edgar came to be murdered.

    Useful session at the Famillement conference:
    I was lucky to have joined a conference in the same week as

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  • Passenger lists from the Holland-America Line (HAL) at the Rotterdam City Archives

    Between 1900 and 1969 millions of people traveled and emigrated with the ships of the Holland-America Line.

    The Holland-America Line (HAL), originally a Dutch transatlantic cruise company, offered full trips, but emigrants also made use of the HAL. Many Dutch people do have relatives who have migrated to the United States or Canada. There is a good chance that they have used the HAL services.

    Also, many Polish Jews traveled via Rotterdam to New York. Between 1880 and 1920, approximately one million Eastern Europeans traveled to America via Rotterdam. The Holland America Line had offices in Bulgaria, Latvia, and Russia where tickets could be purchased for the train to Rotterdam, the boat to America and again the train to every station in the New World. The list also shows that they booked their trip in their native country.

    These passenger lists (“passagiersstaten”) are handwritten lists with information about who made the crossing to the promised land with which ship and when. It was also recorded how much the passengers paid for the trip and in which class they traveled.

    These sources are one of the most consulted

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  • Mini-expo at FelixArchief in Antwerp: “Foreigners in a foreign city”

    The FelixArchief (the City Archives of Antwerp: https://felixarchief.antwerpen.be) announced in their recent newsletter from February, sent out via email, that the subject of the mini-expo which will run from February 12, 2019, until Friday, April 5, 2019, will be about “Vreemdelingen in een vreemde stad” (Foreigners in a foreign city). I think that it is worth sharing, hence this post with a translation of the original announcement

    (please note, the translation is my responsibility and was not specifically endorsed by the FelixArchief. I’ve included the full URL with the original announcement below the translated text.)

    In 1839, the then Sûreté Publique (State Security Service), was commissioned to check all foreign nationals on Belgian territory. In order to gather the necessary information about each foreign national, the State turned to the cities and towns. They were instructed to keep a close eye on every stranger and to forward documents with information to Brussels, where they were kept in a central file.

    Antwerp started in 1840 with the

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  • The Joodsche Almanak / Almanach Juif issued in 1934 by J. Fuss and J. Salpeter

    The Joodsche Almanak / Almanach Juif issued in 1934 by J. Fuss and J. Salpeter

    In 1934 an almanac in Yiddish, titled “Joodsche Almanak” / “Almanach Juif”, was published by J. Fuss and J. Salpeter. Edition “Progrés” was issued in Antwerp at Lange Kievitstraat 66.

    In the publishers’ introduction which was originally written in Yiddish, they explained the intention of the Almanac.  For your convenience I have translated it into English (not word-for-word):

    In our young Jewish community we felt already for a long time the need for a handbook which will help the Jew in Belgium to get oriented in the new setting and to get to know more about what Belgium has to offer regarding Jewish life which is developing continuously.

    Now with the closure of the Belgian borders for new immigrants, and with the

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  • Updated website for Antwerp City Archives (Felixarchief)

    The city archives of Antwerp (known as Felixarchief) has updated its website. On their website you can read, among others, the following about the update:

    Thanks to the new search function you can find a relevant search result faster and more efficiently. Filters allow you to define a relevant time period or limit a search to a few specific detail entries. […] Thanks to a new algorithm, results are not returned in a randomized order, they appear higher in the result as they become more relevant.

    In the search guides you can read briefly how you search in certain popular archive series and you will always find a direct link to the series.
    (Source: https://felixarchief.antwerpen.be/nieuwspagina/welkom-nieuwe-site, Retrieved on November 27th, 2018)

    Innovation is (always) fun, but it will certainly require some adjustment from the users because the new website is now, compared to the earlier version, completely overhauled.

    Visit their website through the following URL: https://felixarchief.antwerpen.be

  • Solving Cold Cases – An Attempt

    Solving Cold Cases – An Attempt

    By Fulvio Spada from Torino, Italy (Cold case) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

    I am currently in the middle of reading the book on my Kindle “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” by Michelle McNamara which tells the story about, what is, or better was, considered a cold case. The book tells the gripping story about a mysterious and violent predator, later nicknamed the “Golden State Killer”, who committed fifty sexual assaults in Northern California before moving south, where he perpetrated ten sadistic murders (see https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0792LVP7T). 

    Thanks to the possibilities which DNA later offered, in combination with similarities of different M.O.’s the investigators learned about, it became possible to link multiple cases to the same perpetrator. In 2018 they nabbed a suspect,

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