![]() ![]() As of the beginning of this year, more than 26 million people have taken at-home DNA tests. The idea of having an ancient identity “confirmed” by modern science was too alluring. If I ever mentioned that someone “looked Jewish” my grandmother would respond, “Oh really? And what exactly does a Jew look like?” Yet evidently, this wariness of ethnic categorization didn’t stop my parents from sending swab samples from the inside of their cheeks off to a direct-to-consumer genetic testing company. The raw memory of this racism made any suggestion of Jewish ethnicity slightly taboo in my family. After all, the reason my grandparents had to leave the towns and villages of their ancestors was because of ethno-nationalism emboldened by a racialized conception of Jewishness as something that exists “in the blood”. According to family lore, my forebears lived in small towns and villages in eastern Europe for at least a few hundred years, where they kept their traditions and married within the community, up until the Holocaust, when they were either murdered or dispersed.īut still, there was something disconcerting about our Jewishness being “confirmed” by a biological test. ![]() We also can write about our ancestors and ensure that they are not forgotten.This genetic explanation of my Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry came as no surprise. By writing Un earthed, the author ensures that none are forgotten. In her journey, the author discovered the story not just of Franya but her siblings and other family members. Frank visiting the site of Franya’s death – reconciling herself to the story and freeing herself of the burden left by her aunt to never forget. The final chapter is titled “A Taste of Dirt” and ends with Ms. Frank is finally ready to read the translation of Twenty-One and One. Throughout the book, our curiosity is piqued, and we are taken on a journey of also wanting to know what happened to Franya, the brilliant actress. Frank does not shy away from emotion and discusses her reluctance to read the forbidden book, Twenty-One and One, given to her by her aunt Mollie. To write with clarity and understanding, visiting our ancestral locations can boost our emotional connection. The author traveled to Lithuania to see with her own eyes the family history sites and research onsite in the various repositories. Why else do we study history but to make sense of our current world? Connecting our family’s past to our present can help to heal wounds and strengthen us. Franks’s comparison of the racism of Nazi Europe to modern-day racism of all forms. Unearthed links the past to the present with Ms. Not every family history will have such a dramatic family story, but every family history can be written in a compelling manner. As family history writers, we need to explore various methods to show our sources without interrupting the narrative flow. ![]() Endnotes give additional details on the sources used for developing the theme of each chapter. Unearthed contains a select bibliography detailing sources consulted. Providing the context for our family histories is important, and we can learn how to do this by reading others’ work. The author seamlessly educates the reader on Judaism, the holocaust in Lithuania, and Yiddish theater – all subjects that one might have limited knowledge of. Learn more about Meryl’s writing of the book and see photos of Franya in this video narrated by the author. As an adult, Meryl took on the task of discovering the truth about Franya and the rest of her family, who perished at the hands of the Nazis as part of their extermination of the Jewish people. Aunt Mollie had fed Meryl’s interest in Franya from the time she was a young girl with photos and stories of Franya but never revealed how she died. Meryl Frank gives an excellent example of weaving together her research and the story of her cousin, Franya Winter, a star of the Yiddish theater in Vilna, Lithuania. We’re reading Unearthed: A Lost Actress, a Forbidden Book, and a Search for Life in the Shadow of the Holocaust for the spring selection on the Family Locket Book Club. ![]()
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