Who Am I? What is My Name? – Part IX – Gertrude’s Sisters!
Since 2012 we have been trying to discover the birth identity of Pnina Gutman, who as an infant was smuggled from the Warsaw Ghetto with the assistance of a woman named Gertrud Spiro. We realized from the beginning that our best chance at solving the mystery was to find out as much as we could […]
Claude and the Geography Lesson
By the time I was asked to find Claude and Marie Dexter* in France, I had pulled a few unclaimed property rabbits out of unclaimed property hats so that I had become the company’s patron saint of hopeless cases. Typically, when they finally got around to assigning me a case like Claude’s, they had exhausted […]
They Never Thought I’d Find Them but I Did!
When people ask what I do for a living, I tell them “I read minds”. This is not far from the truth.The case of the Chedidi’s* stands out in this regard. In about 2007, the international investment company I worked for gave me an assignment to find a couple named Jack and Lily Chedidi* who […]
An Adventure in International Unclaimed Property – Seeking The Von-Fiorellos
About ten years ago, when Andy and I were in Merida, Mexico on business, I received an email from the international investment company I worked for. They had been trying to find owners associated with unclaimed property, but without success. They contacted me, as usual, for a last ditch effort in solving the case. The names they gave […]
Who Am I? What is My Name? – Part VIII – Gertrud and Leo’s Trial
Das Bundesarchiv Trial RecordsAccording to Widerstand in Berlin gegen das NS-Regime 1933 bis 1945 (Resistance in Berlin against the Nazi Regime 1933-1945), Leo and Gertrud Spiro were put on trial in Berlin in 1938. Trying to locate their court records, I contacted the editor of the book Dr. Gunter Wehner, a scholar of the German resistance. Dr. Wehner is 83 […]
Who Was Joseph Smith – Close Calls and Possible Candidates
We have just a few scraps of information to go on in searching for Joseph Smith’s original identity, many of which are questionable. But we have to make the most of what we have, since that’s all we have. Joseph always said his birth date was 15 July 1896. My experience has been that if someone changes his […]
Who Was Joseph Smith?
The early life of Joseph Eugene Smith is a complete mystery. Joseph’s son Morton and Morton’s daughter Karen have researched Joseph for over 20 years, yet they still don’t know who he was. Hopefully by reading his story, someone may come forward with new insight into Joseph’s so far impenetrable history. Over the years, Karen has gathered an impressive collection […]
Who Am I? What is My Name? – Part VII – Gertrude’s Other Children?
Holocaust research requires a lot of patience. It can take years for a new development to occur. Sometimes it is the result of hard work, and other times, a product of good luck. Sometimes new information will lead you in the right direction, sometimes it will lead you in the wrong direction. And sometimes it’s […]
Who Am I? What is My Name? Part VI – Our Search for Gertrude Spiro
Gertrude Spiro must have been well-connected. She was the proprietor of a liquor and cigarette shop at 2 Nowiniarksa St. in Warsaw in 1941-1942. The shop undoubtedly generated a lot of income for whoever owned it; liquor and cigarettes are two of the most in-demand commodities during wartime. Moreover, Gertrude’s shop was the only cigarette […]
Who Am I? What is My Name? Part V – Gertrude and Sonia’s Escape
Gertrude & Sonia Preiss-Spiro’s names are listed on the transport to Auschwitz of 141 women from Pawiak prison in Warsaw on 24 August 1943. Pawiak prison was originally used by the Polish judicial to incarcerate criminals, but after the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, it was converted into a German Gestapo prison. Approximately 100,000 […]