Austin Bethell - Identifinders International, LLC

Who Was Joseph Smith?

By Austin Bethell|2016-01-14T16:23:54-08:00January 14th, 2016|

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. Joseph Smith's Death Certificate, 25 December 1973 Over the years, Karen has gathered an impressive collection of information about Joseph starting with his enlistment in the US Army in November 1913, yet she has not been able to discover anything about him before that. Although Joseph Smith claimed he was born on 15 July 1896 in Philadelphia, his birth certificate has never been located. His life prior to WWI is unknown; nothing [...]

Who Am I? What is My Name? – Part VII – Gertrude’s Other Children?

By Austin Bethell|2023-01-12T23:52:27-08:00October 30th, 2015|

Last week we received surprising new information about a woman who may be Gertrude Priess-Spiro.

Who Am I? What is My Name? Part VI – Our Search for Gertrude Spiro

By Austin Bethell|2023-01-12T23:44:11-08:00January 2nd, 2015|

Gertrude Spiro and Charlotte Rebhun, circa 1942. 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 shop in Warsaw, and it also sold liquor. In her position she must have had many friends and many enemies. Gertrude Piss-Spiro and her daughter Sonia were arrested in Warsaw and put into Pawiak Prison in 1943. They are listed among 141 women on a prison [...]

DNA Pilot Study on Missing Identity Holocaust Children – 2013 IAJGS Conference

By Austin Bethell|2014-05-09T20:13:58-07:00May 9th, 2014|

In August 2012, I was invited to give a lecture at the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies in Boston, MA, on our pilot project to identify two missing-identity child survivors of the Holocaust. Please enjoy the video of my talk that describes our progress as of late 2013. We have come some ways since and continue to work towards solving the mystery of their identities. http://youtu.be/Tm9RMfsi864

Who Am I? What is My Name? Part V – Gertrude and Sonia’s Escape

By Austin Bethell|2022-07-06T01:27:48-07:00March 7th, 2014|

Pawiak Prison Gertrude and 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 Berman Gestapo prison. Approximately 100,000 men and 200,000 women passed through the prison, mostly members of the Armia Krajowa, political prisoners and civilians taken as hostages in street round-ups. An estimate 37, 000 were executed and 60,000 sent to German death and concentration camps. There were few known escape attempts. Even if Gertrude survived Auschwitz, she would [...]

Los Angeles Times Article "DNA Sequencer could give doctors wealth of genetic information".

By Austin Bethell|2014-01-11T00:07:42-08:00January 11th, 2014|

An article appeared in the Los Angeles Times last Saturday January 4, 2014 that is of interest to the genetic genealogy community: DNA Sequencer could give doctors wealth of genetic information. www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx The article was prompted by the recent FDA approval of the Illumina MiSeqDX DNA sequencer that can sequence a human genome in a couple of hours for about $5,000. Also approved last fall were two Illumina assays that can sequence for 139 genetic variations associated with cystic fibrosis, one of the most common inherited diseases. The rapid turn-around, low cost, and more accurate sequencing of genetic data prompts the question: Now that we can sequence a genome faster, cheaper, and [...]

Who Am I? What is My Name? Part IV – Wolfgang and Adele’s Eyewitness Account

By Austin Bethell|2022-07-06T01:24:59-07:00October 26th, 2013|

Margarete & Emil Schoessow Family (c 1922). Left to right: Erna, Herbert, Margarete (mother), Margarete (daughter), Charlotte. Emil was killed in 1917 during World War I. Charlotte Schössow Rebhun was the oldest of four children of Emil and Margarete Schössow from Berlin. Charlotte, like her friend Gertrude Spiro, was a Christian woman who had married a Jew. Charlotte's husband Max Rebhun had moved from Poland to Germany and settled in Berlin, probably right after WWI. Max was arrested on Kristalnacht in 1938, and sent to Poland. His wife Charlotte followed him in 1939 with their two children Wolfgang and Adele, where, after the outbreak of the War, the family lived in the Warsaw Ghetto. On August 20, 1942, [...]

Who Am I, What is My Name? Part III – Gertrude and Sonia Spyra

By Austin Bethell|2022-07-06T09:23:41-07:00October 17th, 2013|

Gertrude Spiro and Charlotte Rebhun, Warsaw, c 1942 A mystery within the mystery of Pnina's identity is the fate of Gertrude Spyra and her daughter Sonia. As the parties responsible for smuggling Pnina from the Warsaw Ghetto, Gertrude and Sonia may have left behind clues about Pnina's parents. Perhaps the Spyras wrote letters to their family members, as did their friend Charlotte Rebhun. Perhaps a co-worker overheard something they said about how they saved a baby during the last days before the Ghetto Uprising. According to "the story", Pnina's parents approached a German soldier about smuggling their daughter out of the Warsaw Ghetto in late 1942-early 1943. The soldier [...]

Who Am I? What is My Name? Part II – Pnina, Wolfgang, and the Warsaw Ghetto

By Austin Bethell|2022-07-06T01:47:43-07:00December 12th, 2012|

Barbara Rebhun? Convinced that my surname was Rebhun, I contacted Rebhuns around the world. Though the BBC, CNN, and the international press featured my quest, I initially received no responses. Finally in March 1997, the Munich Red Cross relayed a reply from a German named Wolfgang Rebhun, who was searching for his little sister, Baschka (Barbara in German). After receiving the Red Cross letter I began a correspondence with Wolfgang Rebhun. Then after a very short time we went to Germany, to meet Wolfgang and his (and my) sister Adela and some other members of the family. The meeting was very warm and exciting. To them it was a [...]

Who Am I, What Is My Name? Part I – Pnina, Otwoc, and the Kazcmareks

By Austin Bethell|2022-07-06T01:04:27-07:00December 10th, 2012|

My name is Pnina Gutman. I am 70 years old. I began the search for my biological identity in April 1996. I called this project "Who am I what's my name?" I came to Israel from Poland at the age of eight with a couple whom I thought to be my parents, Mania and Mendel Himel. As a child, I remembered living with the Himels in the town of Lodz, but it was a short time, about two years that I recall as a year in the kindergarten and a year in school. What I remembered before was an orphanage and the day the Himels were introduced to me as my [...]

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