RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: Gillg on Friday 21 August 15 11:00 BST (UK)
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An interesting approach - just to follow up two relatives, sisters of Jane's father, "lost" after WW2. A sad ending for one of them, but frustratingly although the other's adventures were followed through and after the war, just when I wanted it to tell us that her descendants had been found and to produce them for Jane, we came to the end of the programme!
Jane said that her father had gone to Poland after the war to find one of the sisters (without success), but didn't say whether he had also looked for the other sister.
Some one had been working hard in the background, as various relevant documents were found to help the story along as Jane travelled from Poland to France and Switzerland, looking like an extra from "Dr Zhivago" in her fur bonnet.
More of a bit of history rather than genealogy again, but very interesting to follow the various desperate attempts of family members to escape the Nazis as they took over parts of Europe.
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It was a heartbreaking story.
I also wanted to know more about the family who had managed to survive in Switzerland, such as did they stay there and what happened to their children.
I suppose it's possible they did have descendents who were contacted for the programme but they chose not to appear.
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interesting, but another boring, drag it out as long as possible episode, not liking the series so far, i fell asleep during the Paul one and had to catch up the next day.
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I generally enjoy WDYTYA, but some episodes are far more gripping than others. I remember really enjoying Davina McCall, who had a fascinating family, and Barbara Windsor, because we have origins in the same Essex village. But there are several episodes I've dozed off in!
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I fell asleep as well but have not bothered with catch up, roots are what that programme is suppose to be about, it seems they are having trouble researching anything pre ww1. Going to give it a miss now.
It was a heart breaking story but Jane Seymour has enough money to pay for someone to do this, not like hundreds of lesser people who are in the same situation.
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I forgot and just turned over for the last 5 minutes - the story/ending having been spoilt by the press reporting of two days ago. I was worried I'd missed a bunch of other/interesting stuff, but it seems I didn't.
I don't begrudge these people using the programmes to get to the bottom of their family mysteries - but: it's dull for us; we've got mysteries and nobody picking up our tabs; with her income she could've got the basics from the programme then paid to find out the story privately.
I want to see trees going back a few interesting generations and to discover exciting/unexpected things, with a happy ending.
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Strangely, despite the lack of "real" genealogy, I rather enjoyed this episode! ;D
I thought it was a good introduction to researching in other countries; and had a good storyline too.
Please try to remember that WDYTYA is an entertainment TV program, made for the masses to enjoy.
It is NOT an Open University special on how to trace your family! ;D ;D
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I enjoyed this one - found it really compelling. The survival of all those visa applications was remarkable. If they told us where they found them I missed it - perhaps a Vichy archive, or retained in the family?
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I found it an interesting programme but more "where do you think they went" rather than WDYTYA.
A disappointing series so far; fingers crossed for an improvement next week (Derek Jacobi).
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I like the range of eras covered by the programme. And it often draws our attention to records we haven't considered, outside the usual census / parish records... such as school records, military, hospital records.
I'd like it if the research involved was shown in greater detail, though. Often we see a celebrity type a name into ancestry, and magically they find their ancestor in the census! We all know it's not that simple! I imagine a large number of viewers will have an interest in genealogy, and are given a misleading version...
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I was surprised no death certificate was available for the aunt "found in a bush"!
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I watched every second and felt I had to - I would too have loved to find descendants - as I always do... it gives the prog, that fairy tale ending. But yes people may not want to be shown on TV - if the research has now been passed on to Jane or whoever is featured then maybe they can trace further up or down as they may want.
For me it is a TV programme and I never expect too much of them these days :) :) I watch the ones that I feel will hold my interest and if they are someone that has a worthiness ? ( is that the right word ?) I just can't be bothered watching people who I don't feel are worth their 'salt' but that's a personal thing.
Uhm all in all I did (can't say enjoy cos it was so very sad) take a lot from last nights programme.
xin
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Jane said that her father had gone to Poland after the war to find one of the sisters (without success)
No she didn't, she said her father had gone to a concentration camp to find the daughter of the sister who lived in Poland, - who would have been his cousin - so he must have learned from someone that this young lady was in a concentration camp. I wonder who? It couldn't have been the sister who died in Switzerland, who had told her other sister this could it? If so, then Jane should have know all about her family history, unless her father didn't talk about it.
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Oddly enough, I rather enjoyed this episode - although I didn't really expect to, thinking it'd be another programme full of the harrowing images of the Death Camps! It was a rather different slant on it all, and even the "subject" - i.e. Jane Seymour - came over rather better than I'd have anticipated. I preferred it to the previous week's offering, but I can agree, it might have been nice to have a reference sometimes to exactly where/how these diligent researchers had got their information.
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I also found it compelling and more fast-paced than most - Jane's direct questions seemed to keep things ticking over nicely with a lot of story/history to pack in.
Sad, as the holocaust ones always are, but not as harrowing as I found the Natasha Kaplinsky one.
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Jane's journey searching for answers regarding her 2 great aunts and their families in occupied Poland and France was both compelling and poignant.
A lot of hard work must have taken place to uncover all those documents.
But of course as interesting as the story was it did leave a few unanswered questions, like :
:-\ How did Jane's father find out that he had a cousin or cousins in Belsen? There must have been some communication with the Polish aunt at the end of the war for him to know that and look for her/them.
And what happened to the surviving Aunt with her husband and girls in Switzerland?
I can only assume that if the programme makers did find out their fate they decided for privacy reasons not to disclose that info to the viewers. But us being nosey, it doesn't stop us wondering?
Looby :)
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I enjoyed this episode more and found the documents very interesting. I have no family who were interned but it was interesting to see hat records were used and also survived.
Regards panda
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In an exclusive scene that was cut from Jane Seymour's episode, the star visits the grave of her great uncle Dr Herman Temerson, where she is also introduced to a long lost relative...
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01fy4/
Don't have access to sound at the mo, so don't actually know who
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Why the Heck did they cut that scene... !!!!
xin
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I did enjoy all the history it told us about what happened to Polish Jews, I would though have liked to know where they got the documents which were so helpful and informative.........this would have perhaps helped others to find out more about their relatives.
I definitely prefer the original much more genealogical programs.
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Yes, I quite enjoyed last night's offering and agree that it would have been better to have had some info about the part of the family who settled in Switzerland. Lots of it was really sad and heart breaking.
From now on I will view this program as a "show" about someone famous who has a couple of interesting ancestors rather than anything to do with genealogy as we know it ;D
Happy viewing,
Dorrie
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Thank you Steviesteve for posting the link with the unseen footage.
I can't think why they didn't use it in the programme, such a pity as you always felt that the events would lead up to a distant relative being introduced to Jane.
I'm not so keen on the new format that seems to be being used in this series as it just seems to be concentrating on firstly more recent events and secondly just one or two people and not taking their lines very far back.
It would also have been interesting to find out where the documents they showed Jane came from as I'm sure there are many people who would be interested in researching that particular time.
If they had say even a 10 minute slot at the end where they could just give some information on how to go about obtaining documents like this anyone interested could continue watching and if you weren't then just switch off!!
It would be a bit like the end of some wildlife programmes where they show how some sequences of filming took place!
I hope the next one with Derek Jacobi has something different to offer and not linked to the war!
CAW1
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I'd like it if the research involved was shown in greater detail, though. Often we see a celebrity type a name into ancestry, and magically they find their ancestor in the census! We all know it's not that simple! I imagine a large number of viewers will have an interest in genealogy, and are given a misleading version...
Correct Claire,
Hence the reason for many posts looking for X born in wherever, with no other info.
It's crystal balls we need for some I've read, not a computer, Ancestry or FindMyPast ;D ::)
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If we all had our own dedicated researchers and all we had to do was type in a name on any of the sites it would take away that ureka moments we get sometimes!!
There are so many amazing and knowledgable people on this site that it is comforting to know someone is always kind enough to help out when the chips are down!
Having had personal experience it has changed my life.
Caw1
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The jury is out for me on this series. I have fallen asleep during the last 2 which does not bode well.
Hoping that they do not stick to this format of concentrating on one generation and one period in history
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I expect that they cut the scene for time- reasons - but it did add another dimension, and I think, enriched the programme. Certainly better than the first one in this series.
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I actually quite liked this episode! :) They did focus a lot on one piece of history, but they actually did it well. Although, I hope in the next episode they do something different than the two wars.
In an exclusive scene that was cut from Jane Seymour's episode, the star visits the grave of her great uncle Dr Herman Temerson, where she is also introduced to a long lost relative...
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01fy4/
Don't have access to sound at the mo, so don't actually know who
I wish they had shown that scene though! :)
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Re. Jane Seymour's father knowing or believing that at least one cousin had been sent to Bergen-Belsen: it's possible that a relative or friend had written to his family and communicated what they knew or suspected about the fates of his relatives.
Re. the documentation: the Nazis are notorious for having been fastidious record keepers. The Allied Forces also gathered as much information as possible from survivors in the aftermath of the Holocaust; many of these records are held by the International Tracing Service in Germany.
https://www.its-arolsen.org/en/homepage/index.html
I thought the episode was compelling and heartbreaking.
Regards,
Josephine
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Am I the only one who wanted to find a link between Jane Seymour and Jane Seymour?
Or is that already known/not known?
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Jane Seymour is her stage name?!
She was born Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg.
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Well that would explain it ;D
Thanks KG :)
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Thank you StevieSteve. They really should not have cut that scene at the graveside. It truly shows what a gracious woman Jane Seymour is.
A fascinating programme from start to finish.
Judy
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I think it is a great pity they don't have a "how we did it" section at the end of each show, (as suggested above by Caw1,) but I suspect that after the WDYTYA web site was set up it was considered unnecessary, as advice on specific topics can be accessed here when required.
http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/tutorials