Hello faithful readers, Going to take a summer hiatus from blogging. Life has gotten a bit hectic with a very busy AirBnb and visiting family. I may get a blog or two out, but don’t count on it. Planning to be back September!
Summer 2022 Hiatus Read More »
Moving from Blogger to WordPress It’s been a couple of weeks since I announced that this blog would be moving from the Google-hosted Blogger/Blogspot platform to WordPress.org. The transition has had its challenges! The transfer of over 400 blog posts took a while. Once they were in WordPress, I realized that only 10% of the
A few things came through the mailbox this past week. Hagen Family I received an email from a granddaughter of Clara (nee Hagen) David. Clara and her husband Ernst were two individuals who tried to purchase forged Finnish passports from Jürgen Ziebell. Although they likely thought they were getting real ones. The granddaughter and I
Gustav Goldemann A few months ago (August 2020!), I had sent off a search request to the Bad Arolsen Archives (International Tracing Service) requesting any information that they might have on my… let’s see… great uncle-in-law (I think)… Gustav Goldemann. Gustav was the partner of my great-aunt, Johanna Catherina Knöffler. I wrote a blog post
Johannes Wolpe Follow-up Had a flurry of emails from Wayne C. of the University of Manitoba who is writing a short (500 word) article on Hans Max Wolpe. Max was the son of Johannes Wolpe who was involved in the Irish naturalization scheme with Jürgen Ziebell. Johannes, his divorced wife and his daughter Liliane were
Last May/June, I received a series of emails from Anat F. who had found my blog on Fritz Lasch, one of the desperate individuals who purchased forged Finnish passports from Algoth Niska. Anat was able to share a bit more information about Fritz’s wife, Basia, and their two sons. Fritz Lasch & Family In August
Several months ago (April!) I received an email from a German researcher, Heinz-Jörgen K.-v.H. who has been tracing the lives of the Katz family. Those who follow this blog might recall that Lily (née Katz) Knips was a Jewish widow living in Berlin, who in 1938, was introduced to Josef Jakobs by friends. Josef tried
Some of the communications I’ve received this past week. Harm Knol Bruins – Dutch Spy I received an email this week from Ivar B. whose great aunt-in-law was the second wife of Harm Knol Bruins, Dutch engineer and German spy. I’ve updated my blog post (link above) with the info that Ivar shared. The most
A rather torrential January has resulted in a basement flood and the discovery that our household perimeter drain is not up to snuff. Much mud and digging at the moment. This blog is therefore on temporary hiatus for a few weeks until life rights itself.
Blog Interruption due to Flood and Mud Read More »
This blog schedule has been a bit disrupted of late. I normally try to have things pre-posted several weeks in advance but… circumstances sometimes intervene. A few weeks ago, Josef’s last surviving child, my father, Raymond Jakobs, passed away at the age of 86 on the west coast of Canada. My Dad lived a long,
Sad News – Son of Josef Jakobs Passes on Read More »