I was considering using a topic that I am currently working on for a history paper as my final project, but after hearing in briefly in class about a student looking into his family’s naval history, I have decided to look into my family history. A distant relative of mine took the time several years ago to create a family tree of my paternal grandmother’s family. There are two versions: one is a simple tree, and the other is a detailed, 30-40 page tree with information on many of the family members. From what I remember, the tree dates back to 16th century Germany in Bavaria starting with the man Herz Lob. I am going home in two weeks, so I will be able to plot everyone on a map then. To me this would be an interesting final project because of my family’s German, Jewish history. The majority of my paternal grandmother’s family remained in Germany until the mid-1930’s. Because of the number of relatives documented on the family tree, I could track and analyze where Jews relocated when they escaped the Third Reich. I remember reading in the long version of the family tree that many either went to the United States, South Africa, or, at the time, Palestine. I won’t be certain until I am home and can map everything.

Here is my map so far. For the purposes of looking more towards the German, Jewish immigration of my family, I am excluding relatives who are not directly descended, who were born post-WWII (aka paternal grandmother, my mother). Birth places are in blue. Relocations are in yellow.