The geni.com profiles project started in 2016 because it allows me both to share information about the individuals and families I am researching as well as to add to my knowledge from the contributions of other geni.com members.

The first set of profiles I developed related to the project of reassembling the Jewish community of the Kleinstadt of Themar, Thüringen, which I began in 2008.  Soon the stories of Themar’s Jewish families led to finding links to other communities in Thüringen, Bavaria, and elsewhere, from which Jewish families came to Themar in the late 1800s. Now there are links to Jewish communities throughout Germany and the world.

The second set of profiles wasof the men, women, and children who were on the two deportations of Thüringen Jews in 1942. In May 1942, the first deportation transported over 500 Jews from cities, towns, and villages in Thüringen to Belzyce Ghetto in the Lublin District of occupied Poland; in September 1942, the second deportation carried Thüringen Jews to Theresienstadt Ghetto.

To date, I have added over 7,000 profiles to the geni.com database and manage an additional 4,000 profiles with other geni members. It has been an astonishing journey.