Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois

The documentary “Prisoner of Her Past” will be screened at the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois meeting on Sunday, June 24, 2012, in Temple Beth Israel, 3601 W. Dempster St., Skokie. Registration and refreshments will begin at 1:30 p.m. and the program will start at 2 p.m.

The film’s producer-writer-narrator, Howard Reich, the Chicago Tribune’s jazz critic, will comment on the story of his mother, Sonia, a Jew from Poland, who survived the Holocaust as a child by running and hiding.

Decades later, believing that the world had conspired to execute her, Sonia Reich fled her Skokie house one night, suitcase in hand, insisting that someone was going to shoot her in the head. In the documentary film, Howard Reich explains how he returned to Dubno (now in Ukraine) to try to find answers to questions about his mother’s past that had ultimately led to her late-onset post-traumatic stress disorder.

The film ventures beyond Sonia Reich's story, to show what can be done to help traumatized children today. It looks in particular at young victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Howard Reich first wrote about his mother in a Chicago Tribune article in 2003 and then published a book about her and his research into her past, “The First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich,” in 2006. His documentary film came out in 2010. For more information about the film, see http://prisonerofherpast.kartemquin.com/.

The JGSI meeting facilities at Temple Beth Israel will open at 12:30 p.m. to accommodate members/guests who want to use genealogy library materials, get help with genealogy websites on the Internet, or ask genealogical questions before the main program begins. For more information, visit http://www.jewishgen.org/jgsi or phone (312) 666-0100.

Follow JGSI on Twitter

A Twitter account has been established by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois. Members and others who “follow” it (@JGSofIllinois) will receive notices of coming JGSI meetings and special events, and reminders of resources available on the JGSI website. Retweets about various Jewish genealogy topics of interest to members will also be shared by @JGSofIllinois.
            Anyone with an email address can set up a Twitter account at https://twitter.com/ to receive these tweets from JGSI. Once an account has been set up, just type JGSofIllinois into the Twitter search box, hit enter, and then click on the “JGS of Illlinois” link atop one of the tweets. Finally, click on the blue “Follow” button.
            Another way of starting to receive the JGSI tweets is to go to the JGSI website home page at http://www.jewishgen.org/jgsi/ and click on the “Follow @JGSofIllinois” button. That will open a separate website where non-Twitter users can click on the orange “Sign Up” link to start a Twitter account.