The Research
And this is how it all started...
From
the end of the 90's we, Bertha and Max van Dam
, started
our hobby in genealogy. Initially, we obviously researched our own
families, such as: van Dam, van Kleef, Bromet and Nabarro. In part as a
result of questions we received, we gradually started researching other
families as well. We also researched families of which relatively many
name-bearers occurred in our database.
No family tree will ever be
"complete". Always new branches are discovered and new sources are
revealed, that may be researched. Both of us experienced the results of
the extensive decimation of our families in the Shoah, but fortunately
always young new branches grow on to the top of our tree.
Who
are we? What interested us about genealogy and what did we aim for?
We, Bertha
van Dam-Bromet
(born 1941 in Amsterdam) and Max van Dam (born 1939 in Amsterdam)
started our genealogy research by the end of the 90's.
Knowing very little about our families, we slowly started the research
for our roots. Initially we were prompted by the enthusiasm of our son
Jacob, who had started a preliminary research during a work visit to
the Netherlands. Within just a few days of work he managed to retrieve
a lot of information, both in Groningen (the van Dam family) and in
Amsterdam (the Bromet family).
Since we were already pensioners, we took over
Jacob's research.
It is a hobby we enjoyed immensely from the very beginning - with here
and there signs of addiction...
Sadly, on September 18, 2008 my wife Bertha passed away
unexpectedly.
Just one day before her sudden death we had decided to offer our
extensive genealogical database to the wider public by publishing it on
the Internet as soon as possible. This is realized by means of this web
site.
I owe Bertha much gratitude for the accuracy and quality of our growing
genealogical database.
Now, I proceed on this path alone.
As so many amongst us, we had gradually developed a possibly
unattainable wish. Ours was to create one large database of the entire
Dutch-Jewish community, in cooperation with other researchers. That is
of course a utopic vision, as we realized ourselves.
I do hope though, that this database will assist the visitors of
this site to discover more information about their own families.
Through our many contacts, Bertha and I realized that specifically in
our own Dutch-Jewish generation, born just before or in the first years
of the Second World War, there is a great gap of information concerning
one's own family.
After WW2 we were orphaned from one or both parents and only some were
lucky enough to have both their parents survive. In all cases the
families were decimated to a large extend or almost completely wiped
out.
After WW2 there was need to get back to work and rebuild daily
life and there was little time to speak about the family's past. In
addition, many adults were not inclined to discuss their experiences
with their children.
The Jewish children of those days often had no one to tell them about
the past, and neither have today. The fact that many people did not
return to their previous domiciles added to this lack of first-hand
information.
More than once it occurs that during family research, close
relatives are found, such as a cousin or second cousin. For many of us
that is an emotional experience.
Fortunately in our database one will find branches of expanding Jewish
families, especially in Israel and the Netherlands.
We would like to expand this database with the help of visitors to
our site.
Any piece of additional information, corrections or simply a positive
feed-back will be greatly appreciated.