0:00:02 > 0:00:05Rashida Jones is investigating her mother's family history.
0:00:05 > 0:00:07She went to Manhattan and never came back.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10Tracing her mysterious grandmother Rita's years in Manhattan.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14I'm definitely interested to know what she was doing. SHE LAUGHS
0:00:14 > 0:00:18She discovers unexpected Eastern European roots...
0:00:18 > 0:00:22It's really, really, really senseless.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26..that change the way she relates to her Jewish heritage.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28I feel like a miracle.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01Actor and writer Rashida Jones lives in Los Angeles.
0:01:01 > 0:01:06Her many film credits include I Love You, Man and The Social Network.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10And she currently plays the role of Ann Perkins on Parks and Recreation.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14Rashida is the daughter of music industry legend Quincy Jones
0:01:14 > 0:01:16and actress Peggy Lipton.
0:01:16 > 0:01:23And this mix of African-American and Jewish cultures has formed her individuality since she was a child.
0:01:23 > 0:01:28I always identified with both, it was important to me to be black
0:01:28 > 0:01:33as was Judaism and the culture that came with being Jewish.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37I was always encouraged to be balanced and I don't want to chose.
0:01:37 > 0:01:42My Dad's always been obsessed with our genealogy and our family tree,
0:01:42 > 0:01:47so he did all types of research and had our family roots traced.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50And it's been nice because he loves to talk about it.
0:01:50 > 0:01:57In college I fell into a larger Jewish community and was going to synagogue on high holidays
0:01:57 > 0:02:01and becoming more interested in the historical roots and everything.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04But despite my interest in Jewish culture,
0:02:04 > 0:02:09I don't know very much about my personal Jewish family history on my Mom's side.
0:02:09 > 0:02:14I did spend a lot of time with her parents, my grandpa Harold and grandma Rita growing up,
0:02:14 > 0:02:17but both of them have since passed away.
0:02:17 > 0:02:23I was very close with my grandmother and I always have, like, felt connected to her.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27I have her art all over my house and I feel like she's always with me.
0:02:27 > 0:02:32I didn't know anything really about her upbringing, I just knew her with my grandfather.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36But my feeling about my grandmother is she was very elegant,
0:02:36 > 0:02:40had wonderful taste, was an incredible artist,
0:02:40 > 0:02:42really beautiful, and that's pretty much it.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46To find out more about her grandmother, Rita,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49Rashida is going to visit her mother, Peggy,
0:02:49 > 0:02:52to see what she knows about Rita's early years.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56She's meeting with her mother and sister, Kidada,
0:02:56 > 0:03:00at her father's house in Los Angeles to get her started on her journey.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02What do you know, Mom? What do you know?
0:03:02 > 0:03:04Well...
0:03:04 > 0:03:11even though my mother kept a great record of her photographs, I don't know that much about her life.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15My mother, Rita, even though she didn't have a formal education,
0:03:15 > 0:03:20she was very erudite, very sophisticated and had incredible taste.
0:03:20 > 0:03:25Like here's a picture of her that I love. Look, how cute is that?
0:03:25 > 0:03:28Oh, God! So pretty!
0:03:28 > 0:03:32- Looks like Rashida. - Irish. Yeah, It does a lot.
0:03:32 > 0:03:38- Beautiful.- She was born in Ireland and left there
0:03:38 > 0:03:41and came to the States to live in Nyack, New York,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44with some Jewish relatives and her sister, Pearl.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46And Rita was apparently 14 or 15.
0:03:46 > 0:03:51Rita went to a month or two of school and split.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55She left. She left Nyack, she left Pearl, she left everybody.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58- To go to Manhattan?- Yes. She went to Manhattan and never came back.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02Her sister, Pearl, once said to me very late in life,
0:04:02 > 0:04:07"Oh, God! Rita was like... She was... She used to dance."
0:04:07 > 0:04:09I didn't even know Rita was a dancer.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13- Pearl went down to New York... - Were there feathers?
0:04:13 > 0:04:18Not quite that. You know, she was much classier than that. My mother was so classy.
0:04:18 > 0:04:23But apparently there was this thing in New York that were called taxi dancers.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26- This is what Pearl told me. - OK, so when did she meet Grandpa?
0:04:26 > 0:04:30She married Harold in '41.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32I think she was, like, 30.
0:04:32 > 0:04:37And at some point she changed her name from Rosenberg to Benson, right?
0:04:37 > 0:04:41Yeah. It was very confusing at the time. Was she a Rosenberg? Was she a Benson?
0:04:41 > 0:04:46- Do you think it was something to do with the religious, cultural implications?- Yeah.
0:04:46 > 0:04:52I would imagine that Jews were not looked on with much affection at all.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55They may have changed their name out of fear.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59Rashida has discovered that her grandmother dropped out of school
0:04:59 > 0:05:03and left for Manhattan, but she has no idea when this happened.
0:05:03 > 0:05:08She's travelling to New York to try and find out more about Rita's life there.
0:05:10 > 0:05:16It seems as though my grandmother was reinventing herself, going from a Jewish immigrant teenager,
0:05:16 > 0:05:23to a taxi dancer, to a sophisticated wife and a mother, and that's really interesting to me.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28Rashida is heading to the New York Public Library's Steven A Schwartzman building
0:05:28 > 0:05:31to meet with Professor Kirsten Fermaglich,
0:05:31 > 0:05:34who's been looking for information on Rita's life in Manhattan.
0:05:34 > 0:05:40- I want to find out some things about my grandmother...- OK.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42..who was Rita Benson,
0:05:42 > 0:05:47but at some point was Rosenberg. We're not quite sure when she changed her name.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51And I also want to know... There's this big chunk of time
0:05:51 > 0:05:56where she just disappeared into the city before she met my grandfather,
0:05:56 > 0:05:58and nobody knows what she was doing. SHE LAUGHS
0:05:58 > 0:06:02Well, this is a really interesting thing to explore.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06- "Rita... Rosenberg." - Uh-huh.
0:06:06 > 0:06:11Cool. New York passenger lists.
0:06:11 > 0:06:16- Oh, 1926.- You can get the actual record.- Oh, cool.- There you go. - Awesome.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22Look, there it is, Pearl and Rita Rosenberg.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25God! 13 and 18!
0:06:25 > 0:06:29It's crazy to come to a different country without your parents.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32- Was that uncommon?- It wouldn't have been that uncommon.- Right.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36A lot of families when they emigrated would come over in that way.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40- Jews in particular would come over in bits and pieces.- OK.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42SHE SIGHS
0:06:42 > 0:06:48"Mother, Jeanie Rosenberg." OK, so Jeanie. Right, that's my great-grandmother.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51I have to wear my glasses. Sorry.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53- Oh, they're going to join a relative or friend.- Uh-huh.
0:06:53 > 0:06:58OK, now this is really weird. Uncle, Mr Elliot Benson.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02So he's a Benson. Now I'm really confused.
0:07:02 > 0:07:03BOTH LAUGH
0:07:03 > 0:07:08I wonder... Oh, maybe they took their uncle's name
0:07:08 > 0:07:10in an attempt to acclimatise.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13It's possible. It definitely happened.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16So, she changed her name sometime after she arrived in New York?
0:07:16 > 0:07:19I have this declaration of intention,
0:07:19 > 0:07:22which is what immigrants file when they're going to become citizens.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26Erm... 1936.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29- So this is when she's trying to become a citizen.- OK.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31- Here she's Rosenberg. - Uh-huh.
0:07:31 > 0:07:39"I was born in Dublin, Ireland. Birthday, May 30, 1912."
0:07:39 > 0:07:46So, if she immigrated in 1926 and got married in 1941, that's 15 years.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49Which means there's a really long stretch
0:07:49 > 0:07:51where I have no idea what she was doing.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54Wow!
0:07:54 > 0:07:59- So Evelyn Feldman... Oh, this is someone saying, "I know this person." - Exactly.
0:07:59 > 0:08:04"I first met her in New York City in January 1933 through mutual friends.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07"Rita Hetty Rosenberg, known as Rita Benson."
0:08:07 > 0:08:11She's known as Rita Benson as early as...?
0:08:11 > 0:08:15Clearly by 1939, she's known as Benson.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19But did she ever change her name officially?
0:08:19 > 0:08:22This is the certificate of citizenship.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24Aw!
0:08:28 > 0:08:31So she got her citizenship, that's good.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34Wow!
0:08:34 > 0:08:41OK, so by the time she gets her citizenship, she's just Rita Benson.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45"Name changed by decree of court, June 30th, 1939,
0:08:45 > 0:08:49"from Rita Hetty Rosenberg to Rita Benson as part of naturalisation."
0:08:52 > 0:08:56OK, so as part of her becoming a citizen,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59- you can also do, like, a simultaneous name change?- Yeah.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03What were the main reasons why people changed their name? Jobs?
0:09:03 > 0:09:06Yeah. There's a lot of anti-Semitism.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10It increases in the US in the '20s and in the 1930s.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14This is a clip from the New York World, a newspaper that we
0:09:14 > 0:09:17were able to find through the New York Public Library.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20"Help wanted. Male. Christian. Christian."
0:09:20 > 0:09:23Every job has to be filled by a Christian.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29- "Neat, intelligent Americans." So that meaning not immigrants.- Right.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33That's so crazy!
0:09:33 > 0:09:36Employers are very open in discriminating against Jews.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41They could openly say what kind of applicants they preferred.
0:09:41 > 0:09:42- Christians.- Yep.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48It's so weird that there's this parallel American dream, right.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52The one is "come to American and practise whatever you want,"
0:09:52 > 0:09:54and the other is "find a way to change
0:09:54 > 0:09:58"so that you can fully and completely ingratiate yourself
0:09:58 > 0:10:00"in a way where you can't actually be too different."
0:10:00 > 0:10:05Yeah. That's exactly right. Come, you can be successful, but, yeah, don't be too different.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09- You'll only be successful if you're not too different.- Exactly.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13I know that my grandmother disappeared and there's a huge window.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17She didn't get married till she was 29, so there's 15 years there,
0:10:17 > 0:10:23and I don't know exactly when she went to the city and people stopped hearing from her.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26But she must have been pretty young.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30And I am definitely interested to know where she went and what she was doing.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34OK.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38The next step really is to figure out where my grandmother was
0:10:38 > 0:10:44when she disappeared into the wild city of Manhattan.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49When Rita lived in New York, she was working as something called a taxi dancer,
0:10:49 > 0:10:53and was probably going by the name of Rosenberg.
0:10:53 > 0:10:59Rashida is meeting with writer, David Freeland - an expert in 1930s Manhattan nightlife.
0:10:59 > 0:11:04They're meeting in a former ballroom and nightclub in the basement of the Paramount Hotel.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10- What was this called?- Well, this was Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe.
0:11:10 > 0:11:17It opened in 1938. This was really one of the greatest nightclubs in New York City history.
0:11:17 > 0:11:23- Wow!- You can imagine what it must have been like at the time.- Yeah, I can kind of picture it.
0:11:23 > 0:11:28- So this is my grandmother.- Oh, wow!
0:11:28 > 0:11:30- Extremely beautiful.- Yeah, she's like a movie star.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34Her name was Rita Rosenberg when she came to the US in 1926,
0:11:34 > 0:11:39and at some point after that, my family says she was taxi dancing.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43The term comes from the notion of being in a taxi cab -
0:11:43 > 0:11:47- the more time you're in a cab, the more money you spend.- Right.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52As a taxi dancer, young women like Rita Rosenberg made five cents
0:11:52 > 0:11:56for each 90-second dance, sometimes working well into the early morning hours
0:11:56 > 0:12:01for the chance to dance with a handsome Harvard man or a Hollywood producer.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05Early 1930s America was the golden era of taxi dancing
0:12:05 > 0:12:12and it became so popular Hollywood made the movie Ten Cents A Dance about the glamorous industry.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16Now, these are very, very rare, these are tabloids.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19There's a column on gangster culture.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23- Uh-huh.- Three are also a lot of rather spicy cartoons.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26- So, it's more of the underbelly of the city?- Yeah.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28It's sensationalism,
0:12:28 > 0:12:34- but it's the only publication that had a taxi dancing column.- OK.
0:12:34 > 0:12:42We're going to flip to the Dancing By column from March 13th of 1933.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45"Who were the two collegiates who flew to Canada
0:12:45 > 0:12:51"because of a bet with Rita Ray and her shadow, Evelyn Fields,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54hostesses at Bluebird!" Oh, my God!
0:12:54 > 0:12:59One of my grandmother's witnesses for her naturalisation,
0:12:59 > 0:13:01her name was Evelyn Feldman,
0:13:01 > 0:13:09so I'm assuming that this twosome is Rita Rosenberg and Evelyn Feldman.
0:13:09 > 0:13:14- How would you know that this was her?- I think what we have to do
0:13:14 > 0:13:18- is really look at all the areas of coincidence.- Uh-huh.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22- We know that pretty much all dancers used made-up names.- Uh-huh.
0:13:22 > 0:13:27- So really Rita R and Evelyn F.- OK.
0:13:27 > 0:13:32We can tell from looking at the various photographs that you've brought in,
0:13:32 > 0:13:37your grandmother was pursuing a career as an entertainer.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40- Really?!- As a showgirl.
0:13:40 > 0:13:46- Often taxi dancing was a stepping stone to work as a showgirl.- OK.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50This, I would say, is the 1930s.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55- This photograph looks to be from the early 1940s.- Uh-huh.
0:13:55 > 0:14:00We can tell because of the hairstyle. And this is a publicity headshot clearly,
0:14:00 > 0:14:05because she was having her photograph taken by Murray Korman.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07So, Murray Korman was really
0:14:07 > 0:14:09the go-to photographer for all showgirls.
0:14:09 > 0:14:10Wow.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13So, you would never just get a picture like this
0:14:13 > 0:14:17taken of yourself unless you are pursuing that kind of career?
0:14:17 > 0:14:19- You would not have gone to Murray Korman.- OK.
0:14:19 > 0:14:24But I definitely wonder how she compartmentalised being
0:14:24 > 0:14:26Jewish in this world.
0:14:26 > 0:14:31I feel like she almost had to, in some ways, just keep that out,
0:14:31 > 0:14:33put that somewhere else for the time being, you know?
0:14:33 > 0:14:37Well, I think what happens when a lot of people come to New York,
0:14:37 > 0:14:41it happens now and it happened then, is that they reinvent themselves.
0:14:41 > 0:14:42Right.
0:14:44 > 0:14:49I love picturing my grandmother making her way in the city
0:14:49 > 0:14:51and redefining herself
0:14:51 > 0:14:55'and maybe it wasn't like the most respectable business to
0:14:55 > 0:15:00'be in but just, to me, kind of modern and very independent'
0:15:00 > 0:15:03and I feel cool to be connected to that.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08'My grandmother was so young and yet so ambitious
0:15:08 > 0:15:10'when she came to this country.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12'I wonder what she was leaving back home.'
0:15:15 > 0:15:19Rashida is travelling to Dublin where her grandmother Rita was born.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25I'm really intrigued to find out whatever I can
0:15:25 > 0:15:29about the Jewish culture here and how far back our roots go.
0:15:30 > 0:15:32Rashida is meeting curator
0:15:32 > 0:15:35Yvonne Altman O'Connor at the Irish Jewish Museum.
0:15:35 > 0:15:37- Hi.- Hello.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39Yvonne has been searching local records
0:15:39 > 0:15:41for details of Rita's life here.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45- Thanks for sitting down with me. - You are very welcome.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47What I do know about my grandmother Rita
0:15:47 > 0:15:50is that she, at some point, left to go to New York
0:15:50 > 0:15:52- but was born in Dublin.- Yes.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57Now, here we have the birth certificate of your grandmother.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59Cool.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Can I take a look at this?
0:16:01 > 0:16:02Please.
0:16:04 > 0:16:09Wow. Rita Hetty, May 15th, 1912.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13Hyman Rosenberg is the name of the father.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16Jeannie Rosenberg, formerly Benson.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19OK, so that's her maiden name.
0:16:19 > 0:16:20- That's right.- Interesting.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24My grandmother changed her name to Benson from Rosenberg
0:16:24 > 0:16:29and we weren't sure if it had any real stem in the family.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31So Rashida's grandmother Rita's parents were called
0:16:31 > 0:16:34Hyman Rosenberg and Jeannie Benson,
0:16:34 > 0:16:39which means Rita's uncle Elliot was probably Jeannie's brother.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44I still wonder, that name Benson.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47I have no idea about the origin of that name.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50It is kind of still a mystery.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52Did she change her name or was she, you know,
0:16:52 > 0:16:54was the family more established here?
0:16:54 > 0:16:56Cos that might explain the name.
0:16:56 > 0:16:57Good question.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00You know, I think you should meet with Stuart Rosenblatt,
0:17:00 > 0:17:02- who is a Jewish genealogist.- OK.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05- And may be able to answer some of those questions for you.- OK. Great.
0:17:07 > 0:17:08'I wonder how everyone got here
0:17:08 > 0:17:12'because my grandmother changed Rosenberg to Benson
0:17:12 > 0:17:16'but that was originally my great-grandmother's maiden name'
0:17:16 > 0:17:19but that might not be a real name.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22So many people are named Benson.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25'It is kind of a common name and it doesn't really tell me
0:17:25 > 0:17:27'anything about where she came from.'
0:17:27 > 0:17:29Rashida is meeting with a genealogist
0:17:29 > 0:17:30at the National Archives.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34- Hi.- Hello, nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you, too.- Please.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37Stuart Rosenblatt has been looking into Rashida's
0:17:37 > 0:17:40great-grandmother Jeannie Benson's family origins.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45Over the last 14 years,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48I have accumulated information of Irish Jewry,
0:17:48 > 0:17:52- their ascendants and descendants from all around the world.- Wow.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56Of births, deaths, marriages and burials and research has
0:17:56 > 0:18:03- shown that your great-grandmother's name Jeannie Benson is listed.- Oh.
0:18:05 > 0:18:10- Look. Ginny. Oh, Ginny, Jennie. - They are known as different names.
0:18:10 > 0:18:12OK, cos Jeannie was what I thought it was
0:18:12 > 0:18:15- but I guess they're all in the same...- Same genre.- ..family.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18Born in Manchester.
0:18:18 > 0:18:24- That's Manchester, England. - Manchester, England. Really? Wow.
0:18:25 > 0:18:30So, do you have anything that can help me find Jeannie's parents?
0:18:30 > 0:18:34Your great-grandmother and father got married in 1906.
0:18:34 > 0:18:35Right.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39And this is the marriage certificate that we have uncovered.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41- Yeah. Let me take a look at that. - It's this part here.
0:18:41 > 0:18:48OK, 27th December, signed Hyman Rosenberg, tailor, bachelor.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51- Jeannie Benson, spinster.- Yes.
0:18:51 > 0:18:57So, the parents, I've actually never seen these parents' names.
0:18:57 > 0:19:02Benjamin Benson, jewellery traveller
0:19:02 > 0:19:05- and Sofia Benson Winestein. - Winestein.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10The marriage record for Rashida's great-grandparents gives
0:19:10 > 0:19:12the name of Jeannie's parents,
0:19:12 > 0:19:17Rashida's great-great-grandparents Sofia Winestein and Benjamin Benson.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Which means that Rashida's uncovered another generation in Ireland
0:19:20 > 0:19:22with the surname Benson.
0:19:22 > 0:19:27It's funny because I thought because my grandmother took this name,
0:19:27 > 0:19:31I think we always assumed that it was, you know,
0:19:31 > 0:19:33just kind of out of the ethers.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36We didn't realise that the name went back this far.
0:19:37 > 0:19:42And we have here photographs.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44- Wow.- That's Benjamin.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47That's your great-great-grandfather.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51And this is another photograph of Benjamin in his regalia.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53Probably in his Shabbat best.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00And this is where he is in a Englified shirt and jacket and tie.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04- And top hat.- And top hat.- So sweet.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09And that brings us to the 1911 census,
0:20:09 > 0:20:13showing Benjamin and Sophia Benson.
0:20:13 > 0:20:19Benjamin Benson had a family. Jew. Read and write.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22- Hebrew teacher.- See his age?
0:20:22 > 0:20:25- 72.- 72.- Wow.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27- That's pretty old.- Very old.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31What year is this? 1911 census.
0:20:31 > 0:20:37- So born in 18...- 39. 37, 39.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41Yeah, let's say that. Russia. Born in Russia.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45That's definitely the first time I knew that.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49That's kind of amazing. Wow.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52What would this mean, Russia, at that time?
0:20:52 > 0:20:54Well, it's the Russian Empire.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58It doesn't define which country they would actually come from.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02So that means everything from what we now know as Russia to,
0:21:02 > 0:21:03like, all those other...
0:21:03 > 0:21:07- Latvia, Lithuania.- Estonia.- Estonia.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10- Yes, they were all in the Russian Empire.- Wow.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13Most of the Irish Jewish people are came from a town called
0:21:13 > 0:21:16Akmene in Lithuania, and we did some research to find
0:21:16 > 0:21:19the Benson family from Lithuania
0:21:19 > 0:21:22and we came up to a dead end.
0:21:22 > 0:21:27But what we did find was siblings who went to another country.
0:21:29 > 0:21:34We have here an entry for Pescha Benson,
0:21:34 > 0:21:37who is Benjamin's sister.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41Right. Born 1824, Latvia.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47So, Pescha Benson, according to the record,
0:21:47 > 0:21:52is Rashida's great-great-grandfather Benjamin's sister.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55And we can assume that they were both born in Latvia.
0:21:55 > 0:21:56- Absolutely.- Wow.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00We have never known anything about
0:22:00 > 0:22:03the true origin of our family on that side.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05Well, you have a nice trip in store for you.
0:22:07 > 0:22:08Latvia.
0:22:10 > 0:22:16Now I know that Benson at least was rooted in some family history,
0:22:16 > 0:22:21but I still know that that is not the real name because they were Latvian.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27Rashida is heading to Riga, the capital of Latvia and the birthplace
0:22:27 > 0:22:30of her great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Benson.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41I have no idea about Latvia and I have no idea about what the
0:22:41 > 0:22:45Latvian Jewish experience was like,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48why they came further west in Europe.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50I am very interested to trace that back.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55Rashida has come to the National Archives to meet with
0:22:55 > 0:22:59an expert in Jewish Latvian history, Rita Bogdanova.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03Rita has been looking through the records for any trace
0:23:03 > 0:23:06of Benjamin Benson and Rashida's Latvian roots.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08So, and we go.
0:23:10 > 0:23:15OK, so I have some pictures here of the last relative that I know of -
0:23:15 > 0:23:19my great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Benson.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21I would love to know more about
0:23:21 > 0:23:23the 1800s in that region.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34Until the end of World War I, the Russian Empire was home to
0:23:34 > 0:23:37the largest Jewish population in the world
0:23:37 > 0:23:41but the government perceived them as an economic and cultural threat.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43Jews were subject to double taxation
0:23:43 > 0:23:46and oppressively long military service.
0:23:46 > 0:23:52Now that I'm here in Latvia, I feel like maybe Benson wouldn't be
0:23:52 > 0:23:56a common name for someone to, you know, a Latvian Jew.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59Whatever you know to help me shed light on it would be really nice.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22Berman, Brouwer, Brenburg...
0:24:22 > 0:24:23Could it be Brenburg?
0:24:23 > 0:24:25No.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27Wait. Benson.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30I see Benjamin. It is actually Benson?
0:24:31 > 0:24:33Really?
0:24:33 > 0:24:34Wow.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37That's crazy.
0:24:37 > 0:24:42So, Schlaume Benjamin Benson, 62.
0:24:42 > 0:24:47He must be Benjamin, my great-great-grandfather's father.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51So, he is my great-great-great-grandfather.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54- This is correct.- Yeah, OK. Wow.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56- Is there anything else you want to show me?- Well...
0:25:07 > 0:25:10- And that's where most of my family is from?- Yes.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23Aizpute.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27Wow. Schlaume Benjamin Benson.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31It's so well documented. I can't believe it.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35- Yeah.- OK, so these were the brothers.- Yeah.- The uncle.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38Abraham, Isaak.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42The military eligibility records have allowed Rashida to trace back
0:25:42 > 0:25:46from her great-great-grandfather, Benjamin, to his father, Schlaume.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50The records also reveal that Schlaume had three brothers
0:25:50 > 0:25:55and that their father, Benjamin Marcus was born in 1786.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Wow, so they were there for a long time.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01- Yes.- Three or four generations.- Yes.- Amazing.
0:26:03 > 0:26:10'I have learned that we have been in Latvia since the late 1700s.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13'I have deep, deep, deep ties to this country.'
0:26:14 > 0:26:19Rashida is travelling to Aizpute which was formerly called Hazenpoth.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26It is where her great-great-great-grandfather
0:26:26 > 0:26:30Schlaume spent most of his life, and where his son, Benjamin, was born.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37I would like to know more about Hazenpoth
0:26:37 > 0:26:41and what it was like for my family to live there for a few generations
0:26:41 > 0:26:43and what it was like for Jews to live there.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48Rashida is meeting with a Latvian Jewish historian,
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Ilya Lensky, at a former synagogue.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54He has been looking into the Bensons' history in Aizpute.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58This is my great-great-grandfather Benjamin. His name is Benson.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03Would Benson just be son of Benjamin?
0:27:03 > 0:27:05- It could.- Yeah, it could?- It could.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24Oh, so they didn't even have them?
0:27:30 > 0:27:31Oh, right.
0:27:31 > 0:27:32OK.
0:27:36 > 0:27:41So we can on some level assume that Schlaume, before he was made to,
0:27:41 > 0:27:45- didn't have a last name? - Most probably.
0:27:51 > 0:27:56Wow. To know now that that is actually our family name
0:27:56 > 0:27:58and our first family name.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01- The only one.- The only one.
0:28:01 > 0:28:06That's a big family revelation I'm happy to share with my family.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24And then the next document that I saw
0:28:24 > 0:28:28was my great-grandmother's birth in the UK in the 1880s,
0:28:28 > 0:28:31so I guess, I'm imagining that Benjamin,
0:28:31 > 0:28:35my great-great-grandfather, left sometime between
0:28:35 > 0:28:38his father dying and whenever his daughter was born.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40Most probably.
0:28:40 > 0:28:42Why would he leave at this time?
0:28:54 > 0:28:55Wow.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12- So they would leave? - They would leave.
0:29:14 > 0:29:19So this building was the synagogue in Aizpute?
0:29:43 > 0:29:46And what about the local community?
0:29:50 > 0:29:51Completely.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17So even though I know that my great-great-grandfather
0:30:17 > 0:30:20went to England, Schlaume still had brothers
0:30:20 > 0:30:24that maybe didn't leave here?
0:30:24 > 0:30:27You best talk to Rita.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31She'll be able to provide information of those who stayed,
0:30:31 > 0:30:34- if any, up to the Holocaust.- OK.
0:30:34 > 0:30:36OK.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43Ilya tells me that this was called the Jewish Bridge.
0:30:43 > 0:30:47The Jews of Aizpute walked across it to get to synagogue.
0:30:47 > 0:30:52Even though I know a little bit about the history of World War II,
0:30:52 > 0:30:57when Ilya told me that they were all killed, I was so shocked.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00When your family members lived in a town and left a town
0:31:00 > 0:31:07and later everybody was taken down... It's shocking. I want to know more.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10I want to know where everybody else went.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14Who made it out, who didn't make it out, you know?
0:31:14 > 0:31:20Cos in a weird way, it just was kind of dumb luck that I'm here.
0:31:20 > 0:31:22'I'm really lucky.
0:31:22 > 0:31:27'I feel like I owe it to my relatives and I owe it to myself
0:31:27 > 0:31:29'to just know our complete history.'
0:31:31 > 0:31:34Rashida is meeting with Rita Bogdanova again.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37How are you doing?
0:31:37 > 0:31:39They've arranged to meet at a Riga synagogue.
0:31:39 > 0:31:43Rashida is hoping that Rita has been able to trace the fate of her family
0:31:43 > 0:31:45during the Second World War.
0:31:46 > 0:31:50I come back to you because I guess I'm curious as to
0:31:50 > 0:31:54what happened to the descendants of Schlaume's brothers.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57Isaac, Jankel, Abraham.
0:31:59 > 0:32:01Schlaume's brothers had families.
0:32:11 > 0:32:12Wow.
0:32:12 > 0:32:15Shortly after Latvia gained its independence in 1918,
0:32:15 > 0:32:19all citizens over the age of 16 were required to have a passport,
0:32:19 > 0:32:22even to travel from town to town.
0:32:22 > 0:32:23Rita was able to find passports
0:32:23 > 0:32:28for several members of Schlaume's family, Rashida's distant cousins.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50- From Paris?- From Paris.
0:33:00 > 0:33:04And that's Jankel's...daughter.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07So great, I love that picture.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10It's a very nice picture.
0:33:10 > 0:33:15Rita was also able to find housing records reveal that Rashida's family
0:33:15 > 0:33:18relocated from Aizpute to Riga well before World War II,
0:33:18 > 0:33:22which means they were gone before the Jewish population there was murdered.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24What was their fate in Riga?
0:33:31 > 0:33:35So when it says that they are struck off the register,
0:33:35 > 0:33:37what does that mean?
0:33:47 > 0:33:51In July of 1941, Nazi troops took over Latvia
0:33:51 > 0:33:55murdering 400 Jews in Riga and destroying every synagogue.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01In September and October, the Nazis rounded up the remaining Jews
0:34:01 > 0:34:04from across the city and moved them to the Riga ghetto.
0:34:05 > 0:34:11In two actions, one on November 30th and one on December 8th, 1941,
0:34:11 > 0:34:15more than 25,000 Latvian Jews and 1,000 German Jews
0:34:15 > 0:34:18were taken into the Rumbula Forest six miles away.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22Tell me about Rumbula.
0:35:12 > 0:35:14He's so handsome, he's so young.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22So, Schlaume's family made it...?
0:35:31 > 0:35:36My family members were probably brought to the Rumbula Forest?
0:35:36 > 0:35:38Right.
0:35:38 > 0:35:39And is there anything there now?
0:35:56 > 0:35:59It's heavy and it's a lot, but these are things that I wanted to know.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02I wanted to...
0:36:02 > 0:36:08Really have some closure about, you know, what happened with our family.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12And I do, and I'm still processing it in a major way,
0:36:12 > 0:36:15and I also have to tell my mom which is, like, a big...
0:36:15 > 0:36:16It's a big deal.
0:36:21 > 0:36:25Rashida now knows the fate of her grandmother Rita's family,
0:36:25 > 0:36:29and the place where Rita's cousins and extended family were killed in 1941.
0:36:30 > 0:36:34Rashida's mother Peggy has travelled to Latvia.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37Rashida is taking Peggy to visit the Rumbula Memorial,
0:36:37 > 0:36:41which stands in memory of the Jewish lives taken in World War II.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44'When I began this journey I was hoping to find out
0:36:44 > 0:36:49'more about my grandmother, Rita, and I'm astonished by how much
0:36:49 > 0:36:52'more I've learned about my mother's side of the family.
0:36:52 > 0:36:53'And, as difficult as it's been,
0:36:53 > 0:36:58'I'm grateful to share these stories with my mother and that the two of us
0:36:58 > 0:37:03'can now visit this memorial and pay our respects to our family.'
0:37:03 > 0:37:05I want to tell you some of the names
0:37:05 > 0:37:08and show you the people in our family.
0:37:08 > 0:37:10- That are here?- Yeah.
0:37:12 > 0:37:18Schlaume's brothers, their families moved to Riga
0:37:18 > 0:37:26and in 1941 they were taken to Rumbula to be killed.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34'I am lucky to be alive.'
0:37:34 > 0:37:36There's so many ways I could not be here.
0:37:36 > 0:37:41Being a descendant of slaves, and then on my mom's side now, knowing...
0:37:41 > 0:37:46Looking at that lopsided family tree.
0:37:46 > 0:37:52I'm feeling like a miracle.
0:37:52 > 0:37:54I feel like a miracle.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58It's you and Rita, the same kind of shy smile.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00- She was pretty.- Very pretty.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03You know, what's interesting is that
0:38:03 > 0:38:07that name, that thing that remains so mysterious to us, Benson,
0:38:07 > 0:38:11she took that name for whatever reason she took that name,
0:38:11 > 0:38:13whether it was to redefine herself or whatever,
0:38:13 > 0:38:18but, in a weird way, it was the ultimate honouring of that name,
0:38:18 > 0:38:22because that name is the only name that family's ever had.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25Benjamin Marcus, Schlaume's father,
0:38:25 > 0:38:28was the first one documented to have that last name.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31- You mean they didn't have last names?- No.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35Oh, my gosh! So Benson really was our name?
0:38:37 > 0:38:41My mother was connected to all her relatives who died here.
0:38:44 > 0:38:45Wow.
0:38:45 > 0:38:50I definitely feel like why, you know, why would it be them and not us?
0:38:50 > 0:38:53But then you also have to think we are here,
0:38:53 > 0:38:56there's got to be a reason we're here.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00I definitely feel like we've been given this opportunity to
0:39:00 > 0:39:03honour them. That's something.
0:39:03 > 0:39:05Somebody's got to remember them.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08- I know.- And how lucky, how fortunate for us that we can be the ones.
0:39:08 > 0:39:09I know.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15- It's senseless.- Yeah, it's really, really, really senseless.
0:39:19 > 0:39:24'I feel really strongly that this story can't be told enough,
0:39:24 > 0:39:29'because it's not just a story about losing people,'
0:39:29 > 0:39:34and it's not just a story about honouring your family,
0:39:34 > 0:39:38'but it's really a story about how a lack of tolerance and fear
0:39:38 > 0:39:43'and hatred and turning a blind eye can result in so much tragedy.'
0:39:43 > 0:39:45SHE SNIFFS
0:39:47 > 0:39:50Oh...
0:39:50 > 0:39:55'I feel like it's a duty of somebody who is a very lucky
0:39:55 > 0:39:59'descendant of people who made it through to keep telling the story.'
0:40:18 > 0:40:22Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd