A journey through 300 years of family history

David Marlow had always lived with gaps in his family story.

“I did not even know the names of half my grandparents, and my parents never talked about their lives in Germany before the war. And they never mentioned family,” he recalled. It was a silence that many children of Holocaust survivors would recognise, leaving entire generations disconnected from their roots.

What began as a simple search for basic information about his paternal grandparents transformed into an extraordinary three-decade journey that would eventually span 300 years and result in his comprehensive book, Uncovering Their Names and Stories: 300+ Years of a German-Jewish Family 1697-2024.

The initial breakthrough came through the Yad Vashem website, where Marlow found some details about his grandparents. “The more I found, the more I wanted to know about my ancestors, and their lives,” he told The AJN. What started as casual curiosity evolved into an obsession with uncovering the complete tapestry of his family’s experience.

The transformation from genealogical research to published book was encouraged by his partner, Dr Erica Cervini, whom Marlow described as “a family history guru.”

When he shared the remarkable stories he was uncovering, which included tales stretching from the 1700s through World War I, Kristallnacht, the Kindertransports, and deportations, Cervini suggested he write a book.

“Initially I had simply been focused on building the family tree,” Marlow admits.

Researching everything became “a wonderful process” that continues to this day. Much of the initial work was conducted online through databases, archives, and websites, but the real emotional breakthrough came during his three-week family history road trip across Germany.

Driving himself around 34 towns and cities where his family had lived over generations, Marlow experienced something profound.

“What I found and where I went brought a strong emotional attachment to my ancestors who previously I never knew existed,” he recalled.

The discoveries were often startling. Among the most unexpected was learning about his  grandmother’s great uncle who served in the Union Army in the American Civil War.

There were also delightful coincidences, including discovering that his great (x5) grandfather was a bookseller while Marlow himself ran his own bookshop for almost a decade.

The research revealed twenty relatives who served in the German army in World War I, painting a complex picture of German-Jewish integration before the Nazi era.

But alongside these discoveries came heartbreak. Tragically, Marlow uncovered evidence of more than 110 family members who were murdered in the Holocaust, a devastating reminder of how thoroughly the Nazi regime attempted to erase Jewish families from history.

Perhaps most remarkably, his research connected him with the living as well as the dead. Through DNA testing and extensive research, he found more than twenty families of living cousins across the USA, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden and Israel.

Plus, the positive response from readers outside his family has been “a bonus.”

Many have found parallels with their own family histories, particularly those with ancestors from German-speaking lands.

The book has also inspired others to begin their own genealogical journeys, providing useful ideas, processes and references for doing that.

For those considering such research, Marlow offers practical advice.

“Start from what you know, talking to the living and work backwards through time. Use all the databases and websites that you can and seek records and documentation,” he advised. “Do not 100 percent trust online family trees, unless they have clear support of records, like birth certificates, marriage records, census records and photos of gravestones.”

For Marlow, the book serves a deeply personal purpose.

“I wanted to give life and continuity to my ancestors, and to pass on the stories of my ancestors to my family, my children and my grandchildren,” he said.

Uncovering Their Names and Stories: 300+ Years of a German-Jewish Family 1697-2024 is now available to purchase.