Mark Halpern

 

Mark Halpern

Mark is a past President of the Jewish Genealogical and Archival Society of Greater Philadelphia and currently serves as the Vice President of Programming. In his 24 years as a member of JGASGP, Mark has also served as editor of the Society’s quarterly journal Chronicles, Webmaster, and Vice President of Membership.

Mark is a first generation American whose parents immigrated America in the 1920s as teenagers. In 1996, while on business in Poland for a Fortune 500 Company, Mark visited his mother’s home town of Bialystok. His guide, also a genealogical researcher, piqued Mark’s interest in his family history, which he started from scratch as his parents and their siblings had previously passed away.

Mark’s interest in Japan and China comes from having spent 5 years living in Tokyo and Hong Kong in the late 1980s on assignment with his Company.

Now retired, Mark serves on the Board and Executive Committee of Jewish Records Indexing-Poland, is the founder of Bialystok Area Jewish Genealogy Group, and is on the Advisory Board of Gesher Galicia.

Mark chaired the program committees for the 2009 and 2013 International Conferences on Jewish Genealogy and served as advance coordinator for the 2018 Conference in Warsaw, Poland. Mark was honored in 2018 with the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies Lifetime Achievement Award.

 

Mark’s topics include:

1) The Basics of Jewish Genealogical Research in Poland

2) Understanding Your Galicianer Family through Vital Records

3) The Sugihara Refugee Story

4) Tracing the Eastward Journey of World War II Jewish Refugees