Our Past 2026 Events
Sunday, January 18, 2026
1:30 PM (1 pm for Schmoozing and Mentoring)
Speaker: Deborah Long, Professional Educator and Author
Deborah Long has been researching her family history and searching for surviving family members for more than 60 years. She started as a ten-year-old, writing to the International Red Cross. Both of her parents were Holocaust survivors and were in some of the worst places imaginable: Auschwitz, Bergen Belsen, Buchenwald and more.
Deborah is a professional educator and speaker, though typically her audiences are licensed professionals who are required to attend real estate continuing education programs. She has written more than 20 books, including a memoir about growing up as a child of survivors titled “First Hitler, Then Your Father, and Now You.” She earned her doctorate in adult education. She is the founder and first president of Triangle JGS of North Carolina (Chapel Hill/Durham/Raleigh).
Topic: Out of the Whirlwind: Resources for Holocaust Research
The daughter of two Holocaust survivors, Deborah Long reviews the best (as well as some of the obscure) resources and methods for determining the fate of those involved in the Holocaust, including survivors and victims. Deborah will use examples from her own research to demonstrate the documents and artifacts she discovered to determine her family’s fate.
Sunday, February 22, 2026 at 1:30 PM (1 pm for Schmoozing and Mentoring)
Zoom Session
Speaker: Risa Daitzman Heywood, Professional Genealogist, Writer, and Speaker
Risa Daitzman Heywood has over 25 years’ experience researching Jewish families, particularly from the Russian Empire. An American living in Lisbon, Portugal, she is a director on the board of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) and a member of the Association for Professional Genealogists (APG). Risa holds the Certified Genealogist credential from the Board for Certification of Genealogists.
Topic: Using HIAS’s Philadelphia Records to Trace Your Family’s Immigration Journey
Researchers with family going to or passing through Philadelphia may find important clues about their family’s immigration journey in records created or collected by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). Still operating today, HIAS has been assisting refugees since 1884. These Philadelphia records include some of the only surviving immigrant bank records, client entry card files, detainee card files, and landing verification cards. Some case studies will demonstrate how to use these special records to find missing passenger list records, find extended family members, and open new avenues of research