Jerry Springer

[Annie08]

Before I started looking for and into my ancestors I wasn't very good at history - I never even took it at school, but since researching my family history I have something to relate to and I'm learnt a lot and can even retain dates now as history has become personal.

Watching Jerry Springer last night was an example to me of how history and our personal lives are entwined. I too had not heard of the gas vans so again personal life history taught me something new.

I look forward to the rest of the series.

Annie08

[eurogordi]

While I enjoyed the Jerry Springer episode, as I have enjoyed all episodes with a similar Jewish theme, I am wondering if the BBC should balance the persecution of Jews with stories about persecution [b]by[/b] Jews. It would clearly be a very brave and controversial step to take.

I say this because I am descended from a Hispanic Jewish family who were expelled from Iberia during the Spanish Inquisition and were relocated to Jamaica. By the 1700s they had become very wealthy and owned many slaves.

I was horrified when I looked at various documents detailing how they and their Jewish contemporaries would use and abuse those of African origin, including the rape of young girls in order to produce ... more slaves! To my ancestors it was little more than an investment opportunity.

Obviously this is a side of Judaism that is often forgotten, but all people are guilty of evil acts against their fellow human beings and, sadly, it seems that this will always be the case irrespective of race or religion.

Hitler may have been the most extreme, but he wasn't the only one.

[FamilyHistoryAddict]

Hi Eurogordi,

Something similar has already appeared on WDYTYA in Natasha Kaplinsky's programme. I seem to recall that her Jewish family fled to South Africa due to persecution but didn't protest about the apartheid situation in South Africa. They just went with the flow. I'm speaking from memory here.

Cheers, FHA

[Jtyner]

i thought Jerry's episode was excellent, as soemone with Jewish ancestors, i wanted to find out about his family history. it was very sad to hear that his grandparents died in hitler's regime. i am glad it was televised and it should be in the school curicculum. thank god my direct jewish ancestors were out of europe by hitler's arrival but on the other hand a cousin's wife(named Joan Debenham married a hutton) died in 1943 in a concentration camp in Germany so i have both sides of the coin, good and sad endings, but that is family history.
great series as always
john

[clivus43ad]

How can you possibly talk of "Tokenism" when we have two other Jewish people featured in this series. Are you next going to say that Ainsley Harriott is the Token Black Person of the series. Why not embrace the program for what it was, an excellent insight into a specific point in history that had a profound effect on the world as we know it, and a personal effect on one particular family's history.