chaeology

A handful of local
professional sleuths
have made it possible
for American Jews to
search deep into their
pasts.

DARCIE LUNSFORD
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

PHOTOS BY DANIEL LIPPITT

n some ways,
Bloomfield Hills
resident Betty
Provizer Starkman
considers herself to
be a finder of lost
families.
In other ways,
Mrs. Starkman
sees herself as a
detective, following
one clue to the
next. In still others,
she's a historian,
recounting the past one family
at a time.
However Mrs. Starkman
might see herself, those who

seek her services only want to
see themselves through her
work.
Mrs. Starkman is a genealo-
gist.
She's among a new breed of
professionals helping guide peo-
ple along the path of self-explo-
ration by unearthing their roots.
For Jews, it's an option which
has only opened up in last 15
years or so; first with the dis-
covery that many Jewish records
survived Hitler's wrath, then the
fall of the Soviet Union and now
the Internet.
"Everybody has someone
somewhere," Mrs. Starkman, 65,

said. "You just have to look for Eastern Europe last summer on
them."
a research mission, she didn't go
That's where she comes in.
empty-handed. She took 40
The cost of documenting your watches and other assorted trin-
heritage can run from $5,000 to kets to win over archival gate-
$10,000 and take years. It's keepers.
time-consuming research,
"You have to schmear.
requiring linguistic abili-
You can't just get into an
Ph illip
ty and detective-like intu- Apple baum's archive," she said.
ition. It's also a business resea rch ends
Like most, Mrs. Stark-
of whom you know. Most up in bo ok form. man's passion for ge-
genealogists, particularly
nealogy was sparked by
those who are looking into Jew- tracing her own roots.
ish ancestries, have to rely on re-
"Even though members of my
searchers and archivists in other family were real flag wavers and
countries.
loved this country — so do I —
Take Mrs. Starkman, for ex- somehow I knew my roots
ample. When she headed to GENETIC page 8