“Kindness of Strangers”

~ Elizabeth
Gombrich Tomb Paris, France

My grandmother’s maiden name was Gombrich, a family with history in Paris. Thanks to an unknown photographer, who graciously makes his/her photographs available without royalties or attribution, I have this image of my great-grandfather’s and great-great grandfather and grandmother’s tomb in the cemetery in Montmartre. I have hopes to some day visit Paris and look for such graves, but I am grounded at the moment. As a genealogist, I am grateful to those people who visit cemeteries and post pictures of tombs and stones.

Many Jewish monuments were destroyed during the Nazi era, and this one seems to have suffered the loss of the head off the bust of Adolphe Abraham Gombrich, but much else remains intact. From the inscriptions(more visible in the original photo)I am able to learn much more about these forebears. Among other tidbits, new to me, was the note that my great-great grandmother, Fanny Gombrich was born in Versailles. This opens the door to an unexpected line of inquiry. I did once visit the palace there, though I felt then that it was a tasteless display of wealth. I imagine that in 100 years people may feel the same way as they tour Trump’s apartment!

So here’s to helping one another, whether in the genealogy world or the blog community. There’s more than one way to interact with people around the world than seeing them as threats, no matter what word comes down from the “leader” of our country.

19 thoughts on ““Kindness of Strangers””

  1. I feel like so much of life is like that little tidbit on the monument–an off-the-cuff comment a friend makes, a chance meeting at a coffee shop, a book picked randomly of the library shelf and a new project starts, a new way of looking at something begins, a whole new path in life opens for us. It just goes to show that no matter how carefully you plan and how set you assume your plans are, you never know where life will take you!

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