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A SHORT HISTORY OF THE SHEALTIEL FAMILY NETWORK

From my point of view, the story of the family network began in March 1992, when I decided upon investigating the Sealtiel family of my maternal grandmother Jacoba Wilhelmina Veltkamp née Sealtiel. At that time is was 23 years old. In my childhood, my mother had asked me not to disclose to anybody that we had Jewish ancestry. This nettled me, and I found it hard to believe that we were the last Sealtiels in the world. I started my researches in the municipal archives of Amsterdam, and soon I found proof to my assumption that there were other surviving Sealtiels. The archives of the Sephardic Congreation in Amsterdam proved to be helpful as they had recorded all Sephardic children born until 1939. Though I found that 163 members of my family had been murdered in the Holocaust, twenty names remained and I decided to find these survivors. By autumn, I had phoned all the Sealtiels whose name appeared in the Dutch telephone directories. I had contact with five or six people who all appeared in my family tree. I learned that other members of my family had made genealogical investigations since the early 1960s. The breakthrough, however, came at the end of 1992, when I discovered that our family name could be spelled also as SALTIEL, and that the earliest ancestor that I had been able to find in Amsterdam (Eliau Saltiel), originated from London. I discovered three Saltiel entries in the 1992 London telephone directory and decided to send them a letter. This was mailed in March 1993 and I received two responses. From our correspondance I learned that S(e)altiel migrations between London and Amsterdam had occurred several times. Miles Saltiel and Rob Sealtiel were both hot on the subject and we exchanged information for several months. We became interested to meet each other. In June 1993 the came real, as Miles and Rob visited Amsterdam, and we went for a dinner in an Indonesian Restaurant at the Leidseplein, accompagnied by my aunt Ann.
It was a pleasant meeting, and we opted for a reunion. This dream came through in November 1993 at the Moadon Habonim in Amsterdam Buitenveldert, where 75 Dutch Sealtiels met for the first time in 50 years, and we were joined by Miles and Ralph Saltiel from London, whose Dutch ancestors had left Amsterdam 125 years before. The meeting strengthened our feeling that we wanted to continue with this quest. Rob opted for another international reunion when we parted. So Miles went back to London to contact the British Saltiels. I approached Saltiels at random in Austria, France and the United States. From these approaches, we made contact with Victor Saltiel from NY, Nathalie Saltiel and Moshe Shaltiel from Chicago, Aviva Saltiel from Paris, and Hertha Siegel from Austria. Among these were the founding members of the Shealtiel family network. We had no official structure but relied on family volunteers. We went for it and decided to organize the first international Shealtiel Family Reunion August 1994 in Amsterdam. I prepared a presentation of the history of my Sealtiel ancestors, who had lived in Amsterdam since 1760. I edited the Sealtiel magazine and the 1994 S(he)altiel Family Book. Early 1994, Miles came to Amsterdam to have a look on location. The intensity of our activities grew through spring and summer 1994, and we managed to invite ca. 200 Shealtiels to come to our family reunion. One week before countdown, Miles Saltiel and Moshe Shaltiel arrived in Amsterdam and the world changed. Moshe’s zest combined with Miles drive had created a miracle which I had never seen before. The small stone that I had thrown in the water one year before had caused a worldwide flood. Shealtiels from all over the world kept pouring in. It was an amazing sight. All these people that I had never met before greeted me heartly as a cousin and a friend, and we felt at easy. The participants recognized each other as family members, who shared family traits, looks and interests. We realized at this moment that we were family. The Shealtiel Family!
Because of the success of our first international reunion, the family volunteers opted that we should continue our quest to gather the Shealtiel family. Miles Saltiel suggested to publish a periodical, as a follow-up to the Sealtiel Magazine which I had edited prior to the Amsterdam reunion. Under the editorship of Miles, this became the Shealtiel Gazette. The first issue was released in May 1995. We kept corresponding with our new-found cousins in the next years, and every month new family members were discovered and welcomed. Moshe Shaltiel aimed for an investigation of our family history back to medieval Spain, and to record the family tree of the Salonikan Saltiels. Several local reunions were held in France and the States in 1995-1997. Maurice Saltiel from Villiers-sur-Marne published more than 20 issues of the French newsletter Trait d’Union. I published two issues of the Asovrindar newsletter.

I was not involved in the organization of the second family reunion in Thessaloniki in 1997, but I assisted with the filming of the documentary about our family in Amsterdam at the end of 1996. In July 1997 the second international reunion of the Shealtiel family became a fact. 150 members of the family came to Thessaloniki to meet (again), listen to historical speeches on the history of our family, and to celebrate our survival and reunion. My contribution to this reunion was the 1997 Shealtiel Family Book.

After this highlight came a fatigue. The family volunteers wanted to continue what we had achieved, but energy was running low, and we needed to find new volunteers. Also we realized that an official structure had to be created, if we were to continue our family network. In December 1997 I joined the local reunion of the French Saltiels, and there I witnessed the creation of the French Association des Familles Saltiel. Could this become the future of our family network? Emotions ran high, and in March 1998 several of us gathered in Paris to discuss the possibilities to create a family organization. Aviva Saltiel was our host.

It was decided to work towards the creation of an international family association. There were several problems that had to be solved, like the organization of the third international family reunion in Barcelona, the continuation of the Shealtiel Gazette, and the structure of the Shealtiel organization. An interim co-ordination and reunion committee of family members was created to solve these problems. A flurry of activities took place behind the schemes between the summers of 1999 and 2000. Finally the third international Shealtiel family reunion came true in Barcelona in July 2000. It was a great success with 150 participants. I was able to present to the family with the fifth anniversary special “Hamburg” editon of the Shealtiel Gazette, and a reprint of the 1997 Shealtiel Family Book. At the third day of our reunion, the constitutional meeting of the Shealtiel Family World Association took place. The statutes were voted upon by the more than 100 family members who were present. All the efforts of our volunteers paid off. These are the fruits of our work!

By the words of Maurice Saltiel: Judge an old tree by its flowers and fruits.

Thanks to the family members who helped us with our mission in the years 1992-2000, a.o.
Aviva, Albert, Alexandre, Alice, Aron, Beatrice, Bernard, Bert, Betty, Bob, Charles, Chris, Corina, Daniel, Deddy, Della, Dirkje, Donald, Ed, Flor, Francesca, Gloria, Helga, Helfried, Henry, Herman, Hertha, Irene, Jack, Jacky, Jacques, Jehudith, Joe, Joop, José, Joseph, Kevin, Liege, Lilette, Lynette, Lorna, Loukia, Martha, Maurice and Rosette from Villiers-sur-Marne, Maurice and Candy from Geneva, Max, Michel, Miles, Mois, Moni, Moshe, Natalie, Nellie, Peter, Philippe, Rachel, Ralph, Rob, Sam, Santiago, Shmuel, Shlomo, Sol, Steve, Telis, Terry, Tibor, Thea, Thomas, Vibeke, Victor, Xenia, and not to forget their spouses and children.

In memoriam:
Paula Aharonson, Sadie Berman, Martin Best, George Casutto, Dennis Sealtiel, Joop Sealtiel, Piet Sealtiel.

Dona Deli

Amsterdam

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Page Updated Sun Apr 15, 2001 4:02am EDT