Dateline: Banska Bystrica, Slovakia

I write tonight from Banksa Bystica, a small city three hours north of Budapest. Nori, her mom Magda, and I will spend the night here and get up early to visit the branch of the state archives that may hold the records of our common ancestors Mor and Maria Schoenhauser Munk and their two sons, Josef and Lipot.

We are on a quest to obtain birth information on the two brothers as well as any other information we can get on Mor and Maria since we have nothing but a photograph of the two of them. I have had the photos of Mor and Maria and their two sons (holding bottles of wine or beer) for many years. I believe it was my grandmother Rosza who may have grabbed whatever family mementos she could after the war and brought them to the U.S. with her. Thank goodness.

Until I contacted my Hungarian cousins, they did not have any photos of Josef, his twin brother Lipot, or their parents. They are a priceless treasure to all of us, but now we want MORE.

We spent a lazy Sunday morning talking about family history and looking at the old photos that Nori and her mom had of their side of the family. Those hours gave me some answers to some questions and, of course, raised even more questions.

Even Nori found out something new from her mom. One of Nori's grandmothers was a "Kohn," which in Jewish tradition is significant. Someone with the surhame of Kohn or Cohen is likely to be a Kohen (or Kohain), the Hebrew word for priest. Kohens are traditionally believed to be of direct patrilineal descent from the biblical Aaron, brother of Moses. That information caused a little stir.

I also showed them the little slide show I made about my mother and father and what caught their eye was my dad's business card. (See picture). Nori's husband asked if the phone and address were accurate, and I said they were the only correct things on the card! We laughed a lot about it.

We also had a great meal tonight in Slovakia with wonderful conversation. Remember, I don't know Nori and her mom that well and Nori has to work very hard at translating sad and funny stories for us. But I am getting to know them better and better. I found out that Nori is a movie nut, just like I am. We both loved "Inglorious Bastards," and if you haven't seen the movie yet, when you do see it, you will understand why we liked it. (Sorry, I don't do spoilers!)