- 6/22/2025
#CinemaJourney
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00:00Hi darling. If I was to write a book and document everything that I've experienced in life,
00:10the good, the bad, the ugly, it would read like an amazing thriller, drama, war, crime,
00:18the full gamut. Known as the Kaftan Queen, fashion designer Camilla Franks has led an
00:24eventful life, including building an international clothing empire. The business has been my longest
00:33ever relationship. We've grown up together. I threw myself into a world I knew nothing about and that
00:38was the fashion industry. So it was terrifying and lonely, but I had a screw it, let's do it
00:43attitude. So I love all these tonal elements with the terracotta and the burnt orange. My design
00:50process is to travel and get off the beaten path and immerse myself into these wonderful
00:54cultures. Incorporating elements from her travels into bold designs has won Camilla celebrity fans,
01:01including Oprah Winfrey and Jennifer Lopez. Having the brand where it is today, you know,
01:08it brings me so much joy. But in 2018, Camilla suffered a life-threatening illness. I was diagnosed
01:15with stage three breast cancer. Although now recovered, the diagnosis raised the possibility
01:23of Jewish ancestry. I was told that I had this gene mutation that usually happens in Jewish people.
01:30I had no idea about this potential bloodline. We all want that sense of belonging and it's something
01:39I crave. I think that finding out a little bit about my bloodline will help me
01:46fill some of those holes that are in my heart. Yearning for ancestral connection. I've missed out
01:56on so many years of not knowing my family. Camilla encounters a feisty matriarch. Please tell me she
02:02kicked their butt. That makes her a bigamist. Oh my God, I love this woman. Confronts heart-rending trauma.
02:10Chronic mental disease and exhaustion. I really resonate with that. And on the other side of the
02:18world. Smutter. Embraces a long-hidden cultural heritage. It's literally in your blood. It's in my blood.
02:25It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood. It's in my blood
02:55you want to do olive oil first you can do anything first yeah you can do anything first
03:07it's all about gut instinct baby camilla franks lives in sydney with her young daughter luna
03:13i had luna at the tender age of 41 i think i was called a geriatric mother
03:19wasn't happy about that you feel you don't want to stuff the fish
03:24she's just a beautiful ray of light and love in my life i think that maybe is enough tomatoes
03:34you want to do all of them you know becoming a mother i've got a whole new respect for heritage
03:40that i never had before born in sydney in 1976 camilla is the eldest of two children
03:48to bill franks and narelle roberts we definitely came from a very strong family unit in my earlier
03:57years we lived a really beautiful wholesome colorful life always traveling with mum and dad
04:06my beautiful brother benny who was the shining light of my family he passed away when i was 17
04:16he was 14. my brother passing away it made me want to live the life for two
04:25i felt the responsibility that i had to really do my parents proud because they lost their son
04:36i would describe my mom as a beautiful blonde generous manic bohemian
04:48following camilla's maternal line her mother narelle was born in newcastle new south wales in 1946
04:55camilla's grandparents were hewitt kingsley roberts and hilda may nepham
05:02grandma hilda i was quite young when she passed away when i look at photographs of hilda i see this
05:11woman that's adventurous free-spirited doesn't want to conform she's horse riding she's doing it her
05:19own way i'm so curious to find if there's more hildas in my mix determined to track down other
05:29spirited matriarchs in her maternal ancestry camilla has come to st ives in sydney's north
05:34where she sought out family historian and relative by marriage philippa mepham
05:40first of all i'd like to show you your family tree right this is you at the bottom
05:48going up through your mother to your grandmother hilda may mepham grandma hilda comes from quite an
05:56interesting line which is your three times great grandmother phoebe martin she was born in 1817
06:05in sussex england okay phoebe when she was 18 married benjamin mepham my brother who passed away
06:16his name was benny isn't that crazy that's interesting they got married in 1835 in october
06:26and benjamin jr your two times great-grandfather was born in december 1835
06:34shotgun wedding fabulous so benjamin was also a farm laborer and phoebe was the farm servant
06:44so they would have been paid very little they didn't own land so their prospects would have
06:50been bleak in the 1830s agricultural workers in england were suffering from the impact of
06:57industrialization their plight was intensified by poor harvests in 1837 for many including camilla's
07:08ancestors emigration offered the only means to improve their lives benjamin and phoebe who were
07:16three times great-grandparents with benjamin jr they arrived in sydney in 1839 on a ship called
07:26the strathfield say and this is the passenger list i can see the name there benjamin and phoebe are
07:35right there and little benjamin is three when they traveled they had to go straight into labor or they
07:42ran the risk of being destitute but it was a means to an end because farm laborers earn in the colonies
07:48up to 20 pounds a year compared to three pounds in england right so that's a huge big jump in salary
07:56that is plus they would have also had the opportunity to buy land which is why they came
08:02oh to meet you phoebe
08:06where is this going to take me now well your next step is to go to the hunter valley i love the hunter
08:14this hunter river region includes vast alluvial plains which for millennia were occupied by the
08:37wanarua people by the time phoebe arrived in the 1840s european settlers had already pushed the
08:45traditional owners often violently to the periphery it was here in the belford region that camilla's
08:53three times great-grandmother came to live hi ann hi hi i'm camilla and at belford's historic church
09:02camilla has asked social historian dr anne hardy for assistance well i've got a document here it's a
09:10baptism record from 1844 it's five years after phoebe has arrived okay so we've got jane jane is phoebe's
09:24daughter wait she had benjamin so she's had another child she has this document also shows the names of
09:32her other children you know they're born at different dates jane john thomas ellen and amelia
09:40and parents names john and phoebe
09:44what happened to her other husband well we don't know what happened to benjamin phoebe's first husband
09:52she changed partners she changed partners who is this john nation
10:00so we know that john was quite a resourceful and successful businessman
10:08he leased over a thousand acres amazing called belford farm he was a grazier
10:15and then he purchased land he sold half of it soon after he purchased it and made quite a profit go john
10:23from all accounts he was quite a good father and partner interesting that having all the children
10:32together but they still never married i love that about phoebe i mean as someone that's never lived
10:39a conventional life it kind of i think it might run in the family
10:48unfortunately the good fortune turns in relation to john and phoebe's son thomas
10:54it's a few years later oh the maitland mercury thursday march the 18th 1858 coroner's inquest
11:04an inquest was held at belford farm near black creek on monday lost by dr glennie on the view of the body
11:14of thomas nation age nine years and one month and five days the deceased had been accidentally killed
11:23on saturday afternoon by being thrown from his pony against a tree his amiable disposition will long be
11:31remembered by those who knew him awful i hate the idea that she lost a child
11:41it's something no parent should ever have to experience
11:49i've just got another document to share with you it relates to an incident that occurred less
11:55than a year after the death of thomas so this relates to john nation yeah northern times and
12:08newcastle telegraph january the 19th 1859 at his residence belford near black creek on saturday
12:17the 15th john nation age 44 an old and much respected resident of the district leaving a wife and six
12:26children to lament the loss of an affectionate and loving father oh phoebe you lost your man
12:35so soon after thomas so that was another shocking loss the love of her life was gone
12:47it's a lot but it brings me comfort knowing that john nation provided financial support to her that she
12:54was well looked after yeah yes and then where to next does she find another partner i hope so
13:06still in the hunter valley in new south wales camilla has come 20 kilometers down the road to lochinvar
13:13hi camilla max welcome to lochinvar meeting with historian max burns mccroovy camilla wants to know if
13:21her spirited three times great grandmother phoebe mepham prevails after the tragic loss of her son and
13:28de facto partner well phoebe's had quite a ride already huh surely the universe gives her a happy
13:38chapter in all of this well this document here it's an auction and it's for all sorts of machinery and
13:45everything else at the very farm that she was living on the maitland mercury saturday march 3rd 1860
13:54highly important extensive clearing out sale at the residence of the late mr john nation
14:00the following valuable stock farming implements machinery harness and tools the sole reason of
14:06their being brought into the market is the consequence of mrs nation's family having to leave belford farm
14:15that land it had a five-year lease right that's coming to an end this lists a tiny bit of what's
14:21being sold essentially we get such a sense of how successful john nation and phoebe were luckily john has
14:30taken the steps to make sure that phoebe and the family have somewhere to go that they own i'm curious
14:37well we are sitting amidst it in fact this is beautiful lochinvar this was very well sought after
14:45land john has purchased some of it around here stunning he's made sure that in his will that whilst phoebe
14:53and her children are going to be the inheritors this farm is going to be managed and for that he has
15:00appointed three executors and therefore the income she's going to receive is really at the hands of
15:07these executors to make sure that the farm is profitable so she doesn't really need to think
15:13they get to manage the land for her and she takes the profits from the land brilliant
15:21so what's going to happen with phoebe i hope she finds love again
15:24well we've got a whole new fella in the mix oh my god i love this woman his name is thomas mcdermott
15:33a bloke from dublin they marry in 1860 which is a year after john's passing and he is 28 years old
15:43whilst phoebe is 43. i love her my grandma always loved the younger boys my mum loves the younger boys i
15:54love the younger boys this is all making sense to me now it's coming together for you um but what's
15:59a bit odd about that she was married to mr meppen and he's still very much alive
16:07he won't pass away for another 20 years that makes her a bigamist she doesn't give a damn i don't think
16:13so phoebe she's got the farm she's got a new marriage but thomas has another side to him
16:24the maitland mercury november 21 1863. oh no a violent character
16:33on thursday a man named thomas mcdermott was brought before the bench at west maitland on a charge of
16:39threatening his wife with firearms when brought into court he was extremely violent and being a
16:46powerful man four constables were required to hold him i hope it's an isolated incident well
16:54unfortunately it's not the one-off and we see a series of incidents where thomas seems to be a bit
17:04violent the idea of her having to go through all that is just shocking it's just
17:13that's upsetting
17:16we also see a bit of a pattern where thomas is in and out of courthouses for drunkenness
17:22and that could be a key feature in all of this he's not a john he's no john nation yeah
17:29oh she chose wrong while she's got these battles on the home front with thomas she's got other battles
17:39that are looming that are going to really show her strength and you're going to find out more about
17:44that by visiting the supreme court of new south wales oh this should be a film it should be yeah
17:52i thought my life had a lot of bumps and bruises but phoebe's taking me for a run
18:05it does upset me a lot to know that she went through domestic violence
18:10but i definitely don't see phoebe as a victim she's really ballsy she shows grit determination
18:18and i'm looking forward to unraveling the next part of the chapter returning to sydney
18:26camilla will discover an epic legal battle with devastating consequences
18:39caftan queen camilla franks has returned to sydney to discover what fresh battles her colorful three
18:45times great-grandmother phoebe mcdermott formerly mepham must now confront what a beautiful room
18:53at the supreme court of new south wales she's meeting with legal historian julie coulton
19:00if we just place ourselves in 1863 that is where this part of the story starts not in the supreme
19:07court that will come but in the west maitland courthouse it does involve both phoebe and thomas
19:13the maitland mercury thursday march 12 1863 alleged housebreaking william bellinger was brought before
19:21the west maitland bench on monday in custody to answer to this charge the charge being that he
19:29has forced entry into the home of the mcdermott's he's wielding a gun and he's threatening to kill
19:35thomas terrifying upon the officer calling the next witness mr mcdermott mrs mcdermott stepped forward
19:44and said it was not her husband's wish to press the charge as the prisoner was intoxicated at the
19:49time and had a wife and small family that's phoebe so she spoke on behalf of her husband she did
19:56you can almost see her standing up pushing him to the side she's a woman with agency that is for sure
20:02and i love this as the prisoner was intoxicated at the time and had a wife and small family so she's
20:08got compassion and she obviously is also married to an abusive alcoholic and so she sees the
20:14similarities there yeah now you recall that john nation left well in 1859 and it was to take care
20:22of phoebe and the children yes at that time the estate was worth four thousand pounds which was
20:28around half a million dollars in today's money wow yeah so this was to be income for the family
20:36and he left three executors in charge of this estate they're all eminent men around town and
20:42what happens in fact is that that does not go to plan oh no oh no is right by 1865 we see that phoebe
20:53and the children have lodged an application here in the supreme court where we are today and their
20:59complaint very loudly is that the executors are squandering the estate they are selling off the
21:07assets and they are investing the money for themselves oh my god she is seeking restitution
21:13she wants the money back and she wants the world to hear what these men are doing she's very erin
21:18brockovich you can picture it yes she's so brave isn't she taking on these men and this goes on for
21:2610 years this goes on this becomes their life i've been through that myself but it lasted a year or two
21:34and it is so intense and grueling i admire her yes and legal fees are so expensive very expensive
21:44it's a war of attrition really and the executors their pockets were deeper ultimately in 1875 the
21:53case that she's bought against these executives please tell me she kicked their butt what i can tell
21:59you is that the case is actually dismissed phoebe and thomas have run out of money and so they simply
22:06cannot prove what they need to prove what happens then is that the sheriff is ordered to go around
22:14and sell her home this to pay the legal fees it's a fire sale it's so unfair it's an undeserving end
22:22actually to this chapter of her life but there's another chapter but there is another chapter please
22:28give me a good chapter so this is where we next find phoebe and thomas that is high street penrith
22:35penrith yes obviously they've lost lock and bar so they move to penrith they rent in that area
22:42it's a pleasant little settlement but it's not lock and bar it's not lock and bar no this would be a
22:48very big change for them yeah very much so the very next thing that we learn about phoebe is here
22:59tess mcdermott november 30 1903 at her residence phoebe the beloved wife of thomas mcdermott late of
23:10lock and bar aged 86 years
23:12he really loved her and they were together for quite some time it's around 40 years remembering
23:21it began in violence it wasn't good despite thomas's afflictions the alcohol somehow along
23:28the way they've they've made it work that makes me happy yeah oh phoebe she had a really full life
23:37she did in all its colors yeah it's interesting to see some of these parallels that phoebe and i
23:48have gone through hers being a hell of a lot more intense
23:54and i really saw some similarities with my grandma hilda her strength her resilience walking her own
24:02unique path as someone that loves to meditate i'm going to have phoebe at the forefront of that now
24:13guiding me
24:23good girl oh you're gonna eat it
24:25delighted to have found another inspirational woman in her maternal family tree camilla's now
24:33shifting her focus to her paternal line i remember always being daddy's girl and being on his shoulders
24:40and fishing and all of that but something changed we've lost that connection he's an amazing architect and
24:50creative but we don't understand each other and there's a deep sense of sadness and pain and longing
24:58to want to know him better
25:04when i was 22 my auntie marcia let me know that my dad's father had committed suicide
25:13it was sort of a hidden secret camilla uncovered another mystery in 2018 when she was diagnosed with
25:23cancer she learned that she carries the BRCA gene mutation which has a higher prevalence in the jewish
25:30population in regards to my potential jewish bloodline i know a big fat zero but i'm so eager now to find out more
25:43to resolve the question of her jewish ancestry camilla has recently taken a dna test
25:50hi nice to meet you nice to meet you too come on in at the sydney jewish museum in the inner city
25:58suburb of darlinghurst genealogist danny haskey has camilla's results my curiosity
26:06is bursting from every scene just that missing link you know i want to know about my own human design
26:12absolutely well we have your dna results so as you can see you're 33 percent english
26:23well that makes sense because of my mum's side being from sussex yep and then you're
26:3126 percent jewish yay i'm part of the club can i give you a hug of course
26:40so there are a few different flavors of jewish dna and you are specifically ashkenazi jewish
26:47for the past 1 000 years the jewish people have been grouped into two subcultures
26:55sephardic and ashkenazi the ashkenazi's ancestors lived in france and central and eastern europe
27:04while sephardic jews originate from the iberian peninsula north africa and the middle east
27:10geography aside the two groups follow the same tenets of judaism but have some differences in
27:17religious custom and practice when i was diagnosed with breast cancer and they told me about this
27:25hereditary bracketing mutation they told me it was related to ashkenazi jews there is a higher prevalence
27:32of it in ashkenazi jewish dna because this was such a life-changing diagnosis for me like it's
27:39like this hunger and this passion and this urge that wants me to meet who this has come from well
27:46with the dna that you submitted it allowed us to trace some of your family oh my god my heart's going
27:54100 miles an hour so this is part of your jewish family heritage wow so here you are down the bottom
28:06following her paternal line camilla's father is william leslie franks known as bill her grandfather
28:14was also william leslie it's through him that camilla's jewish heritage originates
28:19so your grandfather when he was born he was actually given the name wolf lazarus i love that
28:29name why did he change it a lot of people anglicize their names it's sad for me ethnicity is something
28:36to be celebrated and it's just such a shame that i wasn't taught that as a young girl i'm a tender age
28:41of 48 now and i'm only just discovering this yeah
28:45it's actually through your grandfather william leslie also known as wolf lazarus we were able to trace
28:55one branch of your paternal line and most of the people that you see in this tree lived in one very
29:02small village where okay so isbytsa kajowska isbytsa kajowska isbytsa kajowska do you know what
29:14country that is poland like right in the middle of poland kajowska i'll get it since i'm from there
29:27i've got to get it traveling to the other side of the world camilla will make a startling discovery
29:35about the family she has long yearned for
29:45fashion entrepreneur camilla franks has come to central poland to learn more about her paternal
29:51family history located 200 kilometers west of warsaw isbytsa kajowska is the heartland of her jewish
30:01ancestry it was only two days ago that i found out that this is where my family was from
30:12it's like this hidden secret
30:19i feel quite emotional being here and i feel this sense of longing to want to know more about their
30:25stories the first mention of jewish residents here dates back to 1662. over the centuries the jewish
30:35population in the town grew reaching a peak of around 1600 about half the town's inhabitants in 1939.
30:45at the local library camilla has arranged to meet ancestry genealogist
30:49ola heska who's been digging into the polish archives
30:57the jewish community that your ancestors were part of made a significant contribution to the area's
31:04economic life back then jews were not permitted to own land so they had to find a way of making a living
31:13so many of them became merchants and traders but many of them became artisans
31:21artisans yes some of your ancestors were actually
31:27sailors
31:30wow wow i always wondered where i got it all from it was written in the stars wasn't it
31:36we have traced your ancestors in izbica back to your sixth generation here's the family tree
31:47wow wow so you your father your grandfather to the sixth generation to mojesz topiński and estera
32:00bass they were your four times great-grandparents wow mojesz was born in about 1790
32:09their son was nohim topiński your three times great-grandfather nohim was a tailor
32:19and he married waja sohaczewska nohim and waja had 10 children wow all born here in izbica
32:28and i have the first document here for you it's their eldest son's birth
32:34record he was your two times great-grandfather written in polish
32:45really emotional
32:49i have a translation here for you
32:52thank you this happened in it's pizza on 30th of january 1863 at one o'clock in the afternoon
33:00nokam topinski appeared a tailor residing in it pizza 19 years old and he presented to us a male
33:08child declaring he was born in it pizza on 23rd day of this month seven o'clock in the morning to his
33:14wife waja sohaczewska waja sohaczewska 20 years old at the circumcision this child was given the name wolf
33:24my grandfather was wolf lazarus and we've got wolf here according to ashkenazi jewish naming tradition
33:32children were named after their deceased ancestors and relatives so wolf your two times great-grandfather
33:42he became a tailor as well joined his father in his business
33:48and then when wolf was in his upper teens something exciting was happening in his life
33:56here's a record and i have another translation for you here this happened in it's pizza on 16th december
34:041881 at three o'clock in the afternoon the local rabbi appeared together with wolf topinski
34:11a bachelor 18 years and 11 month old and with baila bus a maiden 26 years old he the rabbi stated that
34:19today a religious marriage was contracted between wolf topinski and baila bus
34:28i was never told anything about my lineage and i just feel like i've missed out on so many years of
34:35not knowing my family i'm estranged from my father so it just makes me feel like there's
34:42a community of male ancestors that are going to be holding me up and that means a lot to me
35:01this is december 1881 a few months later in 1882 wolf and baila left their home and their country
35:19and where did they go oh my god they traveled some 1500 kilometers
35:26to london oh wow we don't know exactly what motivated your ancestors to leave
35:34there might have been some knowledge of a persecution by the authorities the laws were being
35:42more and more oppressive but a lot of people left for economical reasons too the poverty diseases
35:49the situation in poland wasn't really very bright so as your two times great grandparents left their
35:58home so did many other jewish families but a lot of them stayed and two generations afterwards tragic
36:07events happened with world war two so there were about thousand jewish residents here in izbica
36:14at the time of war they were rounded up and sent to death camps none of them survived
36:24and the jewish community never returned to izbica because they were all deceased
36:31if wolf and baila hadn't made the decision to go to london all those years ago
36:38my family now wouldn't exist that's right
36:44so you may want to visit the site of the former jewish cemetery here in izbica
36:51the cemetery was destroyed in world war ii the nazis destroyed it but there is a field
36:57that marks the site and perhaps you'd like to go there and think about your other ancestors who
37:05were buried there jewish people take stones and pebbles to the cemetery oh my gosh i've been collecting
37:13stones since i was a little girl i mean it all comes together it all comes together
37:27i find it crazy to me that this has never been spoken about in my family
37:31in the last 48 hours i've learned more about me than i've ever known
37:49just the thought of all my family members that would have been buried here
37:54it's emotional i've constantly got goosebumps
38:06i've got this whole family that i didn't know actually existed and they come from tailoring
38:16following the story of her jewish two times great-grandparents
38:19wolf and byla topinski camilla's now traveling from central poland to london
38:29in london's east end she sought out social historian david rosenberg hi camilla
38:36to find out whether the lure of a brighter future in england's capital pays off
38:44wolf and byler they were making a new life here i'm going to show you a document
38:49which takes us into the next generation
38:53so this is the birth certificate of your great-grandmother sarah
38:59following camilla's paternal line her great-grandmother was sarah levy sometimes known as sadie
39:06she was born in east london in 1882 the first child of wolf topinski and byla bass
39:13like so many other migrants when they arrived wolf and byla changed their family name to leaving other
39:22name changes followed so you can see the father is wolf your great great grandfather and his wife
39:32in the old country was called byla but here it's a peculiar spelling and i know from another document i'm
39:41going to show you that her name is rebecca that's a big change and rebecca is one of those biblical jewish names
39:52your great-grandmother sarah she was born a year after they have arrived 25 old castle street yeah old
39:59castle street is right in the heart of where the jews were settling in east london in east london
40:06between 1880 and 1914 london's small jewish population was transformed by the arrival of 150 000
40:16eastern european and russian jewish refugees fleeing economic hardship and religious persecution
40:24up to 70 percent settled in london's east end here they established a vibrant community and the streets
40:32rang with the cries of yiddish speaking traders i love knowing that they really lived with their
40:40community and their tribe having their people around them would have brought them a lot of comfort
40:44yeah and it says here that wolf is still a tailor yeah yeah so tailoring was a very common area of work
40:53the largest of the of the trades that the jewish immigrants were doing in east london and the
41:00tailoring was done in workshops they were often in the basement of houses or if you had a shop front
41:07it would be in a very cramped room behind and they often had between 10 and 25 workers
41:15these were very bad conditions this is the next document i wanted to show you this is from the census
41:22of 1891. rebecca yeah rebecca levy your great great grandmother byla yes and then i see all these
41:32children here and that's where we find sarah yeah the first daughter your great grandmother there's four
41:39daughters here and there was a fifth one born after this census right and then what's this sarah scholar so
41:49that's sarah your great grandmother she went to the jews free school i'm going to show you a photo
41:57have a look at that wow look at their little outfits what does this say here that says child's
42:05pinafore so they're learning how to make pinafores yeah yeah yeah right okay they're learning about the
42:11trade of textiles from this age yes yes the school was very geared towards preparing them for work
42:19so this is the the last document and it's particularly about wolf levy your great great
42:30grandfather certified copy of an entry of death yeah wolf levy male 33 years old he was so young
42:39and he passed away on 26 of october 1897 cause of death thysis thysis hypostatic pneumonia
42:50that's a glorified way of saying tb tuberculosis right and tb was such a killer in the east end
42:58in that period because of the work condition i suspect so and it's really contagious so like
43:04covid yeah yeah yeah very confined conditions are its favorite climate for spreading it makes me sad
43:11because he's taken such big risks and showed such resilience to kind of travel across yeah yeah and
43:18to hear to find himself working in really a sweatshop which takes his life and i can't help but think that
43:26rebecca would have been left with five children yes yes that's terrifying yeah well if you go to the
43:33princelot street synagogue very near here i think people there will be able to tell you
43:38more about what happened to your family after this
43:47i've been coming to east london for work for years it's been the hubbub and the melting pot for
43:54textiles and beading and embroidery and laces
43:57now it's not just a professional link for me it's a bloodline link it makes me realize that i'm
44:06meant to be walking this crazy wild adventurous journey of fashion
44:11staying in london's east end camilla will confront her family's generational trauma
44:21in london's east end pursuing the story of her polish jewish ancestors appropriately a family of tailors
44:37her two times great-grandfather wolf levy died in 1897 leaving his wife and five young daughters
44:43came in the house camilla's hoping that by learning more about these ancestors she'll gain insight
44:51into her relationship with her father
44:55to do so she's come to the princelot street synagogue established in the 1870s
45:02i love it that this is the first synagogue that you've been in yeah and what a special one it is
45:08here she's enlisted the help of writer and historian dr rachel lichenstein so we're going to pick up the
45:16story with rebecca your great-great-grandmother to be without her husband wolf would have been incredibly
45:24tough because i imagine they were living in dire poverty like most in the jewish community were in this
45:31area so let's have a look at this document this is a census from 1901 so this is rebecca there you've got
45:42her rebecca levy and she's 39 there 39 years old and sarah her daughter your great-grandmother she's 18
45:53and esther rachel celia and annie that's a lot of girls it's a lot of girls
46:00your great-grandmother sarah here can you see what she's working as tailoress amazing and how about
46:10her sisters fur machinist and ladies tailoress so they were involved in what was commonly known as
46:18the shmutter trade shmutter shmutter which is the yiddish word for kind of rags wow but it really means
46:27everything connected to the tailoring trade it's so cool to think that all these beautiful females
46:35worked in the same world that i live and breathe i had no idea it's incredible but it really makes
46:42sense to me now it's literally in your blood it's in my blood yeah
46:46so let's see what we've got next here for sarah your great-grandmother a certified copy of an entry
47:00of marriage and the year is 1908 so sarah or sadie levi marries hyman franks so we've got the franks
47:11name now that's right right and hyman is an outfitter he was measuring up gentleman for
47:19suits maybe a pattern cutter marriage solemnized at spittle square synagogue we're very close to the
47:29spittle square synagogue it no longer exists this synagogue is called the princelet street synagogue and
47:36it's the only surviving ashkenazi jewish synagogue erected by polish jewish immigrants like your
47:44family i wonder if my family experienced praying in here or it's very very possible they might have
47:52worshipped here or come here for bar mitzvahs or other celebrations that's wild i am blown away
47:59just a few months after your great-grandparents get married in 1908 they're on a boat traveling to
48:11sydney an incredible journey to make they were brave and bold for sure i wonder why they wanted to leave
48:20lots of people did anti-semitism or it could have been but there was great poverty as well they're leaving
48:28for a brighter future again this seems to be a common theme in my family again absolutely
48:35they arrive in sydney and then they move to newcastle mum and dad were brought up in newcastle
48:42so that makes sense to me there was a small jewish community there and there was a lithuanian rabbi that
48:49moved to start up this community that's where wolf your grandfather was born so this lithuanian
48:57rabbi was probably the rabbi that circumcised your grandfather wolf it's possible
49:07and then i'm afraid the story does take a darker turn oh
49:13this is a death certificate hymen franks 44 years so young so young hospital for the insane in gladesville
49:24wow what does he say chronic mental disease and exhaustion
49:34i really resonate with that
49:36who knows who knows what trauma he experienced in his short life whether he'd also come from
49:46poland or russia during that time whether he had inherited trauma oh god
49:54that's awful awful awful
49:57what is so crazy about this document is my grandfather wolf lazarus committed suicide
50:06so that inherited inherited trauma and i struggled with depression like 10 years ago and i couldn't
50:16quite put my finger on it but now you know you don't just get the good you get the bad too it doesn't
50:23discriminate it doesn't
50:30and poor sadie sarah being left in newcastle she's left on her own in the strange country with a young
50:38child
50:41let's end on a happier note yay so here she is here is sadie your great grandmother some years later
50:51i finally got a photograph yeah hi sadie she got married again she found a new life for herself
50:59she had a new family and this is the picture of her at the wedding of one of her sons i'm seeing
51:07like a mixture of my uncle and my dad but what's crazy is with dna you always think of the physical
51:16but now there's so much more to my dna than just the physical so much more it's nice to meet you sadie
51:32learning more about my ancestry it's definitely making me reflect on my relationship with my father
51:47i think it's in some ways created a bit more acceptance for me
51:59does it mean that i'm going to open the door maybe not but you know you can always love someone from afar
52:05my jewish bloodline is something to be nurtured loved and celebrated
52:19the beauty of this is being able to teach my daughter about this and that for me is such a gift
52:26all of those experiences my ancestors have gone through the risk-taking the adventuring the bumps
52:36and bruises all those challenges become our biggest teacher that is one of the most empowering lessons
52:43i've learned on this my blood is filled with their spirits their determination sticking the middle finger
52:52to conformity and fear and that's why i'll continue to walk my own path unapologetically
53:05next time on who do you think you are indians get around don't they they do journalist mark finnell
53:11finds a generation traumatized by war shit i've heard this story passed down it's so much worse than i
53:19imagine and unearthed tales of forbidden love this is scandalous it is romey and juliet it really is
53:28and tragic loss oh no she does squalor yeah
53:33if you need immediate assistance or support contact beyond blue on 1 300 22 4636 or beyondblue.org.au
53:54or lifeline or lifeline on 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au
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