There are no written records that I can put my hands on. They were destroyed by the uncle who raised me when my grandparents died. My grandparents raised me for a couple of years after my mom died when I was a baby of 15 months old. In fact, my grandparents legally adopted me so my birth certificate shows my grandparents as my parents. My grandfather became a naturalized citizen but not my grandmother. She refused to do so, according to my uncle. My uncle hated Jews, and ultimately destroyed all the paperwork on our family that had to do with the Jewish heritage. Also he did so because he didn't want anyone to be able to lay claim to me or to the belongings of my grandparents. He buried my grandparents in Illinois near where they lived. There was no synagogue affiliation for anyone in the family as they weren't practicing Jews. They were not practicing Jews when they came to the US as they were trying to avoid being known to be Jewish because of what was happening to the Jews overseas in Hungary. From what I have been told, all of my family had to keep moving around and stay in hiding to avoid persecution and/or death. The last name was Keller. Also, Hess aka Heiss and Heissman were names on my mother's side. That is why I am so totally at a loss of what to do. I have run the entire gamut of paperwork and genealogical records from the USA and overseas in several countries. I did find one record of one of my grandmother's female cousins being Jewish. They were both Magdalena Keller by name! Would that help?
My mom and dad (he was Jewish - Tillman, originally Thielmann,) married and according to what my dad told me, she actually had a conversion or some sort of paperwork from a Rabbi somewhere either in Illinois, Michigan, New Mexico (where he was stationed), or Minnesota. My father lost all of his legal and family paperwork in a flood that occurred to his home in Dayton, TX. A pipe burst and flooded his structure while he was hospitalized for about 10 months due to surgery for a ruptured aortic aneurysm and resulting paralysis. Nothing was salvagable. Family records and photos were totally destroyed! I only have about 4 photos of me when I was a child and 3 of my parents and one of my grandparents. All the rest were in his possession and are gone from the flood. I have tried to contact his family members, but all of his brothers and his two sisters are now deceased and there is no record of any other living descendants on his side.
So a paper trail for my mom, my grandparents, and my dad are all dead ends. I have had my own DNA checked and it does show that I descend from one of the four Ashkenazi tribes of Judaism. That is all I have! My dad does have a star of David on his headstone, and he was buried in a Kosher casket (per his request), but I wasn't able to get him a Jewish burial as I didn't know how to get someone to do it and the funeral home was of no assistance. At least he was buried with that much of Judaism that he so loved! My husband to whom he spoke with about his Jewish heritage and my mother's heritage passed away in August, 2002, so there isn't even the word of anyone with whom my father shared his life.
So, I suppose I will have to turn to the Israel Religious Action Center for assistance, unless one of you can give more insight. This is so much in my heart to make Aliyah that I even dream of it at night. My feelings are all wrapped up in it. It is something that I am led to do and my heart knows it is the right thing to do. Thank you for all the suggestions that you can give me.
In appreciation,
