Who do you think you are?

I've had along-standing interest in genealogy, specifically in my own family's history. I've done my own research and borrowed the services of my distant cousin Martha Thayer to find out my English, German, Irish, Cherokee and Choctaw roots. It's as rewarding as a hobby can possibly be, finding out you and your family's role in history.

In the UK a few years back, there was a television series called Who Do You Think You Are? Each episode involves researching the family history of a particular celebrity. One of my favorite comedians (and writers) from the UK is Stephen Fry. He starred in the movie "Wilde" about Oscar Wilde and was nominated for an Oscar, and has most recently narrated the Harry Potter movies. Before that, he had a comedy series with Hugh Laurie (yes, Dr. "House") called A Bit of Fry & Laurie. He's a multi-faceted performer and I've been a fan of his for 20 years, probably. Stephen is thought of as being "quintessentially" English, due to his beautifully rich, plummy British accent. To the contrary, he is half Jewish and grew up among a large European Jewish family.
His episode of WDYTYA? is a search for his Jewish roots, starting with his grandfather Martin Neumann who originally hailed from Surany in what is now modern-day Slovakia. What Stephen finds out is heart-breaking and makes him realize how fortunate he is to even be alive. Most of his grandfather's family were killed in Auschwitz. He goes back to Vienna and finds many surprises, including finding his great-grandparents' names on a plaque outside the building they lived in before the Germans invaded Austria. Their names are there because a current resident thought it important to commemorate the Jewish residents who were sent to the concentration camps and never came back. Whole families were lost.

Here is the YouTube link to all seven 10-minute long excerpts from Stephen Fry's episode:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=WDYTYA+fry&search=Search

I highly recommend watching them. Even if you're not Jewish, it will help you see the futility and WRONGNESS of religious wars and religious persecution of ANYONE, not just Jews.

Stephen quotes Anwar Sadat: "Religious wars are just people fighting over who has the biggest invisible friend". Yes, it's really that childish. Think of that next time somebody says "we have to show those (Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, etc) who's boss". Whole families are being lost again, over and over. It's time to grow up now.