Original subtitles

Hi, darling.

If I was to write a book and document everything that I've experienced in

the good, the bad, the ugly, it would read like an amazing thriller, drama,

war, crime, the full gamut.

Known as the Capstan Queen, fashion designer Camilla Franks has led an

life, including building an international clothing empire.

The business has been my longest ever relationship. We've grown up together.

I threw myself into a world I knew nothing about, and that was the fashion

industry. So it was terrifying and lonely, but I had a screw it, let's do

attitude. So I love all these tonal elements with the terracotta and the

orange. My design process is to travel and get off the beaten path and immerse

myself into these wonderful cultures.

Incorporating elements from her travels into bold design.

has won Camilla celebrity fans, including Oprah Winfrey and Jennifer

Having the brand where it is today, you know, it brings me so much joy.

But in 2018, Camilla suffered a life -threatening illness.

I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.

Although now recovered, the diagnosis raised the possibility of Jewish

I was told that I had this gene mutation that usually happens in Jewish people.

I had no idea about this potential bloodline.

We all want that sense of belonging and it's something I crave.

I think that finding out a little bit about my bloodline will help me fill

some of those holes that are in my heart.

Yearning for ancestral connection.

I've missed out on so many years of not knowing my family.

Camilla encounters a feisty matriarch. Please tell me she kicked their butt.

That makes her a bigamist. Oh my God, I love this woman.

Confronts heart -rending trauma.

Chronic mental disease and exhaustion.

I really resonate with that.

And on the other side of the world.

Schmutter. Embrace the long -hidden cultural heritage.

It's literally in your blood. It's in my blood.

You want to do olive oil first?

You can do anything first. Yeah, you can do anything first.

It's all about gut instinct, baby.

Camilla Franks lives in Sydney with her young daughter, Luna.

I had Luna at the tender age of 41, I think. I was put a geriatric.

Mother.

I wasn't happy about that.

You feel you don't want to stuff the fish?

What do you mean?

She's just a beautiful ray of light and love in my life.

Maybe there's enough tomatoes.

I'll do all of them. You want to do all of them? You know, becoming a mother,

I've got a whole new respect for heritage that I never had before.

Born in Sydney in 1976,

Camilla is the eldest of two children to Bill Franks and Narelle Roberts.

We definitely came from a very strong family unit in my earlier years.

We lived a really beautiful, wholesome, colourful life, always travelling

with mum and dad.

My beautiful brother, Benny, who was the shining light of my family, he

passed away when I was 17.

He was 14.

My brother passing away, it made me want to live the life for two.

I felt the responsibility that I had to really do my parents proud because they

lost their son.

I would describe my mum as a beautiful, blonde, generous,

manic, bohemian.

Following Camilla's maternal line, her mother Narelle was born in Newcastle,

South Wales in 1946.

Camilla's grandparents were Hewitt Kingsley Roberts and Hilda May Meppam.

Grandma Hilda, I was quite young when she passed away.

When I look at photographs of Hilda, I see this woman that's adventurous, free

-spirited, doesn't want to conform.

She's horse riding.

She's doing it her own way.

I'm so curious to find if there's more Hildas in my mix.

Determined to track down other spirited matriarchs in her maternal ancestry,

Camilla has come to St Ives in Sydney's north, where she sought out family

historian and relative by marriage, Philippa Meppam.

First of all, I'd like to show you your family tree.

Right. This is you at the bottom, going up through your mother to your

grandmother, Hilda May Meppam. Grandma!

Hilda comes from quite an interesting line, which is your three -times great

-grandmother, Phoebe Martin, she was born in 1817 in Sussex, England.

Okay. Phoebe, when she was 18, married Benjamin Meppam.

My brother who passed away, his name was Benny.

Isn't that crazy?

That's interesting.

They got married.

in 1835 in October, and Benjamin Jr., your two -times great -grandfather,

was born in December 1835.

Shotgun winning.

Fabulous. So Benjamin was also a farm labourer and Phoebe was the farm

so they would have been paid very little. They didn't own land, so their

prospects would have been bleak.

In the 1830s, agricultural workers in England were suffering from the impact

industrialisation.

Their plight was intensified by poor harvests in 1837.

For many, including Camilla's ancestors,

emigration offered the only means to improve their lives.

Benjamin and Phoebe, your three -time great -grandparents, with Benjamin Jr.

They arrived in Sydney in 1839 on a ship called the

Strathfield Say.

And this is the passenger list. I can see the name there.

Benjamin and Phoebe are right there. And little Benjamin is three when they

travelled.

They had to go straight into labour or they ran the risk of being destitute.

But it was a means to an end because farm labour is... earn in the colonies

to £20 a year compared to £3 in England.

Right, so that's a huge big jump in salary.

That is.

Plus, they would have also had the opportunity to buy land, which is why

came.

Oh, to meet you, Phoebe.

Where is this going to take me now?

Well, your next step is to go to the Hunter Valley.

I love the Hunter.

Intrigued by her adventurous three -times -great -grandmother, Phoebe

Camilla has come to the Hunter Valley, about 200 kilometres north of Sydney.

This Hunter River region includes vast alluvial plains which, for millennia,

were occupied by the Wannerua people.

By the time Phoebe arrived in the 1840s, European settlers had already pushed

the traditional owners, often violently, to the periphery.

It was here in the Belford region that Camilla's three times great -grandmother

came to live.

Hi, Anne. Hi. Hi, I'm Camilla.

And at Belford's Historic Church, Camilla has asked social historian Dr

Hardy for assistance.

Well, I've got a document here. It's a baptism record from 1844.

It's five years after Phoebe has arrived.

Okay, so we've got Jane.

Jane is Phoebe's daughter.

Wait, she had Benjamin, so she's had another child.

She has.

This document also shows the names of her other children.

You know, they're born at different dates.

Jane, John, Thomas, Ellen and Amelia.

And parents' names.

John and Phoebe.

What happened to her other husband?

Well, we don't know what happened to Benjamin, Phoebe's first husband. She

changed partners. She changed partners.

Who is this John Nation?

So we know that John was quite a resourceful and successful businessman.

He leased over 1 ,000 acres.

Amazing. Called Belford Farm.

He was a grazier and then he purchased land.

He sold half of it soon after he purchased it and made quite a profit.

Go Don!

From all accounts, he was quite a good father, partner.

Interesting that having all the children together, but they still never married.

I love that about Phoebe.

I mean, as someone that's never lived a conventional life, it kind of...

I think it might run in the family.

Unfortunately, the good fortune turns in relation to John and Phoebe's son,

Thomas. It's a few years later.

Oh, the Maitland Mercury.

Thursday, March the 18th, 1858.

Coroner's Inquest.

An inquest was held at Belford Farm near Black Creek on Monday last by Dr.

Glennie on the view of the body of Thomas Nation.

Aged nine years and one month and five days.

The deceased had been accidentally killed on Saturday afternoon by being

from his pony against a tree.

His amiable disposition will long be remembered by those who knew him.

Awful.

I hate the idea that she lost a child.

It's something no parent should ever have to experience.

I've just got another document to share with you. It relates to an incident that

occurred less than a year after the death of Thomas.

So this relates to John Nation.

Death.

Northern Times and Newcastle Telegraph, January the 19th, 1859.

At his residence, Belford, near Black Creek, on Saturday the 15th, John

age 44, an old and much -respected resident of the district, leaving a wife

six children to lament the loss of an affectionate and loving father.

Oh, Phoebe, you lost your man so soon after Thomas.

So that was another shocking loss. The love of her life was gone.

It's a lot, but it brings me comfort knowing that John Nation provided

support to her that she was well looked after.

Yeah, yeah. And then where to next?

Did she find another partner?

I hope so.

Still in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Camilla has come 20 kilometres

down the road to Lockenvar.

Hi, Camilla.

Max. Welcome to Lockenvar.

Meeting with historian Max Burns -McCruvey, Camilla wants to know if her

spirited three -times -great -grandmother, Phoebe Meppam, prevailed

tragic loss of her son and de facto partner.

Well, Phoebe's had quite a ride already, huh?

Surely the universe gives her a happy chapter in all of this.

Well, this document here, it's an auction and it's for all sorts of

and everything else at the very farm that she was living on. The Maitland

Mercury, Saturday, March 3rd, 1860.

Highly important extensive clearing out sale at the residence of the late Mr

John Nation.

The following valuable stock farming implements machinery, harness and tools.

The sole reason of their being brought into the market is the consequence of

Nation's family having to leave Belford Farms.

That land, it had a five -year lease. Right. That's coming to an end.

This lists a tiny bit of what's being sold.

Essentially, we get such a sense of how successful John Nation and Phoebe were.

Luckily, John has taken the step to make sure that Phoebe and the family have

somewhere to go that they own.

I'm curious.

Well, we are sitting amidst it, in fact.

This is beautiful Lock and Bar.

This was very well sought after land. John has purchased some of it around

Stunning. He's made sure that in his will, that whilst Phoebe and her

are going to be the inheritors, this farm is going to be managed.

And for that, he has appointed three executives.

And therefore, the income she's going to receive is really at the hands of these

executives to make sure that the farm is profitable.

So she doesn't really need to think.

They get to manage the land for her and she takes the profits from the land.

Brilliant.

So what's going to happen with Phoebe?

I hope she finds love again.

Well, we've got a whole new fella in the mix. Oh, my God, I love this woman.

His name is Thomas McDermott, a bloke from Dublin. They marry in 1860, which

a year after John's passing, and he is 28 years old.

while Phoebe is 43.

I love her.

My grandma always loved the younger boys. My mum loved the younger boys. I

the younger boys. This is all making sense to me now. It's coming together

you.

But what's a bit odd about that, she was married to Mr Mepham and he's still

very much alive.

He won't pass away for another 20 years. That makes her a bigamist.

She doesn't give a damn, I don't think.

So Phoebe, she's got the farm, she's got a new marriage, but Thomas has another

side to him.

The Maitland Mercury, November 21, 1863.

Oh, no.

A violent character.

On Thursday, a man named Thomas McDermott was brought before the bench

Maitland on a charge of threatening his wife with firearms.

When brought into court, he was extremely violent and being a powerful

constables were required to hold him.

I hope it's an isolated incident.

Well, unfortunately, it's not the one -off. Oh, no.

And we see a series of incidents.

where Thomas seems to be a bit violent.

The idea of her having to go through all that is just shocking. It's just...

That's upsetting.

We also see a bit of a pattern where Thomas is in and out of courthouses for

drunkenness, and that could be a key feature in all of this.

He's not a John.

He's no John Nation.

Yeah.

Oh, she shows wrong.

While she's got these battles on the home front with Thomas, she's got other

battles that are looming that are going to really show her strength, and you're

going to find out more about that by visiting the Supreme Court of New South

Wales. Oh, this should be a film.

It should be, yeah.

I thought my life had a lot of bumps and bruises, but Phoebe's taking me for a

run.

It does upset me a lot to know that she went through domestic violence, but I

definitely don't see Phoebe as a victim.

She's really ballsy, she shows grit, determination, and I'm looking forward

unravelling the next part of the chapter.

Returning to Sydney...

Camilla will discover an epic legal battle with devastating consequences.

Caftan Queen Camilla Franks has returned to Sydney to discover what fresh battle

her colourful three -times -great -grandmother, Phoebe McDermott, formerly

Mepham, must now confront.

What a beautiful room.

At the Supreme Court of New South Wales... She's meeting with legal

Julie Coulton.

If we just place ourselves in 1863, that is where this part of the story starts.

Not in the Supreme Court, that will come, but in the West Maitland

It does involve both Phoebe and Thomas.

The Maitland Mercury, Thursday, March 12, 1863, alleged housebreaking.

William Bellinger was brought before the West Maitland bench on Monday in

custody to answer to this charge.

The charge being that he has forced entry into the home of the McDermott's.

wielding a gun and he's threatening to kill Thomas. Terrifying.

Upon the officer calling the next witness, Mr McDermott, Mrs McDermott

forward.

and said it was not her husband's wish to press the charge as the prisoner was

intoxicated at the time and had a wife and small family.

That's Phoebe.

So she spoke on behalf of her husband. She did. You can almost see her standing

up. Pushing him to the side. She's a woman with agency, that is for sure. And

love this. The prisoner was intoxicated at the time and had a wife and small

family. So she's got compassion. And she obviously is also married to an abusive

alcoholic and so she sees the similarities there. Yeah.

Now, you recall that John Nation left Will in 1859 and it was to take care of

Phoebe and the children.

Yeah. At that time, the estate was worth £4 ,000, which was around half a

million dollars in today's money. Wow.

Yeah.

So this was to be income for the family, and he left three executors in charge

of this estate.

They're all eminent men around town, and what happens, in fact, is that that

does not go to plan.

Oh, no.

Oh, no is right.

By 1865, we see that Phoebe and the children,

have lodged an application here in the Supreme Court, where we are today, and

their complaint, very loudly, is that the executors are squandering the

they are selling off the assets, and they are investing the money for

themselves. Oh, my God.

She is seeking restitution. She wants the money back, and she wants the world

hear. what these men are doing. She's very Erin Brockovich.

She's so brave isn't she? Taking on these men.

This goes on for 10 years.

This goes on. This becomes their life.

I've been through that myself but it lasted a year or two and it is so

and gruelling.

I admire her. Yes.

And legal fees are so expensive.

Very expensive.

It's a war.

of attrition, really, and the executors. Their pockets were deeper.

Ultimately, in 1875, the case that she's brought against these executors...

Please tell me she kicked their butt.

What I can tell you is that the case is actually dismissed.

Phoebe and Thomas have run out of money, and so they simply cannot prove what

they need to prove.

What happens then is that the sheriff is ordered to go around and sell her home

to pay the legal fees. It's a fire sale.

It's so unfair.

It's an undeserving end, actually, to this chapter of her life.

But there's another chapter.

But there is another chapter. Please give me a good chapter.

So this is where we next find Phoebe and Thomas. That is High Street Penrith.

Penrith? Yes.

Obviously, they've lost Lock and Bar, so they move to Penrith.

They rent in that area.

It's a pleasant little settlement, but it's not on the land. But it's not Lock

and Bar. It's not Lock and Bar, no.

This would be a very big change for them. Yeah, very much so.

The very next thing that we learn about Phoebe is here.

Tess.

McDermott, November 30, 1903, at her residence.

Phoebe, the beloved wife of Thomas McDermott, late of Lochenvar, aged 86

He really loved her. And they were together for quite some time. It's

years, remembering it began in violence.

It wasn't good.

Despite Thomas's affliction, the alcohol, somehow along the way, they've

work. That makes me happy.

Yeah.

Oh, Phoebe.

She had a really full life. She did.

In all its colours.

Yeah.

It's interesting to see some of these parallels that Phoebe and I have gone

through, hers being a hell of a lot more intense.

And I really saw some similarities with my grandma Hilda, her strength, her

resilience, walking her own unique path.

As someone that loves to meditate, I'm going to have Phoebe at the forefront of

that now, guiding me.

Good girl. Oh, are you going to eat it?

Delighted to have found another inspirational woman in her maternal

Camilla's now shifting her focus to her paternal line.

I remember always being daddy's girl and being on his shoulders and fishing and

all of that. But something changed.

We've lost that connection.

He's an amazing architect and creative, but we don't understand each other.

And there's a deep sense of sadness and pain and longing to want to know him

better.

22, my auntie Marcia let me know that my dad's father had committed suicide.

It was sort of a hidden secret.

Camilla uncovered another mystery in 2018 when she was diagnosed with cancer.

She learned that she carries the BRCA gene mutation, which has a higher

prevalence in the Jewish population.

In regards to my potential Jewish bloodline, I know a big fat zero, but

I'm so eager now to find out more.

To resolve the question of her Jewish ancestry, Camilla has recently taken a

test.

Hi. Hi, Camilla. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too. Come on in.

At the Sydney Jewish Museum in the inner city suburb of Darlinghurst,

genealogist Danny Haskey has Camilla's results.

My curiosity is bursting from every theme, just that missing link.

You know, I want to know about my own human design.

Absolutely. Well, we have your DNA results.

So, as you can see, you're 33 % English.

Well, that makes sense because of my mum's side being from Suffolk.

Yep. And then you're...

26 % Jewish.

Yay, I'm part of the club.

Can I give you a hug? So there are a few different flavours of Jewish DNA

and you are specifically Ashkenazi Jewish.

For the past 1 ,000 years, the Jewish people have been grouped into two

subcultures, Sephardic and Ashkenazi.

The Ashkenazi's ancestors lived in France and Central and Eastern Europe,

Sephardic Jews originate from the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa and the

East.

Geography aside, the two groups follow the same tenets of Judaism, but have

differences in religious custom and practice.

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer and they told me about this hereditary

bracketing mutation, they told me it was related to Ashkenazi Jew.

There is a higher prevalence of it in Ashkenazi Jewish DNA.

Because this was such a life -changing diagnosis for me. Like, it's like this

hunger and this passion and this urge that wants me to meet who this has come

from. Well, with the DNA that you submitted, it allowed us to trace.

Some of your family.

Oh, my God. My heart's going 100 miles an hour.

So this is part of your Jewish family heritage.

Wow. So here you are down the bottom.

Following her paternal line, Camilla's father is William Leslie Franks, known

Bill. Her grandfather was also William Leslie.

It's through him that Camilla's Jewish heritage originates.

So your grandfather, when he was born, he was actually given the name Wolf

Lazarus. I love that name. Why did he change it?

A lot of people anglicise their names.

It's sad for me.

Ethnicity is something to be celebrated and it's just such a shame that I wasn't

taught that as a young girl. I'm a tender age of 48 now and I'm only just

discovering this.

Yeah.

It's actually through your grandfather, William Leslie.

also known as Wolf Lazarus, we were able to trace one branch of your paternal

line and most of the people that you see in this tree lived in one very small

village. Where?

Okay.

So, Izbica Kozelska. Izbica Kozelska. Izbica Kozelska. Do you know

what country that is?

Poland.

Like right in the middle of Poland.

Abica Kuszawska. Kuszawska.

I'll get it. Since I'm from there, I've got to get it.

Travelling to the other side of the world, Camilla will make a startling

discovery about the family she has long yearned for.

Fashion entrepreneur Camilla Franks has come to central Poland to learn more

about her paternal family history.

Located 200 kilometres west of Warsaw, Izbica Kujawska is the heartland of her

Jewish ancestry.

It was only two days ago that I found out that this is where my family was

It's like this.

hidden secret.

I feel quite emotional being here and I feel this sense of longing to want to

know more about their stories.

The first mention of Jewish residents here dates back to 1662.

Over the centuries, the Jewish population in the town grew, reaching a

around 1600, about half the town's inhabitants, in 1939.

At the local library, Camilla has arranged to meet ancestry genealogist

Heska, who's been digging into the Polish archive.

The Jewish community that your ancestors were part of made a significant

contribution to the area's economic life.

Back then, Jews were not permitted to own land, so they had to find a way of

making a living. So many of them became merchants and traders, but many of them

became artisans.

Artisans? Yes.

Some of your ancestors were actually sailors.

Wow!

Wow! I always wondered where I got it all from. It was written in the stars,

wasn't it?

We have traced your ancestors in Izbitza back to your sixth generation.

Here's the family tree.

Wow.

Wow.

So you, your father, your grandfather, to the sixth

generation.

to Mojzesz Topiński and Esther Abbas. They were your four times great

-grandparents. Wow.

Mojzesz was born in about 1790.

Their son was Nohim Topiński, your three times great -grandfather.

Nohim was a tailor.

And he married Waja Sochaczewska.

Nohim and Waja had 10 children.

Wow. All born here in Izbica.

And I have the first document here for you.

It's their eldest son's birth record. He was your two -time great -grandfather.

Written in Polish.

Really? Amazing.

I have a translation here for you.

This happened in Izbitza on 30th of January, 1863, at one o 'clock in the

afternoon. Nokhan Topinski appeared, a tailor, residing in Izbitza, 19 years

old, and he presented to us a male child, declaring he was born in Izbitza

23rd day of this month, seven o 'clock in the morning, to his wife.

Waja Sohacheska. Waja Sohacheska.

20 years old. At the circumcision, this child was given the name Wolf.

My grandfather was Wolf Lazarus, and we've got Wolf here.

According to Ashkenazi Jewish naming tradition, children were named after

deceased ancestors and relatives.

So Wolf, your two -times great -grandfather, he became a tailor as

joined his father in his business.

And then when Wolf was in his upper teens, something exciting was happening

his life.

Here's the record. And I have another translation for you here.

This happened in Izbitza on 16th December 1881 at three o 'clock in the

afternoon. The local rabbi appeared together with Wolf Topinski, a bachelor,

years and 11 months old.

and with Baila Bas, a maiden, 26 years old. He, the rabbi, stated that today a

religious marriage was contracted between Wolf Topinski and Baila Bas.

I was never told anything about my lineage, and I just feel like I've

on so many years of not knowing my family.

I'm estranged from my father, so it just makes me feel like there's...

A community of male ancestors that are going to be holding me up.

And that means a lot to me.

This is

December

1881.

A few months later.

In 1882, Wolf and Baila left their home and their country.

And where did they go?

Oh, my God. They traveled some 1 ,500 kilometers to London.

Oh, wow.

We don't know exactly what motivated your ancestors to leave.

There might have been some knowledge of persecution by the authorities.

The laws were being more and more oppressive. But a lot of people left for

economical reasons too. The poverty, the situation in Poland wasn't really very

bright.

So as your two times great -grandparents left their home, So did many other

Jewish families, but a lot of them stayed. And two generations afterward,

events happened. World War II.

So there were about 1 ,000 Jewish residents here in Izbitza at the time of

They were rounded up and sent to death camps.

None of them survived.

The Jewish community never returned to Izbica because they were all deceased.

If Wolf and Baila hadn't made the decision to go to London all those years

my family now wouldn't exist.

That's right.

So you may want to visit the site of the former Jewish cemetery here in Izbica.

The cemetery was destroyed in World War II. The Nazis destroyed it. But there is

a field that marks the site, and perhaps you'd like to go there and think about

your other ancestors who were buried there.

Jewish people take stones and pebbles to the cemetery.

Oh, my gosh. I've been collecting stones since I was a little girl.

I mean...

It all comes together. It all comes together.

I find it crazy to me that this has never been spoken about in my family.

In the last 48 hours, I've learnt more about me than I've ever known.

Just the thought of all my family members that would have been buried

It's emotional.

I've constantly got goosebumps.

I've got this whole family that I didn't know actually existed and they come

from tailoring.

Following the story of her Jewish two -times -great -grandparents, Wolf and

Baila Topinski, Camilla's now travelling from central Poland to London.

In London's East End, she sought out social historian David Rosenberg... Hi,

Camilla. Hi, David.

..to find out whether the lure of a brighter future in England's capital

off.

Wolf and Byler, they were making a new life here.

I'm going to show you a document which takes us into the next generation.

So this is the birth certificate of your great -grandmother, Sarah.

Following Camilla's paternal line, her great -grandmother was Sarah Levy,

sometimes known as Sadie.

She was born in East London in 1882.

the first child of Wolf Topinski and Baila Bass.

Like so many other migrants, when they arrived, Wolf and Baila changed their

family name to Levy.

Other name changes followed.

So you can see the father is Wolf, your great -great -grandfather, and his

wife in the old country was called Baila.

But here, it's a peculiar spelling. And I know from another document I'm going

to show you that her name is Rebecca.

That's a big change. And that's a big change. And Rebecca is one of those

biblical Jewish names.

Your great -grandmother, Sarah, she was born the year after they have arrived.

25 Old Castle Street.

Yeah, Old Castle Street is right in the heart of where the Jews were settling.

In East London. In East London.

Between 1880 and 1914, London's small Jewish population was transformed by

the arrival of 150 ,000 Eastern European and Russian Jewish refugees.

Fleeing economic hardship and religious persecution...

Up to 70 % settled in London's East End.

Here, they established a vibrant community and the streets rang with the

of Yiddish -speaking traders.

I love knowing that they really lived with their community and their tribe.

Having their people around them would have brought them a lot of comfort.

And it says here that Wolf is still a tailor. Yeah, yeah. So tailoring was

common. area of work, the largest of the trades that the Jewish immigrants were

doing in East London. And the tailoring was done in workshops.

They were often in the basement of houses, or if you had a shop front, it

be in a very cramped room behind.

And they often had between 10 and 25 workers.

These were very bad conditions.

This is the next document I wanted to show you. This is from the census of

Rebecca. Yeah.

Rebecca Levy, your great -great -grandmother. Baila.

Yes. And then I see all these children here.

And that's where we find Sarah, the first daughter, your great -grandmother.

There's four daughters here and there was a fifth one born after this census.

Right.

And then what's this?

Sarah Scholar.

That's Sarah, your great -grandmother. She went to the Jews' Free School. I'm

going to show you a photo.

Have a look at that. Wow.

Look at their little outfits.

What does it say here?

That says child's pinafore.

So they're learning how to make pinafore. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Right, okay. They're learning about the trade of textiles from this age.

Yes, yes. The school was very geared towards preparing them for work.

So this is the last document and it's particularly about Wolf Levy, your great

-great -grandfather.

Certified copy of an entry of death.

Yeah. Wolf Levy, male, 33 years old. He was so young. And he

passed away.

On 26th of October, 1897, cause of death, stasis.

Stasis, hypostatic pneumonia.

That's the glorified way of saying TB, tuberculosis.

Right. And TB was such a killer.

in the East Bend in that period.

Because of the work conditions?

I suspect so.

And it's really contagious, so like COVID.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very confined conditions are its favourite climate for

spreading. It makes me sad because he's taken such big risks and shows such

resilience to kind of travel across the world and to here to find himself

working in really a sweatshop, which takes his life.

And I can't help but think that Rebecca would have been left with five children.

Yes, yes.

That's terrifying.

Yeah. Well, if you go to the Princelet Street Synagogue, very near here, I

people there will be able to tell you more about what happened to your family

after this.

I've been coming to East London for work for years.

It's been the hubbub and the melting pot for textiles and beading and embroidery

and laces.

Now it's not just a professional link for me, it's a bloodline link. It makes

realise that I'm meant to be walking this crazy, wild, adventurous journey of

fashion.

Staying in London's East End, Camilla will confront her family's generational

trauma.

Kaftan Queen Camilla Franks is in London's East End, pursuing the story of

Polish -Jewish ancestors, appropriately a family of tailors.

Her two -times great -grandfather, Wolf Levy, died in 1897, leaving his wife and

five young daughters.

Camilla's hoping that by learning more about these ancestors, she'll gain

insight into her relationship with her father.

To do so, she's come to the Princelet Street Synagogue, established in the

1870s.

I love it that this is the first synagogue that you've been in. Yeah.

And what a special one it is.

Here, she's enlisted the help of writer and historian Dr Rachel Lichtenstein.

So we're going to pick up the story with Rebecca, your great -great

-grandmother.

To be without her husband, Wolf would have been incredibly tough because I

imagine they were living in dire poverty like most in the Jewish community were

in this area.

So let's have a look at this document.

This is a census from 1901.

So this is Rebecca.

There you've got her, Rebecca Levy. And she's 39 there?

39 years old.

And Sarah?

Her daughter, your...

Great -grandmother. She's 18.

And Esther, Rachel, Celia and Annie.

That's a lot of girls.

It's a lot of girls.

Your great -grandmother, Sarah, here. Can you see what she's working as?

Tailoress.

Amazing. And how about her sisters?

Fur machinists and ladies tailoress. So they were involved in what was...

commonly known as the shmutter trade.

Shmutter. Shmutter, which is the Yiddish word for kind of rag.

Wow. But it really means everything connected to the tailoring trade.

It's so cool to think that all these beautiful females worked in the

same world that I live and breathe.

I had no idea.

It's incredible.

But it really makes sense to me now.

It's literally in your blood.

It's in my blood. Yeah.

So let's see what we've got next here.

Sarah, your great -grandmother.

A certified copy of an entry of marriage. And the year is 1908.

So Sarah, or Sadie Levi, marries Hyman Frank.

So we've got the Franks name now.

That's right.

Right. And Hyman is an outfitter. He was measuring up gentlemen's suits.

Maybe a pattern cutter?

Married, solemnized at Spitzel Square Synagogue. We're very

close to the Spitzel Square Synagogue. It no longer exists.

This synagogue is called the Princelet Street Synagogue and it's the only

surviving Ashkenazi Jewish synagogue erected by Polish Jewish immigrants

like your family.

I wonder if my family experienced...

Praying in here?

It's very, very possible. They might have worshipped here or come here for

mitzvahs or other celebrations.

That's wild.

I am blown away.

Just a few months after your great -grandparents get married in 1908,

a boat travelling to Sydney.

An incredible journey to make.

They were brave and bold, for sure.

I wonder why they wanted to leave.

Lots of people did.

Anti -Semitism or... It could have been, but there was great poverty as well.

They're leaving for a brighter future. Again, this seems to be a common theme

my family.

Again, absolutely.

They arrive in Sydney and then they move to Newcastle. Mum and Dad were brought

up in Newcastle, so that makes sense to me.

There was a small Jewish community there, and there was a Lithuanian rabbi

moved to start up this community.

That's where Wolf, your grandfather, was born. So this Lithuanian rabbi

was probably the rabbi that circumcised your grandfather, Wolf.

It's possible.

And then I'm afraid the story does take a darker turn.

Oh.

This is a death certificate.

Hyman Frank, 44 years, so young. So young.

Hospital for the Insane in Gladesville.

Wow. What does this say?

Chronic mental disease and exhaustion.

I really resonate with that.

Who knows what trauma he experienced?

in his short life, whether he had also come from Poland or Russia during that

time, whether he had inherited trauma.

Oh, God.

That's awful.

Awful, awful.

What is so crazy about this document is my grandfather, Wolf Lazarus, committed

suicide.

Oh. So... That inherited, inherited trauma.

Mm. And I struggled with depression like ten years ago and I couldn't quite put

my finger on it. But now, you know, you don't just get the good, you get the bad

too. It doesn't discriminate.

It doesn't.

And poor Sadie, Sarah, being left in Newcastle. She's left on

her own in this strange country with a young child.

Let's end on a happier note.

Yay.

So here she is.

Here is Sadie, your great -grandmother some years later.

I finally got a photograph.

Yeah. Hi, Sadie.

She got married again. She found a new life for herself. She had a new family.

And this is the picture of her at the wedding of one of her sons.

I'm seeing...

Like a mixture of my uncle and my dad.

But what's crazy is with DNA, you always think of the physical, but now there's

so much more to my DNA than just the physical.

So much more.

It's nice to meet you, Sadie.

Learning more about my ancestry, it's definitely making me reflect

on my relationship with my father.

I think it's in some ways created a bit more acceptance for me.

Does it mean that I'm going to open the door? Maybe not.

But, you know, you can always love someone from afar.

My Jewish bloodline is something to be nurtured, loved and celebrated.

The beauty of this is being able to teach my daughter about this and that

is such a gift.

All of those experiences my ancestors have gone through, the risk -taking, the

adventuring, the bumps and bruises, all those challenges become our biggest

teacher.

That is one of the most empowering lessons I've learned on this.

My blood is filled with their spirit, their determination, sticking the middle

finger to conformity and fear.

And that's why I'll continue to walk my own path unapologetically.

Next time on Who Do You Think You Are? Indians get around, don't they?

They do.

Journalist Mark Fennell finds a generation traumatised by war.

Shit, I've heard this story passed down.

It's so much worse than I imagined.

And unearthed tales of forbidden love.

This is scandalous.

It is Romeo and Juliet.

It really is. It is, yeah. And tragic loss.

Oh, no.

She dies from squalor.

Yeah.

If you need immediate assistance or support, contact Beyond Blue on 1300 22

or beyondblue .org .au or Lifeline on 13 11 14 or lifeline .org

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