Genealogist makes the New Year Honours list

The new year got off to a great start for expert genealogist Michael Tobias, who was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List for services to the Jewish community, and in particular his work in genealogy and Holocaust reunions

As originally reported by the Register of Qualified Genealogists, Michael has worked in the field of Jewish genealogy for many years and has used his expertise to ‘highlight and promote awareness of a range of issues and drive change in relation to events such as the Holocaust’. Among his many achievements are: co-founding Jewish Record Indexing – Poland; acting as vice president programming of Jewishgen; and as database matching consultant to the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims.

Speaking about his reaction to the award, Michael told Family Tree: ‘I was shocked to get the initial email from the Cabinet Office. I thought initially it was some kind of scam. I replied and hoped it was genuine but didn’t actually believe it until the Press started to contact me. I have no idea who nominated me, nor what information they provided. The citation is just for “services to the Jewish Community” but it clearly is for my work in genealogy and Holocaust reunions.’ You can read more Michael’s work at http://familytr.ee/tobiasobe