“Jutta helped us translate old family letters in dialects hardly anyone could decipher. She was professional, resourceful and kind. She is passionate about unearthing family histories and I would recommend her any day.”
Uri S., Israel
“Jutta is an in-depth professional in the projects she handles, a very dedicated, amiable lady who is patient and knows her stuff.
She was asked to help us find my husband’s family in Berlin, and indeed she called us and willingly heard a very fragmented story of little known details, since he was an orphaned 8-year-old boy who left Berlin immediately after the war (born in 1938).
Jutta did a wonderful research job and found all of his family lineage, all known details about them. The results were amazing, we really marveled, such were the results.
She was in contact with a lawyer and together they took care of getting restitution for property, a passport and German citizenship, and all the rights he deserves. She is well-connected and knows how to use all necessary means for any matter she needs.
We very much enjoyed her attitude, her desire to satisfy all our questions. I wholeheartedly recommend Jutta’s help. It should be noted that we are friends as a family today.”
Sara & Iftach R., Israel
“Jutta helped my grandfather find all the details about his parents for Stolpersteine. She also managed to clarify the fate of his long-lost cousin, who died in the Shoah. She is a very kind, resourceful and tireless researcher, and a great person. My grandfather enjoyed working with her very much, a lot of his German childhood memories came back to him in their conversations.”
Renan H., Berlin
“We became citizens of Germany in a lovely ceremony at the consulate – in a room filled with children and grandchildren of ‘survivors’. I believe this was the first such ceremony – it was lovely. [The consulate representative] apologized on behalf of the government, people were invited to share their experiences, we had our pictures taken with our new citizenship papers, and then we applied for our passports…, and voila, citizens, of Germany, of the EU.
Thank you so much!”
N., New York
“There are some professions, in which it is hard to define the skill set needed to do the job. And when it comes to research where you need a historian, a researcher, a genealogist, an ancient language and handwriting expert, a facilitator who knows to open locked archives, a bulldozer who knows to dig tunnels through bureaucracy, well then you would usually give-up, unless … you met Jutta.
Jutta juggles elegantly through them all, revealing information on our family we never expected to find. She is also very quick & efficient, with a surprisingly short time from a lead, to discovery and delivery.
Jutta also helped us tie the ends with the Stolpersteine organization. Last & not least, Jutta became a very close friend of the family.”
Ilan N., Tel Aviv
“My father, of Polish-German origin, has always been sad that one part of his own story has remained in the dark for so many years. His mother died when he was only four years old and with her the memory of his father who had died in the war. Orphaned he grew up with his mother’s family near Danzig and with only bits and pieces from what his aunt and uncle have told him about his father.
Being a senior now himself he has spent many hours researching his father’s origins but has never found someone. This is where Jutta came into the picture. We have heard from Jutta’s dedicated and successful research, so we gave my father a “roots gift” for his birthday.
And our hopes were not disappointed! Thanks to Jutta’s relentless work, her experience in the field of family research and her dedication to find the one missing link we have now found the long-lost branch of the family tree! My father is so very happy and in regular contact with his new relatives who we’ll meet very soon.
We are so grateful: Jutta’s diligence, empathy and passion are remarkable. Thank you, Jutta!!”
Bea K., Germany
“I have been aspiring to write a memoir of my grandmother, whom I never met but knew that I had been born at the time she was deported from Aachen, Germany, to Izbica, where she perished. My mother and her immediate family went to extraordinary means to save her life and, after 1942, continued to hope that she was alive by some miracle.
I had a treasure trove of information preserved by my grandmother’s three children, including hundreds of handwritten letters from her to them during the period 1933 to 1942. Even though I am fairly conversant in the German language, I was unable to decipher the tiny handwritten words on pages full of script, to a great part written in Kurrent or Sütterlin script.
I was fortunate in finding Dr. Jutta Faehndrich to perform the translations of these letters into English. Her vital work has made it possible to me to finish my book.
Not only is Jutta a meticulous master of translation from German to English, but she is also an extremely knowledgeable historian and resourceful archivist. In addition to efficiently returning the translations with many helpful footnotes and notations, she became personally involved in the story of my grandmother.
Dr. Faehndrich is a true professional, in every sense of the word. She was always rapidly responsive to my questions. She is dedicated to her task and has vast experience in researching family history.
I highly recommend Jutta as a dedicated and diligent translator.”
Andrew D., New York and Florida
“Where to start in order to duly appraise Jutta’s handling of my application for German citizenship? Now that the procedure has been successfully accomplished not only for myself but also for my daughters (all of us Israeli-born citizens) — and looking back on the road taken, I find myself able to fully appreciate Jutta’s outstanding personal qualities and professional assets which have contributed so much to this result.
I would first single out her profound interest in the lives and fate of my family, hence her total commitment to the task at hand. Second, crucially, I would emphasize the extreme diligence and proficiency that mark Jutta’s work ethos, and which reflect her academic background and long career as scholar-researcher.
It was a meaningful, emotion-fraught itinerary; what an honor and pleasure to have done it with such a person as Jutta. Thanks, dear!”
Dr. Lea Dovev, Tel Aviv
“Without Jutta’s assistance and intuition I would never have discovered my Grandfather’s birth records and details, because he had changed both his First name and birth date before emigrating to Africa.
With some sketchy background information including his surname, his last known address and career path in the mining industry in Africa, Jutta was able to determine that his basic post-schooling education and training could only have occurred in certain mining institutions in Germany. On contacting one of these, she discovered a past employer, who still had his archived employment details and description including first name, correct date of birth and some of the parents details.
Really astounding detective work by Jutta. I think she might have done well in interpol.”
Professor Dr Kurt Sartorius, South Africa
“Our family met Jutta a full TEN years after the beginning of an ongoing, but futile, attempt to explore, document, and apply for German citizenship 66 years after the end of war which claimed the life of my Jewish grandfather, 58 years after my parents emigrated to the US, and 55 years after I was born in the US to still-German citizens.
After the German consulate rejected our initial application for citizenship, insisting that my “Mischling” father willingly gave up his rights to that citizenship when he emigrated to the US, we were ready to give up.
Then we found Jutta and everything changed.
Jutta has been absolutely invaluable in her knowledge of the very complicated (and sometimes convoluted) process of claiming/re-claiming German citizenship, generous in her access to both documents and people, and relentless in her drive for results.
She is an incredible communicator, keeping us always apprised of the process and progress throughout our journey, in her always friendly, helpful, compassionate manner.
My siblings, my children, and my grandchildren have her to thank for our newly-claimed German citizenship. And in the process I know that we have made a friend for life. Thank you, Jutta and GermanGen!”
Carol, Wa., USA
“First and foremost – I now have a German passport and ID!
(still can’t believe it actually happened).The experience of working with Dr. Faehndrich on my family’s German citizenship was fantastic – transparent, professional and caring.
GermanGen’s team professional knowledge made this journey a success, however the quality of service and overall experience were above and beyond. Every stage of the process was clearly and patiently explained – we knew which documents we needed to provide (with their Israeli local names and requirements), understood the forms we had to fill and moreover, we were constantly informed of the progress and what was happening.
Whether by email or call, their response time was quick and the answers were to the point – we had a feeling our case matters.I highly recommend working with Jutta and her team.”
Guy A., Berlin/ Tel Aviv