Setting aside his engineering career, Mokotoff set out to prove that all Jews bearing his surname were related. On the way to confirming his thesis, he became one of the leading international experts on genealogy. Mokotoff now lectures regularly and publishes Avotaynu, the International Review of Jewish Genealogy. In the past few years, he has seen a remarkable increase in interest in genealogy, among Jews and non-Jews alike. Subscriptions to his journal have been climbing by 15 percent a year.
Seminars are full to capacity.
The one thing he is sure of is that children of Holocaust survivors are delving into genealogy in higher numbers than ever. As the last generation of survivors passes away, their children are searching for aunts, uncles, and other family ghosts they could never discuss while their parents were alive. Reasons for constructing family trees vary widely, he says. The only common link seems to be the passion and near-zealotry with which people approach the journey backward. Before her first child was born five years ago, Robinn Magid dove into library records, old newspaper clips and online genealogy services with an almost obsessive devotion.