He says: ''I know virtually nothing about him and there is nobody to ask. My father refused to talk about him. The only things I know are that he married young, had three children (my father and his two younger sisters) and lived first in Tomashpol, Ukraine and then in Kishinev, Bessarabia (now Chisinau, Moldava).

''My father was born in 1885 in Tomashpol but came to Kishinev when he was three. That's where my aunts were born. My grandfather left Kishinev when my father was around seven. My father once mentioned that, after fleeing Russia to escape being drafted into the army, he met his father again in 1905 in London.

''My father left England in 1906 and went to America and apparently never had any more contact with his father.

''Many years ago, when I lived in London, the local Chevra Kadisha located eight graves which might have been my grandfather's, but they needed more details. When I asked my father, his reply was 'who cares?'. At that point I gave up.''

On the 1901 British Census, Yehuda found a Wolfe Berman, aged 36, born in Russia and living in Liverpool, working as a glazier/painter.

However, he was married to Leah, daughter of Isaac and Rose Kessler, also born in Russia. They had five children at the time, aged four months to 11 years - Minnie, Solomon, Abraham, Hetty and Sarah. Minnie, the eldest, was born in Russia.

''If this Wolfe was my grandfather, then it means that he had a daughter by another woman at more or less the same time that he had a daughter by my grandmother,''Yehuda says. ''That might explain why he never sent money home to his wife and why my father refused to speak of him.''

Write to POB 1199, Efrat 90435, Israel or email email ybberman@netvision.net.il

JONNY Joseph of Los Angeles has found a number of descendants of his family who were in Leeds in the early part of the 20th century. But he hopes readers might be able to help him find more information on certain family members mentioned in the 1901 census.

Reuben Joseph, a 34-year-old tailor, lived - with his wife Annie, 34, and children Sarah, 9, Marks, 7, and Abraham, 6 - at 25 Nile Street.

Living at 43 Copenhagen Street was tailor Alick Joseph.

Jonny is also looking for Louis Greenberg, 32, a boot riveter, wife Kate, 30, and children Leah, 13, Celia, 11, Fanny, 9, Sarah, 8, Philip, 5, Mary, 3, and Simeon, 1, who lived at 9 Millwright St in 1891.

In addition, Jonny is trying to locate the places of burial of the following family members - Abraham Joseph, died November 13, 1914, aged 19; Annie Joseph, died October 30, 1991 aged 47; Betsy Joseph, died March 27, 1957 aged 82; Dora Joseph, died June 6, 1913, aged 36; Hannah Joseph, died January 6, 1905 aged three; Lewis Joseph, died July 28, 1911 aged 68; Miriam Joseph, died January 6, 1923 aged 83; Reuben Joseph, died September 11, 1942 aged 73; and Simon Joseph, died February 15, 1945 aged 85.

Write to 2730 Selby Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90064, USA or email JJLACA@aol.com

JUDITH Kloogman Weinstein of New York discovered last year that her father's cousin, Bernhard Klugmann, had survived the Holocaust.

Bernard was born in Sniatyn, Galicia in 1898 to Josef and Jetti Klugmann. His nickname was Buzio. He moved to Graz, Austria in 1918 and became a merchant of fabrics and buttons.

He was married Fanny Halberg. They had one daughter, Henriette (Naomi), born in Graz in 1923. Their last residence in Graz was Valksgartenstrasse 1. They fled Austria in 1939, going to Sniatyn.

His wife and daughter were killed by the SS near Sniatyn in 1942. He managed to get to England and registered with the Jewish Refugees Committe in London in June 1942. They only have his registration card which provided the facts that he served with the Military Government of the British Army of the Rhine at the Bergen Belsen Displaced Persons Camp, and that in February 1948 he left for America.

Judith would like to hear from any descendants of Bernard.

Write to 95 Old Mill Road, Great Neck, NY 11023, USA or email KLOOGWEIN@aol.com

STUDENT Olivia Blechner is writing a dissertation on a hostel in Stockport in 1938.

The third year dissertation at the University of Manchester is in association with her tutor Bill Williams who works alongside the Manchester Jewish Refugee Association in finding and archiving accounts of refugees who arrived in Manchester during the Holocaust.

She writes: ''The hostel I am interested in was in Whitefield, a cul de sac of Wellington Road North, and housed 10 Jewish boys who had fled from Germany/Austria on the kindertransport.

''The hostel was run by a Viennese lady called Marion Prager, and as far as I know was active from 1938-1940. Other leads I have include; there was a small school run by three female Quakers on Wellington Road North, and they helped in the house.

''The Stockport Advertiser notes that 10 Jewish refugee children were admitted into local schools. It is possible that the boys would have been interned as enemy aliens, perhaps in the Isle of Man, briefly following the dissolution of the hostel.''

Write to 242A Wilmslow Road, Manchester M14 6YW, telephone 07970 975 949 or email oly_blechner@hotmail.com

MARTIN Miller of New York is looking for information on his wife's relatives.

Peshkie Black Bergle lived in Manchester and had three daughters, Lilly, Faye and Nettie.

Martin says: ''Nothing is known of Lilly's family. I have been told that Faye married Alfred Clover, who was born in Glasgow, and that their children were Howard and Gillian Clover.

''Nettie married Charles Greenberg and lived in the United States. I have recently been put in contact with the Greenberg family. Peshkie and her family are members of the Bloch and Rothschild families from Sudargas, Lithuania.''

Write to 214 Oakmont Drive, Dewitt, NY 13214 or email millerm@mailbox.syr.edu

SID Grant of Manchester would like to find out what happened to Rose Simonson.

Rose, born in 1876, was the second eldest of the 10 children of Mark and Hettie Simonson.

Her father was one of the founders in 1891 of the first synagogue in Lower Broughton situated in Camebridge Street near where they lived at 24 Elton Street.

In 1895, Rose eloped with a non-Jewish plumber named Herbert Smith. They married on April 13, 1895 in the parish church of St Mathews in Manchester. They set up home at 45 Little Peter Street, Hulme.

''To date nothing is known of her circumstances or of her family,'' Sid says. ''Did she spend the rest of her life in Hulme? Or maybe she emigrated like many other young couples at that time to start a better life abroad?''

Write to 5 Dudley Court, Carlton Road, Manchester M16 8DA or email Sidgrant1@aol.com

ANTHONY Lewis of Mssachusetts wants to find descendants of his grandfather's cousin, Annie Doniger.

She married a Mr Markwald in England and they had three children - Teresa, Nathan (Naty) who married Poppy Stern and Cissie.

Annie was born in May/June 1882 in Prestwich, Manchester. Neither Annie or the children appear in the 1901 British census.

Annie had two sisters, Nellie and Ada, who had no known children, and two brothers, Simon (Samuel) and Harry both of whom emigrated to Australia.

Write to 24 Wheeler Lane, Natick, Massachusetts 01760, USA or email pussywillows@comcast.net

ROLAND Tompowsky of Sweden is tracing his Jewish roots.

He is searching for information on Rebecca Tuchman (born 1874) who married jeweller Eli Tumpowsky (born 1868) at a synagogue in Birmingham in 1898.

The bride was living at 73 Alston Street, Birmingham and the groom lived at 8 Saint James Square, Wolverhampton.

Rebecca's father was Abraham Tuchman, a former tailor, but he died before the wedding.

Write to Prästakullegatan 21, 432 37 Varberg, Sweden, telephone 0046 340 92754 or email roland.tompowsky@telia.com

LEEDS-born Derek Harris is trying to find his sister, Serena Brazier (nee Appel) whose last known address was in Uxbridge.

Derek, who has lived in Los Angeles since 1960, also want to find some old friends from Leeds - Geoffrey Marlow, Stuart Simon, Stanley Drogie, and Jacqueline Freeman.

Telephone 001909-533-1924 or email DNH911@yahoo.com

LILLIAN Goldberg of Stanmore is looking for any family called Diamond in Manchester.

''My father was Sidney Diamond, one of 11 children,'' Lillian said. ''I know most of my close family, but I believe there are more Diamonds connected to us, but where are they?''

Write to 1 Windsor house, Pynnacle Close, Stanmore, Middlesex HA74FE or email LILLIAN2030@btopenworld.com

ALEXANDER Levy of New York wants to find some living relatives.

Alexander, the son of Berlin-born Gerda Schocken (born 1910), was born in Berlin in 1936 - a year to the day after the death of his grandfather, Abraham Schocken.

Write to 23 Hickory Hill Road, Tappan, NY 10983, USA or email him atalexlevy@optonline.net

MAX Shindler of Toronto is trying to trace an old friend, Moshe (Maurice) Tarnowskie, whose last known address was Gants Hill in London.

Write to 750/313 Wilson Heights Blvd, North York, Toronto, Canada M3H 6B1 or email maxshindler@primus.ca

BASIL Samuels of London is seeking the family of Morris Roth (1872-1940), a tailor's machiner in 1925.

His children were Samuel (1897-1941), Jack, Gertie, Lily, Josie and Mary.

Josie married a Mr Harris and, with their daughter emigrated, to New Zealand.

Write to 147 Nether Street, London N12 8ES, telephone 020 8446 1293 or email basilindasamuels@compuserve.com

GLORIA Hilton (nee Beresford) of Stanmore would like to hear from her old schoolfriend Denise Stanford who attended the Central Foundation Girls School and Oxford and St George's Youth Club in Berners Street, London.

''I know she moved to Manchester where she married in the early 1960s and was involved in working with the Association of Jewish Youth,'' Gloria says.

Write to The Lodge, 14 Gordon Avenue, Stanmore, Middlesex HA7 3QD.

JOHN Patrick Fano of Australia is researching the origin of his grandmother's family.

His ancestor Alexander Ellinger (1820-1899) came to Manchester in 1840 from Mainz in Germany. He married a Dutch girl Mathilda Van Oven (1830-1904) in 1860.

They had seven children - Estella (born 1872), Sophie (1870), Barnard (1869), Theleste (1868), Martin (1867), Julie (1864/5), Elisabeth (1862). Alexander and his sons were cotton and silk merchant between Manchester and Shanghai until the early 1950

Write to 180 Ormsby Terrace, Silver Sands, 6210 WA, Australia, telephone 0061 89582 0385 or email Jpfano357@aol.com

Denise Borton of Canada wants to find out the story behind this photograph of a little boy with his arms around her great-grandmother Ann Sykes of Huddersfield.

''I look at this picture of this thin little boy with the Star of David on his jacket, every day,'' Denise writes. ''My great-grandmother was a stay-at-home mum, and my great-grandfather Fred Sykes was a journeyman tailor. They lived at 10a Central Avenue at the time my grandmother was born in 1909.''

Write to 229 Adsum Drive, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R2P-0V8 or email denise@wpgumbo.com