from: jon@p085.aone.net.au

25 April 1999

message: Family data:

My Father John Birman born in Warsaw in 1913.

My Father's family
Parents born in Warsaw Father Adam, Mother Helena, Brother Bronislaw, Sister Irena

My father emirated to Australia in 1937. His first wife, Ludka(a biochemist)was to follow but the war intervened and he never had any further contact with any of his family.

Wife: Wendy (nee Blake)M 1950

Children:
Jeremy, Jonathan (me) and Alister

Grandchildren
Nicola and Adam (My children)

Jonathan Birman

Alternate Email
jon.birman@kaiser.com.au

Second message:

Hi, My name is Jon Birman, I have just responded to you web page but the mail seems to have got lost half way through. Can you tell me if it arrived. We are very keen to track down some more Birmans' and see if there are any links out there.

Paul,
Do you have much information on other Birman's which is not posted? I will send you as much information as I can. My father never talked about life before the war. When he and my mother went to Warsaw in 1972 it distressed him very much. We are happy for you to post my father's details and those of his parents and siblings but I would rather wait a while for the rest.

From 1939 onwards the only contact he had about his family was a postcard telling him Ludka had been killed, so we have no ability to validate or check any contacts we may recieve.

Third message:

My father's birthdate was 11 February 1913. John Birman died August 22 1989 in Royal Perth Hospital after a by-pass operation.

He married Wendy Blake, 5 September 1952, at St. Georges chapel in the University of Western Australia. My father was the Director of Extension (Adult Education) University of Western Australia (retired 1978). He was also Director of the Festival of Perth for 21 years, up to the mid 70s. Awarded Officer of British Empire (OBE) The old Australian/British honours system, around 1975.

I am Vice President of Kaiser Engineering in its international operations based in Perth Western. My brother, Jeremy Robert, was born 10 November 1954. I, Jonathan, 24 March 1958 and Alister Severin, 18 November 1960.

My children are Nicola Helen Birman, born 18 June 1991 and Adam John Birman, 11 April 1994. They are at the bottom of the family tree as neither of my brothers have children.

I hope this is of use. In 1981, my father did an oral history for the library of Western Australia. As I've said, earlier, very little has ever been said about life in Poland. The following may be useful:

He went to Wolna Wszechnika Polska (translated: Free University of Warsaw). It was a small University of about 1000 students. As far as the name Birman goes, he said:

"I understand my name has an interesting background insofar that as far as I knew (because it was never talked about in the family) but somewhere in the background there was lurking a misalliance in the family, which meant that one of our family, either on my Grandfather's side. . . I believe on my Grandfather's side, committed an unforgivable sin by marrying a foreigner, which was not on except for aristocrats. I am, therefore, led to believe, although I was never able to check on it, because whenever I opened my mouth, I was told to forget about it, that there is some English connection and I do believe our name originated in Birmingham, which is unpronounceable in Polish and hence the shortening."

My parents travelled regularly and John always looked in telephone books in other countries and you know how often you find the name.

Well, Paul, I hope this does not over do it and I look forward to hearing from you and seeing what you come up with.

Regards

Jon

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