The life story of female scientist Lise Meitner should be made into a movie. That was harrowing, nerve wracking & cruel.

Ah perfect definitely great storytelling style.... Jewish godfather flick 🤑🤑🤑🤑🥂

Yes, in the new “Franklin” series in Apple TV he looks EXACTLY like Kirk! And I remember when he was the hot new young guy on “Streets of San Francisco”!

It always amazes me how we can be just one degree of separation away from something that seems so very long ago.

Nice story about the rustler.

WOW...that was an amazing share. I am sure someone from "douglas" family will read it one day. I knew that they were Jewish.

The surname Danilovitch/Danielovitch is of Russianized-Jewish origin, which is not uncommon. I suspect Demsky was chosen as a more American-sounding surname that was easier to pronounce and spell, as the spelling of my own surname was changed by my immigrant great-grandfather in America. In Judaism, one was traditionally referred to as "ben" (son) of X, or "bat" (daughter) of X, with X being the father's Hebrew name (many men in the Pale of Settlement had a Hebrew first name and a secondary, Yiddish pet name that they went by). For example, my great-great grandfather, who came to America in the 1880s with his son from the same region as Michael Douglas' family, would have been referred to as Menachem Mendel ben Hillel, as his father's Hebrew name was Hillel. Due to Jewish tradition, Menachem Mendel ben Hillel is engraved in his headstone in Hebrew in Ohio, despite having had a legal surname. However, we are from the tribe of Levi, so we have a Hebrew caste name for a surname vs. a patronymic surname. Other Ashkenazi Jewish surnames are ornamental in nature, refer to a profession, town or city, personal appearance, and so on, but patronymic surnames were indeed common in the Pale, with many ending in -vitz, -ovitch, etc. As an aside, Jews were mandated to take surnames in Russia from the late-18th century to the mid-19th century, primarily for discriminatory taxation purposes. Some chose their surnames and others were given them, but I can't think of a single Ashkenazi Jew who has a Hebrew surname unless it is a caste name. With Sephardic and Mizrachi Jews, it was common practice to adopt the traditional Hebrew name, "ben" of X, just as the Arabs did, so you will hear many surnames in those groups that start with Ben, such as Benezra (son of Ezra), which is less confusing than translating the whole thing into the lingua franca at that time.

@@oceansdeserts4446 WOW amazing. Thanks for sharing!

Yes, that how it was and it is now. In the past any birth and marriage records were kept by church. My grandfather's records show his name as Ivan son of Sebastian. In the spoken language it would be a First Name son of Father's First Name. After the Revolution the son of or daughter off were dropped; just as a patronymic.

DEMBSKI its from dąb which means an oak tree

You're right. Both of my parents lived among Jewish neighbors in Eastern Europe/Russia where all my ancestors originated. Sadly, the worst Jewish persecutions in history were in Europe- not only Germany, but most of Europe.

When you hear some people, that degrading attitudes still exist, though they might not work. Why are they of such a make?!? Or of education?

So funny in Romancing the Stone. Good actor.

PHL was a pretty big port of immigrant entry. No surprise it gets overlooked being so close to NYC and Ellis Island.

It is lovely to know ones history.

Don't know if you know this but the Lithuanian language is one of oldest. It also similar to Sanskirt (India).

@@labas9817 Thanks, I did not know that!

Oh, really?!? ​@@labas9817

Yeah, under Screen Actor Guild rules nobody can have the exact same name. Michael J. Fox had to add the J to distinguish himself from another Michael Fox(1921- 1996). Harrison Ford didn't have to do this, as his silent film name-alike was dead before Harrison entered the business in 1966.

I didn’t know that.

Funny, isn't it?

I think that's like Stewart Granger who's real name was James Stewart.....

First come, first serve. He could have used a middle initial like Michael J. Fox. there was a political news person named Michael Jackson . And others. ❤

Michael does not have his father's charisma, who was larger than life on the screen.

When I look at that face I only see surgery , surgery , surgery . . . . . . .

@@ritahorvath8207 Michael still looks like himself and his Father despite probable facelifts. He doesn't look as plastic as many celebrities.

Absolute ringer for his dad, at first I thought it was Kirk ! - such acting ability Spartacus wow ❤️

Poverty can make anyone commit many crimes. You never know what you're capable of during when you're desperate.

@@mepulley7913 exactly this .

​@@mepulley7913 case for Reparations. How is it a people been in America since before 1700 and have nothing?

@@AbenaMcKenzieSoapiphany I don't disagree with you.

That motive may be true of unavoidable hunger and grinding poverty but it's not true of flash mobs of people living on jobs or Public Welfare subsidies and seen raiding luxury goods stores or pharmacies. I mentioned this because in a world of food stamps on credit cards congresswoman AOC excuses break-ins and retail theft by suggesting the perpetrator may be hungry or needing to feed their family. It's really tiring to hear 19th and 20th century ideological rationales used to excuse theft, break-ins and violence --AND organized efforts to overthrow the political, social, and economic order to get a better spot on a new hierarchy and subject the rest of the population to experiments as if they are Lab Rats

WOW...thanks for sharing. This is an amazing angle and thanks for sharing it!

Interesting. My second great-grandfather came from a shtetl in the Pale of Settlement in what we believe is now modern-day Belarus, but we can't confirm that and suspect it may have been in Lithuania because his ship manifest says he's from Lito. (with a period). The rest of my father's side is from a shtetl called Lida (similar sounding), near Minsk. Much of this area was annexed from Poland, of course. Was Lito. an abbreviation for Lithuania? On a legal document in the US, he signed his name in Russian (Cyrillic), which we presume was required in the old country under Russian rule. I also noticed in the video that the stores had signs in the Roman alphabet, but the newspapers used Cyrillic. Thanks for any input.

@@oceansdeserts4446 Former areas of old Rus' (Ruthenia) (this is not today's Russia) such as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (including today's Belarus), today's areas of Ukraine, most of which after the passing of the Golden Horde belonged to the Kingdom of Poland, and then the Princedom of Moscow (today's Russia) which was not In the lands of old Rus' they wrote in Cyrillic. The Cyrillic alphabet came from Bulgaria. Moreover, Lida and the regions are the indigenous lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, i.e. also today's Belarus, and were not Poland. "Lito" most likely comes from the word Litowiec which means Lithuanian. This is not a correct word, but it is often used spontaneously and in jargon. And yes, the name was written in Cyrillic because it is the original alphabet for these lands. As you can see, the family comes from the lands of former Lithuania (also Belarus). As for spelling, only three Slavic countries use the Latin (Roman?) alphabet. These are the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. (I'm not an expert in these topics, but that's what it looks like)

@darr473 Thank you for that info! We had suspected that the "Lito." in US gov't documents might have referred to Lithuania, as many Jews were fleeing Lithuania at the time due to the pogroms. After that, our family tree on that side ran cold. Interestingly enough, all of the ship manifests, censuses, and naturalization paperwork state my 2nd great-grandfather was from Russia, but he arrived in the US in the 1880s, so that would be accurate to my understanding via annexation. Much appreciation, again, and as a language major, the Roman alphabet is synonymous with the Latin alphabet. I just use the former.

This makes a lot of sense. “Armed robbery” in this context could have been simply defending YOUR own property that you inherited or even paid for yourself.

Agreed!!! 😊

I've always said the same thing.

Same with both my parents and their parents who, both born in the Russian Empire- also spoke German, Russian, some Ukrainian. They were born in the areas of Ukraine. Great-grandparents before that were from Prussia/Poland. But, passports identified them as Russian.

for Jews....not everone....

@@makesomenoiseagency2815 all the people coming here back then worked very hard

you know what you're talking about, thumbs up

I'd like to hear more about that as well. They were, like most white Bermudans - of British/Irish descent. Considering Michael is married to Catherine Zeta Jones - you'd think he'd take an interest in a lineage that included plenty of Welsh ancestors.

About Kirk Douglas' father.

It was called the Rag man son. Because that’s what his Farther was.

@williamhancock8065 16 hours ago My mother grew up in Amsterdam, NY where Kirk Douglas was from. My mother was about ten years younger than him and didn't personally remember him. But Mr. Demsky was well known to her. At that time the family seemed to be going by the name Demsky. The person we know as Kirk Douglas was known in school as Isador Demsky which I guess was an anglicized version of his given name Izzur. My mom was also the child of Immigrants, her parents having come from the same town in County Down, Northern Ireland. Her mother came as a small child with her family and her father came as a grown man after serving with British forces in the Boer War. Amsterdam seemed to be a town loaded with immigrants. Lots of Irish, Poles and Italians. There were a couple of big mills in town which employed many of them. Mr. Demsky worked as a ragman. He had a cart pulled by a horse or a mule. This was the Depression and so he made his living buying and selling bits of used clothing and other items. The one story I remember my mother recalling about the Demsky family had to do with the law. One of her school classmates had a father who was a judge. Mr. Demsky had been prosecuted for animal cruelty for beating his mule and the case wound up in court. I think it resulted in a fine. Other than that, I had never heard anything indicating any criminality. The Demsky family was certainly poor but the same could be said for my mom and her by then widowed mother. I'm curious about the name Danielovitch referenced here. That sounds more like a patronymic than a last name. In the Russian system of naming, people don't have middle names. If your father is named Ivan, your patronymic is Ivanovich if you are a man or Ivanovna if you are a woman. Like Vladimir Putin is Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. It basically means "Vladimir, son of Vladimir." If you are not close friends with someone or if they are older than you or are your boss or of a higher social station it is common to refer to them by first name and patronymic. It is the method of formal address as they don't use mister or missus. Sometimes older men as a familiar form of address may refer to friends just using the patronymic. Anyway, I wonder if Danielovitch was actually the family name or if they just dropped the family name when they came to America. If you were running from the law that might be a logical thing to do. If your father's name was Daniil (Daniel in English) your patronymic would be Danilovich. And where did the name Demsky come from? So anyway, lots of interesting questions. They are certainly an example of an immigrant family who prospered in America.

@@sugarkane4830 The Ragman's Son. I read the book and thought the title was interesting as a bit of psychology. With all the success Kirk had, he didn't forget that something else was still true: he was the son a a rag man.

Amen!!

Except back then, people worked hard to make it in America. Nowadays they come, live in hotels paid by US citizen's taxes, and don't work.

@KC-ni5gw I work in the tax field and I see south American people working hard , 40 hrs per week, while a certain group of American citizens work very little and purposely pay NO taxes. Knowledge over hate and negativity.

​@@KC-ni5gw🦜🦜🦜🦜🦜

What a fairytale

I thought it was an abbreviated version of Gershon, which was my second great-grandfather's name. It's possible the name was misread when digitized, as Harry could easily be an Anglicized version of Hirsch. That occurred a couple times with my grandfather in census records as his name was similar to another.

Another factor is the lack of the h sound in the Russian language; there is no letter to represent this sound in the Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet. Foreign words (such as Jewish names) containing the h sound were spelled using either the hard g sound or gutteral kh sound instead. Thus names like "Hirsh" and "Hinda" became "Girsh" and "Ginda", or "Khersh" and "Khinda". In some Lithuanian and Ukrainian regions, the initial h sound tended to be dropped entirely, so "Hirsh" became "Irsh", and "Hinda" might appear as "Inda". Source: Jewishgen Website

@@stephenfisher3721 There is an "h" sound in Russian language and a letter for it "х" (kh). For example in Khrushchev (Хрущёв).

If you have had need to survive in such circumstances, you would also become “ criminal “ You are talking nonsense. You have no idea what kind of life those people have had. They were very poor, without human rights. But for people like you, it doesn’t matter. By writing what you wrote , only shows the level of your personality in some parameters., which doesn’t surprise me at all.

LOL

@@Susan-lf2hl 😂

Rather accurate heritage for a wall street role 😅

@@stevencooper4422 Eh, wht "Christians" were just as bad or worse.

Scarlett Johanson, Natalie Portman. It takes all looks. Changing surname will always associate with trying to hide identity due to criminal deeds in my opinion.

You would be surprised at how many actors/entertainers are Jewish, there are many.

Yenkees are dumb… many of the horors in USSR was done by Ukrainans. Same with Stalin, he was Armenian… All bad people was abroad.

Gypsies stick together

Gersh or Girsh is just a yiddish diminutive of the biblical name Gershon

@@ABritInNYI think in this case it would have been pronounced like Hirsch, hence using Harry as an English name

@@ABritInNY Gershon or Gershom is from "Ger Sham" or "stranger there" as in the exodus story.

​@@ABritInNY No, Girsh is the Russian spelling of Hirsh meaning deer. The Hebrew equivalent is Zvi. Gershom is not related.

​​@@RebDanielB Definitely. Many with the Yiddish Hirsh became Harry in America.

May they both rest in peace.

His mother Diana Dill Douglas has a very interesting background.

A Douglas A Douglas My Australian Douglass line are from a Convict from Dumfries in 1814.

Robert Wagner was accused of being involved in his wife Natalie Wood's death not Kirk Douglas.

The Ragman's Son is the name of the book, published in 1988 by Kirk Douglas.

?

I read somewhere Kirk even described his crimes in his book, yet still beloved by so many just as Johnny f..cking Depp.

Well respect other people and you won't

You mean 1879?

A lot or most people have issues. Thye also have incredible creativity and energy and gave enjoyment to people through their movies. I think it is important to first look on the positive side of a person or situation.

@@Karen-dk1ec so you know many people who sexually assaulted a teenager? You should report them.

They sbdolutely were! You must be thinking that because Jews were kept separated & treated badly they would not have been wanted in the army. Not true! As far as the Russians were concerned, though they had no value & were treated badly they still could be used to fight in the wars

russians have always regarded soldiers as mere cannon fodder. That's why they recruited absolutely everyone into the army.

Yes, they sadly were. One of the reason for the early 20 century immigration to America to dodge the draft. Russia was in war with Japan and other countries. And let's not talk about kantons, which was basically genocide of Jews. Certain percentage of Jewish children (age 4-7) per city had to be given away to Russian peasant family and then sent to Russian army. 90% percent died before reaching puberty.

They were. They were talking from the families. Yonge boys. By force. There were times when russian army service was for the length of 25 years.

Bolshevik's were majority of what ethnicity/religion?

Though there is a relation between genetics and criminal behavior, the show business is the most corrupt business around. I will consider this business as a reason for the alleged abuse rather than the genetics. P.S. As long as effective legislation and executive function exists in a state, a criminal or even a person with criminal tendencies will avoid hard crime due to the consequences (gallows anyone?). Since in our days human life is cheap (i.e. crime is unpunished) the criminal behavior is allowed to exist and propagate.

Wasn’t that Robert Wagner that was with Natalie when she died?

@@paulk64 The LS-kg6my refers to the interview of Kirk Douglas with the N.Wood which was done in a hotel, while the mother and sister of N. Wood was in room with K. Douglas. Later the sister of N. Wood published the incident.

What?

@@christopherneufelt8971. ?

yea you seem people mix after so many centuries. Do you know how many arab friends i have in Iraq and Syria that are totally white? Don't you see how many palestinian kids that the television is showing now in Gaza with the whole war thing, that are totally white? People change, even in one generation, much more in a thousand years.

He is white. Americans are so weird about race. It's the British or Germans who are white. Everyone in Europe is considered white from Portugal to Russia. It just means your skin looks white. It's not about nationality or last names.

@@Grmario85 in one interview with Morgan Freeman a Jewish interviewer said he is not white, he is Jewish - Idk how many Jewish claim the same.

What?

He divulged another actor’s cancer, which the other actor did not want made public.

@@stephenfisher3721 he divided another actor’s cancer that the actor did not want made public.

Actually what Kilmer said was "I love Michael but he is misinformed" because, having consulted Douglas over his symptoms, Kilmer denied that he had the same cancer that Michael Douglas had had. In fact Michael Douglas was simply offering his support and eventually Kilmer admitted that he did indeed have cancer. Kilmer later added: “He’s a loving and devoted friend ..."

Would a friend go on national television and talk about their @friend’s” medical condition? Boundaries… mindfulness… discussing between themselves is one thing, but going public with that personal discussion is really not classy or good manners.

"tia", wszyscy są dzisiaj "s upa"

They are hiding from people like you, which were not only in Russia but USA too.

Yeah. Like the actress Anne Bancroft and the song writer Harry Warren. Check out their real names.

Most of the Russian Jewish entertainers and movie stars changed their names and backgrounds to make themselves more acceptable to the American public. Was easy to do back then.

Most of actors who changed their last name regretted later.

Because there was a long history of anti-Semitism in America, where they couldn't get jobs if their names sounded Jewish. Duh. Learn some history.

Sorry, what about your looks?!?

I wonder what you will look like at 79 (going on 80 soon) and fought cancer? I am sure you are so good looking and are 80 and look 30.

Oh, really?!? Proves please!

Russian middle names are always patronymic---one's father's name with ovich added if one is male and ovna if one is female. Some Russian surnames are created originally from the patronymic with ov and ova endings.

Definitely Jewish, you have no idea what you are talking about. So many people are trying to erase our roots, even on responses of a program that explores our roots. We were put in the Pale of Settlement BECAUSE WE ARE NOT SLAVS! We are the Indigenous people of Judea (the reason we are called Jews) also known as Israel.