My mother and sister have invited me to go with them to Hořice in the Czech Republic (aka Czechia - which is used by Czech politicians but not that many other people - personally I prefer it because it's one word not two), to rediscover the Jewish side of my family's heritage (my grandmother fled Austria for Britain, just after the Anschluss). One problem: there are at least six places with the name Hořice, we might need to do some more research. One thing I do know that my great grandfather inherited a textile factory there which he ran into the ground (being more interested in law and intellectual matters than business) before it was stolen by the Nazis. We have a collection of translated letters that he sent to my grandmother just before the Holocaust so we should be able to figure it all out. One member of my family tried to appeal to the Czech government to get the factory and house back but they have put their foot down and will not take any more claims. I guess you have to draw a line under everything at some point.

My feelings of Jewishness are conflicted - I was raised with absolutely none of the religious or cultural traditions. My parents are both agnostic and my grandmother (mother's mother) was raised secular and converted to Christianity before leaving Austria (totally unrelated to politics - in fact she became a Lutheran when Austria was ruled by a Catholic clerico-fascist government). The one time I do feel it is when people use mentioning the Holocaust as a cheap political tool (people from every political position regarding Jewish people / Israel have been caught doing this).