CEJHG

Chairperson

Eric Randol Schoenberg is an American lawyer and genealogist, based in Los Angeles, California, specializing in legal cases related to the recovery of looted or stolen artworks, particularly those by the Nazi regime during the Holocaust.

Schoenberg is widely known as one of the central figures of the 2015 film Woman in Gold, which depicted the case of Maria Altmann against the government of Austria. Schoenberg is portrayed by Ryan Reynolds. He is also the subject of the 2023 genealogical documentary Fioretta.

Deputy Chairperson

Marie-Theres Arnbom is an Austrian historian, author, curator, and cultural manager. She studied history and theatre studies at the University of Vienna and has written extensively on Jewish cultural life, operetta, and the history of Viennese society, including a series of books on the villas of the Salzkammergut.

Arnbom has curated numerous exhibitions, founded the St. Gilgen Children’s Music Festival, and co-founded the Research Institute for Operetta and Entertainment Theatre. From 2022 to 2023, she served as director of Vienna’s Theatermuseum.

Deputy Chairperson

Michael L. Miller is Associate Professor in the Nationalism Studies program at Central European University in Vienna and Academic Director of its Jewish Studies program. Trained as a historian at Columbia University, his work focuses on the impact of nationality conflicts on Central European Jewry in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

He is the author of Rabbis and Revolution and co-author of several volumes on Jewish history, and is currently completing a history of Hungarian Jewry titled Manovill: A Tale of Two Hungarys.

Secretary of the Board and General Secretary

Historian, genealogist and storyteller with a passion for uncovering the hidden stories of the past. He has transformed his genealogical curiosity into a comprehensive database containing over 72,500 individuals, tracing the intertwining dynasties of the Jewish communities throughout Central Europe. Through his genealogical service, Mattan Segev-Frank’s Genealogy Jungle, he helps others reconnect with their family history or trace documents for legal procedures.

Segev-Frank holds a BFA in Film and Television and an MA in Jewish History from Tel Aviv University, where he graduated with honors, specializing in Jewish history and the genealogy of the former Austrian-Hungarian Empire. He is the Founder of the LGBTQ Archive at TAU and co-authored the exhibition and commemorative booklet "They Lived Among Us III" on the Jewish community of Námestovo, Slovakia, organized by the association "Pamätaj" (Remember).

Treasurer

Georg Gaugusch is an Austrian genealogist, historian, and author. A member of the Heraldisch-Genealogische Gesellschaft “Adler” since 1992, he is best known for his monumental multi-volume series Wer einmal war, a comprehensive genealogical study of Vienna’s Jewish upper bourgeoisie from 1800 to 1938. Recognized internationally for its depth and accuracy, the work has set a new standard in Jewish genealogy.

Gaugusch is also a frequent lecturer at conferences and cultural institutions, where he shares his expertise on Central European Jewish history and family research.