MDA israel

Recently the Tracing Department of Magen David Adom in Israel was approached by the Arolsen Archives in Germany, asking for help in finding family in Israel.

It appeared that Francoise S., living in France, was searching for information about the brothers of her paternal grandmother, who had perished in Auschwitz.  She had discovered that her grandmother had 4 brothers, two of whom were presumed to have perished in the Holocaust. Her search had started with photos she had found with only first names on the back as a clue.  From information received from the Arolsen Archives it appeared that one brother at least, had survived the Holocaust and had emigrated from Poland via a displaced persons camp in Germany to Israel in 1949, together with his wife and little daughter.  Francoise was very keen to find out about her great uncle and his family and thus the connection was made with Magen David Adom.

Susan Edel, a volunteer in the MDA Tracing and Reunification of Families Department, immediately set to work.  Within a short time, she found, on MyHeritage, an entry for Julian K.  the great uncle whom Francoise was searching for.  She wrote, via the website, to Irit, who had entered the information and waited for a reply. Very quickly she received a reply from Irit in Melbourne, Australia, saying that she was the daughter of Julian K, who had survived the camps, having been on  a death march from Lodz to Warsaw at the beginning of the war and was later liberated. She was very surprised to hear that the granddaughter of her father’s sister was searching for her and very excited. This information was passed on to the Arolsen Archives and soon after, Irit heard from Francoise and all her French relatives, and was given a lot of information about her father’s family.  Unfortunately, both her parents were no longer alive to hear about the family.

Irit’s older sister, Etla, who arrived in Israel with her parents, unfortunately passed away at the age of one, and no one knows where she is buried and to date we have found no documentation about her.  She was born in a displaced persons camp and no registration of her birth has been traced.

Despite the fact that Francoise only had first names on the back of the photographs in her possession,  she did know the uncle’s surname and that is what made it easier to find the family.  A reunification of families such as this one gives hope to other families that maybe there are some family members who have survived the Holocaust , and that there may be a possibility to find them.

For further information about the activities of the MDA Tracing and Reunification of Families Department please contact:  rfl-imda@mda.org.il or +972 (0)3 6301464