The Hidden Sister

Incredibly wonderful! It is nothing short of a miracle. We are all very, very happy that we have finally found each other. And, at the same time, sad that we knew nothing about Mala for almost our entire lives. She already has great-grandchildren. We have missed so much! But we are making up for lost time now. We have already met twice – once together with the children and grandchildren – and we are constantly in touch by phone. It is not easy, though, because we live on three different continents: Mala in France, my brother in the USA, and I in Israel.

At the end of December 2020, my cousin sent me two photographs: one showing a girl with a bow in her hair, the other a man and a woman in what looked like a wedding or engagement portrait. On the back of that picture, my cousin’s mother had written “Uncle Isak”, our father’s name. We could hardly believe that the man in the photograph was really our father, although he looked strikingly like him. As far as we knew, he had never been married before May 7, 1948, the day he married our mother. Because my father came from Poland, I began to research Polish marriage registers – but I found nothing. After joining a genealogy platform, my brother did a DNA test, but that turned up nothing either.

Very little – like so many Holocaust survivors. I knew that my father had lived in Warsaw before the Second World War and decided to flee after the German invasion of Poland because he was Jewish. He said that he escaped together with a group of other people to the Soviet Union, where he spent the war years in internment camps. From there, he went to Germany after the war as a displaced person. He eventually met my mother. Then they emigrated together to the United States and started our family. That he had already come to the DP camp with a wife and a daughter – he never told us about that.

Apparently, they had sporadic contact by letter. She may still have those letters. But he kept this contact hidden from us, probably from my mother as well.

I researched in many archives and contacted various authorities, but found little – until I heard about the Arolsen Archives at an event organized by ‘Next Generations of Holocaust Survivors.’ In the online archive, I found documents about Mala, and also the DP registrations of my mother and my father. But nothing that connected my father and Mala. Sometime later, I searched again. In the meantime, more documents must have been put online, because this time there was a record that identified our father as Mala’s father. Then I submitted an inquiry and asked for help in finding Mala. We really wanted to find her quickly, because the documents showed that she must already have been well over 80 – if she was still alive.

I had to be prepared for anything. But I did have very high hopes. When, just three weeks later, the message came from the Arolsen Archives that they had found Mala and that she agreed to be in contact with us, I was still completely surprised. You can’t imagine the rush of emotions. I was on a trip in Japan at the time and had to collect myself briefly – but then I called Mala right away. I also speak French, so that was not a problem.

It was a very emotional meeting, tears and hugs, then more tears and hugs. We got along wonderfully right away. We got along wonderfully right away, and that makes it all the more distressing that we were only able to get to know each other so late. But better late than never. I am infinitely grateful to the Arolsen Archives for preserving these documents, making them accessible, and helping us find our half-sister. It allowed Mala and her family to close a circle and gave us a chance to embrace relatives we never knew we had. The experience has been incredible and miraculous, and it has fundamentally changed all our lives.