Following DNA trails, a Jewish family shattered by the Holocaust discovers its lost branches
DISAPORA AFFAIRS: A DNA test revealed more than 50 relatives Adrianna Turk never knew existed, breaking decades of Holocaust silence and bringing her to Jerusalem to meet family she thought was lost.
Adrianna Turk, aged 74, had long struggled with the haunting silence of her family history. Her father, originally named Hans, immigrated to New Zealand and changed his name to John. He avoided Jewish institutions and married a non-Jewish partner, keeping their origins hidden from his children. Throughout her life, Turk knew that her paternal grandmother had died in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942, and her aunt, uncle, and their two young children were killed in Auschwitz in 1944.
Her father never spoke of their tragic fate, leaving Turk with an overwhelming void of knowledge about her heritage.
The void grew deeper as she lost her only sibling, Julian, in Auckland. That crushing grief led her on a journey to uncover her family's past. She took a DNA test, searching for a European database on MyHeritage, hoping to trace her roots. The results shocked her – dozens of matches across Germany, Israel, Brazil, and other countries. These genetic links pointed to a network of more than 50 surviving relatives who had somehow escaped the Holocaust and built lives across the globe.
Turk approached her findings cautiously, reaching out to her genetic relatives carefully to avoid offense. After several attempts, she received a response from the German branch, leading to a warm embrace into their family. Messages turned into daily contact, culminating in a close bond when Turk's daughter, Thea, and grandson, Oliver, traveled to Israel to meet their newfound relatives.
Among the family branches, Turk discovered that her great-uncle, Max Gusdorf, perished in the Sobibor extermination camp in 1943. Miraculously, other relatives had survived, including her second cousin, Gidron's mother, who had endured both Theresienstadt and Auschwitz. The discovery connected Turk's grandmother and Gidron's grandfather as siblings, tracing back to great-grandparents Moses and Regina, who had nine children.
The family tree's branches extended across continents, reflecting the desperate paths of Holocaust survivors seeking refuge. Some remained in Europe, rebuilding lives amid the ruins, while others moved to America or Mandate Palestine, long before the Jewish state's establishment. Through this intricate web of genealogical discovery, Turk connected with a second cousin she never knew existed, helping to mend the shattered branches of her family once again.
Written by urgent.news from Jerusalem Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
