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🇮🇱 Israel /Culture & Society

Holocaust survivor's family history rediscovered through DNA test

From Jerusalem Post · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Adrianna Turk, a Holocaust survivor's daughter, discovered over 50 relatives through a DNA test after a lifetime of family silence.
  • Her father, who changed his name and avoided Jewish institutions after immigrating to New Zealand, rarely spoke of his past.
  • The discovery led Turk to Jerusalem, where she connected with a previously unknown second cousin, helping to reconstruct her family tree decimated by the Holocaust.

For 74-year-old Adrianna Turk, the past was a void, marked by a profound silence surrounding her family's Holocaust history. Her father, Hans, later John, immigrated to New Zealand and built a new life, marrying a non-Jewish woman and deliberately distancing himself from Jewish communities. "If there's another Jew hunt, I want my family left out of it," he had explained.

If there's another Jew hunt, I want my family left out of it.

— Adrianna Turk's fatherExplaining his decision to distance himself from Jewish institutions after immigrating to New Zealand.

Turk knew only fragmented, devastating details: her paternal grandmother died in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942, and her aunt, uncle, and their two children perished at Auschwitz in 1944. "[My father] never spoke of it, and I never asked," Turk recalled. "I just knew that his whole family, his mum, sister, brother-in-law, their children, were all murdered."

[My father] never spoke of it, and I never asked. I just knew that his whole family, his mum, sister, brother-in-law, their children, were all murdered.

— Adrianna TurkRecalling the limited information she had about her family's fate during the Holocaust.

Decades passed, and after the death of her only sibling, Turk found herself the last surviving member of her immediate family. This profound grief and isolation spurred a global journey that would unravel her understanding of her heritage. The quest ultimately led her to Jerusalem, where she connected with Raanan Gidron, a 73-year-old second cousin she never knew existed.

I felt this hole inside me. It was a deep sadness.

— Adrianna TurkDescribing the isolation she felt after becoming the last surviving member of her immediate family.

Reconstructing a family tree shattered by the Holocaust presents immense challenges, with missing records and fading memories. Turk turned to MyHeritage for its strong European database, taking a DNA test out of curiosity. The results exceeded all expectations, revealing more than 50 relatives scattered across continents and helping to fill the immense internal vacuum she had felt.

I asked Google: ‘Which is the best for my European heritage?’ I was only looking for Europeans.

— Adrianna TurkRecounting her initial search for a DNA testing platform.
About this summary

Originally published by Jerusalem Post in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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