Did any of my family survive the holocaust? | DNA Family Secrets - BBC

After finding out he survived a concentration camp as a baby, Jackie has two burning questions. Was his dad a Nazi? And did any of his birth family escape the Holocaust?

#BBC #DNAFamilySecrets #BBCiPlayer

Watch DNA Family Secrets on iPlayer

[Mudhooks]

It’s a shame that the technology is coming too late for so many survivors but at the very least there is a chance for those still living to have answers…

[sagbrady]

I am Sicilian...my grandfather helped liberate Auschwitz... This brought tears to my eyes... I am happy for you

[tanyabrown]

What is crazy is that I've met people online who dont believe in the holocaust and think its a conspiracy. The world needs to never forget what happened.

[annwreyna]

So glad to see his "closure" on his Dad. I can't imagine the feeling thinking your whole life that you're Dad was a Nazi & then someone telling you he wasn't. That was probably a big weight off his shoulders.

[ktjamlex]

The happy story here is that he had lovely adoptive parents who loved him. I bet he made their world.

[CharlotteIssyvoo]

In a roundabout way, this reminds me of so many American Jews whose elders protected us from the reality that we had lost family in the Holocaust, and that the few survivors were trapped in harrowing lives in the Soviet Union. Doing my genealogy, I discovered Yad Vashem (Holocaust death) reports filled out my great-grandfather, who had immigrated to America in 1903. He knew who in our family had been murdered, but he never told his children and grandchildren, so we all believed that, being American, we hadn't been touched by the Holocaust. So many American Jews think this way. They're wrong. So far, I have found 50 relatives murdered in the Holocaust, and this is just on my grandfather's side of the family. Fifty! I've also found the descendants of survivors, almost all of whom were trapped in the Soviet regime for decades. Most amazingly of all though, I've found a closely related, *living* Holocaust survivor! He was a young adult when he was thrown into Dachau, so he remembers everyone who was murdered, and everything he endured. He tells me I look exactly like all the women in our family. And his name is exactly the same as my great-grandfather's, the American uncle he never met.

[erik]

My dad survived Terezin. He arrived the week before his 7th birthday and was liberated by Russian forces about 2 years later. He was able to find a first cousin and other close relatives about a year before he died in May 2021.

It's amazing how important these stories are. ❤❤❤

[michaelofsc]

There is a story of a man that saved 669 Jewish kids, by taking them to England and placing them with English families, but there was one train that didn't make it through, it was stopped and all the kids were taken to a concentration camp. His name is Sir Nicholas Winton, maybe this guy was on that train.

[theajohnston]

All these years later and they are still affected by this tragedy. I’m glad that he was able to find more family. Never be a bystander … never forget … never again …

[joywebster]

As a young nurse I worked with many who were Holocaust survivors in a Jewish hospital in Toronto. The women who were young in the concentration camps were at that time 75 and 80s. So much love and stories to tell me and hugs to give. Showing me their tattooed numbers as evidence and saying the wanted people to never forget. I've nevr forgotten them. They all begged me to become Jewish so they could marry me to their grandsons. Such laughter. I also received a few punches from the demented older men who no longer knew where they were and I could only imagine where their minds thought they were as they shouted oy! Gevalt a d started swinging. Still we cared for them tenderly.

[johnnywalker]

Bless Jackie. I'm happy his Father wasn't a Nazi but what a shame that he will never know who his birth Father was. It's awesome that he found cousins living so close to him and his wife.

[lillyfitzgerald]

I have been researching Displaced Person's in post-WW2 Europe - my parents were there and eventually came to Australia. However, my mother was adopted in her country of origin, as a baby. She knew very little about her biological mother and nothing about who her father was and it plagued her life. My father, I knew until age three and then buried him many years later with a huge gap in between. I know nothing about him. In researching, I have come to understand a little more about my mother, in particular; she has now passed. I have also read 7 books written by Holocaust survivors in a short space of time to the point that I could not read any more about the darkest of human behaviour and how the world treated Jewish survivors after liberation. Only Jackie and his cousin will truly know the deep value of finding each other. My love to them both.

[bobbidazzler]

Just watched both episodes with my husband and we're blubbering wrecks. Stacey is the perfect host for this wonderful show. Beautifully done. I hope their news brings the guests peace and happiness in their lives. 🥰

[liberty]

It hurts for me to watch this as a Korean. Although its specifics are not well known to the west, so many Koreans were separated, tortured, and killed during the Japanese occupation of Korea and it still haunts many families. A lot of Koreans were forced to work for Japanese companies who used them as slaves with little to no payments. They would just bury the bodies in a hole when they died and they destroyed the records. So there are people who have never had the chance of this kind of closure. It’s the truly horrendous parts of human history.

[tinasmalley-craig]

Breaks my heart and soul to think of what all the children had to go through and all the families. So so sad. God bless them all.

[lilzombiegurl]

as soon as she said they found some of his family I started tearing up

[Msjangel]

Can't stop the tears on this one. I'm so happy he's found some family after so much tragedy.

[susanyates]

As an adoptee (not Jewish), I was able to trace my birth mother's family, but she would not give me any identifying information about my birth father. It is so very important to know our roots, more so in Jackie's case. So pleased for him.

[mariansmith]

What an amazing gift of happiness and connection.
A gift of peace for this man...

[CenturyHomeProject]

This is heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. If you’re not in tears, after watching this, you have no soul.