She thought the Holocaust erased her family. Then a DNA test found 50 relatives
Zev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.Growing up in New Zealand, Adriana Turk always thought she was the last surviving member of a family wiped out during the Holocaust. But now, she is in Israel meeting long-lost relatives for the first time, after a MyHeritage DNA test led to a surprising revelation last year.Discovering that she has over 50 living relatives across Germany, Israel, and Brazil was “absolutely astonishing,” the 74-year-old Turk told The Times of Israel in a call from the Tel Aviv home of her newly found third cousin, Raanan Gidron. “This has been such a revelation for me.”Turk’s father John (Hans) Turk, a German Jew who escaped Nazi Germany for New Zealand in 1937, rarely spoke about his past. After the war, he learned that his mother was murdered in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942, while his sister, her husband, and their two young…
Adriana Turk, 74, from New Zealand, discovered over 50 living relatives across Germany, Israel, and Brazil through a MyHeritage DNA test, after believing her family was eradicated in the Holocaust. Her father, John (Hans) Turk, a German Jew who fled to New Zealand in 1937, rarely spoke of his past, leading Adriana to believe her immediate family were the sole survivors. The DNA test revealed that her great-uncle, Max Gusdorf, had three children who survived the war, one of whom, Reuven Gidron, settled in Israel. Turk is currently in Israel meeting her newly found third cousin, Raanan Gidron, and other relatives. She described the experience as "absolutely astonishing" and feels "born again through this experience."
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