Mystery family...

Daniel gets this call from a woman in Paris a few days ago. "It was moo-ing all over the place. I told her to email me". He was "in the cows" as he does on Tuesdays down in Manspach.

Anyway, I asked about it. He said there seemed to be someone who thinks they're related but he said he knows his family and how could that be, etc. I told him, yes, you know your dad's side, your mother's mother's but your mother's father's side is still a bit unclear. He died when my mother-in-law was 17. He only had a sister, who was married and had a son who were all deported in WWII.

At first I thought it was because of the paperwork I did for my mother-in-law when the Swiss were going to release those funds for Shoah survivors and family members. She did hear back awhile ago, unsuprisingly that there was nothing in their name. She said they weren't rich.

We got the email last night. Sure enough, it did have to do with the Kleins (Joselyne's maiden name) but not at all what we thought. The woman is doing research on a priest who saved quite a few during that period. I'm not sure why (book? reward?) but she found that my mother-in-law's name was on the paper's for her aunt at Yad Vashem (the Shoah memorial in Israel). Apparently, there was a woman, saved by this priest as a little girl who claimed the same name as my mother-in-law's aunt.

A long-lost cousin?

I was unsure but Daniel called his mother, who was clearly able to answer all questions. He confirmed the names.

This is exciting because Joselyne believes she only has one first cousin, Charles. Talia is named after his mother, Irène and Davina after Joselyne's mother Simone. The sisters also had a brother, Robert, who was also deported. Joselyne was very close to him and devestated when he was taken away. She was young and remembers him very well. Her Aunt Gabrielle, her father's sister, by contrast she remembers less of. They didn't live close and were sent very early in the war, she explained. She belived they only had the one son, René, who was only slightly older than this supposed sister. It's entirely likely that Gabrielle had another child, especially during that period when things were in chaos.

The daughter's name is Alice. She went on to settle right here in Strasbourg and has two dauthers herself. They would be Daniel's second cousins if this works out.

I'm kind of caught up in the drama of it all. Take DNA samples, I say. That's such an American reaction. Strange that it comes from such a detached third source. I'd like to learn more about this priest, and how this all occurred...