An Australian woman has experienced a profound emotional revelation after a simple DNA test uncovered dozens of long-lost relatives she never knew existed. Adriana Turk, aged 74, grew up under the heartbreaking assumption that all members of her extended family had been tragically killed during Hitler's genocide of the Jewish people.
A Journey Sparked by Loss
Following the death of her brother, Julian, in December 2024, Adriana felt a deep emptiness and decided to investigate her family history more thoroughly. She anticipated finding only scattered fragments of information about her uneasy past, but what she discovered left her utterly astonished.
Instead of confirming a family tree decimated by the Holocaust, the MyHeritage DNA test results revealed that more than fifty relatives were alive and living across the globe. Among them were numerous cousins, aunts, uncles, and their children and grandchildren, including descendants of three Holocaust survivors from her grandmother's lineage.
"I Found Everything"
Reflecting on the overwhelming discovery, Adriana told The Independent: "I guess I just assumed there was no one out there. And with losing my brother, it really left such an emptiness, and I thought: 'Well, what can I find?' And I found everything." Having spent much of her childhood feeling "empty and invisible," she says this reconnection has provided "a missing piece" of her life.
A Cousin Reunited in Israel
Last week, Adriana met one of her newly discovered relatives: her cousin Raanan Gidron, a 73-year-old psychotherapist living in Israel. Mr Gidron's mother survived the horrors of the Theresienstadt concentration camp, where 33,000 Jewish people were murdered, before being transferred to Auschwitz, where approximately 1.1 million people were killed. She later fled Europe and married a man who had also lost his parents in the Holocaust.
Speaking about their emotional reconnection, Mr Gidron said: "We always knew there were some relatives in New Zealand, but it was hard to follow up." He added that being reunited with his cousin offers a powerful message of hope at a time when many in the Jewish community are living with significant fear and anxiety.
A Timely Story of Hope
Adriana and Raanan shared their remarkable story as the world marks Holocaust Memorial Day, which commemorates the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered during the Holocaust, along with the millions of others killed under Nazi persecution. Their experience mirrors a growing trend where Jewish people are reconnecting with long-lost family members through modern DNA testing technology.
Mr Gidron, speaking from Bondi in Australia, noted he was particularly shaken by a recent tragic event—the December attack in which two gunmen killed 15 Jewish people at a Hanukkah event at Sydney's Bondi Beach. This was the country's deadliest mass shooting since 1996, leaving families, including that of a 10-year-old girl, in mourning. According to New South Wales police, the surviving suspect, Naveed Akram, was charged with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder, while his father was killed during an exchange of gunfire with police.
This poignant narrative underscores how genetic testing can heal historical wounds and rebuild family connections shattered by one of history's darkest chapters, offering light and unity in the face of past and present adversity.
