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Dear Members

This week has been a bit of a rollercoaster for my siblings and I. For years I have been trying to find information on my late father's family, more specifically my grandparents Tadeusz & Helena NIKIEL. Given the fact that my father was an only survivor from his family, I have tried in vain to find out to which Siberian camp my grandmother was deported?in 1939, ?where she died and on what date. In July last year I contacted the International Tracing Service in Germany to see if they could find any information on my grandparents. When I opened my Emails this week, after returning from holiday, there was a reply from the ITS. I was expecting the usual reply that they were unable to find any information, but was excited when I learned that they had found information regarding my grandmother. My excitement very quickly turned?to horror & pain. Far from being informed of a date & place of death, I was told that my grandmother had survived the war & in 1960 had made attempts to find my father & his younger brother, Tadeusz. She was residing in Prague at the time.?In 1960 we were living in England & had absolutely no idea that my father had any family that had survived the war, let alone a grandmother that was trying to find her sons!?It is wonderful to know that Helena NIKIEL did not perish in Siberia, but so very sad to think what could have been had she been reunited with my father and us. We would have had a grandmother & possibly extended family......who knows. The ITS is going to? investigate further to see if they can find more information concerning my grandmother & whether she was ever reunited with her youngest son, Tadeusz. If he survived the war, I may have relations still alive. Tragically it is too little too late for Helena!!!

I am informing K-S members of my experiences this week in order?that it may bring?hope to others who for years or?maybe their whole life, like me, believed that they had no?family that survived the horrors of WWII. Never give up hope! Never give up the search! There are answers out there!?

Regards

Karen Geffroy (née Nikiel)

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