Bernard Krutz and Esti Kissilov
Bernard:
“There were always question marks hovering over my personal and family history.
I knew I was born in Poland and that I was hidden by a Righteous Gentile Polish family. I knew they were not my family, but I didn’t know who I was. After the war, I was placed in a Jewish orphanage, and eventually, I was adopted by a Jewish family. Until today I don’t have an official day of birth so I can only say that I’m approximately 82 years old.
My original name was Bolek Szczycki, but it was badly misspelled by the orphanage, which made it impossible for my relatives to find me after the war had ended. I was also too young to search for my relatives myself, so at the end of the war, I was all by myself with not even one person in the world I can call Family.
Back then there was no place to look for help in solving the mystery of who I am. I lived a happy life after the war, with my adopted family, but I always wondered who I was and how I got to the house where I was hidden during the war. I grew up in Warsaw, married, and began my career. Life was “normal” until 1968, when it was no longer bearable to be in Jew in Poland. My wife and I left Poland in October, 1968 and emigrated to the United States.
My family history was always a “Blackhole” for me and over the years I didn’t think I would ever find a relative.
In 2019, my daughter, Lisa, decided she wanted to try and find any information about who I am and was given the advice to have me do a DNA test… It was like throwing a ‘message in the bottle’ hoping the message will cross the Atlantic and will be found by one of my relatives. the odds were so slim but eventually… it actually worked!
With the help of Jewish genealogical organizations and through the Yad Vashem archives, several possible relatives were eventually identified. We discovered that my aunt, my father’s sister, had also survived and in 1956 she gave testimony to Yad Vashem about the fate of my family. with that clue, we finally came to Esti Kissilov, who we thought could have a strong match as my cousin.
We approached Esti and asked her to take a DNA test. When the test came back with such strong matching DNA, I couldn’t believe it! I had a close family relative, a first cousin,, living in Israel! The first time I and Esti met was amazing because that was the first time in my life I saw the face of a blood relative, Finally, after so many years I found a family member on this earth. Sometimes, dreams can come true.”