Tel Aviv resident 62-year-old Rachel Brown is a divorced mother of two. As the Nazis came to power, her family was dispersed. Her mother Rivka managed to get to Palestine. A brother who survived Auschwitz later arrived in Israel and a sister, Chana Garvovitz, made her way to Uruguay. Rachel’s mother died when she was a little girl, 4, raised by her father who was niftar in 1985. For many years she wondered if anyone from the family was still alive, if she has any cousins perhaps. Six years ago, she visited the death camps and since then, she has been increasingly compelled to delve into the family’s history, hoping to find answers to her questions.

She found one photo among her mother’s possessions showing her parents and two children, on the back of the photo it said “Yosef and his family”, the Kraft family. The photo has an imprint from a photographer in Uruguay.

Rachel began probing using internet forums, but without success. Then she made a request of the Israeli Embassy in Uruguay. Deputy Consul General Roni Goldberg decided to undertake the assignment. For two months, he ran his investigation, probing wherever possible, but without results. He then turned to the head of the Jewish community of Montevideo, Uruguay, Awill Bronstein, who began checking the archives of the Jewish community for Rivka Garvovitz. Unfortunately, he did not turn up anything that assisted in the search. He then redirected his search to the name Kraft, and that is when things began to appear a bit encouraging. The aunt, Chana, was listed as being in the local Jewish cemetery, listed under Kraft and not Garvovitz. It was learned that she died in 1962 and her husband Yosef Kraft, who appeared in the photo, died in 1984.

Goldberg then tracked down Dora Kraft, 75, Chana’s daughter, and he learned the aunt has two brothers living in Israel, Shmuel (62) and Yaakov (78), married and with children. He also learned that Dora’s son lives in Ra’anana.

On March 26^th, the phone rang in Rachel Brown’s home. “We found your family” Goldberg announced happily.

A short time later a meeting was held and the family got together, each meeting relatives the other did not know existed. They are all planning a visit to Uruguay in October, to visit Aunt Dora and to visit the kever of Chna.

Shmuel Kraft explains the entire story is very emotional and almost unimaginable. He explains at age 15 he came to Israel all alone, serving as a ‘lone soldier’. He was only aware of one cousin in Tel Aviv. “I did not know my mother had ten siblings”.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)