Finding Birth Parents - Identifinders International, LLC

Who Am I? What is My Name? Part II – Pnina, Wolfgang, and the Warsaw Ghetto

By Austin Bethell|2022-07-06T01:47:43-07:00December 12th, 2012|

Barbara Rebhun? Convinced that my surname was Rebhun, I contacted Rebhuns around the world. Though the BBC, CNN, and the international press featured my quest, I initially received no responses. Finally in March 1997, the Munich Red Cross relayed a reply from a German named Wolfgang Rebhun, who was searching for his little sister, Baschka (Barbara in German). After receiving the Red Cross letter I began a correspondence with Wolfgang Rebhun. Then after a very short time we went to Germany, to meet Wolfgang and his (and my) sister Adela and some other members of the family. The meeting was very warm and exciting. To them it was a [...]

Who Am I, What Is My Name? Part I – Pnina, Otwoc, and the Kazcmareks

By Austin Bethell|2022-07-06T01:04:27-07:00December 10th, 2012|

My name is Pnina Gutman. I am 70 years old. I began the search for my biological identity in April 1996. I called this project "Who am I what's my name?" I came to Israel from Poland at the age of eight with a couple whom I thought to be my parents, Mania and Mendel Himel. As a child, I remembered living with the Himels in the town of Lodz, but it was a short time, about two years that I recall as a year in the kindergarten and a year in school. What I remembered before was an orphanage and the day the Himels were introduced to me as my [...]

Identifinders International Announces DNA Study for Child Survivors of the Holocaust

By Austin Bethell|2012-09-05T00:04:30-07:00September 5th, 2012|

Identifinders International, in collaboration with 23andMe and Missing-Identity.net, announces a pilot study to help child survivors of the Holocaust to recover their birth identities. It is hoped that autosomal DNA testing will allow these survivors to discover family connections that would otherwise be gone forever. Of the 1,600,000 Jewish children who lived in Europe before World War II, only 100,000 survived the Holocaust. Most child survivors were hidden children, shuttered away in attics, cellars, convents or in villages or farms.[1] Many of these survived thanks to the efforts of Jews and Christians alike who risked their lives to conceal the identity of a hidden child who had been entrusted to their care by desperate parents. [...]

Bonnie's New Family

By Austin Bethell|2010-09-06T01:43:45-07:00September 6th, 2010|

Finding Bonnie's birth father was one of our most difficult birth parent searches. Bonnie and her brother Michael knew they were born in Germany in the 1950s, but they did not know they were adopted until 2002. Although Bonnie had a copy of her birth cerificate, she had not questioned why her parents names did not appear on it, and why it was issued two years after she was born. When Bonnie's mother passed away, a chance remark by a neighbor revealed the truth. Bonnie explains: We only found out [we were adopted] because of a neighbor woman, who knew my mother through Bingo. I was walking my dogs when she approached me and offered her condolences. She casually mentioned to me [...]

Jeni's Family Reunion

By Austin Bethell|2010-08-13T01:26:51-07:00August 13th, 2010|

Jeni Reed was raised by her maternal grandmother and knew almost nothing about her dad Thomas McKay. Yet we were able to find him! I surprised Jeni with the news on June 16. To add to the excitement, we discovered that Jeni has three sisters and a brother she had never met, plus a new aunt and two new uncles. She was in shock when she contacted her dad. He was delighted to hear from her! In July, Jeni got to meet many family members for the first time. As she describes the reunion: Well, the big meeting was this past weekend and it was so fun. I met my dad, one sister and [...]

December 2012

Who Am I? What is My Name? Part II – Pnina, Wolfgang, and the Warsaw Ghetto

Who Am I, What Is My Name? Part I – Pnina, Otwoc, and the Kazcmareks

September 2012

Identifinders International Announces DNA Study for Child Survivors of the Holocaust

September 2010

Bonnie's New Family

August 2010

Jeni's Family Reunion