I wish I knew what my grandparents looked like

Tomorrow I am likely to uncover another tier of my sort of secret father's life and something new about my family history.

At the age of 20, in 1939, he escaped from Nazis at the last moment, just few days before they came, via Hungary, Yugoslavia, Palestine, France and finally the UK. The rest of his family remained. He enlisted the Czech Army which was the part of the UK army and in the summer of 1945 he got back home. Within those six years he had no news about his family, of course, and after coming back he found out that his family was away, probably dead. Then his older sister appeared, returning from a concentration camp in Germany, confirming that their dad a mom died in Auswitz and one other sister in Bergen-Belsen.

My dad had never spoken about this, the only thing I knew about his parents and siblings was they they all died during the war except of one sister who moved to South America in fall 1945. There was the iron curtain between us and before I could talk to her she died.

When my dad passed away in 1988 I realized that my knowledge about him was very poor as he really hadn't spoken about himself, his youth and his family. Even my mother didn't want to speak a lot about him. All the written above and many other things I discovered after my mom also passed away. I started visiting archives, trying to find his former friends, co-workers, etc.

They say when people experience something really terrible and cruel they either want to talk about it over and over again or they just remain silence for the rest of ther lives. Apparently, my dad belonged to the second group.

Well, I've found something about my family, mostly sad things. One of his sister, my aunt, who died in Bergen-Belsen in Germany, got married a few weeks before she was sent to the concentration camp Terezin. This was a place where all Czech Jewish people were sent before getting transported to Auswitz or other camps. She must have been pregnant before going to Terezin because after a few months she gave birth to a girl. I found out that her name was Hana. She was my cousin actually. Then she and her mother was sent to Bergen-Belsen, their teminal station. My cousin, my only cousin, lived only six months.

So tomorrow I am meeting an old lady who may remember my grandfather and grandmather. I hope. Any information about them would be fantastic even though the chance is slim. But one thing is for sure – some people told me there is an old grave where my grandmather's parents were buried. It's going to be a strange and emotional experience as I even don't know what their name were like.

There are so many gaps, almost no paperwork, no photos. Once my dad told me 'You take after your aunt Truda' (this one with the baby). When I asked him to tell me something more about her he just shrugged and said something like She just passed away ages ago… I wish I could know what she looked like.

(The picture above is a copy of my dad's Soldier's Service Book in the early 1940's when he was in the UK, one of the rare memories of his young years.)