Today at Yad Vashem two cousins who have found each other thanks to Yad Vashem's Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names met for the first time. It was a very emotional and unexpected meeting. The grandmothers of Tatiana Zuckerman of Moscow (66) and Shalhevet Sara Ziv of Kfar Sava (67) were sisters.
Tatiana came especially from Moscow to take part in an educator's seminar at the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem, coordinated in partnership with the Holocaust Foundation based in Moscow. She believed all her life that she had almost no extended family, and that apart from her mother, Rachel Perelman (Milenki) (87), a survivor of the Minsk Ghetto and Auschwitz (who now lives in New York), and a very small number of distant cousins, no family members who survived the Holocaust. During her visit, Tatiana asked for assistance in searching Yad Vashem's databases to check for information about her family and their fate during the Holocaust. To her surprise Tatiana found a Page of Testimony on the Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names commemorating Tzeril Milennki, her grandmother who was killed in the Minsk ghetto. The Page of Testimony was submitted in 2011 by Shalhevet Ziv, a grandniece of Tzeril.
Yad Vashem staff helped Tatiana locate Shalhevet and through searches on Facebook- were able to connect Tatiana and Shalhevet. The two talked (with the help of a translator – since Tatiana speaks only Russian) and confirmed that they are in fact related. Shalhevet came to Yad Vashem the next morning (today) to meet Tatiana before she returns to Moscow on Tuesday. The two cousins were so thrilled to meet each other. Tatiana and Shalhevet immediately felt a strong family connection and talked for hours comparing their family narratives and history as well as their lives today. Shalhevet showed Tatiana the family pictures and documents that she had found over the years and explained how her grandmother, Sarah Milenki, Tzeril's sister, was murdered along with other Jews of her town in the synagogue in Rakov.
This was especially meaningful and poignant for Shalhevet who has invested many years and much effort investigating the roots of her family. As a tribute to her grandmother Sara who was murdered in the Holocaust, Shalhevet has made it her mission to share her family's legacy. After meeting with Tatiana, she is now able to continue and develop her research of the family tree, making corrections and additions based on information she has learned from her newly found cousin. She is preparing to publish a book based on her research, in which she was able to trace the roots of her family as far back as 1838. Tatiana feels that she has been given the gift of a family, "I cannot wait to share this discovery with my mother, she will be deeply moved to know that others survived. All these years we believed we were the only ones."
Shalhevet said elatedly with tears in her eyes to Tatiana, "You have a big family now in Israel!"
The other educators participating in Tatiana's seminar also joined to meet Shelhevet and take a photograph together. They were very excited for Tatiana and her discovery of her new family in Israel.
The International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem serves as a world hub for Holocaust education, attracting educators from around the globe. Pedagogical materials and teacher-training activities are being constantly developed to create tailor-made programs for each visiting group, thus training an international cadre of educational leaders who continue to disseminate the School’s unique teaching philosophy across a variety of cultures. In 2014, the International School engaged with over 20,000 educators. Among its scores of pedagogical activities, the School conducted more than 150 long-term seminars and 370 teacher-training days.
