Photo: Its-arolsen.org
Thanks to the help of the International Tracing Service, Margot Bachmann found her mother alive and well at age 91 in Italy, 70 years after they were separated by the Nazis.
[From article]
“I wanted to find out who my mother was, to see if we were alike, maybe find some photos and some information,” Bachmann said in an ITS press release. “I never dared to hope that I would be able to hold her in my arms. Now I’m overjoyed that she’s doing well and I got to meet her.”
Bachmann’s mother, identified as Gianna, was a forced laborer taken from Italy to work in Germany during the war. During her time there, she fell in love with a German soldier and got pregnant. Bachmann was subsequently born in October 1944, but Nazi authorities severed the mother’s parental rights the next month.
After the war ended, Gianna returned home, believing that her daughter and lover had died in the war. In
truth, Bachmann was saved from an orphanage by her father, who already had a wife, and raised by that couple, eventually becoming the older sister to seven others.
[. . .]
Gianna ended up sentenced to life working in a military installation. She was 20 at the time of Bachmann’s birth and had no idea her lover already had a wife.
Meanwhile, Bachmann was raised by her Germany family, forbidden to ask too many questions about her mother. She was told that her mother was Italian and was led to believe that she was dead.
“Even as a child, I had the sense that something wasn’t right,” said Bachmann, who now lives near Frankfurt. She said she only got the courage to look for her birth mother years after her father, whom she described as strict, died.
Aided by her own daughters, she tracked down her birth certificate and ended up with the ITS, an archive and documentation center that tracks Nazi persecution and the fates of those who survived. The trip to Novellara came quickly after that, during which she met multiple other relatives. An additional visit is already being planned.
Meanwhile, Bachmann was raised by her Germany family, forbidden to ask too many questions about her mother. She was told that her mother was Italian and was led to believe that she was dead.
“Even as a child, I had the sense that something wasn’t right,” said Bachmann, who now lives near Frankfurt. She said she only got the courage to look for her birth mother years after her father, whom she described as strict, died.
Aided by her own daughters, she tracked down her birth certificate and ended up with the ITS, an archive and documentation center that tracks Nazi persecution and the fates of those who survived. The trip to Novellara came quickly after that, during which she met multiple other relatives. An additional visit is already being planned.
http://www.sfgate.com/world/article/70-years-later-mother-and-daughter-separated-by-6440633.php
70 years later, mother and daughter separated by Nazis reunite
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Updated 12:53 pm, Thursday, August 13, 2015
70 years later, mother and daughter separated by Nazis reunite
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Updated 12:53 pm, Thursday, August 13, 2015
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