Auschwitz prisoner No. A7733 has finally found family. Elias Gottesman (now Menachem Bodner), a survivor of the Mengele twin experiments, was only three years old when he, his twin brother Jeno (Yoilly) and his family were taken to Auschwitz. Last month, through the work of a very persistent volunteer genealogist, he found first cousins he didn’t know existed. From them he got a photograph of his parents whom he could no longer picture in his mind and other family photos. His entire family was lost in the death camps except his mother, who was killed in a pogrom in 1948, years after he had last seen her. Menachem is still searching for his twin brother, who he believes also survived Auschwitz.
Above: Elias Gottesman. Below: His parents, Roza and Ignatz Gottesman.
Auschwitz prisoner No. A7733 has finally found family. Elias Gottesman (now Menachem Bodner), a survivor of the Mengele twin experiments, was only three years old when he, his twin brother Jeno (Yoilly) and his family were taken to Auschwitz. Last month, through the work of a very persistent volunteer genealogist, he found first cousins he didn’t know existed. From them he got a photograph of his parents whom he could no longer picture in his mind and other family photos. His entire family was lost in the death camps except his mother, who was killed in a pogrom in 1948. Menachem is still searching for his twin brother,who he believes also survived Auschwitz.
Read the amazing story of how the genealogist, Ayana KimRon, found Menachem's (Elias's) family here.