I have been searching the fate of my lost sister for most of my life, wrote a book to her, have searched every database I can think of, conducted personal interviews, and am awaiting DNA test results.
To date, I have found nothing proving what truly happened to my sister, but I have found the grave of my Uncle Leo Chimowicz.
I had searched cemetery databases worldwide, retraced what I knew about my Uncle Leo, zoomed in
and searched data in countries near where he might have chosen to live after the Second World War.
When I found a girl who was 3 years older than my lost sister, this new friend said to me, "Maybe your Uncles hitched a ride with us to Prague." It was a long-shot, but I zoomed in on Prague once again, reading every single grave posted (not all worldwide grave sites are on the Internet) and I found him.
After years of searching, I found the grave of my Uncle Leo Chimowicz, who was alive on release from concentration camp Theresienstadt in May, 1945, but was suffering from his wounds. Being tall at 6'4" was not an advantage at that time. Uncle Leo, the beloved youngest brother of my father and his older brother Alfred, died and was buried in the "New Jewish Cemetery" in Prague, Czech.
My lesson here is that one should listen to every word and re-research anything one has done in the past. Redoing does not insure success, but new retrospective data is being added to databases each and everyday.
Sometimes a small clue will enable one to narrow the question, zoom into an area, or at least eliminate some areas. In my case, my new friend's simple statement led me to completing deep web research limiting my geographic area -- no longer having to search Poland, Russia, Germany, etc., I was able to concentrate fully on one city, in one country, just in case.
Had my new friend Eva not stated it in these words, "Maybe your Uncle hitched a ride with us to Prague," I would not yet have found my Uncle Leo's grave. I pictured my uncles hitching a ride with young Eva and her family. I knew my father did not go with his brothers as my father was searching for his wife and child who had once lived in another direction. My father had told me his parting words to his beloved brother as my father sought the West and his youngest sibling sought the East where he hoped to find word of his own wife and his three young sons.
I never imagined a short flight to another city in the U.S., to visit my new friend, would end in finding the grave of my Uncle!
What more can I learn about my family? I need only keep my eyes and ears open for more
clues!
One comment my new friend made was, "Rosa, you can not do a memorial for your sister, she might be alive." This statement has given me the courage to continue the search, update my book "
Walk Forward" via its blog, facebook and twitter info, and inspired me to keep going in the search for my sister, a beautiful nine-year-old girl last documented in Stutthof on September 3, 1944.
Eugenia Chimowicz, my older sister, survived so close to the end, could she possibly have made it through the horrors of Stutthof and be alive and somehow find this blog?
