Search Ends with Joyous Meeting of Long-Lost Relatives

Written by Stephanie Kriner, Staff Writer, RedCross.org

June 22, 2001 —  Ted Margulis knew he had relatives somewhere in the former Soviet Union – if any of them had survived World War II. However, the possibility of somehow finding them had never crossed his mind until he saw a chart of his family tree at a 1962 family reunion. That's when his 4-decade search began.

Ted Margulis (black shirt) met his nephew Semion for the first time when he arrived by plane in Los Angeles.

Margulis, now 70, knew that nearly two decades before he was born his father immigrated to the United States in 1914 to work with his brother in Minnesota. But before he could save enough money to bring his family over, his wife passed away. His two sons were forced to stay in Ukraine because they had a communicable eye disease called trachoma and were not permitted in the United States. When Margulis' father remarried, the only one to witness the ceremony in America was his daughter, who came to the United States when she was 14. The sons eventually faded into time and distance, but Margulis was determined to wade through both to find his brothers.

He learned from relatives that his oldest half brother was killed by the Nazis along with his wife and children during World War II. During the war, his younger half brother fled with his family to Siberia and then was sent to Stalingrad where he fought for the Russian army. Margulis had a number of his brother's war medals stowed away but still couldn't find the war hero. With the help of a fellow genealogist in Ukraine who he met through email, Margulis found his younger half brother's grave. But Margulis longed to learn more about the fate of his brothers' families. He also wanted to find the grave of his oldest half brother. "It was almost an impossible situation, but I kept pushing to find out more," he said.

He finally submitted a request in 1995 for help from the Red Cross.

Since the end of Word War II, the American Red Cross has been helping families separated by the Holocaust by providing tracing and documentation services. These services – offered by Red Cross societies worldwide -- help families learn the fate of their loved ones. Sometimes, they may even find lost family members. In many cases, Red Cross societies from around the world work together in the search.

For six long years, Margulis waited while the Red Cross pored over documents, such as immigration papers, lists of people assigned to concentration camps and phone books. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Cross societies throughout the former Soviet republics scoured these and other public records for a trace of anyone from Margulis' family.

As they searched, Margulis waited patiently, and the years ticked by.

Finally, one summer day last year, Margulis walked into his home office and could hardly believe his eyes. Waiting in the fax machine was a letter from the American Red Cross Holocaust and War Victims Tracing and Information Center in Baltimore, Md. The organization had found his nephew Semion. Margulis learned that Semion was his youngest half brother's son, who had moved from Ukraine to Melbourne, Australia. The letter provided Margulis with Semion's address and phone number. The center had received the information from the Australian Red Cross, which had discovered Semion's whereabouts after receiving a letter from the Belarus Red Cross stating that he had relocated there.

"I still get sentimental thinking about the moment when I saw that letter," Margulis said.

Margulis called his 65-year-old nephew almost immediately and the two lost relatives – uncle and nephew just 5 years apart -- chatted for an hour before making plans to meet when Semion came to the United States for his grandson's bar mitzvah.

"I have been on top of the world ever since I came to America to see my uncle," Semion said recently from Margulis' Palm Desert, Calif., home. "I can not believe that my uncle spent so many years searching to find me."

The American Red Cross greeted Semion in the airport.

After spending just a few days together in Palm Desert this past spring, the pair seemed as if they had known each other their whole lives. "We talk constantly," Semion said. "I think I need another couple years to continue our conversation, but now we will stay in touch and the Red Cross won't have to reunite us again."

Margulis, who is still hoping that the Red Cross can learn the fate of his two half brothers, proudly bragged about how much alike he and his nephew were. "We have the same exact hairstyle," he said. "It's an unbelievable thing. Even our interests are the same. We're both interested in history."

Although sad to part ways at the end of the short visit after such a long search, Margulis felt assured that the reunion was just beginning. "The story will never end," he said. "Next year, my wife and I will fly to Australia. Semion and I have become good friends as well as relatives."

The American Red Cross has helped reunite some 1,000 families, many of them Holocaust survivors. "People who request Red Cross tracing help are looking to find the fate of their loved ones. In many cases, they have no idea where they are," said Arnold Levine, a tracing specialist at the Holocaust and War Victims Tracing and Information Center. "There were so many people displaced or killed during the Holocaust. In many cases people know their relatives are probably dead and we're just trying to bring closure. We are very lucky when we find a match."