We Are Family
By Susan Shalhoub
Ann Meddin Hellman is the family historian who received an email alert from My Heritage that she had a second-cousin DNA match. That launched the reunion with Shalom, who lives in Israel and is a survivor of the Holocaust.
Daniel Minkow of Winter Park, his wife Karen Middlekauff Minkow, and two-year-old son Bradley made a meaningful trip in July, one that was full of family, heritage, and hope.
The Minkows traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, to meet a relative they didn’t know about until recently: 83-year-old Shalom Korai of Israel, who is a survivor of the Holocaust. About 50 other family members also made the journey from all over the United States to introduce themselves to one of their own.
“We had four generations here,” says Ann Meddin Hellman, who hosted the reunion at the home she shares with husband Max. “Besides Shalom, himself, the farthest a relative traveled was from Montana.”
It isn’t every day that NBC News shows up for a family reunion. For Shalom’s arrival, however, the camera crew was ready.
“What an amazing experience,” says Daniel, who is Shalom’s second cousin twice removed.
Putting the puzzle pieces together
It was August of 2023 when Ann, the family historian and Daniel’s grandmother’s first cousin, received an email message from family-tree creation site My Heritage: You have a DNA match for a second cousin – Petro Korczak. It was a name she didn’t recognize on her father’s side of the family. Puzzled, Ann became a woman on a mission.
Holocaust survivor Shalom, left, with cousin Daniel Minkow and Daniel’s two-year-old son, Bradley. Daniel, a Winter Park resident, is a fifth-grade history teacher.
“Ann sent out a mass family email that said she was trying to figure out lost Holocaust family roots and got a name she didn’t recognize,” says Daniel. “I didn’t know we had any Holocaust connections, never mind survivors, so for me this was extraordinary.”
Research then entered a new phase.
Ann says another cousin used Ancestry.com, which allows swapping of data with My Heritage. Combining information, the two learned that Shalom Korai, who changed his name from Petro Korczak, was one of the children rescued by the legendary Lena Kuchler-Silberman, a Polish woman who saved and resettled about 100 children from Poland to Israel during the Holocaust.
“I didn’t know we had any Holocaust connections, never mind survivors, so for me this was extraordinary.”
In a story that aired on NBC News, Ann told her newfound family member’s tale: Shalom was found in a Warsaw ghetto in 1941 in a burlap bag, concealed in an orphanage, before he was moved from Poland to France and ultimately, to Israel. He changed his own name at age eight or nine. “He didn’t have a family tree. He said he was an orphan from the Holocaust,” says Ann.
“He didn’t have his birth name. After the war, when Israel became a state, Holocaust survivors took on different Hebrew names. It was not unusual for that time.”
Shalom was thrilled to learn about his large extended family in the United States. Ann says he also has two children (a third is deceased) and eight grandchildren in Israel. Shalom is planning to return to the States with his son for another visit next year.
Shalom (center, gray shirt) was one of the children rescued by the legendary Lena Kuchler-Silberman, a Polish woman who safely resettled about 100 children from Poland to Israel during the Holocaust.
The Big Reveal
With bright skies and the help of a caterer, the July family reunion day was full of laughter, tears, and incredulity over family likeness.
“It’s very evident he is our relative,” says Daniel.
Ann couldn’t agree more, saying, “Shalom looks exactly like my brother Stuart.”
A friend of Shalom’s from Israel made the journey with him and served as the translator.
“Shalom was not nervous or shy,” says Daniel. “You could feel the love. People had come from all around the country, and he was so appreciative. He is such a lovely man.”
For Daniel, having his son be photographed with a cousin who survived the Holocaust was poignant. Daniel, a fifth-grade history teacher at Park Maitland School, knows Bradley will eventually learn about the Holocaust, and that this connection will mean so much as he grows older.
For Ann, her family tree research and the unexpected My Heritage notification changed her life forever.
“It was a shock to find Shalom,” she says. “Nothing that I have done has given me as much satisfaction, reward, and warmth as this has. Family is everything.”
This story was originally published in print in Fall 2024.