During a visit to Auschwitz, a 17-year-old from the Bronx, New York, unexpectedly discovered an 80-year-old family-mystery, who brought a long-sought closure to his family by revealing a missing piece of their painful past.
While touring an exhibition of spooky children's drawings with guards, weapons and trains in the notorious skull, the teenager, called Yuval, made a life-changing discovery: the name of the brother of his grandfather, the 13-year-old Freddy Popper, below The artwork.
Freddy's Lot had remained a mystery, lost from history after the brothers from their house were separated in Slovakia.
“So far, Freddy's fate were only rumors,” Yuval told the New York Post. “This trip gave my family and concluding that we had never thought.”
The Holocaust had irrevocably changed the course of the life of Michael Popper and left a void where his older brother Freddy once stood.
In the age of just 10 years, Michael was sheltered in the mountains, hidden in the barn of a Christian family, while Freddy was sent to live with family members in Budapest.
Tragically enough, Freddy's aunt and uncle, both pharmacists, poisoned themselves before the Nazi invasion, in the hope that their death could improve the chances of survival of Freddy if he was discovered.
While Michael survived, the mystery of his brother's fate chased him until his death in 2020.
During a visit to Auschwitz, a teenager unexpectedly unlocked an 80-year-old family-mysteria, which finally ends the family by revealing a missing piece of their painful past
During a visit to Auschwitz, Yuval made a life-changing discovery: the name of the brother of his grandfather, the 13-year-old Freddy Popper
For Yuval, the journey, part of the Friends of Israel Scouts Group (Tzofim Noord -Merika), was deeply personal.
“I thought of thousands of scenarios about what would happen during the trip,” he said, “and I couldn't have imagined it would be [solving] This family -mysteria. '
Yuval's mother, Michal Poran, the leader of the New York chapter who accompanied the delegation, described the moment as the landslide. “I
“I saw the name and my heart stopped. I couldn't catch my breath. The healing something that has been broken for generations, “said Poran, 46, who immediately sent a photo of her uncle's name to her own mother.
The emotional discovery came in the summer of 2024, just a few months after the October 7 massacre in Israel, which claimed thousands of lives and ignited the war in Israel-Has.
“In the past and present tragedies intertwined, which strengthens the importance of connecting our youth with their heritage,” Yaniv Biran, CEO of Tzofim Noord -Merika, told The Post.
For Yuval, the transformative experience became the basis of his essay of the college.
He described at the cemetery, overwhelmed by a sense of connection with his ancestors
In just 10 years old, Michael (right) was hidden in the barn of a Christian family, while Freddy was sent to live with family members in Budapest, but Freddy's Fate remained a mystery (depicted: the mother of Michael and Yuval as a child)
“I felt that my entire family generations and generations of my family with me stood behind me, persistent to me,” the teenager said about the life-changing moment.
'I really wish my Saba [grandpa] Could have seen this and we could have talked about it, “said Yuval.
Think about the tragedy of the death of his overcame at such a young age, Yuval said: 'It would have been sad, but I think he would have been proud of me for going on this trip and finding this piece of family history. '
