Dora Rapaport managed to survive the Holocaust and escaped from being imprisoned in Auschwitz. Unfortunately, she was separated from her oldest daughter. Eva, who was only 2-years-old at the time, was taken away from her in the concentration camps, never to be seen again. Dora had no idea what had become of Eva, but she persistently searched for her till the very end.

She was taken away at two years old while she lived in the concentration camps where several members of her family perished.

Dora’s 2-year- old was taken from her while several members of her family died in the gas chambers in concentration camps. In spite of this, she never lost hope that Eva was still alive somewhere in the world. She moved to Austria in 1945, where she met her future spouse in a displaced persons camp after being liberated.

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Despite starting a new family, Dora never gave up on Eva

But even after having two more daughters, Dena Morris and Jean Gearhart, with her new husband, Dora never forgot about Eva and has made numerous attempts to contact her over the years. She kept searching for her baby girl because she couldn’t cope with losing her. Eva was always in Dora’s heart, and she made a point to search for her no matter what.

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Dora travelled to orphanages in Germany and begged caretakers to let her walk around to search for her daughter.

Dora travelled to several orphanages in Germany and begged the caretakers to let her roam around to look for her long-lost daughter. When Dora was unsuccessful in her search, and as she lay dying in 1996, she asked her daughters Dena and Jean to keep searching for Eva in her stead. Morris said that her mother spent her entire life searching for Eva- “She spent her whole life looking for this child.”

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Eva’s sisters kept their promise to their mother and searched through death records at the Red Cross for help only with their sister’s name.

The sisters kept their word and sought assistance from the Red Cross by providing only the name of their sister in their inquiries. They searched through the death records in hopes of finding her name- a name that not even their lost sister might have known. Their search bore no results, and it was only after they agreed to have a DNA test that they found the answer they were looking for.

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The results revealed a niece in England named Clare.

There was a niece in England named Clare, according to the results. They were so taken aback by the news that they had to verify it with the DNA testing company MyHeritage. So, they called the company for confirmation, and the company’s research team found records showing that. Eva left Marseille aboard a ship called the Kirnia, which sailed to Israel in 1948.

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Clare sent the sisters a photo of her mother and it looked identical to Eva, their sister

Dena and Jean’s doubts were dispelled when Clare sent them a photo of her mother. When they saw this picture, they knew it was their sister right away. “It’s insane because Clare’s mother looks identical to Mum. Everything from the color that they colored their hair to their build, their appearance, the look on their face… it is exactly the same”, Dena commented.

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Eva, had also searched for her biological parents

They found out that Eva, too, had been searching for her biological family for years but eventually grew up believing she was an orphan. In this regard, both Dora and Eva were trying their best to reunite with each other. Just like her estranged mother, Eva too made a point to search for her family no matter what.

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Eva lived in an orphanage in Israel for eight years until she was adopted by a family who moved to England where she grew up.

Eva was put on a boat by a couple and then taken to Israel. She spent eight years in an orphanage until being adopted by a family who relocated to England, where she grew up.

Sadly, Dena and Jean never got to meet their late sister Eva, who died in 2014. However, their life-long search was finally over. After finding out that their elder sister had survived and lived a good life, they managed to get some closure.

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The search was over, but it was a bittersweet experience.

“This is all so amazing that I’m just not sure how to feel. I’m just in disbelief at this point, mainly because this has been such a lifelong struggle. They both were so tortured over it that I just wish it could have happened years ago, where they both could have had some peace of mind”, said Dena. It was a bittersweet experience since both of them lived their lives believing they had no family.

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Dena and Jean are thankful for having Eva’s daughter in their life

Now the sisters are very happy and grateful to have their niece, who serves as a reminder of their long-lost elder sister. Dena expressed her hope that both their Mom and Eva were reunited in heaven- “I’m hoping that they’re both in heaven, their souls together. And they know.”

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