What We Do

After years of working in the Jewish genetic genealogy space, co-founders Jennifer Mendelsohn and Dr. Adina Newman recognized how revolutionary DNA testing could be for the Holocaust Survivor community. Together, they created the concept for the Holocaust Reunion Project.

Initially piloted at the Center for Jewish History in November 2022 and launched as an independent non-profit in 2024, the program serves three primary functions:

• We distribute free DNA tests to the survivor community, as well as raise awareness of the potential of testing to reconnect separated family members. If you are a Holocaust survivor or child of a survivor, please apply for your free DNA kit here.
• We provide free expert genealogical research exclusively to Holocaust survivors and their families. Co-founders Jennifer Mendelsohn and Dr. Adina Newman specialize in solving complex cases, such as hidden children, unknown parentage, or cases where people are first learning of hidden Jewish history from DNA testing. Learn more about some of our success stories. If you need assistance, please email us at info@holocaustreunions.org.
• We educate and empower the survivor community – and the greater Jewish community–to investigate their own history by teaching them how to analyze their DNA results and locate pertinent records. Several myths circulate around both DNA testing and the availability of Holocaust records, which thwart would-be researchers from delving into their past, robbing them of the opportunity to reclaim their family history. If you’d like to have us present to your organization, please email us at speaking@holocaustreunions.org.

Success Stories

Since the launch of the project, over 1200 Holocaust Survivors or children of survivors from all over the world have received free DNA tests.

Some highlights of our reunion efforts include:

• Identifying the biological parents of a child smuggled out of the Bialystok ghetto who had searched for decades to learn her identity.
• Tracking down the biological family of two elderly Polish adoptees who were abandoned separately during the war and later in life DNA tested to learn not only that they were sisters but Ashkenazi Jewish.
• Identifying the unknown father of Jackie Young, a child survivor of Theresienstadt.
• One project participant learned that his survivor father – who believed that “he had no remaining blood relatives left on Earth” – actually had an uncle who had survived the war and gone to France.