BERLIN – A man who was separated from his mother at the end of World War II and raised in New Zealand is meeting his German family for the first time after discovering his true identity.
The International Tracing Service in the town of Bad Arolsen says it helped 69-year-old George Jaunzemis find his family, 66 years after he was separated from his mother at a Belgian displaced persons camp and adopted by another woman.
Jaunzemis' mother searched for her lost son for years, but he was living in New Zealand with a Latvian woman who found him in the camp and spirited him away from authorities.
Jaunzemis stumbled across his story while trying to trace his family's Latvian roots. He is meeting his family in Germany this week and receiving his 150-page file at the ITS on Thursday.