Adriana Turk, 74, from Merimbula in southeastern Australia, discovered more than 50 family members worldwide after taking a DNA test. She had believed her entire family tree was wiped out in the Holocaust.
Born to a German Jewish father who fled Nazi Germany in 1937, Ms Turk was told that all her relatives were murdered. Her grandmother died in the Warsaw Ghetto, while her aunt, uncle and their two children were killed in Auschwitz in 1944.
After her brother died, Ms Turk decided to try a DNA test through MyHeritage. She found descendants of three Holocaust survivors from her grandmother's line, including Renate Püttmann, who was hidden by a German soldier as a teenager. Renate had eight children, whose descendants now live in Germany, Brazil and Israel.
Last week, Ms Turk connected with her cousin Raanan Gidron, 73, a psychotherapist in Israel. His mother survived Theresienstadt and Auschwitz. The cousins plan to meet in Europe in August.
Ms Turk said: 'As a child I used to feel invisible. I felt empty. How do you feel something when you don't know what it is? But I've found it now.' Mr Gidron added that their reunion sends a message of hope for the Jewish community.
