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TheSapoczkowski familyis reunited after more than 120 years, thanks to the combinedresearch efforts of Daniel Paczkowski (Ancestral Tourism in Poland)and the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA). In March 2020Daniel’s skilled archival sleuthingled us to South America, where we discovered second-degree relativesalive and well in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Sundry travel documentsrevealed Nison Sapockowski (b. 1916), my mother's first cousin, fledBialystok in 1936, anticipating the unspeakable historical eventsthat were to follow.Replik Rolex Uhren Nison left behind a largeextended family, whose fate rested entirely in the hands of Nazis andNazi collaborators. To the best of our knowledge, all perished by1943.

Nison Sapockowski’s passport is a treasured family heirloom.

InArgentina, Nison and his wife SalomeaNagel, also from the northeastern Polish town of Bialystok, raisedthree girls, Juana, Susana, and Dora. There’sno conclusive evidence, but Nison Sapockowski likely was unaware thatfive of his father's 10 siblings, including my grandfather, YakowIckowicz Sapoczkowski,immigrated to the United States between 1900 and 1912. Judging fromtheir initial reaction of shock and disbelief, it was obvious ourArgentinean mishpacha knew nothingabout living, breathing relatives in North America, assumingcorrectly that no one survived theGerman occupation.

NisonMowszewicz Sopockowski was the only family member from Europewho managed to avoid the horrors of World War II, having emigratedbefore the conflict began.(I recently learned the Sapoczkowski siblings in America tried torescue their youngest sister and her 15-year-old son from Nazipersecution and death. This attempt to save Dr. Olga GoldaSapoczkowska-Plusserowa and Adolph failed in the end, and both werearrested and put to death in Czortków, Poland, 1942.)

Weall thought we knew our family’s Holocaust story—until ourbombshell discovery of Nison Sapockowski’s journey to Argentina(equally staggering to La Familia Argentina is recognizing they arenot alone on the family tree). Way too many of my Jewish friends losteverybody, I mean 100% of their family who were stuck in Europe andthen went to the gas chambers or were burned alive in barns andsynagogues, were shot in the streets and forests, or were buried inunmarked mass graves.Replica Horloges Nederland So, it’s a tremendous development to findrelatives in Sudamerica we never knew we had—I suppose one couldcall it a tragic story with a happy ending.

P.S.The big news is that my brother, niece, and I spent six days inBuenos Aires before returning home on December 28, 2024, meeting upfor the first time with three brand spanking new second cousins andtheir families. I’m delighted to report that everything wentswimmingly well. It’s hard to describe the sensation of meetingsomeone for the first time yet sensing you’ve known them forever orseeing the reflection of mother in the faces of our cousins, butthat’s the feeling we had. It was a profound experience we willtreasure for years to come.

Las 3 Hnas Sapockowski and the Boxt brothers track their family history on a pedigree chart.

Family reunited after 125 years apart. Buenos Aires, Argentina. December 24, 2025

Hoorayfor genealogical research! Kudos to Daniel Paczkowski. ¡Viva lafamilia!

MatthewA. Boxt, Ph.D.

LosAngeles, California

January8, 2025