Jennie Milne aged three, holding her mother Elizabeth’s hand in Lustleigh, Devon where Elizabeth was abandoned during WW2.
SEEKING KIN - A SEARCH FOR LOST FAMILY
‘Those from among you shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.’ - Isaiah 58:12
Earliest known image of Elizabeth
Handwritten notes taken by Elizabeth after briefly meeting her parents in 1965
Michael Tobias (Co-founder and Board Member of Jewish Records Indexing) - located my grandmother’s birth records, providing the key to her identity.
Helena Lis (nee Rothenberg) M.O.D. record. This document unlocked the mystery of my grandmother’s identity
The first image ever seen in our family of our grandmother. Mother-daughter comparison.
The Passport discovered in 2020, used by Helena to flee occupied Europe.
Staff Seargent Helena Lis circa 1944
Stanislaw's handwritten account of his part in Poland's 1939 September Campaign
Janusz Ral (Polish Military Historian) helped me locate and translate many of my grandparents (particularly my grandfather’s) records.
Bex Bellingham, (granddaughter of Helena and Stanislaw Lis).
'Stanisław Lis. Political Refugee.
1903 - Lwow Poland 1967 - London
He did not live to see again his beloved country.
Wie doczekał się powrotu do ukochanej ojczyzny.'
Sorry, it took us so long, grandad. xxx
Doig Simmonds, Helena’s neighbor in London for many years.
‘‘Dear Jennie,
I have found the only photo I have of Helena your grandmother – on the day of her marriage to Jan Konopka – probably at Kensington Registry Office.
I am also sending you a brass joss stick vessel for incense which Helena used constantly as an ashtray! I’d love you to have these things. Ruth and I loved Helena in our different ways. When your letter arrived, I burst into tears not realizing then why. Now I do! She represented so much to me- Broken lives, the terror of war – being a refugee, fighting back, etc. I’m so glad I had the privilege of caring for her during the last phase of her life.
We, the British owe an immeasurable debt to the Poles. They led the way to breaking the enigma codes, their fighter pilots taught our air force how to win at aerial combat and then we had the gall NOT TO INCLUDE them in the victory parade after the war – we were scared of Stalin!!
We will carry on our love of Helena till we reach the great horizon ourselves!
Yours Doig’
Jennie traced Doig Simmonds in 2015.
Helena sleeping with her brass ashtray in situ.
Bex Bellingham at our grandmothers grave, Gunnersbury Cemetary, London
Katyn Memorial to 22,000 Polish military officers and intelligentsia, murdered by the Soviet Union in April and May 1940. Gunnersbury Cemetary, London.
Helena’s older sister Irena (Rothenberg) Russocka and her son Włodzimierz (James) Russocki. Pre war Poland
Countess Irena (Rothenberg) Russocka and her son James. Taken after WW2
Sandy (Russocki), Ohio, USA. James’ oldest daughter. My 2nd cousin.
Renata (Russocki) Ohio, USA. James Russocki’s younger daughter..the first member of my mother’s living family I ever spoke to.
Helena's smile. Family photographs
Helena with her beloved nephew James. London.
Helena's doorstep, Ealing. 1997 and 2017 (Anna Forbes, Helena’s oldest grandaughter)
Ada (left) Emil and Fania (Fania and her daughters perished in the Holocaust.
Alan Rothenberg of San Francisco, son of Emil. Together. My mum’s 2nd cousin.