This Holocaust survivor rediscovered her Jewish roots decades later—thanks to a Canadian genealogist

In 1942, while Nazis were forcing the Jews of Krosno, Poland to move into the local ghetto, they missed at least one: an eight-month-old Jewish infant, left in a ditch by her frantic mother, wrapped only in a blanket, with just a birthdate and false first name pinned to the wool. A passing Polish couple found the child, brought her home and raised her as a Christian. She never knew her real name or identity, despite—she told people years later—always feeling that she was Jewish. It wasn’t until 2017 that a band of keen Jewish genealogy researchers, including the late Stanley Diamondof Montreal, managed to crack the mystery and confirm that Maria Vasitinskaya was really Rivka Silber. And despite her parents and two older siblings being murdered in the Holocaust, Diamond was able to reconnect the child survivor, then 78, with her extended family, including approximately 100 relatives in Israel and around the world. In April 2025, this remarkable true story is being published as a new non-fiction book, One in Six Million, by Amy Fish, a Canadian author. Fish joins The CJN Daily to explain how the tale fell into her lap—and how an unexpected genetic twist made telling it literally part of her own DNA.

Related links

• Learn more about the book One in Six Million here.
• Read about the late Stanley Diamond’s passion for reuniting Holocaust survivors, in The CJN.
• Hear Stanley Diamond profiled on our newest Honourable Menschen podcast.
• Learn more about free DNA tests for Holocaust survivors.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

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