10 Finding Your Roots Reveals from the Holocaust & WWII

Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at celebrities with ancestral connections to the Holocaust and WWII that have been discussed in the PBS series “Finding Your Roots.”

Diane von Furstenberg

Unlike many celebrities on “Finding Your Roots,” iconic fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg already knew that her mother, Liliane Nahmias, survived Auschwitz. She credits her mother’s resilience for making her the woman she is today, as well as her father, Leon Halfin. Something she didn’t know was how her paternal great-grandmother, Sara Weinberg, died in 1941. Sara had already told Leon to stay away from the city—a choice that would save his life. Then, in October of that year, Sara was one of the thousands of other Jewish prisoners who were captured and eventually killed. She could’ve perished in a fire set by Nazi soldiers, or shot in a ravine. Either way, Sara and so many others lost their lives.

Pamela Adlon

After solving a decades-long mystery in her mother’s family, actress-filmmaker Pamela Adlon learned more about her paternal roots. Two of her great-grand-aunts, Menikha and Zhenya, stayed in Kyiv, while their other siblings emigrated to America. The “Finding Your Roots” team couldn’t trace Zhenya’s life, but they found some info on her sister’s family. Menikha’s daughter, Clara Birman, married a Ukrainian man named Anatoly. When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, he went off to war and his wife and children moved in with his mother. But when their village was taken over by the German army, Anatoly’s mother exposed her daughter-in-law and grandchildren as Jewish, which ultimately led to their tragic deaths. Adlon was at least relieved to know Menikha survived WWII, and lived in Ukraine until her passing in 1969.

Carole King

On the Season 2 episode, “Our People, Our Traditions,” legendary singer-songwriter Carole King realized why her maternal grandmother wasn’t more loving and warm, or willing to talk about her past. In Russia, she’d lived through a pogrom, an organized mass murder of Jewish residents, where 32 of her neighbors were killed. The episode also includes two more stories of Eastern European Jewish ancestry. Playwright Tony Kushner had several Polish-Jewish ancestors among the 2,000 who were killed in a 1941 massacre in the Bukowinka Forest. And Attorney Alan Dershowitz’s grandfather, Louis, saved 28 relatives from Czechoslovakia in 1939, bringing them to his synagogue in New York. All three guests learned that, even though their ancestors endured tragedies, they still managed to triumph.

Debra Messing

“Finding Your Roots” gave “Will & Grace” star Debra Messing the opportunity to learn much more about her paternal grandparents, Millie and Morris Messing. In 1923, Morris, his father, Hyam, his mother, Esther, and two of his siblings arrived in America. Hyam’s brother, Abraham, Debra’s great-grand uncle, whom she’d never heard of, stayed in Poland and settled in Krakow with his wife, Sara, and their three children. In 1939, German soldiers invaded the city, and in 1940, Krakow’s Jewish residents were ordered to leave. Registration records show that Abraham, his son, Salman, and daughter, Vita, moved 100 miles from Krakow. However, details about their lives and deaths are unknown, as is the fate of Sara and their daughter, Golda.

Richard Kind

Actor Richard Kind knew he descended from Jewish immigrants on both sides of his family. But Henry Louis Gates Jr. provided in-depth detail about their lives. Kind’s maternal third great-grandfather, Meyer Wacht, emigrated from Poland to New York in 1891 and had his family members join him. Meyer’s nephew, Avraham Wacht, lived there with three of his brothers, but eventually returned home. By 1910, he was married with children in the town of Narew. But Avraham and his family, along with roughly 300 Jewish Narew residents, were forced into a confined area where they endured immense cruelty. When the area was evacuated in late 1942, Avraham’s son, Leibel, escaped. In his written accounts, he credits a kind Polish farmer for saving his life while risking his own.

Lena Dunham

For Lena Dunham, appearing on “Finding Your Roots” uncovered some heartwarming information, like her maternal grandparents’ wedding announcement. But going back further revealed the heartbreaking reality of her ancestors’ lives during WWII. Her great-great-grandmother, Regina Seltenwirth, immigrated to New York at a young age, but her parents and at least 11 siblings stayed in Europe. One of her brothers, Moses Seltenwirth, lived in Hungary with his family until they were split up, and he lost track of his daughter, Ilona. She was sent to Kamianets-Podilskyi, the city where an estimated 24,000 Jewish people were massacred in August 1941. While Moses, his wife, and their son survived, Ilona’s whereabouts and fate remained unknown. Sadly, she was likely among the thousands who were killed.

Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson already knew a little about her maternal ancestors who immigrated to New York. But as always, there’s much more to their story and the family members left behind in Europe. Johansson’s great-grandfather, Sol Schlamberg, made his way to America from Poland in 1910, while his brother, Moishe, remained in Grojec. By 1942, Moishe, his wife, their 10 children, and hundreds of Grojec’s Jewish residents, were sent to the Warsaw Ghetto, where they suffered from starvation, diseases, and cruelty from Nazi soldiers, with the threat of deportation or death always looming. The Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum had a testimony from one of Moishe’s daughters, detailing her family’s deaths. Johansson was moved when she read about their devastating fates.

Alanis Morissette

Growing up, Alanis Morissette was raised Catholic. The Canadian-American singer-songwriter found out later in adulthood that she was Jewish and heard stories of her mom’s life as a child of Holocaust survivors. While Alanis’ grandfather, Imre Feuerstein, wasn’t forced into the “work battalions,” no one knew the fate of his brothers, Gyorgy and Sandor. For years, Imre tried to find out where his siblings ended up, but to no avail. The show’s researchers solved the decades-long mystery, finding testimonies that confirmed the two men were enslaved in a labor camp and sent to Russia, where they died. Unfortunately, Imre passed away before he could finally get closure.

Iliza Shlesinger

Actor-comedian Iliza Shlesinger appeared on “Finding Your Roots” to trace her paternal roots. She learned that her great-grandmother, Esther Szonek, courageously emigrated from Poland to New York in 1921 and paid her own way. But her parents and five siblings didn’t make the journey with her. One of her brothers, Lipa, was working in Mlawa when German soldiers invaded the small town in 1939. Within a year of the invasion, Jewish residents were all imprisoned in what’s called a “walled-in ghetto.” A few years later, Lipa and many others were sent to Auschwitz, and after a few months at the concentration camp, he died of “myocardial degeneration.” Amazingly, Esther’s brother, Abraham, and his family survived the invasion in France and joined her in New York in 1955.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Kristen Bell

The Actress Wept with Pride Hearing About Her Grandfather’s Bravery in WWII

Jeff Goldblum

The Actor Was Moved to Tears Learning About His Ancestor’s Fate as a Soviet Soldier

George Stephanopoulos

The Anchor’s Great-Grandfather Paid the Price as a Freedom Fighter Against Nazi-Occupied Greece

David Duchovny

The Actor-Musician Was Proud of His Ancestors’ Resilience in the Face of Anti-Semitism

Mandy Patinkin

Mandy Patinkin’s paternal grandfather, Max Patinka, immigrated to New York in 1906. What the actor didn’t know was that his great-uncle, David, had already made the journey. However, David went back to Poland. During a robbery, he and his wife were murdered, along with two of their five children. David’s surviving sons, Chaim and Lejzor, had a similar story. Chaim settled in New York in 1939. But his brother, Lejzor, stayed in the Polish town of Bransk with his family. By late 1942, they were among the over two thousand Jewish residents transported to the Treblinka concentration camp. Just days later, they were killed in a gas chamber. Patinkin was visibly devastated to learn about the gruesome deaths of his ancestors.

Do you have ancestors who lived through WWII? Feel free to share your stories in the comments below.