It was more than seven decades ago that a young Italian woman, Gianna, had a baby with a German soldier while living and working at a labor camp in Heidelberg. Gianna was forced to hand over the baby to authorities after her parental custody was revoked.
That baby girl, Margot Bachmann, lived in a children's home and was later adopted by the German soldier's family. The girl grew up being told he mother had died, while Gianna moved on believing that her daughter had been killed.
"Dear Mum, my name is Margot Bachmann and I am your daughter, born on Oct 25 1944 in Heidelberg. All my life I asked my family about you, without being given any answers. I want to come and find you so that I can hug you once again. I'm immensely happy to be able to finally know you," wrote Margot to her Italian mother on finally knowing her whereabouts. Last weekend, the Italian village of Novellara witnessed the reunion of Bachmann and her 91-year old mother -- 71 years after being separated, The Washington Post reported.
The miracle came about due to the efforts of the International Tracing Service. "I wanted to find out who my mother was, to see if we were alike, maybe find some photos and some information. I never dared to hope that I would be able to hold her in my arms. Now I'm overjoyed that she's doing well and I got to meet her," Bachmann said in an ITS press release.
"I started out doing some research, hoping to know a bit more about my mother. But I would never have imagined that I would be able to embrace her once again. I'm so happy to have found her still alive, despite her advanced age. My father had forbidden me from looking for her, and I began to do so only after his death," said Mrs Bachmann, according to The Telegraph.
"What we experienced this weekend in Novellara borders on a miracle," said Friederike Scharlau, an ITS employee who accompanied the family at the reunion, SF Gate reported. "These days, it is extremely rare that parents and children separated by the Nazi regime can be reunited. After all, many survivors of the Nazi period are dead. Usually, reunions today involve siblings from the subsequent generations, or cousins."
