DNA lab to track lost families of Holocaust

Arizona Daily Star

TUCSON, Ariz. — Genetic technology developed to identify the remains of those killed in the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, will be enhanced in a University of Arizona genomics laboratory to solve a more complex puzzle — identification of families separated for generations after the Holocaust.

In addition to possibly reuniting families, the DNA Shoah Project will collect a database that will aid identification of remains yet to be discovered and will develop forensic tools for use in other acts of genocide.

It’s not possible today to match relatives three generations apart, but that doesn’t deter Arizona researchers, who say they’ll solve that puzzle once they collect the data.

In the meantime, the DNA Shoah Project is racing to spread the word to Holocaust survivors, whose numbers dwindle by the day.

Holocaust survivor Bill Kugelman, 83, a Tucson, Ariz., resident, said he intends to give a simple oral swab sample of his DNA to the project, though he expects no benefit from it. Kugelman, a survivor of three Nazi concentration camps, lost most of the European branch of his family in the Holocaust.

“All of the family I have, I have,” said Kugelman. “Whoever is gone, is gone.”

Matches of living relatives are a long shot, said Matt Kaplan, research director for the DNA Shoah Project, but he’s confident some will be made.