Man, Mother Split in WWII Are Reunited
- Share via
VIENNA — An Austrian man who became separated from his mother 55 years ago during World War II has found her in Ukraine after a two-year search.
“I had not counted on finding her alive,” Michael Brandstetter said after the reunion with his 82-year-old mother in Lower Austria on Wednesday.
As a prisoner of war in 1942, Brandstetter’s mother was transported from Ukraine to Austria where she was forced to work as a laborer in a Lower Austrian inn.
Brandstetter, 56, was separated from his mother and younger sister when he was a toddler.
“I was taken to hospital suffering from scarlet fever and diphtheria . . . and they then told her I was dead,” he said. His mother returned to Ukraine in 1945, while Brandstetter was adopted.
The Austrian Red Cross tracing service found his mother and sister in a Ukrainian village last year.
The reunited family will spend the next two weeks together before mother and sister return to Ukraine.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
