Anne Frank [+You} exhibition helps to reunite family

When Herbert Levy, 80, came to the Isle of Man to open the recent Anne Frank [+ You} exhibition, he received more than he could have ever hoped for. 

Following the internet publication of his interview for the Isle of Man newspapers, the newspaper received an email from an Israeli girl called Noa Codish-Dotan.  She believed Mr Levy to be her grandfather's cousin, with whom her family had lost touch several years previously.

As a 10-year-old Jewish boy, Mr Levy was imprisoned on the Isle of Man during the Second World War. He had escaped Berlin from the Nazis.  He eventually settled in London and became a British citizen.  ‘The internet is truly amazing. An article written on the Isle of Man is immediately read in Israel and, hey presto, a family is reunited.’

Although Mr Levy’s grandfather ended up in Berlin, the family was originally from Hungary.  In 1944 the Germans took over Budapest and his cousin’s family was forced to move into the ghetto, before they were to be taken to an extermination camp.

However, they were saved by the Swedish diplomat, Raoul Wallenberg, who succeeded in declaring some of the houses in the ghetto as Swedish territory, so they were among the lucky ones who were saved.

After the war, aged 15, Mr Levy’s cousin decided to move to the newly-formed State of Israel where he lived until his death in 1991, aged 58.

He had two daughters, one of which is the mother of 19-year-old Noa, who has just completed her national service in a rehab hospital in Tel Aviv. Mr Levy said: ‘We are very happy to be back in touch with the next generation and thank you very much for your part in making this possible.’

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