Any outstanding modern technology can have dual uses - for example, DNA tests can both destroy families and find new relatives hundreds and thousands of miles away. Don’t believe me? Then here’s a story for you, about how literally one sweet family activity changed a couple’s life - and shed light on a long-held family secret.
Yes, it all happened when our today’s narrator and his wife took a DNA ancestry test at a discount, confirmed that they both were almost entirely of their own nationality… and then our hero received an unexpected message. But let’s take things one step at a time.
More info: Reddit
Many people believe that modern technology can make real miracles, but sometimes they're 100% true - it's like a kind of magic
Image credits: DC Studio / Magnific (not the actual photo)
The author of the post and his wife are both Moroccans, and recently they took a DNA ancestry test, just for fun
Image credits: fxquadro / Magnific (not the actual photo)
Some time later, a guy from Austria wrote to the author, claiming that the service confirmed their close kinship
Image credits: mego-studio / Magnific (not the actual photo)
The man recalled that his late grandpa was in the French occupation forces in Austria after WWII, and he always kept some lady's photograph, too
Image credits: lovely_pseudo
They did an investigation and found out that the Austrian guy's mom was definitely the grandpa's daughter, so now they have unexpected relatives in Vienna
So, the Original poster (OP) and his wife live in Morocco and recently bought an AncestryDNA test. They had a good discount on the purchase, and the woman assumed it would be another fun family activity. Well, they took the test, discovered they were both Moroccan (she 100%, he 80%), and that would’ve been the end of it. No way!
Some time later, a guy from Austria wrote to the author, claiming he’d also taken the test. It turned out he and the OP were half-cousins, and his 72-year-old mother was actually the author’s aunt. And then our hero remembered a long-held secret about his late grandpa! The old gentleman had gone back in 1984, but he always kept a photograph of a woman with him, signed in German.
The author began researching this and discovered that his grandfather served in the French army during WWII and, after the war, was part of the occupation forces in Vienna. It’s quite possible he met an Austrian woman there, who later gave birth to his child. The author contacted the Austrian guy again and discovered that his mom never knew her bio father.
Well, our hero decided to check everything out. He asked another aunt living in the Netherlands to take a DNA test, too - and it turned out that she and the Austrian lady were also half-sisters! Moreover, photographs of the two women were incredibly similar. So, it seems their family has now expanded, and soon the elderly lady from Vienna will travel to Morocco to visit her bio dad’s grave for the first time in her life…
Image credits: Anna Tolipova / Magnific (not the actual photo)
Well, from 1945 to 1955, Austria was indeed under Allied occupation, and the French army was stationed on its territory the entire time: both in the west of the country and in the capital. Meanwhile, Morocco was under French rule until 1956, when the country declared independence, and Moroccan soldiers fought bravely for France in both world wars.
Systems like MyHeritage (and the original poster and his wife actually used this service) work like this: the system's algorithms compare your DNA with that of other users in the database and, if there’s a significant match, indicate a probable kinship.
At the same time, for example, so-called “ethnic markers” shouldn’t be taken literally, because, according to MyHeritage representatives, they’re more of a probabilistic prediction than a definitive identity. After all, as this article reasonably notes, neighboring, historically mixed populations can really share similar DNA patterns.
In any case, DNA testing played an incredible role in the story we described, as now the woman, who never even knew who her true father was, has the unique opportunity not only to visit his grave but also to communicate with her blood relatives. Most of the commenters on the original post are convinced it’s definitely worth the cost of the test. So do you, our readers, also agree?
Most of the commenters were simply in awe over this story, and some folks also shared similar cases from their own life experience
