Even if many years pass, you should not lose hope that you will find what you are looking for.
George Skrzynecki and Lucian Paznanski spent the first few years of their lives unaware of their biological relationship. In fact, it wasn’t until they were teenagers that they each discovered that they had a twin brother out there somewhere.
The brothers were born in Germany to Elizabeth, a Polish woman who was forced to work during World War II. The brothers had the most painful start in life.
Their mother greeted them soon after they were released from the forced labor camp. Unfortunately, she fell ill afterward, which made her incapable of taking care of the babies.
As a result, the woman had to give them up during closed adoptions in Poland. Both boys were affiliated separately, and ended up in two various families, while the system forbade their biological parents from looking for either of them.
The boys grew up in Poland not knowing they were affiliated or had family elsewhere. When it was time for Paznanski to join the Polish army, he discovered that the parents he had known his entire life had no relation to him biologically.
The discovery was shocking for him, but the boy was happy to finally know the truth. During that period, Skrzynecki took a more difficult path.
When the latter was seventeen, he detected documents confirming his affiliation and the fact that he has twin brother.
This revelation infuriated the teenager that his adoptive parents had kept a secret from him. He soon enlisted the help of the Red Cross in the search for his brother, but in vain.
Not being able to cope, he went through his parents’ past and moved to California, entering a new life. He spent the next decades searching for his lost family through various means.
Just when they were desperate thinking that their twin would never be found, the brothers got lucky. In 2014, Poznanski obtained information about her biological mother, revealing that she was forbidden from ever knowing the location and state of her children.
He also learned about his twin brother. At the time, the 69-year-old turned to the Red Cross Family Links program in order to reunite with his twin.
His efforts eventually paid off as he soon discovered his brother’s name as well as his location. The program also supported reuniting long-separated twins, which left them excited. Skrzynecki explained.
“I never knew when that day would come. I thought that one day I would find my brother. I couldn’t wait to hug him and give him a big kiss.”
The brothers first met after their birth in 2015 at an airport in Poland. Seeing his brother waiting at the airport with a bouquet of flowers in his hand, Skrzynecki missed his family every second, and brotherly affection washed over him.
Twin brothers replace each other’s company with a lottery win. Their nearly 70-year separation ended in a tearful hug at the airport in Warsaw, Poland.
