Podcast: Janet's story    • Video  
As well as having the ability to reveal our ancestry, one of the biggest surprises that comes from DNA testing, is the discovery of unknown family members. 62yearold Janet has always wondered if analysing her DNA might reveal a mystery from her father's past.

I didn't think that my parents were particularly secretive. My dad was always quite open. He used to talk about experiences in the past, his experiences in the war, he used to entertain us with different stories, but never touched on the fact that he had a child in Austria.

His stories would say that he escaped the prisoner of war camp many times and was recaptured many times. But the story that stands out most, on one of my dad's escape missions, there was a countess in this castle, out in Austria. And at some point, the countess, hid my father in a big laundry basket, when the Nazis were coming to look for him.

So, me as the little kid, I viewed this as a totally romantic liaison, and as a result there was a child that was born.

So, it's your belief that your father met somebody prior to him meeting your mum? And then your halfsister would have been Austrian presumably?

Yeah, you know, there's nobody to check my facts, so my imagination was able to run wild and make a story fit my fantasy.

How does your sister Liz feel about all of this?

Neither of us, neither of me nor my sister subsequently asked my mum anything more about it. You know you weren't supposed to know, so you kind of like collude with that secret.

The narrative that Janet and I have developed, has come from the black and white stories that were told by our father, and they were coloured in in our imaginations.

Is it just our childhood fantasy that's driving this forward? Because this is something that Janet thought she heard, did she really hear it? Where is the truth in all of this?

It's lovely to see you again.

Yeah, lovely to be here.

Great to see you too.

Nice to see you. So, when you came to see me the first time, you had a question about whether or not you had a halfsister. And I remember you saying the reason why you thought this might be, was because you'd heard little bits of family stories, and there was a story that he may have left a daughter behind.

DNA was really the only way that we could try and answer this question. I really felt like this was going to be a long shot. I'm so pleased to tell you I was totally wrong.

Oh wow.

I uploaded your DNA to one of the databases, and immediately I could see you had a halfsister.

Oh, my goodness.

That's amazing.

Gosh

That's so exciting.

Her name is Renata.

Oh, my goodness.

She was born in Austria, in early 1946.

I didn't think I was going to cry.

That's just that's just, it's mindblowing actually that you've been able to find that much information. I just can't believe that.

She was not a countess; I know you had this wonderful romantic story. The way that they must have met, was the fact that you have prisoners of war, who are also working as forced labour with the local population. We think that's the most likely way that they met each other. You have got your big sister.

And she's still alive?

She's alive and well.

That is so amazing, that's wonderful. So, we have got a big sister. Big, big sister. Be so lovely if someone was looking for us as well.

Absolutely.

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