But at the sixth leaf, a mystery. After Vasile’s wife, Maria, the next leaf was labeled Mihai — but no surname, no date. Sofia’s eyes filled with tears. “Mihai was my uncle,” she said. “He was a librarian who hid Jewish families in his basement in 1941. The Iron Guard took him. We never knew what happened.”
Determined, Ana began her search. She traveled to the county archives in Cluj-Napoca, where a pale archivist pulled out yellowing census records. She found Marin and Elena’s children: three survived the typhus epidemic of 1918. One was her great-grandfather, Vasile, who had emigrated to Bucharest and become a tram driver. The tree grew.
“Now I know where I’m going,” Sofia said, “because I see where I’ve been.”