Unforgetable Portrait.
Again this was your mother on the mission trip in 1993 when she was sixty nine years old.
Photo of 16 year old Helen she gave her father
H. Sager
Unforgetable Portrait
August 1993 -- Russia. I still can't believe that
after 50 years of not knowing anything about my (nine years)
younger sister, Svetlana, we are sitting in her modest cabin
in the village of Semitino, 250 miles east of St Petersberg,
looking at the old photographs of our family members. We had
only 30 hours together to catch up on what we have missed and
what happened to all of our family members. Suddenly one of
the photos almost jumped out at me: at me: it was the 4x6 photo of
me at the age of 16! The same one that I sent, with a note of
love on the back of it, to my dear "Papa" in the hard labor
camp in the Ural Mountains. Svetlana handed it to me and
asked me to read what was written on the back of the photo.
I remembered the words of love and longing to see my dad that
I had written, but there was something else written on the
edge of the back in my father's handwriting. I read it and
tears filled my eyes and I could hardly see the words. My
father wrote, "According to reliable sources, my daughter
Lena was hung by German's during the occupation of Kiev". It
broke my heart to see these words! It meant that for 50 plus
years he thought I was dead! My sister gently put her arm.
around my shoulders and said, "This belongs to you: it is
yours." We cried together, cheek to cheek tasting each
others tears.
May 1946 coming to America
Helen’s Aunt Shoora that helped raise her as a little girl.
Helen with sister Svetlana and her family in small village of Semitino, 250 miles east of St. Petersburg, Russia 2002
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