Never could we have believed to reach this episode. We have found living relatives of Ilse.

After the initial phone contact, we stay in contact with Helen Romain-Levien a few more times. And one evening, the phone rings. It’s Helen. She tells me that she rummaged some more in the attic, and in a box, she found a pile of paper. They are all brown and stained. It is very thin paper from the war, she says, so thin you can almost see through it. They were carefully stored by in a folder. They are letters, typed in German, dating from the early 1940’s. And each letter ends with the names of the senders. Alfred, Hanni and ….Ilse! 

we set of for Francisco and learn yet more about Ilse and her family. And ...as it turns out, upon arriving back on Ducth soil, the Anne Frank house investigators help us unravel one last mysterie.

The podcast 'Erased' is an Audiodroom Podcast Production, made in the Netherlands. Production: Richard Grootbod and Patty-Lou Middel-Leenheer. Advice and fact-check: Aline Pennewaard and Janny van der Molen. Music: Mark Lobenstein. Audio and studio support: Gijs Friesen and Marc Reitsma.

For more background information and how to support this production, please visit podcasterased.com