My mother, Lucy Fowler née Smetana (1919-2003), was a Viennese Jew who fled to England in 1938 to escape Nazi persecution. I was born shortly after the Second World War, but knew little of my background, as my mother rarely spoke of it. In January 1995, I started to research my family history, and discovered she had family around the world, of whom I had never heard. It was only a matter of weeks before I traced the rest of the family: five living first cousins of my mother, three in Australia and two in America. A sixth cousin, an aunt and two uncles had died only fairly recently. Phone calls, letters, photos and gifts followed. And then in April 1995, a visit from my mother's cousin Helga from Australia, followed in May by a visit from cousin Gerda, also from Australia, bearing more photos and gifts. Helga was the daughter of my mother's aunt Gusti, sister of my grandfather Fritz Smetana (1889-1938). The two were apparently very close.

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