Ida Paluch Kersz was born in Sosnowiec, Poland in May 1939, just months before Germany invaded Poland and the Second World War began. The Nazis immediately occupied the city in which she lived, creating a ghetto that ultimately saw the deportation of 35,000 Jews to Auschwitz concentration camp. In the summer of 1942, with deportation imminent, her family tragically came apart, but Ida was given a new life, her Jewish identity known only to her new parents, a young Polish Christian couple anxious to start a family. Unfortunately, Ida’s twin brother ended up in Majdanek death camp, but the two would not see each other — or know the other’s fate for 53 years.

In 1995, she saw a photograph of a young man in the Chicago Tribune. She also had a picture of her grandparents, and when she looked at the young man and looked at her grandfather, she saw a marked resemblance. And she said, “I must find out more about him.” She found the lady who interviewed him in Warsaw. She spoke with her, and she said, “Ida, he does not have any memory of his childhood.” Ida said, “Give me his phone number.” She called him in Poland and one of his sons answered. She told him, “I want to speak with your father.” He said, “He’s not here.” Ida said, “Well, when your father comes home, tell him to call me because I think he may be my twin brother.”

Ida arrived in Chicago in 1963, having spent the previous six years in Israel where she had married and gave birth to her daughter, Esther. In Chicago, she found work in a microphone factory and later owned a dry-cleaning and alteration business. She eventually sold the business, divorced her husband, and moved with her daughter to Skokie, Ill. A few years later, she made a visit to the newly opened Holocaust Museum in Skokie, where she became a volunteer and speaker, contributing countless hours sharing the story of her survival with thousands of students and visitors to the museum. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center and lives in Skokie. In 2019, her memoir, Unveiled Memories, was published with the help of the Danny Spungen Family Foundation. The book became very popular and has been sold in many countries.  It also drew the attention of two German producers of documentaries, who saw an opportunity to make a documentary about this unusual story of the reunion of Ida and Adam. They came to Chicago and made sure that Ida and Adam would agree to the making of the documentary. It took three years to produce the documentary and it has now been shown around the world. In 2022, Ida lost her brother to COVID-19. Ida gets many invitations to speak to different organizations throughout the U.S.