9:00am Tuesday 31st August 2010
By Paul Ferguson
A GOLDEN Valley man has been reunited with his stepmother after 53 years apart.
Andy Valters last saw his father in the 1950s after moving from Germany and being fostered by a Somerset family.
He received a letter in 1965 reporting that his dad, Bernard Valters had died in a car accident, leaving a second wife and twin children.
But his half-century wait to get in touch has finally ended – thanks to his daughter and the British Red Cross.
The 64-year-old from Clehonger is telling his story to mark International Day of the Disappeared on Monday.
The event, to be marked by flower-planting ceremonies, is a reminder that many families have been separated by conflict.
Thankfully, many have been reunited thanks to the Red Cross and its international tracing and message service (ITMS).
Latvian-born Mr Valters was displaced to Germany after the Second World War, but moved to Britain, aged nine, while his father remained for work.
He didn’t attempt to contact his late father’s wife because time had passed and he “didn’t want to upset the apple cart”.
Bu, in 2009, he was persuaded to try by his daughter and received a message from the Worcester ITMS team in July.
The German Red Cross had located Magdalena Thiele, former wife of the late Bernard, and the pair were soon in touch. “She immediately started talking about my father and it was wonderful,” said Mr Valters.
“One of the things she told me was how he used to cry because he had lost his son and at the same time he didn’t want to contact me because he knew I had a new life. It’s very sad that he thought that.”
Mr Valters, who was 11 when he last saw Magdalena, also learned of a Latvian brother and is hopeful of making contact.
“You could have knocked me over with a feather when she told me because I didn’t know I had a brother,” said Mr Valters. “I’ve got pictures of him and his wife and of a son, with a Latvian inscription on the back, so I’m hoping this may act as a clue to his whereabouts.”
The Valters case is one of four around the Marches that the Red Cross is using to highlight the ITMS services and the Day of the Disappeared. For details about the ITMS service, contact 01905 450400 or visit redcross.
org.uk/trace.
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