At the age of 14, Jozef Domanski was taken by the Nazis and compelled to work in Germany in 1941. Upon his liberation at the war’s end, Jozef relocated to the UK, residing in Wolverhampton and later Essex. Unfortunately, he lost contact with his family in Poland and communication dwindled after sustaining an injury in a factory accident in 1976. Efforts to locate him were fruitless, and he passed away in 2012 at the age of 86, unmarried and childless. Approximately 85 years after his capture, his family has inherited his estate worth £100,000, following a lengthy international legal inquiry involving the UK, Germany, and Poland.
Krzysztof Sadowski, Jozef’s nephew and family representative, shared that Jozef corresponded most frequently with his sister Helena from the mid-1970s, expressing his longing for Poland and family ties. Despite various attempts to reconnect, Jozef’s sudden disappearance deeply saddened his family. The search for Jozef’s next of kin was initiated by a UK local authority, leading to a decade-long collaboration among legal experts and genealogists from the UK, Germany, and Poland.
Chief executive Simonne Llewellyn of Finders International, a prominent probate research firm, described the case as emotionally impactful, requiring extensive cross-border teamwork. The investigation, spearheaded by GEN SPZOO’s Benjamin Ratz, involved coordination with specialists in all three countries to successfully reunite Jozef with his relatives. The £100,000 inheritance will be distributed among surviving family members, with Krzysztof expressing his intention to honor his grandparents’ memory by dedicating a portion of the funds to them.
Chairman Antoine Djikpa of the International Association of Professional Probate Researchers noted the enduring impact of war trauma on families, emphasizing the significance of restoring Jozef’s name, history, and familial connections as a form of justice and accountability, even decades later.