My husband's grandma Raisa Kaplan (Kaplun) was born in Russia in Novozybkov in 1916. For some reason, unknown to us, her parents left the country and immigrated to Germany (?) leaving their small daughter (about 2 years old then) with an elderly nanny. The nanny died and Raisa had to go to the Jewish orphanage. When we asked her for details, she would get really upset and not talk at all. Raisa's Father was Isaak Abramovich Kaplan (Kaplun). Her mother was Sara (Vanshtein or Weinstein) Kaplan (Kaplun) When Raisa was approximately in 7th grade, a representative from Germany (?) possible her parents' friend came to take her to Germany (?) to reunite with her parents. Probably, being well brainwashed by the Soviet regime, our then very young grandma refused to leave with him. She has always used name Kaplun instead of Kaplan. Probably because of a sad association with the cockeyed Fanya Kaplan....
Our grandma Raisa has now died in her 90th...The mystery died with her....
This may prove to be one of the impossible-to-find-things....I've written a bunch of letters to and fro. Let's see where my efforts will lead me to. But if at the end I will find nothing, we will do the DNA test.
