CORRIE legend Rula Lenska breaks down as she makes a shocking discovery about her great aunt in an emotional episode of DNA Journey.
Countess Rula, 74, was joined by her co-star and friend Dame Maureen Lipman, 75, to explore their DNA journeys in the heartwarming ITV show on Tuesday.
As the famous friends – who met on Coronation Street – travelled to Warsaw in Poland, Rula came to a startling discovery about Rula’s great aunt.
An emotional Rula broke down in tears after finding out her great aunt helped an orphanage escape the Warsaw ghetto in 1940.
The historian and genealogist guide explained to Rula the history of her family during the time of the Warsaw ghettos.
They learned that more than 400,000 Jews, nearly a third of the city’s population, were forced to live in the conditions, enclosed by a 10-metre wall and barbed wire.
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Anyone who tried to escape was shot on sight, and a quarter of the civilians died of starvation and disease.
Rula’s great aunt, Maria Hutten-Czapska, was a member of an underground movement helping to rescue Jewish orphans imprisoned inside.
The guide showed Rula a photo of her great aunt and explained: “She was a nurse, she worked in ambulance trains, and she was 18 in that photo, so shortly before the outbreak of the great war.”
A shocked Rula said: “Oh my gosh! Oh, that is how I remember her exactly.”
The guide informed Rula her great aunt “smuggled children outside of the ghetto, and it was a huge task and challenge, and her life was endangered because any kind of help was punished by death.”
Overcome with emotion, Rula said: “I am really, really proud of her, and I am very glad that she helped them.”
DNA Journey continues next Tuesday at 9pm on ITV.
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