Ankami: Stolen children, shattered families, silenced histories

'Be careful what you wish for,' wrote Aesop, 'lest it come true.' Debra Dank had long been desperate to visit the National Archives, to paint a fuller picture of her family, to add flesh to the name-bones and the few precious stories she possessed. What she discovered would shatter everything she thought she knew about her family and her past.

She had been aware of her father's five siblings, some of whom had died before she could come to know them, but there were always whispers and gaps an...