 with his newfound siblings from Steinbach, Manitoba, exploring the Forks Marketplace in Winnipeg. (Supplied by Katharine Reimer, standing beside Josef)_0.jpg)
A Steinbach family received a strange letter one year ago, and now they have reunited with family they didn't even know they had.
Katie Reimer recently found out she had a brother and a niece. Reimer's brother, David Unruh, received a mysterious letter a year ago that read, "I believe your father is my father's father."
After looking into it further, considering it might be a scam, the brother and his sisters came to realize that indeed, they had another sibling, Josef, from the time their dad was a soldier in WWII.
Earlier this week Josef and his daughter Karin flew from Germany to Winnipeg to meet their family, enjoying a reunion at the Winnipeg airport they won't soon forget.
"It's so heartwarming to know there's family and that we are welcome here," says Karin. "I did not expect it."
Reimer says seeing them for the first time in the airport was an experience she will never forget.
"They came down that escalator, and we just knew that we were family."
The family has been combing through old journals of their father, written in German, to connect the dots.
"The fact that God kept the pieces and gave us an opportunity to put them back together," says Katie Reimer through tears. "I think my dad would be proud today of us embracing Josef. I think my mom would have accepted him just like she did all of her in-laws. I'm happy that it turned out the way that it did."
Reimer adds Josef's family is quite small back in Germany.
Josef has one daughter, Karin, and one son, Franz who is married with one child, Lisa.
"Can you imagine going from a nucleus of five people and adding my family of 49 brother, sisters, brother-in-laws, sister-in-laws, nieces, nephews, and all their little ones?"
Watch the video below to hear the story of a family reconnecting this week after over 75 years.
With files from Sylvia St. Cyr