It was 1933 when Joseph and Liesel Youfe they had twins Port of SpainTrinity. He was a Polish Jew and she was a German Catholic.. For reasons that will no longer surprise anyone, the couple did not get along very well, so the breakup was not long in coming. Undecided who would be the guardian of their children, they decided to take one each. Joseph stayed with him little jackwhile Liesel took an Oscar to Germanywhere she married a supporter of Nazism. Thus, without hesitation, they gave rise to an important study genetics what will happen in a few decades.
And the fact is that twins are ideal candidates for study. role of environment and genes in human development. Are genetically the same, albeit with a few exceptions. That is why it is so interesting to analyze the few cases where, for one reason or another, they have been raised separately. Like Jack and Oscar.
Both survived World War II on completely different sides. The environment in which they grew up was completely different. However, when life brought them back together, they found they had a lot in common. It is logical that his story attracted the attention of science, especially psychologist. Thomas Bouchardwho conducted a study of these and other twins separated at birth.
You are with the Nazis and I am with the Jews
Jack did not return to Poland, but stayed with his father in Trinidad. They stayed there until he was 15, when father and son they moved to Venezuela live with an aunt, the only relative who survived the hatred of the Nazis.
Therefore, although he did not survive the Second World War in the first person, he showed a logical rejection of Nazism. Oscar grew up surrounded by swastikas and Nazi slogans. He even joined Hitler Youth.
At the first meeting, the twins could not even communicate normally due to differences in language.
In fact, neither of them concealed the existence of the other, but all the differences that united them gave rise to an insistent unwillingness to know each other. It was Jack who finally when they were 21, was invited to visit his brother in Frankfurt. Both married and started a family, they were adults, apparently far from the tension of the war. However, when they saw each other, there was no sympathy between them. They couldn’t even communicate Oskar spoke German and Jack Yiddish.. They only found reasons to quarrel, so Jack finally went home to the Caribbean. But he did not forget his brother.
She kept looking for a way to reunite with him and found him 25 years later when she read about Bouchard, who was doing research on twin genetics in Minnesota. Jack contacted him and told him about his brother. I thought that this psychologist’s lab in the United States might be the neutral ground they needed to put aside their differences. The investigator agreed and contacted Oscar, who agreed to meet them there.
Amazing resemblance of twins
Thanks to the possibility of meeting on neutral ground, the two twins were able to stop and notice their similarities. Even though they didn’t interact with each other, they both wore wire-rimmed glasses, they had mustaches and very similar clothing styles.
They also realized their general tastes in cooking. Both Jack and Oscar liked spicy things, but sweet liqueurs were their preferred alcoholic beverages. They liked buttered toast, but not before dipping it in coffee. As well as they have common hobbies. The two flushed the toilet both before and after using it. They even had common hobbies, as peculiar as fake a sneeze to break the awkward silence.
They coincided in tastes, hobbies and even styles.
The resemblance between them was striking and revealed the importance of genes. As for the environment, it is true that he forged in it very different views of the world. It was this person who caused rejection at their first meeting. But when they put those differences aside, they were able to enjoy their similarities.
It was undoubtedly one of the most curious cases in Bouchard’s professional career, but not the only one. The psychologist is also famous for the story of Jim and Jim, two twins separated at birth who were raised under the same name in different places. When they met 39 yearsThey discovered that both married a woman named Linda, then divorced and remarried to Betty. Oddly enough, it must have been a coincidence. After all, our genes don’t dictate the names of the people we marry. Maximum our tastes when choosing a partner. But other data, such as the choice of the names of his children, James Allan and James Alan, or his hobbies, could have mattered. genetic explanation.
The two twins loved math when they were in school, and in their old age they became handy carpenters. They smoked and drank the same amount and had headaches at the same time of day.
It’s amazing how much our genes dictate about us. However, we are much more than that. Today, for example, the role epigenetics, a branch of genetics that indicates how we can change the expression of our genes without changing the makeup of our DNA. And the fact is that sometimes, despite the fact that we have the same genes, the environment in which we develop can let’s turn it on and let’s turn it off differently. Genetics isn’t everything, but it’s clearly a big part of who we are. Jack and Oscar were a prime example of this.
Source: Hiper Textual
