Matt Lucas was shocked to find out one of his ancestors lodged with Anne Frank's family and was mentioned in her world-famous diary.
The Great British Bake Off host, 48, made the discovery on a new episode of BBC One genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are?, when he travelled to Amsterdam to learn more about his German-born Jewish grandmother Margot's aunts and cousins during the Holocaust.
Emotional Matt learned that one of his ancestors, Werner Goldschmidt - Matt’s grandmother’s cousin - is written about in The Diary of a Young Girl.
German-Dutch diarist Anne, who was of Jewish heritage, wrote the book when in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, before they were captured and sent to Nazi concentration camps.
The tome, also known as The Diary of Anne Frank, is widely regarded as one of the world's best-known books after it was posthumously published in 1947, after Anne died of typhus fever aged 15 in 1945.
When asked if he was surprised to discover Werner lodged with Frank's family, Matt said: "Yes, my ancestor would have known Anne Frank, the writer of one of the most important books ever written. And Werner is actually mentioned in the diary.
"It's the one story everyone knows if you know no other story, that story about what happened to the Jews in World War Two, you know the story of the Frank family.
"I read it when I was younger and never realised she was talking about a relative of mine.
Before the Franks went into hiding, Matt's grandmother's cousin Werner was living with them in the family home.
They even left a note with instructions for Werner to give their cat to a neighbour and this is mentioned in the diary.
Matt added: "He didn't necessarily know that they were about to go into hiding, so he was lurking around slightly unwelcome the night before they were going.
"He wasn't to know this momentous event was taking place."
Matt also travels to Berlin during the episode, to learn more about his beloved grandmother Margot, who came to the UK in 1939 as a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany.
The Little Britain star was "really close" to his grandmother until her death in 1999, and admits he had been vaguely told about some of his family tragically dying in concentration camps, but this was the first time he had found out more details.
When asked if it was upsetting to discover that Werner and some of his grandmother's other relatives had perished in the camps, he said: "It's terrible. Where you are born and what your religion is, that lottery determines your fate, and it is not a lottery you even choose to play.
"My grandmother never talked about her cousins, but I think she knew what had happened to them.
"I'd been told in the vaguest terms that my family had died in the camps,
but I had never been told their names and I never knew the details.
"There is always a risk as a Jew that, because this is recent history, it could happen again. It is so important to tell these stories."
Despite these heartbreaking discoveries, Matt feels fortunate he was able to find out more about his ancestors and his beloved grandmother.
He added: "I think when you grow up, you just take the older figures in your family at face value and you don't really grill them on what they did before you knew them; you live in the present.
"My grandmother always made it clear how proud she was of me. And now I'm proud of her.
"So I feel very lucky that I have had this opportunity to learn about my family history and to reconnect with Grandma Margot, who was such a big part of my life.
"It helps keep her alive for me, because I really miss her."
* Matt's Who Do You Think You Are? episode airs on June 16 at 9pm on BBC One.
