London, Mar 22 (IANS): Former "Friends" star Lisa Kudrow was in tears after she uncovered a harrowing tragedy linking her family to a Nazi massacre.

The revelation came as she traced her ancestors on the programme "Who Do You Think You Are?" and the actress found that her great-grandmother was "killed and burned" with 900 other Jews caught in the Holocaust during the Second World War, reports express.co.uk.

"I knew my great-grandmother was murdered but to hear the words ?killed and burned' - that's...urgh. God," she said.

Kudrow also found an elderly woman who was a close friend of her grandmother Grunia and spoke of their childhood fear of the Germans.

She was told that in March 1942 Adolf Hitler's Nazis searched out 900 Jews and forced them to run to the market place. They were led to a deep hole, stripped, lined up and shot from all sides. Each body fell into the pit and the Nazis then poured in oil and set it on fire.

"These people were no threat, it's just the ravings of a mad man who decided that Jews didn't fit into the way he saw the human race. I am glad that I got to see, witness, acknowledge what happened to my family here and pay my respects at their final resting place. That moment is worthwhile," said a teary Kudrow.

However, she managed to find the cousin her father remembered, Yuri Barudin, the man who first brought news of the massacre to her family. He was thought to have died but was alive and living close by.

"I'm so happy that I have something happy to tell my father. They both went through so much and came out the other end to share their good fortune and beautiful families. It's so fulfilling," she added.

The Emmy award-winning actress, who lives in Los Angeles with her French husband Michel Stern and their 12-year-old son Julian, is executive producer of the US version of the popular BBC series.