Great job, sister! I also remember hearing that our mother helped our grand-dad fold up little paper tricks or toys; then he took them to market with him to sell the things, saying "Look! So simple a child can do it!" So many tales... Thanks for writing it ! Bises & love
Hi LORRAINE , Great writing and He was a hero . I know a person , Who's dad worked for french underground well most of their family did after they escaped from a nazi camp ,they were Jewish so knew the would die in the camp . So they took a chance out of 6 of them 5 made it out other one killed trying to escape . As you post more about this i will gladly Talk to my friend , and see if he can help you with info . Hugs and peace and grandad was a hero
Oh thank you so much for that Mitch! Was his dad also in Auschwitz? I visited the camp with my parents in a group of descendants of Shoah victims, accompanied by survivors, a truly profound experience
And yes he was a hero. Sadly my mom thinks that he was immediately killed upon arriving in Auschwitz. The French govt recognized his heroism after the the fact and my mom got a state pension for the rest of her life.
Me too! I actually had them ready to consult back in 2021...during COVID. I chickened out schlepping up to Caen to an unknown public reading room. I've resent the email requesting to see it again. Very curious to see if there's anything of substance, or if it's just a date, a location, and a name... We'll see!
No it's in the "SHD" of the French Defense Ministry (Service Historique de la Défense) in an archive called "archive des victimes militaires de de la guerre" or something like that. They have a *massive* archive stored in Vincennes and Caen.
“The report of my grandfather's arrest is archived by the French Defense Ministry & I can ask to see it…” this is actually in your article, but once the comments are opened, one can’t see the article anymore! I actually almost went back to check, but then just blurted it out. I find this annoying on Substack.
Great job, sister! I also remember hearing that our mother helped our grand-dad fold up little paper tricks or toys; then he took them to market with him to sell the things, saying "Look! So simple a child can do it!" So many tales... Thanks for writing it ! Bises & love
Thanks Kim!
Hi LORRAINE , Great writing and He was a hero . I know a person , Who's dad worked for french underground well most of their family did after they escaped from a nazi camp ,they were Jewish so knew the would die in the camp . So they took a chance out of 6 of them 5 made it out other one killed trying to escape . As you post more about this i will gladly Talk to my friend , and see if he can help you with info . Hugs and peace and grandad was a hero
Oh thank you so much for that Mitch! Was his dad also in Auschwitz? I visited the camp with my parents in a group of descendants of Shoah victims, accompanied by survivors, a truly profound experience
And yes he was a hero. Sadly my mom thinks that he was immediately killed upon arriving in Auschwitz. The French govt recognized his heroism after the the fact and my mom got a state pension for the rest of her life.
That's the camp my friends dad and family escaped from well most of them .Chances are he would of known him .
Awesome, thanks!
Haunting.
🙏❤️
This is fascinating. I'll be interested to see what you come up with when you consult the documents.
Me too! I actually had them ready to consult back in 2021...during COVID. I chickened out schlepping up to Caen to an unknown public reading room. I've resent the email requesting to see it again. Very curious to see if there's anything of substance, or if it's just a date, a location, and a name... We'll see!
Is it in “les archives départementales”?
No it's in the "SHD" of the French Defense Ministry (Service Historique de la Défense) in an archive called "archive des victimes militaires de de la guerre" or something like that. They have a *massive* archive stored in Vincennes and Caen.
“The report of my grandfather's arrest is archived by the French Defense Ministry & I can ask to see it…” this is actually in your article, but once the comments are opened, one can’t see the article anymore! I actually almost went back to check, but then just blurted it out. I find this annoying on Substack.
The people lived through so much. This is heartrending. I think it's wonderful that you are uncovering this family (and French) history, though.
Thank you so much Janet! I know that this type of thing has happened to hundreds if not thousands of other French families during WW2.