| I
would like to make contact with any of the hundred child
survivors of the July 1942 rafle de Vel d'Hiv who came to
the United States via Lisbon thanks to the rescue efforts of
Paulette Fink, her associates, various underground organizations
and other helpers. I may have been one of these children.
Richard
Ned Lebow
E-mail The Hidden
Child Foundation
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I
am looking for people hidden between 1942 and 1945 in Marvejols
(Lozère), France. Does anyone know Michel Krangel, Alice Dunach,
Maurice Estrownza, Albert Wekstein, R. (Dano) Danowski, or Paul
Lehman? I come from the family of Stapler-Werdiger-Levy.
Helene
Levy Krysztal
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Child Foundation
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My
father's family sheltered a Jewish girl during the war. My
father would like to locate his "sister" after these
many years. We believe the girl's name is Rachala (Rachel)
Goldberg. She was born around 1940 in the Suwalki region of
Lithuania. Her father worked in the manufacture of textiles and
her mother was a schoolteacher. They were taken to the Kaunas
Ghetto. In about 1943, the Nazis ordered the elimination of all
Jewish children from the ghetto, and her father sought to hide
her. My birth grandmother lived in Kaunas and apparently put
bread on the fence for people walking to forced labor. The
family asked her to hide Rachala. She agreed. I do not know if
there was compensation involved. Rachala was taken in a sack by
bus to Panevezys, Lithuania, and then to Naujamestis, a small
town southwest of Panevezys, where my great-grandfather had a
mill. At the time, Rachala spoke only Yiddish and/or Hebrew.
Rachala was renamed Halina and was raised with my father by my
great aunt, Apolonia Shaparis (neé Mazeika). My father was
raised believing she was his mother, and Rachala his sister.
In the closing days
of the war the family fled by boxcar ahead of the front. The
train stopped in Poland, and they settled there in Slupsk. My
family spoke Polish, Lithuanian, as well as some German and
Russian. In Poland my family translated Shaparis as "Szaparys,"
and the like. They lived on Chopin Street in Slupsk. Rachala's
father located her and took her back a short time later in
December 1946 or early 1947.
E-mail
The Hidden Child Foundation
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For a documentary
film entitled UNCOMMON DECENCY: Hidden Children &
Rescuers During W.W. II, which will air on HBO, the
producers are looking to film:
1. Reunions between
hidden children and their rescuers. These events could include
birthday or anniversary celebrations, or honoring ceremonies.
2. Formerly hidden
children (separated from their parents during the war) who are
actively searching for their rescuers.
3. Interviews with
fathers of hidden children.
We will be filming in
a variety of locations, including eastern and western Europe, as
well as Israel.
E-mail:
Aviva Films N.Y. Corp.
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After 54 years, I
have found out after the death of my adoptive parents, Branko
and Slavica Plaustainer-Horvatinovic from 34 Preradoviceva,
Zagreb, Croatia, that I was not their child. My real parents,
whose names I do not know, were Jews from Zagreb who were
attempting to escape the German terror. I discovered an official
declaration stating that on December 4,1944, in front of St.
Stephen's Church in the town of Slavonski Brod, a Jewish couple
gave a baby to a woman named Bosiljka Barudija-Horvatic. The
couple had asked the woman to watch over me while they attended
a wedding at the church. The vicar locked the church in which my
parents took refuge and, betraying them, delivered them to the
police. According to the citizens' statement, my mother was
beaten and then murdered in a cruel way. My father managed to
escape into Hungary and Austria and emigrated to the U.S.
According to rumors,
he now lives in a Jewish community in America. He has married
again and has two children. He looked for me but, since I have a
new name and ended up in Zagreb, he could not find me.
In Slavonski Brod, in
1945, I was turned over to the Vujcic family residing at 18
Bakaceva Street, but these people did not want to speak of the
tragedy of my family.
All I know is that my
mother was a Czech Jew and a teacher by occupation. I have tried
to get help from the Jewish community in Zagreb, but nobody has
helped. When I asked them how come, they answered, "That
was 54 years ago." I beg you to help me in the search for
my father in the U.S.A.
Prof.
Branko Horvatinovic
E-mail The Hidden
Child Foundation
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I am looking for
Cecile Berkovic, born on August 19, 1937 in the 18th
arrondissement in Paris. An American woman picked her up in 1944
and I believe she still lives in the U.S. During the war the
family lived at 15 Passage de l'Avenir (presently renamed rue
Eugene Lumeau). Her father, Aron Berkovic, was a shoemaker. He
was arrested on May 14, 1941 and sent to Auschwitz. Her mother,
Fojgel Berkovic née Radziejewski, was deported on the 23rd of
June 1943. Cecile attended the Blanqui de Saint-Ouen School for
several months. Aron Berkovic was born in Mukacevo,
Czechoslovakia, on March 27, 1905. Fojgel Berkovic was born in
Kowal, Poland, on April 14, 1902. Please help me find Cecile.
M.
Claude Dewaele
E-mail The Hidden
Child Foundation
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I am a 55-year-old
journalist working for the largest French Jewish magazine, L'Arche,
in Paris. Last year, I began to research the history of the Jews
in Brittany during WWII, which had not been studied thoroughly.
I was surprised to discover that hundreds of Jews came just
before the declaration of war in 1940, fleeing from Paris and
other cities in northern and eastern France, as well as from
Germany and other countries.
I came upon the case
of two children, Leonard and Denise Epelbaum, who were hidden in
two Catholic institutions in 1944. Their father, first name
unknown, was deported and did not return. Their mother was still
in the area but also hiding in several places. The children
remained in the institutions until at least January 1945.
According to one source, Leonard was found later in a
"communist camp." Denise is said to have become a
professor of history and to have gone to Israel. During the war,
the Epelbaum family had lived in a small town named Saint
Nicolas de Redon in the deparment of Loire Inférieure. They
were handed over to the French police (or directly to the
Germans) by a local woman. The father was arrested while the
rest of the family was able to escape.
Mr. Epelbaum had been
a tailor, probably from Poland. Leonard Epelbaum was born on
April 9, 1935, in Paris. He was given the cover name of Louis
Durand at the orphanage of La Bousselaie near the town of Rieux,
in the department of Morbihan. Among the other children, he was
given the nickname "Loulou." Denise was hidden in the
town of Redon with the Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul, a
Catholic institution.
I am planning to
write a book on this subject that would be the first of its kind
in my area and would like to learn about these two hidden
children. Also, I have a list of over 120 people who resided
here, with full names, date and place of birth and sometimes
their profession & address. Anyone interested can contact
me:
Alain-Ilan
Braun,
Memoire-Yzkor 56,
Le Grand Mare,
56370-Le Tour-du-Parc, France
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I am looking for two
people I knew as a refugee in England: the brothers Klaus and
Walter Berentzen from Frankfurt/Main, Germany. Klaus would now
be about 70 years of age, and Walter in his mid-60s.
Dr.
Andreas Jaffe
E-mail The Hidden
Child Foundation
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The family of Karl
Lutz, the Swiss diplomat responsible for saving 60,000 Hungarian
Jews, is making a film. They are looking to interview people who
were recipients of Swiss visas. If you are such a person or if
you know anyone who is, please contact Evi Blaikie of The
Hungarian Hidden Children at 212-685-1083. |
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