News

September 7, 2011

Lucien Berkowicz Identified

Lucien Berkowicz was born in Paris on April 21, 1935, to Tauba (née Burstein) and Mayer Berkowicz. His younger brother, René, was born a year and a half later. Tauba left Poland because of her political activities and arrived in Paris to join her older brother, Eli, who had left Poland several years earlier to avoid joining the Polish army. Mayer left Poland for the same reason as Eli. He had the opportunity to sail on a merchant ship to Le Havre where he left the ship. He lived for several years illegally in France, learned French, and was then permitted to stay in France. He was a carpenter trained at an Obshchestvo Remeslennogo Truda (ORT) school in Poland and eventually had his own shop in Paris. When World War II broke out the family lived at 68 rue de Charenton in a two-room apartment.

August 29, 2011

Alice, Liliane, and Simon Wajnberg Identified

An article in her local newspaper led Liliane Wajnberg to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Remember Me? Web site, where she found photographs of herself, her older sister, Alice, and her younger brother, Simon. Although she recognized her own photo and had a copy of it, she had no idea where and when it had been taken. She alerted Simon, who had recently begun to research their early childhood in occupied France. They had just learned the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris had some useful information about their childhood.

August 16, 2011

Isidore Minc Identified

Isidore Minc had never seen this photograph before and had no recollection of it. He thought it might have been taken around 1946.

August 9, 2011

René Berkowicz Identified

René saw a description of the Remember Me? project in the quarterly newsletter of Aloumim, an organization in Israel of children who were hidden in France during World War II

August 7, 2011

Over 190 Child Survivors Identified!

We continue to hear from survivors, their family members, and others who are helping us to learn what became of the children whose pictures appear on the Remember Me? site. To date, we have identified over 190 and are interviewing them so that we can post more updates. Please keep checking back to learn more about these survivors.

July 27, 2011

François Krakovics Identified

Ferenc Aczél (formerly known as François Krakovics) was born on August 10, 1934, in Budapest, Hungary. His sister, Maria, was born two years later, on November 13, also in Budapest.

July 20, 2011

Celine Jelen Identified

Celine Jelen, who now goes by Zvia Nizard, heard about the Remember Me? project from her sister, Rachelle Salomon, who lives in Belgium. She was totally surprised to see her photograph on the Museum’s Web site and thinks it was taken by the Joint Distribution Committee after the war.

July 18, 2011

Marcel Chojnacki Identified

Marcel Chojnacki first heard about the Remember Me? project from a member of the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre. Despite having seen this photo before, he “was shocked to see it after almost 70 years or so.” He believes the photo was taken at the Wezembeek orphanage in Belgium. Marcel remembers being taken from this orphanage on October 30, 1942, by members of the Gestapo. All the children and staff of the orphanage were taken to the Malines (Mechelen) transit camp in Belgium. Queen Elisabeth of Belgium intervened and was able to have the children and staff released. Marcel remembers the director of the Wezembeek orphanage, Madame Blum-Albert, saying fondly that “she ran the orphanage almost like a kibbutz; there was much singing and dancing. We tried to forget the outside world.”

July 13, 2011

Léon Sad Identified

Léon Sad’s cousin, Celine Jelen, one of the Remember Me? project’s children, told Léon and his wife about the project. He was so excited to see his picture on the Museum’s Web site that he started crying.

July 11, 2011

Suzanne Keller Identified

Suzanne Keller read about the Remember Me? project in the newsletter of Aloumim, the organization of French Jewish children who were hidden during the war. Because she had lost all hope of finding information about her family’s experiences during the war, she stopped pursuing leads for fear of disappointment. She knows very little about her father’s family and nothing about her mother’s. She checked the Museum’s Web site only after she heard about the Remember Me? project from Bracha Aris, whom she knew at the Malmaison orphanage in France. They were in touch for a period after the war but eventually lost contact. She was completely surprised and very happy to see her photograph. Her hope is that perhaps through this project she will be able to learn some information about her family.

June 28, 2011

Bernard Ickowicz Identified

Until a staff member from the Museum’s Holocaust Survivors and Victims Resource Center called Bernard Icore, he had not seen his picture on the Remember Me? Web site. Once directed to it, he was excited to recognize himself and his sister, Georgette.

June 26, 2011

Israel Chojnacki Identified

Israel Chojnacki remembers this photograph very well. In fact, he even remembers it being taken in 1945 or 1946 in the Wezembeck Orphanage in Belgium run by the Association of Belgian Jews (AJB). He said it is hard for him to see the photo again because it brings back a lot of memories of the family he lost. “How would you feel?” he asked.

Israel was born in 1934 in Brussels, Belgium. He was the youngest of six children. Israel’s parents, Rachel and Majer Chojnacki, were deported from Belgium to Auschwitz on Convoy 11, which left Belgium on September 26, 1942. Rachel was never heard from again. Majer was registered as a prisoner in Auschwitz and was later transported to Ohrdruf, and finally to Bergen-Belsen, where he is believed to have died. Israel’s brother Abram and sisters Blima and Sylvia (Cywja) were deported to Auschwitz on Convoy 1, which left Belgium on August 4, 1942, and did not return. Blima had been engaged to a non-Jewish man named Serge Delacroix before the war. Blima and Serge joined the Belgian resistance but were eventually caught. Serge died in Gusen on December 15, 1942.

June 23, 2011

Jakob Hecht Identified

Jacob Hecht’s daughter, Nina, found her father and her uncle, Martin Hecht, among the Remember Me? photographs. She was very excited about her discovery and told them about the site. Although her uncle was interested and has since visited the Museum, Jacob has not wanted to dwell much on the past. Since the war, he has sought to put that painful part of his life behind him and look forward to the future. Unlike his brother, Jacob has not attended any of the reunions at Kloster Indersdorf in Germany where he spent some time after the war.

June 21, 2011

Romain Luksberg Identified

Romain Luksberg’s daughter-in-law found his picture on the Remember Me? Website. Romain could not believe that this picture still existed and surmised that it must have been taken just after liberation. Viewing the photograph lead him to wonder how it was possible he survived, but his father did not. He recounted that World War II was a long time ago, but that certain memories are still fresh in his mind.

June 19, 2011

Adolphe Zdroui Identified

Adolphe Zdroui, who now goes by André, thinks this photograph was taken in 1947 when he was sent by the World Jewish Congress to Great Britain as an orphan.

June 15, 2011

Joseph Ambrus Identified

Until recently, Joseph Ambrus believed no photographs of him as a child had survived the war. That was until a printing customer of his wanted to recommend him to a client and conducted a Google search for Joseph’s contact information. To his surprise, Joseph’s Remember Me? profile came up as a result. The client forwarded the photograph to Joseph, who wasn’t certain that the photograph was actually him. He contacted the Museum’s Holocaust Survivors and Victims Resource Center to gain more information. The Resource Center found a postwar World Jewish Congress child questionnaire that confirmed the child in the photograph was indeed Joseph Ambrus.

June 14, 2011

Sarah Modern Identified

Sarah Modern Irom was flooded with memories of her past after seeing her photograph. “Life was not an easy one during that time,” she said. She had completely forgotten about this photo and upon viewing it remembered that it was taken before the war in a Paris studio by a professional photographer. She believes she was about eight and a half years old when the photograph was taken.

June 12, 2011

Albert Reingewirtz Identified

Albert Reingewirtz came across this photo some time ago when doing an Internet search for his name. The photo was taken after World War II at an orphanage run by the Oeuvre de Protection des Enfants Juifs (OPEJ), then located in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. He did not know at the time that the photos were being taken to show prospective adoptive parents. Had he known this, he says, "I would not have agreed to be photographed because I was waiting for my parents to return." Only years later did he learn his parents' fates.

June 9, 2011

Léon Kopel Identified

Léon Kopel was born on February 9, 1941, in Valenciennes, France. He does not remember when this photograph was taken but thinks he was five or six years old at the time.

June 8, 2011

Mosche Birnbaum Identified

Moshe Birnbaum was born in Fulda, Germany, in 1928 to Abraham and Frieda Birnbaum. Abraham was killed at Buchenwald in 1941. Moshe was deported to Riga on December 9, 1941, with his mother, his brother, Salomon, and his sister, Gustel. His mother, brother, and sister were taken to Auschwitz from Riga and did not return.

June 7, 2011

Tamara Buchman Identified

Tamara Buchman was born to Pola and Israel Buchman in 1930 in Warsaw. The family was in the Warsaw ghetto together until 1942, when Tamara, her mother, and her brother went into hiding. Tamara worked as a domestic in a Catholic family’s home while her mother and brother received false papers from a Catholic man. Tamara’s father remained in the ghetto and escaped from a train that was going to a concentration camp. He eventually made his way back to his wife and children. Once the family was reunited they escaped to a small village outside Warsaw. One week before liberation Tamara’s mother, Pola, became ill and was taken to a local hospital, where she died. Tamara believes that she was poisoned by the doctors there because she spoke Yiddish.

June 6, 2011

Jacqueline Ramstein Identified

Jacqueline Ramstein was very surprised to see her photograph on our Web site and was very moved when reading about the Remember Me? project. She thought the project was terrific and wanted to contact the Museum.

June 5, 2011

Samuel Ramstein Identified

Samuel Ramstein learned about his picture on the Internet from a friend of his sister. He thinks that his mother sent the photograph, taken right after the war, to his godfather, Samuel R. Parnes, who lived in New York and sent money to Samuel’s mother every month. Samuel remembers meeting him once and was impressed because it was at the luxurious Hotel de Crillon in Paris. After seeing his photo on the Remember Me? page, Samuel said that, although he had seen the picture before, he was still surprised. He decided to look for more information about his godfather’s fate in New York.

June 1, 2011

Lipot Farkosz Identified

For a period after the war, Zoltan Farkas used the Yiddish name Lipot as a means of asserting his Jewish identity. Zoltan vaguely remembers when this picture was taken and has seen it before. He told us that there is a similar photo of his brother Erwin that neither the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum nor the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York has in its collection.

May 31, 2011

Esther Silberberg Identified

Esther Silberberg was born on June 26, 1930, in Antwerp, Belgium. Her parents emigrated from Poland to Belgium between 1920 and 1922. Esther had two older brothers, Félix and Léon.

Page 4 of 5 pages < 2 3 4 > Last ›