- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Moussa and Odette A. whose individual testimonies were previously recorded. Mr. A. describes the uncertain situation in Nice; meeting Bishop Paul Rémond through Gustave Cohen; Odette joining him in November 1941; their futile attempt to flee to the United States; observing a Milice beating a Jewish woman in front of her child in April 1942; determining to help save such Jewish children; benign Italian occupation; obtaining ration cards with assistance from two Vichy officials to support Jews in hiding; acquiring false papers for themselves; assistance from Bishop Rémond, including official appointments to his staff under false names, an office in his residence where Moussa produced false birth certificates, and contacts with convents and other Catholic institutions which would hide children; Odette's contacts with mayors and Protestant families who would hide children; support from OSE through Georges Garel and Andrée Salomon and from the Joint through Maurice Brener; German occupation in 1943; anti-Jewish measures; placing children in previously established hiding places; assistance from the Resistance, particularly Sixièmè; Odette's frequent visits to hidden families and institutions to provide funds, ration coupons, and psychological support to the children; and her arrest, as well as Huguette Wahl's, who helped them (she did not survive).
Moussa and Odette recount that Odette did not divulge anything under torture; her deportation to Drancy, Birkenau, and Bergen-Belsen; Moussa's futile attempt in Paris to free her; his return to Nice; continuing to hide children until liberation; their reunion in Paris in May 1945; and assisting in returning the children to their families or placing them in OSE homes. Mr. and Mrs. A. discuss ruses and difficulties keeping records of the children and their hiding places; refusing to publicly reveal their story, wanting simply to make a new life; Odette's book; and recent relationships with children they had saved.
- Author/Creator
- A., Moussa, 1910-1997.
- Published
- Paris, France : Témoignages pour mémoire, 1995
- Interview Date
- April 19, 1995.
- Locale
- France
Nice (France)
Paris (France)
- Cite As
- Moussa and Odette A. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3203). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Wieviorka, Annette, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in French.
Related publication: The Holocaust, the French, and the Jews / Susan Zuccotti. New York, NY : Basic Books,c1993.
Related publication: Terre de detresse : Birkenau, Bergen-Belsen / Odette Abadi. -- Paris : Harmattan,c1995.
Additional published information is available in the repository.
Associated material: Odette A. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2092), Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
Associated material: Moussa A. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3202), Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
Associated material: Julien E. Holocaust testimony [rescuee] (HVT-2742), Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
Associated material: Odette A. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3201), Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.