Otto Herskovic memoir and papers

Otto Herskovic (1931-2014) was a native of Antwerp, Belgium. Following the German invasion in May 1940, Herskovic, his parents, and his elder sister Hilde escaped southward through Belgium into France, reaching southern France by late June. Initially the family stayed in various locations in the department of Tarn et Garronne, including Serignac, Varennes, and Toulouse. By late 1940, Otto's parents decided it would be best to send their children to the Chateau des Morelles, a children's home run by the OSE in Brout-Vernet, near Vichy, where Otto and Hilde remained for the better part of a year. Eventually, it was arranged to have both Otto and Hilde emigrate to the United States, and after several unsuccessful attempts to reach Marseilles and board a ship there, they managed to do so, travelling by ship to the Algerian port of Oran, and from there by train to Morocco, where they boarded the Nyassa, a Portuguese ship that took them to Baltimore. Later Otto lived with a foster family in St. Louis, but was eventually reunited with his parents and with other siblings, including his older brother William. When the latter opened a camera store in Los Angeles in 1957, he invited Otto to join him, and he worked in the family-owned Bel-Air Camera in Westwood for much of the rest of his life. Otto Herskovic died in Los Angeles in January 2014.