Overview
- Interview Summary
- Janine Gerson-Père discusses her parents, Jo and Bella Gerson, who left Salonika, Greece in 1930 and settled in Paris, France in the district of la Roquette (in the 11th Arrondissement); the Greek and Turkish Jewish community in their neighborhood; the deportation of her father during WWII; the hardships her mother endured during the Holocaust, which left silent about that period; questioning her mother about her experiences during the war and how this helped her mother find peace; visiting the places where she was hiding with her brother during the occupation; learning about the experiences of her cousins; beginning to tell the story of her family by attending writing workshops; regaining her cultural identity; and being driven to revive the Salonicienne community, which was almost completely destroyed.
- Alternate Title
- "Memory Journey from Salonica to Paris"
- Interviewee
- Janine Gerson-Pere
- Interviewer
- Isabelle Pleskoff
- Date
-
interview:
2014 June 01
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Musée d'art et d'histoire du judaïsme
Physical Details
- Language
- French
- Extent
-
1 digital file : MPEG-4.
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Restrictions on use. Requests for copies and use must be submitted to Musée d'art et d'histoire du judaïsme.
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Children of Holocaust survivors--France. Hidden children (Holocaust) Hiding places--France. Holocaust survivors' writings. Holocaust survivors--France. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--France--Personal narratives. Jewish children in the Holocaust. Jews, Greek--France--Paris. Jews--France--Paris. Jews--Greece--Thessalonike. Jews--Identity. Jews--Persecutions--France. Jews--Social life and customs. World War, 1939-1945--Children--France. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from France. Women--Personal narratives.
- Geographic Name
- 11e Arrondissement (Paris, France) France--History--German occupation, 1940-1945. Paris (France) Thessalonike (Greece)
- Personal Name
- Gerson-Père, Janine.
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Isabelle Pleskoff, head librarian at the Musée d'art et d'histoire du judaïsme (Mahj), donated video recordings of Holocaust presentations and interviews produced by the Mahj to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in October 2015. The interview was conducted on June 1, 2014 and the original French title is "Itinéraire mémoriel de Salonique à Paris avec Janine Gerson-Père."
- Funding Note
- The cataloging of this oral history interview has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 09:35:07
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn532674
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