André Waksman collection

André Waksman was born on 12 June 1943 in Elne France to Jacob (b. 1910 in Kalisz, Poland) and Suzanne Waksman (née Doktorcyck, b. 1911 in Pabianice, Poland). He had one brother. Prior to the outbreak of World War II, Jacob and Suzanne lived in Antwerp, Belgium.

After the Germans occupied Belgium, Jacob and Suzanne were deported to the Rivesaltes internment camp. Jacob worked outside the camp, and Suzanne gave birth to André in a maternity clinic in Elne in 1943. Shortly after he was born, his parents fled with him across the Alps to Saint-Martin-Vésubie and then across the border into Italy. The family sailed to the United States aboard the USAT Henry Gibbins and were admitted to the Emergency Refugee Shelter at Fort Ontario in Oswego, New York on 5 August 1944. They received entry visas to the United States in January 1946.

André became a naturalized citizen in 1951 and later became an artist and filmmaker in Paris, France. His documentary 1943, Le temps d’Un répit (A Pause in the Holocaust) focuses on the occupying Italian Army who shielded the Jews in Saint-Martin-Vésubie from persecution prior to the German-invasion of the territory in September 1943.