Charles Rojer photographs

Charles Rojer was born in Brussels, Belgium, on December 6, 1934, to Abram and Gehewa (nee Mednicki) Rojer, who were originally from Warsaw and Odessa. Following the German invasion of Belgium, the Rojers attempted to flee to France, but were turned back at the French border, after being interned there for several weeks. Returning to Brussels, the Rojers placed their three children in hiding, with Charles being placed in a tuberculosis sanatorium, where he only saw his parents one more time, before their arrest and deportation to Auschwitz in January 1943, where they subsequently perished. For the duration of the occupation, Charles was hidden in several other locations in and around Brussels, including Villa Irene, where two Cathlolic sisters, Andree and Suzanne Romain, sheltered numerous Jewish children. Following the war, Charles was placed in a Jewish orphanage in Brussels, and was subsequently reunited with his sisters Cecile and Anny, who had also survived the war in Brussels. In 1948, they immigrated to the United States, where Charles joined his uncle, Bernard Mednicki, in Philadelphia, the city where Charles eventually became a medical doctor and established a practice.