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Group portrait of Jewish youth living at the OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants) children's home at Collognes au Mont d'or.

Photograph | Photograph Number: 32959
Group portrait of Jewish youth living at the OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants) children's home at Collognes au Mont d'or. Among those pictured are Siegfried Weissmann (back row, middle) and Kurt Leuchter (front row on the far left).

Group portrait of Jewish youth living at the OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants) children's home at Collognes au Mont d'or.

Among those pictured are Siegfried Weissmann (back row, middle) and Kurt Leuchter (front row on the far left).

Date
1945
Locale
Collonges, [Ain] France
Photo Designation
DISPLACED PERSONS/RETURN TO LIFE -- Orphans/Children's Homes/Summer Camps -- France -- Collonges au Mont d'or
Photo Credit
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Fred Weissmann

About This Photograph

Biography
Fred Weissmann (born Siegfried Weissmann) is the son of Leo and Sophie Weissmann. He was born December 10, 1927 in Cologne, Germany, where his father worked as a tailor. Siegfried had one sister, Ingeborg. In 1938 the family fled to Antwerp, where they remained until September 1940. A few months after the German invasion they were sent to France and placed in the Brens internment camp. From there, the Weissmanns were transferred to Rivesaltes in February 1941. As they were awaiting deportation to Drancy in November 1941, Siegfried managed to attach himself to a group of children who were under the care of the OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants). He was sent to a religious home in Brout-Vernet, from which he ran away in January 1942. Siegfried's next contact with the OSE occurred after he was arrested and jailed in Lyon for stealing a bicycle. The OSE arranged for his release and placed him in the Pere Donnard cloister in Lyon. When one of the priests learned that Siegfried was Jewish, the OSE quickly moved him to the home of the Thizy family in Pomey (Rhone). Siegfried lived with them from February 1943 until February 1945. After the war he lived in OSE children's homes in Collonge au Mont d'or and Fontenay aux Roses. His father, who had escaped to the United States via Morocco in 1941, managed to locate him soon after the war and arrange for his transport to New York. On April 27, 1946 Siegfried departed from Cherbourg on the SS Robert Howe. His mother and sister perished during the war.

Keywords and Subjects

Rights and Restrictions

Photo Source
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Provenance: Fred Weissmann
 
Record last modified: 2001-06-18 00:00:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1094838