Learning about how to Be An Upstander

What is an Upstander? How can we become one? What does it take to be an Upstander? Well these answers are not in your history text books, or in Library books,the answers are in yourselves. An Upstander is someone who stands up and does something about a particular situation or for a person who is in a terrible situation. For example, once upon a time, in a land called Germany, a man by the name of Hitler, decided that one day, Jews and other people that he found to be "Inferior" were to be deported and to be wiped off the face of the Earth (in other words, to be killed and destroyed). Many people fled the country, but unfortunately, 6 million people were demolished because of this man. About 10, 000 people in various places around Western Europe decided to help these poor people, who were being demolished everywhere in Western Europe. These people hid families, and in some way shape or form, converted them to another religion. These people took on the risk of hiding these Jews, which if caught, could lead to horrifying consequences. But, these people are what we call "Upstanders". People that refused to step aside when the Nazis barged into towns, and rounding up Jews. These people were the Upstanders , that refused to join the Nazi party, even if it meant that they would have to face deadly consequences. These people refused to tell where Jews were hiding and they even helped getting their fellow hidden Jews to safety. Nowadays, you can hardly find Upstanders at all, unless if there is a good and legit reason for it. So, if you are asking on how to become an Upstander, the answer is clearly right in front of your face. An Upstander does not have to have certain instructions, they just have to know how to speak up when something is wrong. "Risking your life for another, is the best thing you can do for someone," says survivor Renee Kann Silver, who was a hidden child in the Village of Le-Chambon-Sur-Lingon. With society rampaging, as it is, we can learn how to help one another (even if it is not a Holocaust). We can still help those that are refugees from another country, fleeing because their country because of injustice and indecency, those that need our help, teach those who were poorly brought up around hatred and racial hatred and learn from those who survived events such as the Holocaust. Learn, teach and Live, BE an UPSTANDER.

Upstanders that were Upstood for

Do you know what these four people had in common? They were all upstood for by Upstanders. What? UPSTANDER? Is that even a WORD? Why, yes, it is, you would be surprised that is indeed a word.

-Peter Feigl and Renee Kann Silver and her sister Edith Kann Roth, were all Jewish teens when they were stuck in the middle of the Shoah. The Upstanders for them was the little Village of Le-Chambon-sur-Lingon in France. Le-Chambon-sur-Lingon was a little Village that defied Nazi law in order to protect Jewish children. There, Peter, Renee and Edith were safely protected by the Villagers of Le-Chambon-sur-Lingon.

Susi Hilsenrath (Now Susan Warsinger) was also taken in by an agency. She was one of the thousands of children that were lucky enough to immigrate to the States in 1941, with help of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid (HIAS).If it were not for Le-Chambon-sur-Lingon and HIAS, who knows what could have happened to Peter, Renee, Edith or Susi? They could have been deported and never heard from again. But, it took Upstanders like Le-Chambon-sur-Lingon and HIAS to defy the Nazis and protect Jewish Children.

What is An Upstander Anyway?

Imagine for a moment that you watch your best friend, who is of a different nationality than yourself, getting beat up by another teenager, who is of the same nationality as yourself and you just stand there and do nothing about it. This is what we call a BY-STANDER, one whom does nothing when something in our society is wrong. What you should have done, is take the stand and put an end your best friends bullying and beatings. This is what we call un UPSTANDER, someone who stands up for what is right, even though the circumstances may not always be right. During the Holocaust (or Shoah), Upstanders were very rare and it took people like Miep Gies (the woman who hid Anne Frank) and the Village of Le-Chambon-sur-Lingon (Where people like Renee Kann Silver, Edith Kann Roth Erna Heymann Bernstein and Peter Feigl were hid) to stand up to the Nazis and defy their atrocious regulations. More and more people than began to shelter Jews and hide Jewish Children. People overseas in places like the UK and France were more than willing to take the Jewish refugees from Germany, Czechosolvakia, or any other war-torn country. There is always a time when you can be an Upstander. It begins with you. When you see something that is wrong or that does not seem right, stand up and take a stand.

Anne Frank + Schools Systems

Today, if we even consider about talking about Anne Frank in our school systems, it is briefly discussed. WHY?? Anne Frank and the 6 million others deserve so much more attention than just a day or two. They deserve a week, two weeks, or at least three weeks. The school systems should be taking on the subject of the Shoah and embracing it with integrity. How?? Well, the Shoah is something that everyone should have at least learned about in school (Or shall we put the commonly used word, "Holocaust"). Everyone should at least know who Anne Frank was and what kind of world she lived in. Why is the Holocaust taught only for a day in history classes? Why?? Is it too serious to even consider? Yes, millions of people lost their lives, but not only in the WWII battles, but in Gas Chambers and Ghettos as well. Millions of Jews and other forms of "Inferior" people lost their lives because of these Gas Chambers and Ghettos. Many of them starved to death, shot to death ( and then buried by the millions in mass graves), and tortured to death as well. Do we not even consider the damage that has been done to the world of humanity because of the Shoah? Why is Anti-Semetism and Racial Hatred still present? Why?? Is it because God did not create us all to have the same beliefs? That is the dumbest excuse that has ever crossed the line. Why do we hate people that may seem different to us? So, in class, when you are only studying the Shoah for a day, please, be an Upstander and speak for those who could not speak during the Shoah. Let your fellow classmates know what kind of atrocities the Nazis caused. Let your fellow classmates know that no matter what the cost, those six million people that perished, have a voice, and it may not always be theirs, it will be yours! You voice matters, and ONLY YOU, can help make the Shoah more important to learn in the School Systems. So, let your voice be heard and make it loud and clear.

What good does NOT REMEMBERING DO?

In this world, we tend to forget the Shoah. Why? Because it is consistant that we quote "have to". No, we do not have to at all! Take the USHMM, for an example, do you honestly think that they would just be the only ones to forget about the Shoah. No, they do not. It takes people like me and you to make the difference in this world. The Jews that died cannot do it, unless if you believe that they can be with you in spirit, like some people do. It is the duty of ourselves, that we cannot forget! In a way, we are all some what affected by the Shoah, whether we realize it or not. We all can have a connection to people like Petr Ginz, Moshe Flinker and others. What can we do to make sure that their memories stay alive? What can we do to make sure that their lives are not forgotten? What can we do, in order to preserve their memories? It is up to us, folks. We have a choice to make sure that these people that perished are still with us in memory or we can just forget them, which I would strongly not recomend. But, it is up to us.

Upstander Profile-Erna Heymann Bernstein

Name: Erna Heymann Bernstein

DOB: December 21^st, 1925

DOD (date of death): December 2^nd, 2009

Age: 83

Erna Heymann was born in the city of Nurnberg in Germany on December 21^st, 1925. She was the baby of the family; she had an older sister that became a US citizen in 1944. Erna and her mother would remain constantly together and Erna would help her mother, who became ill and was sent to many hospitals, due to the horrifying conditions of the internment camps that Erna and her mother were placed at.

After Erna was released from Riversaltes, Erna stayed in a home run by the Jewish Scouts of France. After two months of staying in the Jewish Scouts home, a French family took her in. While Erna resided with the French family, they gave her a false identification card, which had her new name. She was now “Eveline Herbert”. That does not even sound like Erna. But, in order to be safe from the Nazis, Erna had to endure the burden of changing her name to “Eveline”. The card also said that she was residing in Alsace, a region in France. Erna found this very difficult to comprehend, because she had no idea where that was and not to mention that she spoke very little French. Upset and striving to see her mother again at the hospital, the hospital where her mother was staying, the employees let Erna stay for a few months and Erna found content there. Now, what was little Erna suppose to do all day long? She could not just wonder off, she would be caught and then she probably would have been deported. Luckily, she found a job in taking care of the newborn infants and babysitting the little toddlers. When Erna was lucky enough to be sent to Le-Chambon in 1943, she was taken in by August Bohny and Friedel Reiter. She was only 16 when she was sent to live in Le-Chambon. She was hired as a laundry woman. She did not mind this kind of work, as long as she had a place to sleep, food to eat and clothes to wear, she was more than content. Erna was also required to help children learn English, and lucky for Erna, she had learned English in Germany for four years. In fact, she even was clever enough to teach herself French by using her second language, English. She would borrow the English textbooks of the children, telling them that she wanted to prepare for the next the day’s lessons.

After the war, Erna continued to reside in Le-Chambon. She was later re-united with her mother, and the two of them joined Erna’s sister, Hannah in the States in 1946.Hannah had already become a US citizen in 1944. Later on in life, Erna would meet the love of her life, Hans Bernstein in Cincinnati, Ohio. The two married in 1948 and settled in Ohio. They had three children and she was a proud grandmother to six wonderful grandchildren, who brought her such joy to her life. Unfortunately, Erna passed away on December 2^nd, 2009 of cancer. She was 83 three years old.

Upstander Profile-Jan-Peter Pfeffer

Name: Jan-Peter Pfeffer

DOB: May 3^rd, 1934

DOD (date of Death): July 11^th, 1944

Age: 10

Jan-Peter Pfeffer was born on May 3^rd, 1934 in Amsterdam, Holland. He was older than his brother, Thomas, who was younger than him by 18 months. Jan- Peter grew up also speaking Dutch and the family lived happily in Holland. With the Nazi’s taking over Holland in May of 1940, things changed for Jan-Peter and his family. Jews started being deported to concentration camps around the country of Poland. Unfortunately, Jan-Peter’s family got caught in the middle of the deportations. On May 18^th, 1944, the Pfeffer family were all deported to Westerbork Transit Camp and then deported to the Terezin Ghetto. 97,297 died among whom were 15,000 children. Only 132 of those children were known to have survived, and Jan-Peter and his brother were among the 132 that did survive the Terezin Ghetto. But, in 1944, the Pfeffer family was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where they were lucky enough to survive that ‘selection’ process and for almost two months. But in the middle of July 1944, Jan-Peter, his younger brother, Thomas and his maternal grandmother were all chosen to be slaughtered at the gas chambers. Jan-Peter died that day at the tender age of 10.

Upstander Profile-Tomas Kulka

Name: Tomas Kulka

DOB: May 25^th, 1934

DOD (date of death): May 8^th, 1942

Age : 7

Tomas Kulka was born on May 25^th, 1934 in Olomouc, Czechoslovakia (which is now the Czech Republic). He was the only child born to Robert Kulka and Elsa Skutezka. On the 15^th of March in 1939 just before Tomas turned 5, the Germans occupied the cities of Bohemia and Moravia, which also included the city of Brno. After New Year’s Day in 1940, Tomas and his family were taken from their home, but Robert Kulka remained in Brno, in order to save his business. Later on, Tomas’s family was forced to sell their house. They were taken to the Terezin Ghetto on March 31^st, 1942. Unfortunately, on May the 9^th, 1942, he and his maternal grandmother were deported to Sobibor Death Camp in Lublin, Poland where they were both gassed upon their arrival. Tomas was only 7 years of age when he was put into a chamber full of people, where he would suffocate on Zyklon B Gas. He is now ash mixed in with dirt that people now walk on if they visit Sobibor. His parents, however, were deported to the Ossowa forced-labor camp for Jews. His parents died there.

Upstander Profile-Gabor Neumann

Name: Gabor Neumann

DOB: February 10th, 1940

DOD (date of Death): June 29th, 1944

Age: 4

Gabor (pronounced Ga-bor) was born on February 10th, 1940 in Bekescsaba, Hungary. He was the only child born to Elek and Margit Neumann. The Neumann’s had a nice and comfortable life, until the Nazis took over and started deporting the Hungarian Jews to death camps. Unfortunately, the Neumann families were caught in the deportations to the death camps. On June 29th, 1944 about four months after Gabor turned four, he was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where upon his arrival, he was sent immediately to the gas chambers, where he perished. His half brother submitted a page of testimony to Yad Vashem.

Upstander Profile-Elisabeth Kaufmann

Name: Elisabeth Kaufmann

DOB: March 7,1924

DOD (date of death): April 5^th, 2003

Age:79

Elisabeth Kaufmann was born on March 7, 1924 in Vienna, Austria. She was youngest of two children. She had an older brother named Peter, who she adored and loved very much. He became an American soldier and was killed at the age of 24, fighting against the Nazis. Elisabeth (later changed to Elizabeth) took care of the children at Le-Chambon-sur-Lingon, a village in France that defied Nazi law in order to protect Jewish children. She taught the children French and she cared for them, if they were having a terrible time adjusting. Elisabeth Kaufmann married Ernst Koenig (hence where Koenig comes from) and they had just one daughter.

Elisabeth Kaufmann Koenig established the USHMM Library in 1993. She died on Saturday, April 5, 2003 of a tumor that was cancerous, along with kidney problems. She was 79 years of age. Elizabeth was last known to be living in Alexandria, Virginia.

Upstander Profile-Otto Wolf

Name: Otto Wolf

DOB: June 5^th, 1927

DOD (date of death): April 18^th, 1945

Age: 17

Otto Wolf was born on June 5^th, 1927 in Mohlenice, Czechoslovakia. He was the youngest of three children. He had an older brother named Kurt, who was killed as a soldier fighting against the Nazi’s. He also had an older sister, named Felicitas “Licka” in the diary. Otto received his diary as a birthday present on his fifteenth birthday. In his diary, Otto wrote about the places that the family hid, and how they strive to survive. Otto’s fate caught up with him, he was captured by the Nazis, then tortured (he refused to give up his name, and who assisted him) and was then shot with 18 other men, and then burned to death. He was only 17 years old. Fortunately, his sister, and parents survived the war and then, Felicitas; married a man named Otto Garda and donated her brother, Otto’s diary and photographs to the USHMM in 1995. Felicitas Garda died on June 6, 2006.

Upstander Profile-Dawid Rubinowicz

Name: Dawid Rubinowicz

DOB: July 27,1927

DOD (date of death): September 22, 1942

Age: 15

Dawid Rubinowicz was born on July 27^th 1927 in Kielce, Poland. He was the older son of two sons born to Josek and Tauba Rubinowicz. Dawid also kept a diary that was unfortunately incomplete. Dawid’s recollects the horrors of everyday life under the Nazi Persecutions. He describes all these horrific events in the diary. He tells us about the Nazis shooting three Jews for absolutely no reason at all and then he tells us about the family that was shot to death and buried in their own backyard, because someone turned them in for hiding fur coats (a law stated that all Jews must hand in fur coats, anyone that does not, will receive the death penalty). Dawid’s diary was first published in Polish. Then, it was later translated into English. Dawid was only 12 when he began the diary and unfortunately, it ends in the middle of a sentence. Unfortunately, Dawid and his family were deported to Treblinka in 1942, where it is said that all of them perished in the gas chamber. Dawid was only 15 years of age when he perished.

Upstander Profile-Petr Feigl

Name: Peter Feigl

DOB: March 1^st, 1929

Age: 81

Klaus Peter Feigl was born on March 1^st, 1929 in Berlin, Germany. He was the only child. According to Peter, “When I was 4 years old, my parents took me to the circus, and I saw clowns and clowns and Klaus sounded alike. I did not like the clowns, so I didn’t want to be called Klaus anymore.” So, from then on, he would be known as Peter. Peter’s parents baptized him as a Catholic when he was 8 years old. They wanted to try to protect him the Anti-Jewish decrees or worse, be deported to a death camp. But, in the eyes of the Nazis, the Feigl’s were still considered Jewish. The Feigl family quickly fled to Belgium and then to Austria. When the family felt that their son’s life was being threatened, the family sent him off to a group that was run by the American Quakers that found hiding places for Jewish children. On the day of his parent’s arrest, was the day that he started his first diary. Peter was then sent to a place called Le-Chambon where lots of Jewish children were sheltered. Peter’s diary seemed like letters to his parents, who he missed dearly. The very first entry he wrote was, “This diary is written for my parents and hope that it will reach them both.” He pasted a photograph of his parents inside. He received a couple of post-cards, and then his parent’s post-cards came to a sudden halt. Peter wondered why he had not heard from his parents. Peter managed to evade deportations for almost three years. When Peter was only 16, he and a few other children managed to flee to Switzerland. He left his first diary behind, as a way of protecting his identity. But, he began a second diary, which he carried with him in a back-pack. He described the event in the second diary and when they finally crossed the border illegally, Feigl recalled, “That night I sleep soundly in a free country”. In 1946, Feigl took a ship that headed to the States. Luckily, his maternal grandmother and aunt were already in the States and welcomed him with open arms. By this time, Feigl was 17 years of age. He later would find out that his parents did not survive the Shoah; they had been slaughtered in the killing centers at Auschwitz-Birkenau. According to Feigl in an interview, he recalled that his grandmother still treated him like a child. He recalled, “I still had a curfew, since my grandmother did not want me being with girls or dating yet”. But, Peter managed to join the Air force. He met his wife, Lennie, and they had four daughters and a grandfather of two grandsons. Coincidently, he was re-united with his first diary. Someone had found it in France and published it. When he received the original diary, he decided to donate both of his diaries and the fifty-eight photographs that he took at Le-Chambon to the USHMM (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) in 1990. Today, he is living in FL with his wife. He is invited to speak schools and give interviews. He was featured in the highly acclaimed MTV film, “I’m Still Here: Young People’s Diaries from the Holocaust” and the novel, “Hidden on the Mountain” and the novel “Salvaged Pages”.

Upstander Profile-Petr Ginz

Name: Petr Ginz

DOB: February 1st, 1928

DOD (date of death): September 28th, 1944

Age :16

Petr Ginz was born on February the 1^st, 1928 in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). He was extremely talented in art and in storytelling. Petr was not the only child though he had a little sister, Eva (now Chava Pressburger). He was the first Ginz child to be deported to the Terezin Ghetto, and his sister, Eva, followed in 1944. His diary that he wrote would be filled with all of his “plans”. These “plans” were really goals that he set for the future. Like for example, he wrote “Plans for December: make some more time for drawing, and learn Latin”. His “plans” came to a sudden halt in September of 1944, when he was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. It has been assumed that Petr was gassed upon his arrival to Auschwitz-Birkenau on September 28^th, 1944 at the age of 16.

So, what makes Petr Ginz so special? Although his life was abruptly cut short, his diary continues to inspire millions across the globe. As for his sister, she survived the Shoah and was the one that published the diary in Czech, Spanish and finally in English in 2007. If he were alive today, he would be eighty-two.

Upstander Profile-Susan Warsinger

Name: Susi Hilsenrath (now Susan Warsinger)

DOB: May 27^th, 1929

Age: 81

Susi Hilsenrath was born on May 27^th, 1929 in Bad Kreuznach, Germany. She was the eldest of three children. She had two little brothers, Joseph and Ernest. When the Nazi’s took over Germany in 1939, the Nazi’s brought along with them an event called, Kristallnacht. Susi (now Susan) recalled, “It was on the eve of my mother’s birthday, and my brother and I were so excited about my mother’s birthday. It was about 10-11 O’ clock at night”. What Susi witnessed was indeed Kristallnacht. Then, Germany was officially in peril. Susi’s father heard from a woman who was sheltering children. Like Renee Kann (now Silver) in the previous chapter, Susi’s father also had to pay a fee for his children to be sheltered, but unlike Renee, it would not be at Le-Chambon. Instead of being hid in Le-Chambon, Susi and her brother, Joseph were smuggled into France and then evacuated from a children’s home. Like Peter Feigl, Elisabeth Kaufmann and Klaus Langer, Susi also wrote a diary that she would donate to the USHMM. Her diary would consists of what her journey would be like and how much she wished to be over in the US with her parents and baby brother, Ernest. Her parents were lucky enough to get visa’s to immigrate to the States so early in the war. The children were then smuggled to the States from Portugal. Susi and her brother Joseph would take a ship to get to the States. They arrived at Ellis Island. Unfortunately, before they got to get off the ship, Joseph had developed a terrible rash (from eating way too much Pineapple). But, they did get off the ship and meet their parents and Ernest (who at this time was still a baby). Susi would then complete school and according to Susi, “I went to school and did not feel safe.” She would learn the English language and when she married, she finally, felt safe. Today, Susi (now Susan Warsinger) keeps herself involved with the USHMM by being a Survivor volunteer and speaking at the Museum for the “First Person” series. Today, she is 81 years of age and still volunteering at the USHMM.

Upstander Profile-Paul Weiner

Name: Pavel (Paul) Weiner

DOB: November 13^th, 1931

DOD (date of death): January 17^th, 2010

Age: 78

Pavel Edgar Weiner was born in November 13, 1931 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He had one brother named Jan (Hanus being the diminutive for Jan in Czech, but also called “Handa” in his diary) Weiner. He was the youngest and Jan unfortunately perished at Auschwitz-Birkenau in1945 and his father in 1944. In May of 1942, when Pavel was only ten years of age, he and his family were deported to the Terezin Ghetto. He began his diary when he was only twelve years of age. Pavel wrote a diary when he was imprisoned in the Terezin Ghetto (the same ghetto as Petr Ginz and later people you will read about in later chapters). He was an innocent Jewish boy that had to witness such atrocities in the Terezin Ghetto. His mother, however, survived the Ghetto and the two of them immigrated to Canada and then the USA in 1950, where he eventually changed his name to Paul (Pavel, being the Czech version of Paul). He married in 1967, and had a daughter, who is a teacher. He forgot about his diary, until in 1979, when he was helping his mother move from Washington DC to NY. How did something as vital as a diary be lost? He soon donated the diary to the USHMM and a photograph. He did learn some of the English language in school while in the Terezin Ghetto, but he never practiced the language much. He wrote his diary during his last year in Terezin (from 1944 - 1945, when the camp was liberated). No one really knew how he obtained the diary, only that he might have tried to get hands on paper, due to the very limited amount of paper and pens in the Ghetto, but no one really knew how he obtained it. He even submitted a page of testimony for his late brother, Jan. Unfortunately, he passed away in January 2010, at the age of 78. He was a loving father and son.

Upstander Profile-Edith Kann Roth

Name: Edith Kann Roth

DOB: July 28^th, 1933

DOD (date of death): May 8^th,2008

Age: 74

Unlike her sister, Renee, who was born Ruth at birth, Edith was born just Edith. Edith Kann was born on July 28^th, 1933 in Saarland. She was the baby of the family. Unlike Renee, who had red hair and green eyes, Edith was a Strawberry blonde and had blue eyes. Edith was delicate child, due to her health problems, which would later on progressively get worse than better. Edith would be very young when WWII broke out and her family would send her and her sister, Renee to Le-Chambon, where Edith would stay with a family that was not with Renee. But Edith would get to see Renee at times, and she did not feel the sense of loneliness that Renee felt. Like typical sisters, Edith and Renee fought occasionally and according to her sister, Renee, “Yes, Edith and I fought occasionally. Never anything serious. Although she was only 2 1/2 years younger than I somehow she seemed much younger. I was very protective of her. She was also very stubborn and I had learned to just walk away from arguments with her. If she said the earth was really square, there was no point in arguing with her!” Edith was 14 when she immigrated to the US with her family. Like Renee, she took the summer course at the Taylor Allderdice High School where she would improve on her English. Unlike Renee, who only did her senior year, Edith did all four years of Highschool, where she would be exposed to a whole different life-style. According to her sister, Renee, “Edith fitted in very quickly and comfortably. It was the first "permanent" setting for both of us.” For college, Edith went to a medical secretarial school and then in 1953, three years after her sister Renee got married, she married a man by the name of Paul Roth. They had four children and Edith then became a grandmother of two. She loved her grandchildren very much and like grandmothers around the globe, tries to indeed spoil their grandchildren as much as they possibly could. They divorced after 25 years of marriage. Unfortunately, Edith was a diabetic. According to her sister, Renee, “ Edith did not develop diabetes until her forties. She began to take insulin at that time. Eventually, she required dialysis.” In a letter to the author of this novel, Renee said that Edith’s last years would be spent in Orlando, FL. Her daughter, Miriam would take care of her, while Edith was placed in a nursing home. Edith unfortunately succumbed to her diabetes and health problems on May 8^th2008 at the age of 74.

Upstander Profile-Renee Kann Silver

Name : Renee Kann Silver

DOB: February 24, 1931

Age: 79

Born Ruth Kann (later Renee Kann ) (now Silver) was born in Saarland on February 24^th, 1931. She was older than her sister, Edith by 2 1/2 years. When Renee was barley 2 years old, the Nazis came to power. Her father was very worried about the fate of his family being Jewish. As soon as he possibly could, he got rid of his business and immigrated the family to France. To Renee, life seemed so confusing, since she was so young when the War broke out. Renee lived in these places during the war:

Saarland, Alsace, Sarreguemines, Longeville en Barrois, Gurs, Lyon-Switzerland, Back to France and the States. But, then she was sent to Le-Chambon-sur-Lingon (where Peter Feigl and Elisabeth Kaufmann were also sent). She was only 11 years old at this point. Unlike Peter Feigl’s parents who did not pay a fee, Renee’s parents had to pay a fee for her to stay in Le-

Chambon-sur-Lingon. Fortunately, Renee’s little sister, Edith was with her at this departure. Renee was given to a woman named Madame Dreyfus, but Renee did not live with Madame Dreyfus. Madame Dreyfus was responsible for getting Renee and her sister to Le-Chambon. When they arrived, a family was waiting there for Edith, but Renee, at the tender age of 11, was wondering why there was no one for her? Renee ended up spending the night with a woman by the name of Madame Deleage. She was responsible of finding hiding places for the Jewish refugee Children, such as Renee. Renee ended up on a farm with a family by the name of Fournier. The Fournier family had a son named Marcel. She was very dissatisfied with the farmers. She said,” The Fourniers had never seen a toothbrush before I came.” Later on some more girls came to stay with the Fourniers. She stated, “Even though they’re the same age as me-eleven-they never talk to me. And I’m not suppose to tell anyone who I am, so I don’t talk to them much, either. I’m still lonely.” Renee would see her sister every once in a while; Edith was placed with a different family. Renee would be placed with a different family. She would later be placed with a woman by the name of Mesdemoiselles (Misses) Royal. Renee would be a little more content there; after all, there would be other girls for her to play with. Soon, Renee and her family would safely immigrated to the USA When she was asked about her first impression of the US, she said, “My first impression of the States upon arriving in New York in July was that it was very unpleasantly hot. The humidity was terrible. I did not care for New York where we stayed with relatives for a few days. A cousin picked us up and drove us to Pittsburgh and I was enchanted by the beauty and vastness of the landscape on either side of the Pennsylvania Turnpike”. She was only 16 when she came to the US. She and her sister took a course during the summer at Taylor Allderdice High School to improve on their English. Renee would only do her senior year of Highschool, and then she would attend the University of Pittsburg, where she would major in foreign languages. By this time, she was fluent in English, German, and French, had five years of Latin and was beginning to learn Spanish. During college, she would meet the love of her life, Arthur Silver, who would be seven years older than her. They met in February of 1949 and married in November of 1950. She was only 19 when she got married, and he was 26. Soon, Renee became a teacher. She said to the author of this novel, “I taught in the New York City Public school system, languages at the high school level. I was also a grade advisor for 8 years and dealt particularly with the ESL students, I never taught at the university level. My husband taught in the Fine Arts Department of Long Island University C.W. Post College. He became chairman of the department.” The Silver’s settled in New York, where the Silver’s would welcome one son, in the year1956. Renee would soon be interviewed for a novel entitled, “Hidden on the Mountain: Children hidden during the Holocaust”. She would tell her story for the first time to the public, and then, by word of mouth, she would speak at groups, teaching them about the Holocaust. Renee unfortunately lost her sister, Edith in May of 2008 and Arthur in 2010. Today, Renee continues to speak at groups and spend time with her grandchildren, who bring her such joy. She never forgot Le-Chambon, she always thought of it as a “Difficult Adjustment” and went back to Le-Chambon for the reunion where she would meet Elisabeth Kaufmann Koenig. She is 79 years of age and continues to live in NY.