Claus Gossels / Peter Gossels (M / Germany, 1930), Holocaust survivor

Claus Gossels / Peter Gossels (M / Germany, 1930), Holocaust survivor]]

Werner Gossels (M / Germany, 1933), Holocaust survivor

Biography

Claus Gossels was born in 1930 in Berlin, Germany. His brother Werner was born in 1933. Peter and Werner’s parents had divorced well before 1938 when their mother Charlotte made the heartrending decision to send her two sons to France to escape the violent Nazi-sponsored anti-Semitism that was making it increasingly dangerous for Jews living in Germany.

It took a year for their mother to obtain visas for her sons from the French Embassy in Berlin. On July 3, 1939, only months before the outbreak of World War II, Charlotte saw her 8- and 5-year-old sons off at the train station, thanks to a Jewish organization called the Joint Distribution Committee.

They went first to the Chateau de Quincy and later to the Chateau de Chabannes. In September 1941 they emigrated to the United States aboard the SS Serpa Pinto.

USHMM

C. Peter R. Gossels (known as Peter Gossels), born on August 11, 1930 in Berlin, Germany, reminisces with the sisters Paillassou about Chabannes, France; the reunion; their memories of wartime and of each other and the joy of seeing one another again; Gossels’ early life in Berlin; his father, who was a judge and was told to leave in March 1939; going to Belgium without Gossels and his brother, Werner; his mother, Lotte, who was divorced from their father; seeking an escape route by train; arriving in France on July 4, 1939 along with 38 other children; stopping initially at Château Quincy-sous-Sénart for 9-10 months; beginning again in Chabannes, for seven months; learning to garden for their food supply; the kind, loving, and receptive environment of the Creusois and Chabannais; the courage and heroism of the sisters Paillassou and others who risked their lives, families, and town to save the children; the importance of his daughter Lisa Gossels’ work in remembering the Children of Chabannes; the murder of his mother in Auschwitz; the importance of remembering the experiences of those who were with him in Chabannes; his memories of the sisters Paillassou; visiting Chabannes in 1963 with his wife and reuniting with sisters Paillassou; how this was the first of many visits; maintaining a relationship with the Paillassou sisters over the years; his reminisces with his daughter about his mother and her deportation; his schoolwork in Chabannes; his post-war memories; and his pride in his daughter’s film work.

Sources

• SS Serpa Pinto (September 1941) -- confirmed (the name is on the list of passengers)