Gerhard Eckmann (M / Germany, 1929), Holocaust survivor

Gerhard Eckmann (M / Germany, 1929), Holocaust survivor

• KEYWORDS : <Children of La Hille> -- <Germany> -- <Refugees, Belgium> <Home Speyer> -- <Refugees, France> <Seyre> <Chateau de La Hille> -- <Refugees, Spain> <Refugees, Portugal> <Refugees, United States>

Biography

Gerhard "Gérard" Eckmann was born in 1929 in Germany. In 1938-39 he went as a refugee in Belgium at Home Speyer. When Germany invaded Belgium in 1940, all of the orphanages fled. Gerhard’s orphanage was part of a group that fled to France. The children spent the winter in Seyre before finally settling at Chateau de La Hille in the Pyrenees. In the summer of 1941, Gerhard was part of a group of 22 children who were allowed to emigrate to the United States. With the help of HIAS, they boarded a ship in Lisbon and landed in New York in late September of 1941.