Joyce Zalc / Joyce Mizrachi (F / France, 1941), Holocaust survivor
Joyce Zalc / Joyce Mizrachi (F / France, 1941), Holocaust survivor
André Zalc (M / Belgium, 1931), Holocaust survivor
Lucie Zalc / Lucie Ragin (F / Belgium, 1935), Holocaust survivor
- KEYWORDS : <Rivesaltes>
Biography
Joyce Mizrachi, born in 1941, discusses her birth in the Rivesaltes camp in southern France; her family, including her brother Andre Zalc and sister Lucie Ragin; her mother and sister’s escape from Rivesaltes without her; being returned with her family by the Red Cross; living in Marseilles at the end of the war; air raids in Marseilles; memories of constantly being frightened; the difficulties her family faced when they returned to Belgium; post-war antisemitism she experienced in Belgium; her family’s arrival in United States; her homesickness; her father’s difficulties adjusting to life in the US; her mother’s strength; the fear she had that she was not her mother’s real child; how her parent’s dealt with their wartime experience; growing up with parents who are Holocaust survivors; life lessons she learned from her mother; her love of acting; the effect of Alzheimer’s disease on her father’s memories of the war; learning about her father’s family after the war; and the comfort she found in her marriage and family.
USHMM
Lucie Ragin, Joyce Mizrachi, and Andre Zalc describe their mother’s early life in Latvia and Azerbaijan; their father’s background in Łódź, Poland; their parent’s marriage in Belgium; leaving Belgium for France by train; their two week train trip; daily life in the Rivesaltes camp; life in Tresse, France, the village to which their family fled; hiding personal documents throughout the war; acts of resistance in Tresse; their father’s role in the resistance; Lucie and Andre’s experiences living in an orphanage immediately after the war; the lack of sufficient food in the orphanage; Andre’s bar mitzvah in France; their trouble getting visas to come to the United States; arriving in the United States; other Rivesaltes prisoners and their families; their father’s difficulty adjusting to life in US; their religious life in US; the rabbi who was the religious leader at Rivesaltes; and the reasons they choose to speak about their experiences.