Werner Neuberger (M / Germany, 1926), Holocaust survivor

Werner Neuberger (M / Germany, 1926), Holocaust survivor

• KEYWORDS : <Germany> <Refugees> <France> <Labor camp>

Biography

Werner Neuberger was living and working on a farm under a false identity when one day in 1944 he was arrested by gendarmes and sent to a labor camp on the island of Alderney (Aurigny) in the Channel Islands and later to Boulogne-sur-Mer in France and other camps, before being liberated by the Belgian Red Cross.

Werner Neuberger is the son of Moritz and Tony (Mayer) Neuberger. He was born on June 3, 1926 in Rodalben, Germany where his father was a salesman. Werner had two older siblings, Annelise and Fritz. In March 1939 Werner left Rodalben in a Kindertransport to France from Mannheim. He was taken to the La Guette children's home, where he was one of 130 German Jewish refugee children who were given shelter in a château owned by the Baron Edouard de Rothschild. Werner remained there until May 1940. After the German occupation the children were transferred to the Hotel des Anglais in the village of La Bourboule (Massif Central). From 1942 to 1944 Werner lived and worked on a farm owned by Baron Guy de Rothschild in Perigueux. On March 28, 1944 French police arrested Werner at the farm and turned him over to the Germans. He was sent to a labor camp on the Ille Anglo-Normand d'Aurigny, an island in the English Channel, where he was interned with Russian, French and Jewish prisoners. They were put to work making fortifications along the beaches, including constructing bunkers and installing anti-aircraft guns. A few months after his arrival the camp was evacuated and the prisoners moved to Boulogne in northern France, where they worked repairing bridges and railroad tracks. As the Americans approached, the Jewish prisoners were evacuated. They were loaded into sealed boxcars and sent east towards Germany. Werner was on the train for a week. Most of the tracks were damaged, and the train had to stop several times, but the prisoners were kept locked inside. Finally the train stopped in Diksmuide, Belgium, where the resistance had destroyed a bridge. The prisoners were afraid to get out at first, but then spotted Red Cross workers who assured them that they were safe. Members of the Belgian resistance hid the prisoners for four days until the British arrived. Since Werner had no papers, the mayor of Diksmuide provided a document allowing him to return to France. When Werner reached Paris, he made his way to the Rothschild bank. There he found Baron Guy de Rothschild in the uniform of a French army captain. When Werner told the baron of his desire to return to work on his farm, Rothschild invited him to stay in his home in Paris until he could give him a lift to Perigueux. While on the farm, Werner received a letter from a cousin serving in the American army in Europe. Once he discovered Werner's whereabouts, the cousin contacted Werner's sister, who had immigrated to the United States. While Annelise was making arrangements for Werner's immigration, Baron de Rothschild invited Werner to return to his home in Paris. Werner stayed with the baron for one year before joining his sister in the U.S. in December 1946. Werner's brother Fritz was killed during the war in Majdanek.