Wolfgang Blumenreich (M / Germany, 1924-2007), Holocaust survivor

Wolfgang Blumenreich (M / Germany, 1924-2007), Holocaust survivor

• KEYWORDS : <Refugees> <France> <Chateau de Quincy> <Chateau de Chabannes> <Drancy> <Auschwitz> Other camps -- <Israel>

Biography

Wolfgang Blumenreich was born December 10, 1924 in Berlin, Germany. He was placed by parents in a children’s home in Berlin. He left for Paris with a Kindertransport consisting largely of children from the Auerbach Orphanage in Berlin. He stayed at the Chateau de Quincy and later at the Chateau de Chabannes. He was among the older children arrested there by the French militia on Aug 26, 1942. He was sent to Nexon,Drancy and from there to Auschwitz and other camps. After the war, he recovered at the Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital and then moved to Israel.

USHMM

Wolfgang Blumenreich (at the time of the interview he was age 71 and living in Israel), born in Berlin, Germany in 1924, describes his mother and father, who were deported; being declared an orphan and sent to Chabannes, France; his memories of twin brothers, one of whom was killed at age 21 while the other one was a member of the British-formed Jewish Brigade fighting the Germans in Italy; his pleasant life in Chabannes; being part of a football team that played against village boys; working in a leather works factory, making bags; helping to harvest wheat with Chabannes farmers; the arrival of French militia to Chabannes in the middle of an August night to deport the oldest German-born children; being sent to Drancy and then deported to Auschwitz; the 13 selections, beginning in Auschwitz, of able-bodied workers; being eventually sent to 13 work camps; being hospitalized after liberation in Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital for severe malnourishment; the reasons he survived the camps, including his will to survive, his desire to see his brother, and his robust athletic form; immigrating to Israel; and his three children, with whom he never talked about his concentration camp experience.