Category:Chateau de La Hille (subject)

Chateau de La Hille (see Holocaust Children Studies)

• Hidden Children : Le Chambon-sur-Lignon

Overview

• See Die Kinder des Schloss La Hille

1st stage: Belgium, the Home General Bernheim for girls and the Home Speyer for boys

In the year preceding the outbreak of World War II, as a result of the persecution of Jews during the so-called "Kristallnacht" in November 1938, nearly 1000 Jewish children from Germany and Austria between the ages of 4 and 17 found refuge in Belgium. Some came individually, others illegally, and some on an organized transport which gathered the children from Cologne. The rescue effort was organized by the Comite d'Assistance aux Enfants Juifs Refugies (CAEJR), an organization founded by Madame Goldschmidt-Brodsky, whose husband, Alfred, was an official of the Belgian Red Cross.

Most of the children were sheltered in private homes, and about 80 in two large children's homes. The girls' home, known as the Home General Bernheim, was located in the Brussels suburb of Zuen, and the boys' home, called Home Speyer, in the suburb of Anderlecht.

2nd stage: The flight to France, Seyre

When the German army invaded Belgium in May 1940, the approximately 100 children aged 5 to 16 years were able to escape at the last minute on a freight train, thanks to the intervention of the director of the girls' home.

After a week traveling through France along with thousands of other refugees from the North, the children arrived in the hamlet of Seyre, near to Nailloux in the department of Haute Garonne, and were lodged in a large barn belonging to the farm of the Chateau de Seyre. There was no furniture or beds and little to eat. The winter of 1940 was very harsh and there was much illness and suffering. Fortunately, the Secours Suisse aux Enfants, a sub-sector of the Red Cross of Switzerland, agreed to provision the young refugees' camp and began to supply clothing and basic needs.

3rd stage: The Chateau de la Hille

The following spring this Swiss organization, directed by Mr. Maurice Dubois, arranged the transfer of the camp to the Chateau de La Hille near Pamiers in Ariège, close to the Spanish border. At the time it was a very neglected building and in Febraury 1941 the older boys set to work digging wells and latrines to make the old chateau habitable. Elka and Alexander Frank followed with the younger children a few months later. Shortly after the move, Roesli Naef assumed the directorship of the home.

During the summer of 1941, twenty of the younger La Hille children were able to leave for the United States through the efforts of the US Committee for the Care of European Children assisted by the AFSC (American Friends Service Committee, Quakers). Two other teenagers also immigrated to the US that summer thanks to the intervention of relatives in America.

4rd stage: Hiding

In August 1942, by order of the Nazis all the boys and girls over 15 years of age, about 40 in all, were arrested by the gendarmerie and deported to the camp Le Vernet near to Pamiers. Most of the internees at Le Vernet were transported to the north and to Auschwitz. Only the 40 children from La Hille were saved by the intervention of the Swiss director of La Hille, Mlle. Roesli Naef. Naef immediately contacted Maurice Dubois, who went to see Rene Bousquet, the authorities in Vichy to demand the release of the children. When Dubois threatened to close all the Swiss camps in France, Vichy agreed to free the La Hille youth.

As soon as the children were returned to La Hille, Mlle. Naef immediately began organizing the (illegal) flight of the older girls and boys over the Pyrenees to Spain and the Alps to Switzerland in order to save them. At the same time, other older children found work and shelter with farmers in the region. Twelve or so teenagers joined the Resistance (one of them, Egon Berlin, age 16, was killed in combat in the area). A dozen of the young people were caught during their attempts to flee from La Hille and were killed at Auschwitz. One, Werner Epstein, survived Auschwitz and a death march.

During the final year of the war, a number of French and Spanish refugee children also came to live at the La Hille home.

Yad Vashem later recognized both Maurice Dubois and Roesli Naef as Righteous Among the Nations: Dubois in 1985 and Naef in 1989.

Thanks to the efforts of their Swiss and French protectors, and especially to their "débrouillard" spirit, more than 80 of the 93 girls and boys survived the war and settled all over the world. At least 55 of them are still alive and have reunited several times in Israel, France and the US. The last reunion took place in Toulouse and at the sites of the former camps in Ariège and the Haute Garonne on Sept. 15-19, 2000. At that time, a memorial to the children of la Hille, situated at the entrance to the chateau grounds, was inaugurated.

– Walter Bernstein (one of the children who lived at the chateau, now living in the USA)

The Children

Group portrait of Jewish refugee children at the Secours Suisse children's home at Chateau La Hille. Pictured in front is Norbert Winter. First row right to left: Kurt Klein, Joseph Dortort, Max Krolik (1928), Egon Berlin, Luzian Wolfgang (1925) and Gerard Kwaczkowski. Middle row (right to left) Edith Moser (1924), Ilse Wulff (1925), Inge Helft (1926), Margot Kern (1926), Rita Leistner (1925), Frieda Steinberg (1924), Lixie Grabkowicz (1924), Else Rosenblatt (1925), and Arie Grossmann. Back row: Kurt Moser (1922), Ernst Schlesinger, Irma Seelenfreund, Edgar Chaim, Helga Klein (1925), Leo Lewin (1925), Ruth Hertz, Manfred Kemlet, Rosemarie Cosmann, Emil Dortort (1924), Inge Schragenheim (1924), Hans Garfunkel, Max Schaechtele, Bertrand Elkan (1922), Addi Nussbaum (1925), and M. Palau.

Went as refugees to the United States before the Summer 1942

On Board of SS Mouzinho (June 1941)

1. Rosalie Blau / Rosalie Johnson (F / Germany, 1931-2010), Holocaust survivor (SS Mouzinho June)
2. Bernhard Eisler (1928) P (SS Mouzinho June)
3. Karla Flanter (1929) D (SS Mouzinho June)
4. Lore Flanter (1934) D Laura (SS Mouzinho June)
5. Herbert Kammer(1931) A (SS Mouzinho June)
6. Gerd Obersitsker (1925) D Gert-Arno Obersitsker (SS Mouzinho June)
7. Jules Steinhardt (M / Germany, 1930) (SS Mouzinho June)
8. Kurt Steinhardt (M / Germany, 1932) (SS Mouzinho June)
9. Klaus Sostheim (1926) D (SS Mouzinho June)

On Board of [[SS Serpa Pinto (September 1941)

1. Joseph Findling (1928)D
2. Martin Findling (1932) D
3. Siegfried Findling (1930) D
4. Max Krolik (1928) P (picture)
5. Rosette Krolik (1933) P (picture) Rosa Krolik
6. Rolf Weinmann (1931) D

On Board of other ships

1. Gerhard Eckmann (1929) D Gérard Eckann
2. Arthur Kantor (1926) A
3. Eva Kantor (1928) A
4. Werner Rindsberg (1924) D
5. Hanni Schlimmer (1926) D
6. Antoinette Steuer (1936) P
7. Willy Wolpert (1930) D

These children reached legally the United States thru Spain and Portugal. At least 9 children were aboard the SS Mouzinho (leaving Lisbon on June 10, 1941, reaching New York on June 21, 1941). See Film.

Crossed the Pyrenees to Spain in the Winter 1942-43

1. Inge Berlin (1923), Koblenz (D)
2. Wolfgang Luzian (1925), Wien (A)
3. Norbert Stückler (1925), Wien (A)

with the teacher Monsieur A. Frank.

Crossed the Alps to Switzerland in the Winter 1942-43

1. Hans Garfunkei (1924), Königsberg (D)
2. Helga Klein (1925), Mannheim (D)
3. Ruth Klonover (1924), Dortmund (D)
4. Margot Klonover, Dortmund (D)
5. Leo Lewin (1925), Falkenberg (D)
6. Lotte Nussbaum, Rheydt (D)
7. Betty Schütz (1930), Berlin (D)
8. Margot Kern (1926), Aschersleben (D)
9. Regina Rosenblatt (1927), Langendreer (D)
10. Jacques Roth (1925), Sterkrade (P)
11. Peter Salz (1926), Berlin (D)
12. Else Rosenblatt (1925), Langendreer (D)
13. Ilse Wulf (1925), Stettin (P)

Crossed the border in the Winter 43-44

1. Bernhard Inge (1928)
2. Rosenblatt Toni (1931)

with the teacher: Gret Tobler

Crossed the border with Switzerland

Goldapper Edith (1924), Wien (A) Kammerer Manfred (1925), Berlin (D) Kammerer Walter (1922), Berlin (D) Moser Edith (1924), Hannover (D) Nussbaum Addi (1925), Rheydt (D) Schlesinger Flora, Köchin, Wien (A) Schlesinger Paul (1929), ihr Sohn, Wien (A) Schragenheim Inge (1924), Wien (A)

(with the help of Victoria and Madeleine Cordier)

Arrested at the border with Switzerland

Arrested at the border with Switzerland

1. Inge Helft (1926), Wurzen (D); deported
2. Adele Hochberger (1926), Berlin (D); deported
3. Manfred Vos (1924), Köln (D); deported

Arrested by the French Police in March 1943

1. Emil Dortort (1924), deported
2. Bertrand Elkan (1922), Camp de Gurs, deported
3. Walter Strauss (1925), Camp de Gurs, deported

Arrested at the border with Spain

1. Karl Blumenfeld (Poland, 1924), deported <perished>
2. Werner Epstein (Germany, 1923), deported <survived>
3. Kurt Moser (1922), deported <perished>
4. Fritz Wertheimer, deported <perished>

Joseph Inge (1925), Darmstadt (D); dritter Grenzübertritt glückte!

Failed attempt to cross the border. Returned to the Castle

Strauss Walter (1925), Duisburg (D); Rückkehr ins Schloss Blumenfeld Karl (1924), Wroclaw (P) Elkan Bertrand (1922) Little Kurt (Onze), (1925), Maltersburg (D) Moser Kurt (1922), Hanover (D) Nussbaum Adolf (Addi), (1925), Rheydt (D) Oelbaum Ruedi (1927), Berlin (D) Schragenheim Inge (1924), Cologne (D) Strauss Walter (1925), Duisburg (Germany)

Hidden in France

In various locations

1. Grabkovicz Lixie (1924), Wien (A); Hausangestellte in Grenoble
2. Herz Ruth (1922); Aushilfe, Colonie Suisse, Praz s. Arly
3. Kuhlberg Fanny (1929), Hannover (D); Angestellte bei Bauern,

12 km von Cilly

1. Landsmann Peter (1925), Wien (A)
2. Leistner Rita (1925), Wien (A)
3. Ruth Schütz (1925), Berlin (D), in der Résistance
4. Steinberg Frieda (1924), Wien (A), Heimerzieherin in Mégève
5. Stückler Cilly (1929), Wien (A), Angestellte bei Bauern in Caillac

At the Ophanage of he Francisan Nuns in Pamiers (Spring 1944)

1. Eva Fernanbuk
2. Edith Jankielewitz (1931)
3. Guita Kokotek (1930), Chemnitz (D)
4. Irene Kokotek (1930), Chemnitz (D)

At the monastery of Lévignac near Toulouse (Summer 1944)

1. Peter "Pierre" Bergmann, Wien (A)
2. Gustav Manasse (1931), Frankfurt (D)
3. Fred Manasse (1935), Frankfurt (D)

Peter and Gustav fled, were caught and fled again.

In Toulouse, they met by chance at Madame Giselle's (an employee of the American-Jewish aid organization 'Joint')

1. Peter Bergmann, reached Palestine
2. Eva Fernanbuk, reached Palestine
3. Edith Jankielewicz, reached Palestine

1. Gustav Manasse (1931), reached the United States
2. Fred Manasse (1935), reached the United States

With the help of 'Joint' Eva, Edith and Peter got to Spain and to Israel (then Palestine), Gustav and Mane into one uncles to New York, where they were taken in by two Jewish families.

Also with the help of the organization 'Joint', in arduous, three-day march Andorra, then Spain and finally Palestine:

1. Ilse Brünell, Cologne (D)
2. Ruth Schütz (1925), Berlin (D)
3. Heinz Storosum, Cologne (D)

Children who were still at the Castle in th Fall 1943 =

In the fall of 1944, the 'big ones' were still in the Castle of La Hille:

Bravermann Israel (Isi), Brüssel (B) Dessauer Trude, Bamberg (D) Kuhlberg Rita, Hannover (D) Kriegstein Friedel, Köln (D) Lind Gerti (1927), Wien (A) Riemann Renée, vermutlich aus Wien Seelenfreund Irma (1921), Frankfurt (D) Storosum Martha (1927), Köln (D) Vos Henri (1933), Gymnach (D)

Template:Most Jewish children of Schloss La Hille were between the ages of 15 and 18. Younger were: Friedel, Toni, Isi, Mane, Gustav, Henri Vos, Inge Bernhard, Peter Bergmann, Edith Jankielewitz, Guita und Irene Kokotek und Eva Fernanbuk.

Jewish Children who were not from Belgium and joined the group in France

1. Daniel und Josette Mendes, Besançon (6 und 7 Jahre alt)
2. Daniel Reingold, St. Malo (12)
3. Gonda und Samuel Weinberg, Amsterdam (12 und 14)
4. Rachel Borensztain, Frankreich (10)
5. René Baumgardt, Frankreich (8)

The Children (AJPN List)

• Paulette Abramovitch

• 1940 / 1943 Inge Berlin - née en 1924 // son frère Egon Berlin - 1928 arrivent d'Allemagne par la Belgique à Seyre, puis sont envoyés au Château de la Hille. En 1942, les enfants de plus de 16 ans sont arrêtés et internés au Camp du Vernet. Rösli Näf* contacte immédiatement Maurice Dubois* qui demande à René Bousquet de relacher les enfants. Ils reviennent à la Hille en septembre 1942. Inge fait partie d'un groupe de cinq jeunes qui rejoindront l'Espagne, tandis que Egon reste en France et rejoint la résistance. Egon Berlin, meurt en combattant près de Roquefixade à l'âge de 16 ans. Il est enterré dans la cimetière de Pamiers.
• Rosalie Blau
• 1941 / 1942 Edgar Chaim

• Famille Clément - François
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Cosmann - Rosemarie Cosmann
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Deutsch - Kurt Deutsch né à Ash (Tchécoslovaquie)
• Famille Domka - Aliza Domka, allemande, confiée par ses parents au Secours Suisse arriva au château de La Hille dans l'Ariège.
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Dortort - Joseph et Emil Dortort (1924)
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Drab - Egon Drab né à Vienne (Autriche)
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Elkan - Bertrand Elkan
• Werner Epstein (Germany, 1923)
• Monique Evrard - originaire de Nice.
• Joseph Findling

1941 / 1943 Famille Frank - Elka Frank, pensionnaire du Château de la Hille de 1941 à 1943. 1941 / 1942 Famille Garfunkel - Hans Garfunkel

• Edith Goldapper - 12/11/1924 - Vienna (Austria) - escaped to Switzerland
• Rosa Goldmark
• Lixie Grabkowicz

1941 / 1942 Famille Grossmann - Arié Grossmann

• [[ Haas - Charlotte, née en 1930 à Traben-Trarbach (Allemagne), et Günther, né en 1929 à Traben-Trarbach (Allemagne)
• Inge Helft - 1941 / 1942 Famille Helft -
• Ruth Herz - 1922 à Holzheim (Allemagne) // Georges Herz - 1928.
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Hochberger - Adèle Hochberger, dite Dela, née en 1927 à Vienne (Autriche)
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Kemlet - Manfred Kemlet
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Kern - Margot Kern, petite réfugiée juive allemande, fut confiée à Maurice Dubois et envoyée au château de La Hille dans l'Ariège.
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Klein - Kurt et Helga Klein.
• Max Krolik & Rosa Krolik
• Famille Kuhlberg - Rita, née en 1929.
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Kwaczkowski - Gérard Kwaczkowski
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Leistner - Rita Leistner
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Lewin - Léo Lewin
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Moser - Édith (1924) et Kurt Moser (1922)
• Famille Nohr - Fernand
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Nussbaum - Addi (Adolph)
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Oehlbaum - Rudi Oehlbaum
• Guy Perry - originaire de Foix.
• Walter Rindsberg (Werner) - 27/02/1924 - Mainstockheim (Germany) - Refugee in USA, 1941
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Rosenblatt - Else Rosenblatt
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Rosenzweig - Joszi et Egon Rosenzweig, nés à Vienne (Autriche)
• Jacques Roth
• Famille Salz - Peter Salz, petit réfugié juif allemand, fut confié à Maurice Dubois* et envoyé au château de La Hille dans l'Ariège.
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Schaechtele - Max Schaechtele
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Schlesinger - Paul et sa mère Flora et Ernst Schlesinger
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Schragenheim - Inge Schragenheim
• Famille Schütz - Ruth Usrad est née Schütz le 31 mars 1925 à Berlin. Après les défaites belge et française en 1940, Ruth Usrad, adolescente allemande de Berlin évacuée en Belgique, se retrouve dans une maison d'enfants et de jeunes du Sud-Ouest, le château de la Hille, à Montégut-Plantaurel (Ariège) . La situation devenant dangereuse, les moniteurs la font fuir avec un autre jeune vers Lyon, mais lorsqu'ils arrivent sur les lieux, leur contact vient d'être arrêté. Après un essai infructueux de passage en Suisse, elle arrive à Grenoble où elle rejoint le MJS en 1943 sous le nom de Renée Sorel. (Frida Wattenberg : Organisation juive de combat)
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Seelenfreund - Irma Seelenfreund
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Spiro - Spiro et Max Spiro, nés à Hamm (Allemagne)
• 1941 / 1942 Famille Steinberg - Frieda Steinberg
• Martha Storosum - Heinz Storosum
• Walter Strauss
• Clause Studniewisz
• Ruth Tamir, réfugiée juive allemande, fut confiée à Maurice Dubois et envoyée château de La Hille dans l'Ariège.
• Famille thierry - texte thierry modif zzzzz
• 08/1942 / 1945 Famille Véléris - Isi, né en 1933 en Belgique.
• Famille Villas - Maria et Grégoire, espagnols
• Henri Vos -- < + Manfred Vos (?) >
• Gonda Weinberg - originaire d'Amsterdam
• 1941 / 1942 Norbert Winter
• 1941 / 1942 Luzian Wolfgang
• 1941 / 1942 Ilse Wulff
• 1941 / 1942 Henri Zang - Allemagne.

Bibliography

• Walter W. Reed, The Children of La Hille: Eluding Nazi Capture during World War II (2015).

"Following the horrors of Kristallnacht in November of 1938, frightened parents were forced to find refuge for their children, far from the escalating anti-Jewish violence. To that end, a courageous group of Belgian women organized a desperate and highly dangerous rescue mission to usher nearly 1,000 children out of Germany and Austria. Of these children, ninety-three were placed on a freight train, traveling through the night away from their families and into the relative safety of Vichy France. Ranging in age from five to sixteen years, the children along with their protectors spent a harsh winter in an abandoned barn with little food before eventually finding shelter in the isolated Château de la Hille in southern France. While several of the youngest children were safely routed to the United States, those who remained continued to be hunted by Nazi soldiers until finally smuggled illegally across the Swiss Alps to safe houses. Remarkably, all but eleven of the original ninety-three children survived the war due to the unrelenting efforts of their protectors and their own resilience ... In The Children of La Hille, Reed narrates this stunning firsthand account of the amazing rescue and the countless heroic efforts of those who helped along the way. As one of the La Hille children, Reed recalls with poignant detail traveling from lice-infested, abandoned convents to stately homes in the foothills of the Pyrenees, always scrambling to keep one step ahead of the Nazis. Drawing upon survivor interviews, journals, and letters, Reed affectionately describes rousing afternoon swims in a nearby natural pond and lively renditions of Molière plays performed for an audience of local farmers. He tells of heart-stopping near misses as the Vichy police roundups intensified, forcing children to hide in the woods to escape capture. The Children of La Hille gives readers an intimate glimpse of a harrowing moment in history, paying tribute to ordinary people acting in extraordinary ways."--Publisher description.