Category:Hidden Children (subject)
Hidden Children of the Holocaust
- Read Hidden Children (USHMM)
- See Secret Lives - Hidden Children And Their Rescuers During WWII (YouTube)
Overview
Among the small number of European Jewish children still alive at the end of the Holocaust, thousands survived because they were hidden.
(a) Some were in hiding, alone or with relatives, in attics, cellars, etc.
(b) Some had false identity papers.
(c) Some were entrusted by their parents to Christian families or religious institutions.
(d) Some, left abandoned, survived as street children.
(e) Some joined partisan groups.
Hidden Children and religious education
Christian families and institutions played a central role in protecting thousands of Jewish Children during the Holocaust. Thousands of "righteous among the nations" are recognized by the Institute Yad Vashem in Israel. Without the heroic commitment and sacrifice of non-Jewish rescuers, many more lives would have been lost.
In the 1940s, European societies were profoundly religious. In order to be safe, "hidden children" had to pretend to be "Christian" by living as Christians. The difference between being and pretending, however, was not very easy to maintain.
Some children were old enough to understand it, and were helped by their non-Jews saviors to keep the memory and pride of their "hidden" identity. Some were simply too little to understand it, or were encouraged by their saviors to convert and became "Christians". Many children ended up to be baptized. At the end of the war, the problem of what to do with these children became dramatic.
Generally speaking, the church discouraged the practice of forced baptism, although it accepted children who "spontaneously" asked for baptism or were presented to conversion by parents or grandparents.
More controversial was the case in which Jewish children were baptized by Christian neighbors or servants. Starting from the eighteenth century and the pontificate of Benedict XIV (1740-1758), the Church launched very strict rules that paved the way for the removal of "baptized" minors from the natural authority of their parents. The Mortara case, dated 1858, is the most famous example.
These norms had still an impact after the Holocaust. Many of the Jewish children saved by Catholic families or Christian institutions had been baptized and educated to the Christian religion. Should they be returned to their parents or relatives or even to Jewish organizations in case they were orphans?
In 1946 there was a heated debate about this issue within the Catholic Church. Pious XII in 1946 supported the idea that the Jewish children should not be returned. Other important members of the church supported the opposite view. At the end most of the children were returned, even though in some cases this meant to separate them from the families who so generously had taken care of them and that many of the "hidden children" considered as their own parents. The situation was very complex. Some of the children who had lived in Catholic Institutions refused to leave, some even became priests or nuns; some on the contrary left the priesthood when they discovered their Jewish roots. For many "hidden children", raised by non-Jewish families or guardians, the end of the war was either the happiest moment of their life or just another trauma.
Literature
2003
"Secret Lives - Hidden Children And Their Rescuers During WWII (YouTube)" (2003) is a documentary, directed by Aviva Slesein.
2005
Hidden Child (New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.) is a memoir written by Holocaust survivor Isaac Millman (France, 1933).
"A powerful story of survival, loss, and hope ... Isaac was seven when the Germans invaded France and his life changed forever. First his father was taken away, and then, two years later, Isaac and his mother were arrested. Hoping to save Isaac’s life, his mother bribed a guard to take him to safety at a nearby hospital, where he and many other children pretended to be sick, with help from the doctors and nurses. But this proved a temporary haven. As Isaac was shuttled from city to countryside, experiencing the kindness of strangers, and sometimes their cruelty, he had to shed his Jewish identity to become Jean Devolder. But he never forgot who he really was, and he held on to the hope that after the war he would be reunited with his parents ... After more than fifty years of keeping his story to himself, Isaac Millman has broken his silence to tell it in spare prose, vivid composite paintings, and family photos that survived the war."--Publisher description.
Pages in category "Hidden Children (subject)"
The following 172 pages are in this category, out of 572 total.
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- David Korn (M / Slovakia, 1937), Holocaust survivor
- Marian Marzynski / Marian Kuszner (M / Poland, 1937), Holocaust survivor
- Riccardo Schwamenthal (M / Austria, 1937-2016), Holocaust survivor
- Mirjam Stern (F / Slovakia, 1937-2017), Holocaust survivor
- Sophie Turner-Zaretsky / Selma Schwarzwald (F / Poland, 1937), Holocaust survivor
- Arlette Waldmann (F / France, 1937), Holocaust survivor
- Beate Zimmern (F / France, 1937), Holocaust survivor
- Sami Adelsheimer (M / Germany, 1938-1944), Holocaust victim
- Vittorio Attias (M / Bosnia, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Lore Baer (F / Netherlands, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Derrit Blumenkranz (F / Austria, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Dan Buchler (M / Croatia, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Djordje Deutsch (M / Croatia, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- George Elbaum (M / Poland, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Sonja Finci (F / Yugoslavia, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Irena Fiterman / Irena Liskiewicz (F / Poland, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Paolo Foa (M / Italy, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Anita Fried (F / Croatia, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Aldo Friedrich (M / Italy, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Anita Goldhirsch (F / Poland, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Aliza Goldman
- Paul Grin / Pavel Gruen (M / Yugoslavia, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Olga & Vera Grossman (Czechia, 1938)
- Ivana Haler (F / Bosnia, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Sonia Hauben (F / Germany / Italy, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Flora Kalderon (F / Yugoslavia, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Judith Köppel / Judith Steel (F / Germany, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Pavol Kovac (M / Slovakia, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Francine Lazarus (F / Belgium, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Bernard Leibman (M / Belgium, 1938-2019), Holocaust survivor
- Roma Ligocka / Roma Liebling (F / Poland, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Michel Claude (M / France, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Elzbieta Lusthaus (F / Poland, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Fran Malkin (F / Poland, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Irena Mandil (F / Yugoslavia, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Mirka Menzer
- Eva Novotna (F / Czechia, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Raffaele Pacifici (M / Italy, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Rita Peper (F / Netherlands, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Rina Pollak (F / Croatia, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Lavoslav Rothstein (M / Croatia, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Dalek Ruder (M / Poland, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Fryderyka Rzadzinska (F / Poland, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Irena Schnitzer (F / Poland, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Roza Schweiger (F / Poland, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Musia Selcer (F / Poland, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Danielle Simenow (F / France, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Maria Straucher (F / Poland, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Nando Tagliacozzo (M / Italy, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Laura Viterbo (F / Italy, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Rachel Wagner / Rysia Adler (F / Poland, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Liliane Wajnberg (F / France, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Micheline Zauberman (F / France, 1938), Holocaust survivor
- Simka Altarac (F / Bosnia, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Ralph Berets (Netherlands, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Thea Borczuk (F / Poland, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Jeannine Burk / Jeannine Rafalowicz (F / Belgium, 1939-2020), Holocaust survivor
- Pawel Chiger (M / Poland, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Amalia Dembitzer (F / Netherlands, Belgium, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Elena Dolgova / Yelena Zodziszski (F / Poland, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Ruth Eisenmann / Ruth Lange (F / Netherlands, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Micheline Federman (F / France, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Renzo Gattegna (M / Italy, 1939-2020), Holocaust survivor
- Claudine Halaunbrenner (F / France, 1939-1944), Holocaust victim
- Jolika Kraemer (F / Germany, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Susanna Krauthamer (F / Germany / France, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Donatella Levi (F / Italy, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Bozena Zofia Pasternak (F / Poland, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Ludwik Rabinowicz (M / Poland, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Relli Robinson (F / Poland, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Robert Sochor (M / Belgium, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Felice Stokes / Felice Zimmern (F / France, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Icchak Szotland (M / Poland, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Fryderyk Sztajkeller (M / Poland, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Davide Viterbo (M / Italy, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Jean Wasersztrum (M / France, 1939), Holocaust survivor
- Giulio Ballio Morpurgo (M / Italy, 1940), Holocaust survivor
- Sara Campagnano (F / Italy, 1940), Holocaust survivor
- Sonja DuBois (F / Netherlands, 1940), Holocaust survivor
- Abraham Foxman (M / Poland, 1940), Holocaust survivor
- Pesach Joselevich (M / Lithuania, 1940), Holocaust survivor
- Robert Krell (M / Netherlands, 1940), Holocaust survivor
- Henia Lewin (F / Lithuania, 1940), Holocaust survivor
- Yitzhak Rathaus / Yitzhak Raz (M / France, 1940), Holocaust survivor
- Sonja Rotenberg (F / Belgium, 1940), Holocaust survivor
- Mirjam Rothstein (F / Croatia, 1940), Holocaust survivor
- Misha Alkalay (M / Serbia, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Moedina Altorac (F / Croatia, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Daniel Cassuto (M / Italy, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Christian Danton
- Maurice Dores (M / France, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Oscar Drimmer
- Denise Elbert / Denise Kopecky (F / Slovakia, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Anita Etzyon (F / Poland, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Robert Finaly (M / France, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Jacqueline Greilsheimer (F / France, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Nicole Guggenheim / Nicole Yancey (F / France, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Monique Halaunbrenner (F / France, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Ginette Halpern (F / France, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Zeew Kutten (M / Rhodes, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Marguerite Lederman / Marguerite Mishkin (F / Belgium, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Alfred Münzer (M / Netherlands, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Dana Pomerants-Mazurkevich (F / Lithuania, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Aliva Presman (F / Poland, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Sophia Richman (F / Poland, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Alex Rosin / Elek Rebensztok (M / Poland, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Barbara Schechter / Barbara Levi (F / Poland, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- George Shershnevsky (M / Lithuania, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Jasia Starkopf / Johanna Brainin (F / Poland, 1941-2017), Holocaust survivor
- Lous Steenhuis Hoepelman (F / Netherlands, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Lily Tokarski (F / Poland, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Simon Wajnberg (M / France, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Henryk Weinmann (M / Poland, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Jula Weinstock / Julie Keefer (F / Poland, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Marion Weinzweig (F / Poland, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Joyce Zalc / Joyce Mizrachi (F / France, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Claude Zeidenbach (M / France, 1941), Holocaust survivor
- Laura Altarac (F / Bosnia / Italy, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Mornel Avidonis (M / Lithuania, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Julia Beilinson / Julia Melcaite (F / Lithuania, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Israela Blat (F / Lithuania, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Esther Boas / Esther Barendse-Boas (F / Netherlands, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Hanna Buchler (F / Croatia / Italy, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Reuven Campagnano (M / Italy, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Colette Chevalier (F / France, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Roland Cohen (M / France, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Jose Coltof (F / Netherlands, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Renata Conforty (F / Croatia, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Marie Jeanne Durand (F / France, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Benito Ehrlich (M / Leros, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- David Zvi Eisenmann (M / Netherlands, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Zinaida Elsker / Zisa Shulman (F / Lithuania, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Anita Epstein / Anita Kuenstler (F / Poland, 1942-2019), Holocaust survivor
- Gerald Finaly (M / France, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Aleksander Fried (M / Croatia / Italy, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Stefa Friedfertig (F / Poland, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Ruth Glikman / Ruth Bass (F / Lithuania, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Yosef Goldman (M / Hungary, 1942-2015), Holocaust survivor
- Tswi Herschel
- Louise Israels (F / Netherlands, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Ilana Kamber / Ilana Ash (F / Lithuania, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Sergey Karablikov-Kovarsky (M / Lithuania, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Pierre Korczak (M / France, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Colette Lafarge (F / France, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Attilio Lattes (M / Italy, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Bernard Leiserowicz (M / France, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Malka Levitan / Malka Faktoriute (F / Lithuania, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Krystyna Linden / Krystyna Lindenbaum (F / Poland, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Jose Peteri (M / Hungary, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Joseph Polak (M / Netherlands, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Pierre Pollaschek (M / France, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Irena Savir / Irena Aronovski (F / Lithuania, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Genia Schwarzmann (F / Poland, 1934), Holocaust survivor
- Katja Tenenbaum (F / Poland / Italy, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Marsha Tishler / Masha Leikach (F / Poland, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Genia Zalishansky (F / Lithuania, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Yakov Zilberg (M / Lithuania, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Yaakov Zoref (M / Lithuania, 1942), Holocaust survivor
- Ruth Blumenkranz (F / Austria / Italy, 1943), Holocaust survivor
- Ben-Zion Gotz / Bencijonas Gocas (M / Lithuania, 1943), Holocaust survivor
- Annelies Herzl (F / Netherlands, 1943), Holocaust survivor
- Arielle Potasznik (F / Belgium, 1943), Holocaust survivor
- Helena Swierczynska (F / Poland, 1943), Holocaust survivor
- Serge Wasersztrum (M / France, 1943), Holocaust survivor
- Rona Zinger / Rona Rozentalyte (F / Lithuania, 1943), Holocaust survivor
- Theresa Dulgov (F / Hungary, 1944), Holocaust survivor
- Fany Garrigues (F / France, 1944), Holocaust survivor
- Eva Koepsell (F / Hungary, 1944), Holocaust survivor
- Salomon Sarfatis (M / Greece, 1944), Holocaust survivor
- Ephraim Eisenmann (M / Netherlands, 1944), Holocaust survivor
- Pierre Sauvage (M / France, 1944), Holocaust survivor
- Liliana Schwamenthal (F / Austria / Italy, 1944), Holocaust survivor
Media in category "Hidden Children (subject)"
The following 58 files are in this category, out of 58 total.
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