Hiding Edith (16 page)

Edith (bottom left) and girls from the house in Moissac after the war. They are wearing scouting uniforms and are on a camping trip.

Edith (seated far right) as a counselor, with children from the home in Paris in 1950.

Edith (top right) and more children from the home in Paris in 1950.

Above: Edith’s wedding to Jacques. Pictured also are Therese (far left), Gaston (seated below Therese), Edith’s mother (far right), and other young relatives.

Right: Edith and Jacques Gelbard in Paris, 1950.

In May 2004, Edith visted Moissac and Ste-Foy-la-Grande.

Edith in front of the house in Moissac.

Edith in front of the gates to the school in Ste-Foy-la-Grande.

Edith in Ste-Foy-la-Grande. The school where she lived is on the right. The cemetery is to the left behind the tall hedge.

Hiding Edith
is a true story. Edith Schwalb was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1932. She and her family left Austria as World War II approached and eventually made their way to southern France. After her father was arrested by the Nazis, her mother and sister went into hiding in the countryside; Edith and her brother, Gaston, were sent to the house in Moissac.

The house was funded by the Jewish Scouts of France (Eclaireurs Israelites de France) and run by a young couple, Shatta and Bouli Simon. Henri Milstein was the choir director, Germaine Goldflus one of the counselors. Sarah Kupfer became Edith’s close friend. For four years, Shatta and Bouli harbored Jewish children whose parents had gone into hiding or had been arrested by the Nazis. Of the more than five hundred Jewish children who lived in the house during the war, only one did not survive: her parents took her away, against the advice of Shatta and Bouli. The family was caught and deported to a concentration camp.

The entire town of Moissac knew about the house and its purpose, and the children were welcome in the local school. The
townspeople never betrayed the Jews living among them. If there were the threat of a Nazi raid, the mayor would send word to Shatta and Bouli. The children would go camping in the hills around Moissac and return when the danger had passed.

In writing
Hiding Edith,
I have tried to stay true to Edith’s life as a hidden child. In some cases, she was not able to recall the names of people she had encountered during the war, so I invented names for several people. As well, Eric Goldfarb and Edith never met in Moissac, though they were there at the same time. Eric was sixteen years old and stayed for six months before joining the Resistance. Eric and Edith did meet, in Toronto, many years after the war.

In May 2004, many of the children of Moissac, including Edith, together with the children and grandchildren of Shatta and Bouli returned to the house for a ceremony of remembrance. Two plaques were unveiled: one honored Shatta and Bouli Simon; the other honored the former mayor and the citizens of Moissac who, at the risk of their lives, collectively saved the lives of hundreds of Jewish children.

A plaque placed in Moissac in 1950 by the child survivors of the house. It says in part, “To the citizens of Moissac who protected, helped, and saved hundreds of young Jewish children during the dark years of the German occupation.”

May 2004 – A gathering of child survivors and citizens of Moissac in front of the house. Edith is standing close to the center in a white jacket. There are also young scouts from the community standing in the foreground.