Another meeting in Carrières-sous-Poissy

May 5, 2013

Thursday, April 25, 2013, a glorious sunny day!

For the second year running, I was invited to two schools in Carrières-sous-Poissy to talk about the Marcel network.

Welcomed with his usual kindness by Anthony Faure, head of the Cultural Activities Department, we went in the morning to Mr Corbier’s final-year primary class at the Du Guesclin school. After watching the documentary about the Marcel network, the children, who knew a lot about the period, asked many questions. Empathetic, eager for information, attentive, their eyes glued to the documents I had brought, they did their teacher proud. Infinitely pleasant moments, despite the sadness of the events recalled.

The lunch break brought the three of us together over an excellent meal on the banks of the Seine, in a restaurant listing like a drunken boat, before we picked up the thread of History again in another primary school in the town.

Mrs Massello and her final-year pupils at the Champfleury school had also watched Le Réseau Marcel, and received me first with curiosity and very soon with warmth. I found the same curiosity as in the morning, the same frenzy to learn, to understand who Odette and Moussa were, how the children lived: did they go to school? How were they hidden? With all the innocence of childhood, unable to imagine that this seventy-two-year-old woman could have been the little three-year-old girl she was describing, they asked me “why I didn’t leave”.

A few lines for the last “fans”, a few autographs, a photo, and Amélie’s promise to write a report – a promise kept (see below).

Perhaps see you next year?

Andrée Poch-Karsenti

Class reports – Meeting Mrs Poch, a “hidden child” (by Amélie)

At the beginning, when we arrived, before seeing the lady, we watched a film about the Marcel network, in which a couple told us how they created it. Also in the film, a seventy-two-year-old woman is looking for information about her past; her name is Andrée Poch.

It’s this lady who is going to tell us how she lived through the war. Soon afterwards Mrs Poch arrived and the film was stopped. For her, it was hard to tell her past. She explained to us that this couple had neither money nor a place to set up the Marcel network. 527 children were hidden and saved thanks to this network.

Mrs Poch would like Odette and Moussa Abadi to come out of anonymity. Odette caught typhus, the same disease as Anne Frank, but she wanted to find Moussa again because she was very much in love, and also she wanted to see again the children whose lives she had saved.

Mrs Poch found out at the age of 6 that her parents had died in an extermination camp. Between 6 and 14, she asked herself questions about her parents. Before, her name was Poch, but she changed her name, and then became Andrée Poch again.

After the war, she became Andrée Poch again. She went through 3 foster families, plus 2 institutions. As a joke, Mrs Poch called Mohamed (a pupil in the class) Daniel Dupond! After this laugh, she showed us ration tickets and a map of France (divided in two).

A bit later, she showed us “the Jewish star”. They had to pay for it! Jews could not do the job they wanted, children could not go to the park, they had the last carriage of every train, and lots of other bans!

4 months went by after the war and she still had not found her parents. She showed us photos of Odette and Moussa, then letters from the Second World War.

A few minutes later we went back to school, but before that she wrote us little notes, and here is the one for the whole class : “Thank you for your attention, your presence, your questions. May your future adult life be a life of commitment” – Andrée Poch

Message for Andrée: We love you, thank you!

Report by Vincent and Ethân

On April 25, 2013, we went to the Salle Louis Armand. We watched a film about the life of Andrée Poch.

We asked her questions; she told us about Odette and Moussa Abadi, who created the MARCEL network during the Second World War.

She does not forgive the Germans, but she has no hatred towards them; she was hidden in an institution. She told us about her parents. She showed us a ration card, and she brought Odette’s identity card; then she showed us a Jewish star – Jews had to wear the yellow star from the age of 12.

It was great!!!!! ;-)