Meetings with pupils about the Marcel network
May 7, 2018
In December 2017, on the initiative of a teacher, Yana Ponomarova, the Year 12 pupils of the Lycée Fénelon in Grasse welcomed members of the Association for the Memory of the Jewish Children Deported from the Alpes-Maritimes (AMEJDAM).
December 4 and 11, 2017: Grasse, Lycée Fénelon
Two meetings took place in succession: on December 4, the film about the Marcel network was shown. After the film, Michèle Merowka answered the pupils’ questions about the hidden children, the setting up of the network and the commitment of the clergy and religious. They were made aware that children had been hidden in the school that is now theirs.
Then Tamar Jacobs Loinger, daughter of Fanny Loinger, a Resister involved in rescuing Jewish children with the OSE (Œuvre de Secours aux Enfants), told how a young woman who had barely finished her nursing studies became an important member of the Jewish Resistance. She saved more than 400 children, first by getting them out of the Les Milles camp, then out of the camps of the south-west, and then by arranging their placement with foster families.
On December 11, four people came to give their testimony: hidden children and children of deportees, all of whom shared their own experiences and those of their parents.
Madeleine Germain: born in Paris, placed in the care of the Assistance Publique with her sister, five years older; they were thrown out and placed in a succession of foster homes. Germaine, the elder sister, was deported to Auschwitz and came back.
Alain Zyzeck, born in Nancy, evacuated to south-west France with his family; his elder brother joined the French Resistance.
Elena Goossens, born after the war, the daughter of a deportee, explained how the trauma her father suffered was passed on to the family he founded on his return from deportation.
Féodor Merowka, born in Germany, a refugee in France from 1934, told of exile, his father’s arrest by the Italians, internment in the Sospel camp, flight during the Italian collapse, being hunted when the Germans arrived, and life in the forest of Vence until the Allies arrived.
Pupils’ testimonies
“The first meeting was with Mrs Merowka, president of AMEJDAM, who told us about the Jewish children hidden by the Marcel network. This rescue network was founded by Moussa and Odette Abadi in 1943 with the help of Monseigneur Paul Rémond, Bishop of Nice.”
“With Mrs Merowka and her cousin, we watched the film explaining how the Marcel network worked in our region. The following week, we had the incredible good fortune to welcome witnesses of the war.”
“Thank you to Madeleine Germain, Alain Zyzeck, Féodor Merowka and Elena Goossens. I was very touched by each of their stories. Thank you for coming to talk to us about the Shoah.”
“These people were very young during the Second World War; they made me realise how lucky I am to live here with my family and friends, and to be safe.”
“We had this great good fortune to be able to listen to them; we may be the last to hear these words, these testimonies…”
“‘We inherit our parents’ fear’ – that was the sentence that struck me most during the survivors’ talk. Through this remark, we realised that even if the children did not understand what was happening around them when war was declared, their parents’ fear permeated their minds for ever.”
“These meetings changed the way I see the war: hundreds of heroes were never on the battlefield, but they saved so many lives…”
Tuesday, March 13, 2018: Antibes, Mont Saint-Jean Catholic School
Speakers: Serge and Élise Binsztok
At the invitation of a teacher, Mary-Line Bouard, this meeting also began with a screening of the film Le Réseau Marcel to a Year 12 class of about thirty boys and girls. A few questions were asked, which Michèle Merowka answered.
Then Serge Binsztok spoke of his life as a hidden child at the Château du Masgelier, an OSE home, then of the dispersal of the children; he was separated from his elder brother and placed with a family who took him in and treated him well. When he speaks of his father, who was arrested and deported, never to return, his emotion fills the classroom, which listens to his words with almost religious attention.
Then his wife, Élise, spoke about her journey as a little Jewish girl in hiding, separated from her family, but saved. Questions were put to the two witnesses.
Before leaving, we gave the class Andrée Poch Karsenti’s book, Les 527 enfants du Réseau Marcel.
Conclusion: very interested pupils. Many questions, about the film and then to the two witnesses, Serge and his wife Élise.
Friday, March 23, 2018: Roquefort-les-Pins, Collège César
This meeting was the initiative of Michel Duffar, history and geography teacher: a meeting with the school’s Year 10 pupils, one of whose classes had visited the Les Milles camp. 7 pupils had also gone to Auschwitz and came back marked by their “experience”.
One of the classes is taking part in the Resistance competition, and two pupils are working on the Marcel network.
In both classes, Michèle Merowka explained the specific features of the border area with Italy and the influx of Jews into the region, emphasising the setting up and role of the Marcel network in rescuing children, and the role of Catholic and Protestant clergy. Many questions were asked about the false names given to the children: why was it so important? How were the names chosen? What became of the children after the war? How did they find the families from whom they had been separated?
A date has already been set for next year, with the teachers keen to show the film about the Marcel network, which has the advantage of being close to regional history.