2023 commemoration for Odette and Moussa

October 30, 2023

Once again this year we gathered at Montparnasse cemetery around Odette and Moussa to honour the commitment that is the purpose of our association: Preserving the memory of Odette and Moussa Abadi and keeping alive the memory of the Shoah.

Memory is a volatile thing if we are not careful. It lives only through what carries it: writings, and the women and men who pass it on. We strive to leave writings, but they must be preserved, made to grow and made known. All this is possible only through us. Let us be the memory of Odette and Moussa so that their action continues to be known, so that it is part of History – the History that makes people want to save the weakest and to care for their neighbours.

There were few of us that Sunday in the narrow paths of the cemetery to honour this memory. The weight of the years makes it more and more difficult for the oldest among us to attend. Other obligations sometimes come before this commitment. But the most faithful were there, and will be there again next year. Around Odette and Moussa’s grave, to share it with them, we talked about our upcoming events and our wishes for keeping this memory alive. Andrée Poch-Karsenti read the words sent by Jacqueline Denechère, a friend of Odette, who was unable to join us.

Hello to you all.

Once again I cannot be among you to commemorate Odette and Moussa. And yet I would so much have liked to talk to you about them.

A deep friendship bound us together for many years. But I can tell you that I only heard of the “Hidden Children” when the story was revealed publicly. That shows you how discreet they were about an act that seemed natural to them. So we chatted together, talked, put the world to rights, as they say. We laughed and sang. And we talked a great deal about the situation in Israel, which often worried them. So I can imagine how devastated they would have been by the Hamas massacre. What would our reaction have been? Immense anger, certainly. Unreserved condemnation of such barbarity. And always the question: why, and how, does it come to this? I will not presume to speak for them. However, I believe that for us the cause was known, with the hope of finding a solution without resorting to terror.

Moussa and Odette had such superior intelligence of the heart! They would have fought to defend the children of the whole world.

I want to ask all of you to pass on this example, and I thank you for being there. It warms my heart

J. Denechère

Jérôme Karsenti recited the Kaddish, and we took leave of Odette and Moussa to prolong the moment over glasses and cups that warm the heart. Each time we part with the hope that there will be more of us next year. We will be there! Will you?