Cousin Nathalie's story....as told to me during my visit with her Aug 2018

I met my cousin Simonne Nathalie Szbrenic Chuteau  during my visit with cousin Lilianne in France last August. I initially discovered Nathalie after I discovered her nephew Remy Binsztok had followed me on Twitter, 2015.  Here I share the family stories she shared with me.

Nathalie's Family - branch of my tree

Nathalie's dad - David Szbrenic

At the beginning of the war, 1940,  David enlisted in the French army & was imprisoned in Germany. When his rank was captured, the German commandant instructed all Jewish prisoners to step out of line. David complied. The German officer approached him and told him to "Stop fooling around". David's Aryan looks had saved him. 

Nathalie's mom - Chaja Sura (Helen) Srebrnik (born Binsztok):

During the day Helen was working at M. Strausberg's atelier. October 1943, the French police came in the night to capture Helen, who tried to escape and ran downstairs into the street, but she could not fight with the policemen who sent her to Drancy, and Auschwitz. Upon her arrival, she was chosen to work.  April 1945, Helen returned in very bad shape, but alive.  She had survived Auschwitz, liberated by American soldiers.

Nathalie's sister - Rose

A couple of days before Nathalie's mom's capture, her sister Rosette (born 1937) had been taken away by a gentile woman, Madeleine Gallois living in a small village, Grisy les Platres.  Nathalie's maternal uncle Albert Binsztok knew Madelaine because he had sent his daughter Nicole to spend holiday with her in Grizy... (near Pontoise, near Paris).  Fortunately, Madeline Gallois' daughter rescued Rose two days after La Rafle and just one day before her mom's capture.  Madeline's mother was a nurse and already had cousins Fanny and Lucienne Lerner to take care.  Thanks to the Gallois', Nathalie's sister remained alive.

Unfortunately, Fanny and Lucienne were deported in August 1942, shortly after their mother Madelaine, returned for them. She could not bear to be without them.  Fanny was sent on convoy 16 August 7, 1942, and Lucienne on convoy 24, August 26, 1942 along with cousin Robert Binzstock. The three small children were murdered in the gas chambers.

 

 

Honoring My Family's Heroes of the Holocaust, Then and Now

Heroes who saved my family during Holocaust

1. My dad, Jack Bienstock - It was his ego, so humiliated by having to wear the "Juif" star, he insisted on leaving Paris immediately, within days of the edict.   Timing was key, since the final solution -"la grande rafle - the big roundups", had begun June/ July 1942. My dad, left Paris just days before his 21st birthday on July 1, 1942. It was my dad who convinced the rest of the family to follow him to Ceyroux.  "Mon pere etait le hero de ma famille parce que c'etait lui qui dit les mots, l'address de Ceyroux."  Hear him tell his story on youtube.com/bevmargo.
2. The cheminot from Vierzon - This hero lived and worked in Vierzon, one of the largest railroad stations, strategically located on the boundary between zones. He gave his life for the lives of desperate Jewish families. He smuggled my dad, my mom, my aunt, & countless others onto coal trains headed south to the Free zone, "la zone libre".  My dad did not know this hero's name & often referred to him as the "cheminot",  French for railroad worker. 
3. French resistance fighter, Albert Mayne. He provided the house in Ceyroux Les Brisseau, where my parents and grandparents lived in hiding for two years. My dad did not know who owned the house he was renting. Mayne's daughter Bernadette, who I met at the Yad Vashem ceremony 12/4/2017, still lives there today.
4. Parcelier and Simonnet families - farmers also members of the resistance.  Alice Meillassoux was a bicycle courier for the Maqui, the resistance of the woods. These families also provided an occupation on the farm and made Ceyroux-Les Brisseaux home for them for two years.
5. Mayor Leon Daquet - provided my dad with a new Identity card to disguise his Jewish identity, changing his name from "Jacob Joseph" to Jacques and his occupation from printer to cultivateur, farmer.

Some heroes of today:

• Nicki Haley - Ambassador to the UN - fights for Israel
• Alan Dershowitz - speaks up against Anti-Israel hate groups
• Ben Shapiro - outspoken journalist
• Brigitte Gabriel - Lebanese author of "Because They Hate"
• Ryan Bellerose- Native American who fights for the indigenous rights of the Jewish people to the land of Israel.

La Conscience des Francais - book authored by Rene Duschler

Like a detective, I often search  back through my old Genealogical email correspondence for clues I may have missed.  I also repeat prior google searches to see if something new is posted about a specific person.

Last week I googled "Rene Duschler" as I have many times before.  But this time,  I had an exact match on his name,  a book he authored was listed for sale:  "La conscience des Français".  Although it was published in 1987, this was the first time I noticed it in my search results.  I immediately placed my order.

I believe the author, Rene Duschler, was my dad's best friend and neighbor growing up in Paris. In 1939 Rene was a year older than my dad and Rene was enlisted in the French army.  Rene was captured by the Germans and somehow escaped. When Rene returned home to his apartment in Paris, his dad was concerned that the Germans would come looking for him.  My dad's family hid Rene in their apartment for several weeks.  My dad described this unique scenario of his family as "Jews hiding a Gentile".  

In June 1942  my dad and his family were forced to wear the  yellow star of David that identified them as  "Juif" Jewish.   My dad described the panic in the Jewish community, the pandemonium.  Jews became hunted animals, desperate for an escape route.  

Rene Duschler's dad was a peddlar with many connections.  When the time came, Mr. Duschler provided the name and address of a "cheminot", a railroad worker in Vierzon.  The railroad station in Vierzon was one of the largest in France, strategically located on the boundary between zones.  At the time France was divided into a Northern Nazi-occupied zone and a Southern free zone.

This Cheminot became my family's courageous savior.  He smuggled members of my family, and other desperate Jews, onto railroad cars headed south, all while German soldiers patrolled the area.  My dad could not recall this cheminot's name, but often talked about him.  He was eventually captured by the Germans and killed.    

When I came across Rene Duschler's book on Amazon, I felt that this book could provide  answers and details from my dad's story. Who was this cheminot? What was his full name? Wouldn't it be something extraordinary if Rene mentioned my dad in his book?  I am trying not to hold impossible expectations as I anticipate the precious content that this book may hold.  



 

Collaborators, Bystanders, & Heros - my TEDx Talk at College -unknown HERO -Vierzon Cheminot

In preparing to give my talk on Friday 4/26/2013, I have reflected on my parents' struggles and the people who helped them.  Rene Duschler's dad connected my dad to a "cheminot", a railroad worker who lived and worked in Vierzon. Vierzon at the time was one of the largest, busiest railroads in France which was strategically located on the border between Northern Nazi-occupied zone and Southern Free-zone. This cheminot was a complete stranger, yet he risked and gave his life smuggling desperate Jews onto freight cars headed South.  Unfortunately, he was captured and executed by the Germans and I never learned his name.  I have been searching for decades now.  Under the cover of darkness, under constant heavy German patrols: he alone lead my dad, my mom, my grandparents, my 2 aunts, and countless other Jews to safety.  He did this many times for just my family including some aborted attempts. If anyone knows who he was please let me know.  He should be honored by Yad Vashem.

In My Dad's Own Words: Roundups in Paris 1941

In 1941 I had a deviated septum operation on my nose at a clinic in Belleville. I had to stay a couple days there. My father, David, came to visit me. When he arrived he was very shook up and out of breath. He had taken the Metro from Paris two stops and got off at the Belleville station. The clinic was at Boulevard de Belleville and he had to walk a few hundred yards from the station. When he exited the Metro car there were four exits, one on each of the four corners of the Boulevard. Somehow he went out a different exit than his usual. Upon arriving at street level he looked around him and could not believe his eyes. The other three exits were completed surrounded by Police with Germans. Busses were waiting to fill up with all the Jews they could find. My father, by pure luck, had taken the one exit that was not surrounded and avoided being captured.
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