Paris

21st April 2020

Day 37 

Confined at home

Today is also Yom HaShoah

Of course, it is not the same thing, but since the confinement started, I thought about WWII many times, and about the occupation of Paris.
Years of occupation meant years of hiding for the Jews in France, and Jews around Europe. They didn’t hide from a virus, but from the Nazis, from terror and fear. . And they were scared, everyday. They didn’t know what was going to happen on the next day, or the next one. They didn’t have any news (or very little) from their loved ones, and they didn’t know when would be the beginning of the end. 

In the meantime, millions of Jews were deported to the death camps. Babies, children, elderies, men and women…
Today I remember them. I will never forget.

We have to remember them, each single one of them. For their unique path in this life, for their unique stories and experiences. For who they were and for their families. 

A few days ago, I walked through the Jewish area in Paris, and while my daughter was playing around, I saw this beautiful street art painting of Samuel Milo Adoner. Milo survived the death camps, and he passed away a few weeks ago, in March. 

The school where he went as a child is the school where my daughter will go one day, when she turns 3 years old.
It is a public school where many of the children  were Jewish during WWII, because it is located in the heart of the Jewish neighborhood. 

The square, in front of the school, was renamed a few months ago. It is now called “the square for the 260 children”, thanks to Milo Adoner.
260 Jewish children deported to the death camps, because they were born Jewish.
Milo was one of them. He came back from Auschwitz. The 260 children were his playmates. 

Milo Adoner dedicated a big part of his life to remember his playmates, as well as the director of the school, Joseph Migneret, Righteous among the Nations and Resistant, who received this high distinction thanks to Milo. 

Milo was very involved for the school, and he was there, years after years, to read the names of the 260 children, with the children of the school. 

Nahoum Goldenberg

Today I remember him, I remember them. 

Here is a picture with the name of my great grandfather, Nahoum Goldenberg, who was deported from Paris with no return.

 

The Shoah memorial in Paris started this initiative for Yom HaShoah. People can write the name of a deportee, as a way to say his/her name.

Out loud on the internet, because of the Paris lockdown.

I remember my family and the ones who were persecuted.

Never Forget

Author 

Flora Goldenberg

2020 April 21st