Hiding in Plain Sight: Eluding the Nazis in Occupied France by Miller Sarah Lew

Author:Miller, Sarah Lew [Miller, Sarah Lew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Memoir/Judaica
Publisher: Academy Chicago Publishers
Published: 2012-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

Arrests in Paris, Summer 1942

July 1942 was oppressively hot. Unremitting waves of sunlight bore down on Paris and left its war-weary inhabitants listless and subdued. Passersby on the street slowed their pace to a crawl and a few mangy dogs slumped in doorways. Mama came home wilted from her errands and sat down next to Papa. “Our neighbor Madame Relman found a leaflet from Solidarité warning about an upcoming rafle (police roundup). You must all go over to Madame Klein’s apartment. You will be safe in her attic. The French police are not going to arrest women, so I am not concerned about my own safety. Paulette and I will stay here.”

There was more disturbing news in the Jewish newspapers. Allied troops were battling German forces in North Africa, Russia and even in the Pacific, with heavy Allied losses. The European continent and most of the world were engulfed now in war, a never-ending war. Some Christian friends stayed away from us and our Jewish friends struggled to find hiding places. My closest friend, Rosa, who had hid in an attic the previous week with her sister, told me that her parents and brother had been arrested by the French police. She was too overcome with grief to say any more. It was hard for us to accept the silence of most of the French nation to our fate. Mama said she couldn’t understand why more clergymen and ordinary men and women didn’t listen to their own conscience and speak out against so much evil in France.

According to Jewish newspaper reports, Pétain and his corrupt cohorts were letting French policemen carry out massive arrests of Jews in the occupied zone. The illusion that persecutions were imposed on France by Germany was now shattered. We knew that Pétain had signed all the anti-Jewish laws that made us easy targets for arrest.

The knock on our front door came just before dawn on July 16. Paulette and Mama were alone this time in the apartment, while the rest of us were hiding in Madame Klein’s attic. Paulette showed her pass to two French officers, who told her that it was no longer valid. They had orders to arrest all foreign Jews in Paris, including women and children. Paulette and Mama were taken away by bus.

The next few days passed in a fog. Where were Mama and Paulette? How were they surviving? Would we ever see them again? We had no answers and no one could ease my anxiety. Papa seemed to age overnight; his face had a grayish hue. We sat around silently in the apartment, barely able to eat or drink. Three days later, Paulette came back home at last, her face ashen. But where was Mama? It was difficult for her to tell us what had happened. Her voice began to break and her hands shook as she tried to speak.

“They took us to the Vélodrome d’Hiver, a cycling arena in the fifteenth arrondissement. There were thousands of us crammed together in the stifling heat, with no food or water.

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