Marcel Zauberman collection

Marcel Zauberman was born on 27 September 1931 in Paris, France to Chil and Sura Zauberman. He has two sisters, Mireille (b. 1934) and Hélène (b. 1936). Prior to the German invasion of France in 1940, the Zaubermans lived in Lens, France. As the situation in German-occupied France worsened, Marcel’s father arranged through an underground resistance group for him and his sisters to be smuggled into Vichy, France. Marcel, Mireille, and Hélène successfully crossed the border and were taken in by their aunt and uncle and their children who had previously fled there. They lived in Chaudes-Aigues. Marcel’s parents fled to Lille and were smuggled into Vichy, France with the aid of French Resistance railway workers. They enrolled Marcel in a Catholic school under a false identity, but refused to allow him and his sisters to convert to Catholicism for protection. The family then fled to the Italian-occupied zone, settling in Challes-les-Eaux. Marcel’s father arranged for Marcel and his sisters to be taken to Switzerland with several other children in September 1943. Marcel was sent to an all-boys children’s home in Geneva called Hôme de la Forêt. His sisters were placed with a Swiss family in Cormoret. The family was reunited after the war. Marcel later immigrated to Canada. The collection documents the Holocaust experiences of Marcel Zauberman, originally of Lens, France, who fled German-occupied France and survived the war from 1943-1945 in Hôme de la Forêt, a Swiss boys home in Geneva. Included is Marcel’s Swiss-issued refugee identification document (Flüchtlingsausweis) and photographs documenting his time at Hôme de la Forêt. The photographs are numbered by the donor and he has provided the following descriptions (descriptions run left to right): 1. Kneeling: Jean Levy-Loeb, Michel Levy-Loeb, Rudolph; Standing: Annie (staff), Leopold, Victor (staff), Simon Pravidlo, Raymond, 1944 2. Camping trip to Versoix. Marcel Zauberman, Isidore Ménachie (also referred to as Bouboule) 3. Isidore Ménachie, Pierre Vuifleret (educator), Marcel Zauberman, May 1945 4. Raymond, Marcel Zauberman, May 1945 5. Raymond, Rudolph, Michel Levy-Loeb 6. Marcel Zauberman, Jean Levy-Loeb, 1946 7. Pierre Vuifleret (staff), May 1945 8. Marcel Zauberman, Michel Levy-Loeb, Isidore Ménachie, Rudolph, Raymond, Versoix, 1946 9. Hôme de la Forêt 10. Rudolph, May 1945 11. Jean, Isidore Ménachie (Bouboule), Michel, Rudolph, Raymond, Marcel Zauberman, Vesoix, 1944 12. Isidore Ménachie, Marcel Zauberman, Rudolph, Pierre Vuifleret, Michel Levy-Loeb, unidentified, Jean Levy-Loeb 13. Michel Levy-Loeb 14. Unidentified, Raymond, Isidore Ménachie (Bouboule), Rudolph, Michel Levy-Loeb, Marcel Zauberman 15. Michel Levy-Loeb, May 1945 16. Raymond, May 1945