WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:07.367 --> 00:00:09.167 -Good afternoon, everyone. 00:00:09.167 --> 00:00:11.968 I'm Shelbie Johnson, the distance learning specialist 00:00:11.968 --> 00:00:14.868 here at the National World War II Museum, 00:00:14.868 --> 00:00:18.767 and thank you so much for joining us on our Webinar today 00:00:18.767 --> 00:00:20.667 with Marthe Cohn. 00:00:20.667 --> 00:00:22.000 But before we get started, 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:25.601 I do want to go over some housekeeping items. 00:00:25.601 --> 00:00:28.234 First things first -- 00:00:28.234 --> 00:00:32.300 this is just a quick review of the GoToWebinar technology. 00:00:32.300 --> 00:00:36.667 So somewhere on your screen, you will see a question mark. 00:00:36.667 --> 00:00:39.901 If you have a question at any point during this Webinar, 00:00:39.901 --> 00:00:41.767 you can type it into that box. 00:00:41.767 --> 00:00:44.267 And I have Chrissy here behind the scenes. 00:00:44.267 --> 00:00:46.367 She'll respond to your questions. 00:00:46.367 --> 00:00:48.133 If you have any tech issues, 00:00:48.133 --> 00:00:51.501 you can type those into that box, as well. 00:00:51.501 --> 00:00:54.767 But I always recommend, to prevent tech issues, 00:00:54.767 --> 00:00:57.501 make sure that you have all windows closed 00:00:57.501 --> 00:01:00.133 besides GoToWebinar, 00:01:00.133 --> 00:01:02.701 and should anything happen, 00:01:02.701 --> 00:01:06.167 I always recommend exiting out of the program, 00:01:06.167 --> 00:01:09.267 restarting your computer, and trying to log back in. 00:01:09.267 --> 00:01:11.868 That usually solves that problem. 00:01:11.868 --> 00:01:14.234 The one handout we have attached here, 00:01:14.234 --> 00:01:15.567 that's going to be the teacher guide 00:01:15.567 --> 00:01:19.534 that I e-mailed out to everyone earlier this week, 00:01:19.534 --> 00:01:22.000 but it includes some curriculum pieces, 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:26.534 some post-visit activities for your students. 00:01:26.534 --> 00:01:29.801 And if you have not already purchased Marthe's book, 00:01:29.801 --> 00:01:32.701 "Behind Enemy Lines," I highly recommend it. 00:01:32.701 --> 00:01:35.667 I've been reading it. It's a great book. 00:01:35.667 --> 00:01:38.234 And we are offering a 20% discount 00:01:38.234 --> 00:01:40.534 in the museum's web store. 00:01:40.534 --> 00:01:43.334 That link is included in the teacher guide, 00:01:43.334 --> 00:01:45.267 so you can click it directly. 00:01:45.267 --> 00:01:47.234 It will bring you right to the cart. 00:01:47.234 --> 00:01:49.434 And that 20% discount, 00:01:49.434 --> 00:01:51.934 you're going to use the code "Webinar" 00:01:51.934 --> 00:01:55.167 when you're checking out. 00:01:55.167 --> 00:01:58.934 Now, obviously today's presentation is -- 00:01:58.934 --> 00:02:00.767 We're actually remembering 00:02:00.767 --> 00:02:03.067 International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 00:02:03.067 --> 00:02:05.167 which is not today, that's tomorrow, 00:02:05.167 --> 00:02:06.901 so we're a day early, 00:02:06.901 --> 00:02:10.634 but we are going to be focusing on "Behind Enemy Lines" 00:02:10.634 --> 00:02:12.300 with Marthe Cohn. 00:02:12.300 --> 00:02:15.601 And thank you so much for joining us today, Marthe. 00:02:15.601 --> 00:02:17.901 We appreciate you being here. 00:02:17.901 --> 00:02:20.000 And the first thing I want to do 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:22.667 is show your video that you've brought with you, 00:02:22.667 --> 00:02:24.868 so if you would like to introduce that 00:02:24.868 --> 00:02:27.300 to our students who are watching. 00:02:27.300 --> 00:02:29.234 -Yes. I would like, first, 00:02:29.234 --> 00:02:35.834 to thank the staff of the World War II Museum 00:02:35.834 --> 00:02:38.367 who invited me. 00:02:38.367 --> 00:02:42.968 I cannot give names because there are too many people, 00:02:42.968 --> 00:02:44.901 but it's the staff. 00:02:44.901 --> 00:02:46.100 Okay. 00:02:46.100 --> 00:02:52.033 And I hope that you enjoy my presentations. 00:02:52.033 --> 00:02:57.300 First, we are going to present a video, a DVD. 00:02:57.300 --> 00:03:03.300 In 2004, Mr. Richard Trank, the movie director 00:03:03.300 --> 00:03:06.834 of the Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, 00:03:06.834 --> 00:03:10.200 where we live, came to my home 00:03:10.200 --> 00:03:14.634 and interviewed me for five hours. 00:03:14.634 --> 00:03:17.300 But, really, the video, 00:03:17.300 --> 00:03:21.834 the DVD will last less than 10 minutes. 00:03:21.834 --> 00:03:26.400 And now we will -- 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:32.067 Oh, the DVD was made specially 00:03:32.067 --> 00:03:38.567 by somebody else in the Wiesenthal Center 00:03:38.567 --> 00:03:46.901 for my presentation in a hotel in Beverly Hills in 2004. 00:03:46.901 --> 00:03:49.033 Here's my DVD. 00:03:53.334 --> 00:03:57.567 -How does a young girl from a devoutly Orthodox Jewish family 00:03:57.567 --> 00:03:59.901 end up becoming a spy whose efforts helped 00:03:59.901 --> 00:04:04.567 to bring an earlier end to the war in Europe in 1945? 00:04:04.567 --> 00:04:07.434 The answer to that question was one that Marthe Cohn, 00:04:07.434 --> 00:04:09.767 born Marthe Hoffnung, kept to herself 00:04:09.767 --> 00:04:13.367 for the better part of a half-century. 00:04:13.367 --> 00:04:16.234 Born in 1920 in the French town of Metz 00:04:16.234 --> 00:04:19.601 in the Alsace region of France near the German border, 00:04:19.601 --> 00:04:22.033 Marthe was one of seven children. 00:04:22.033 --> 00:04:24.767 The family was quite religious but at the same time 00:04:24.767 --> 00:04:28.934 mixed easily with their non-Jewish neighbors. 00:04:28.934 --> 00:04:33.501 But with war clouds on the horizon in September of 1939, 00:04:33.501 --> 00:04:35.667 the Hoffnungs and many of their Jewish neighbors 00:04:35.667 --> 00:04:38.400 decided to move to a safer part of France, 00:04:38.400 --> 00:04:40.334 away from the German border, 00:04:40.334 --> 00:04:44.133 to the town of Poitiers, southwest of Paris. 00:04:44.133 --> 00:04:46.300 However, they were not safe for long. 00:04:46.300 --> 00:04:48.767 [ Gunfire, explosions ] 00:04:51.667 --> 00:04:55.200 The Nazis invaded France, and with little resistance, 00:04:55.200 --> 00:04:57.734 the French government capitulated. 00:04:57.734 --> 00:05:00.601 Immediately, life began to change. 00:05:00.601 --> 00:05:02.834 -We didn't know how bad it would be. 00:05:02.834 --> 00:05:04.701 We could not understand that, 00:05:04.701 --> 00:05:07.801 because even if you knew about Kristallnacht, 00:05:07.801 --> 00:05:09.033 it was in Germany. 00:05:09.033 --> 00:05:10.868 They did that to the Germans. 00:05:10.868 --> 00:05:15.400 They couldn't do that to the French people. 00:05:15.400 --> 00:05:16.901 -For a while, in spite 00:05:16.901 --> 00:05:19.601 of the various restrictions placed on the Jews, 00:05:19.601 --> 00:05:22.834 the Hoffnungs were able to go about their daily business. 00:05:22.834 --> 00:05:24.167 Marthe started nursing school 00:05:24.167 --> 00:05:28.167 and became engaged to a young medical student. 00:05:28.167 --> 00:05:31.367 As the war progressed and resistance to the Nazis 00:05:31.367 --> 00:05:33.267 and their Vichy French collaborators 00:05:33.267 --> 00:05:35.300 became more widespread, 00:05:35.300 --> 00:05:38.467 the family began to take more chances. 00:05:38.467 --> 00:05:40.367 Marthe and her sisters hid Jews 00:05:40.367 --> 00:05:42.501 who did not have the proper papers, 00:05:42.501 --> 00:05:44.901 and her fiancé became actively involved 00:05:44.901 --> 00:05:47.567 in resistance activities. 00:05:47.567 --> 00:05:50.501 One day, French police arrested her sister Stephanie 00:05:50.501 --> 00:05:52.734 and then her father. 00:05:52.734 --> 00:05:55.267 When her father was released shortly thereafter, 00:05:55.267 --> 00:05:57.901 the family managed to escape using false papers 00:05:57.901 --> 00:06:00.767 that did not identify them as Jews. 00:06:00.767 --> 00:06:02.601 There was a plan to help Stephanie 00:06:02.601 --> 00:06:05.167 escape from the French jail she was being held at, 00:06:05.167 --> 00:06:08.267 but sadly, it failed. 00:06:08.267 --> 00:06:11.701 -She was caught into camp, and then later, 00:06:11.701 --> 00:06:15.934 she was transferred to Drancy, near Paris, 00:06:15.934 --> 00:06:17.834 and then to Pithiviers, 00:06:17.834 --> 00:06:20.400 and she heard that they were going to be 00:06:20.400 --> 00:06:22.667 deported that afternoon, 00:06:22.667 --> 00:06:26.701 the afternoon of Yom Kippur '42. 00:06:26.701 --> 00:06:28.767 -Most of the Hoffnung family went to the mountains 00:06:28.767 --> 00:06:33.033 to join an older brother who was head of the resistance there. 00:06:33.033 --> 00:06:35.601 Marthe finished her nursing studies in Marseille, 00:06:35.601 --> 00:06:38.067 occasionally getting the chance to rendezvous with her fiancé, 00:06:38.067 --> 00:06:39.634 Jacques. 00:06:41.634 --> 00:06:44.100 Then in the summer of 1943, 00:06:44.100 --> 00:06:46.968 she went to Paris to work for a month in a hospital, 00:06:46.968 --> 00:06:49.567 traveling again under her false papers. 00:06:49.567 --> 00:06:51.701 She met briefly with Jacques. 00:06:51.701 --> 00:06:53.634 He was on the run for a resistance act 00:06:53.634 --> 00:06:56.601 that led to the murder of a Nazi collaborator. 00:06:56.601 --> 00:06:58.968 She begged him to stay in hiding with her. 00:06:58.968 --> 00:07:01.467 -And I told him, "You cannot go back to Préty. 00:07:01.467 --> 00:07:06.067 You have immediately to escape and go south and go to Spain, 00:07:06.067 --> 00:07:07.334 and I will join you." 00:07:07.334 --> 00:07:09.501 But he said he has to go back. 00:07:09.501 --> 00:07:12.667 His family is in Préty. His brother is there. 00:07:12.667 --> 00:07:16.067 He will tell them goodbye and leave with his brother 00:07:16.067 --> 00:07:19.167 and his friends as soon as they can, 00:07:19.167 --> 00:07:20.868 and he left -- 00:07:20.868 --> 00:07:23.701 After his examination, he left, 00:07:23.701 --> 00:07:27.200 and he promised me to write me every day, 00:07:27.200 --> 00:07:32.100 and three letters arrived, and the fourth one never came. 00:07:32.100 --> 00:07:34.234 -She soon learned that Jacques had been arrested 00:07:34.234 --> 00:07:37.033 along with his brother and several friends. 00:07:37.033 --> 00:07:42.133 He was tried and then executed for his resistance activities. 00:07:42.133 --> 00:07:44.734 Brokenhearted, Marthe returned to Marseille, 00:07:44.734 --> 00:07:46.667 graduated from her nursing studies, 00:07:46.667 --> 00:07:49.868 and then moved back to Paris to work for a registry. 00:07:49.868 --> 00:07:54.601 She remained there until the Allies liberated France. 00:07:54.601 --> 00:07:56.801 -When we heard on the radio 00:07:56.801 --> 00:07:59.234 that the troops were entering Paris, 00:07:59.234 --> 00:08:01.868 all the church bells started ringing, 00:08:01.868 --> 00:08:03.434 and we opened our windows, 00:08:03.434 --> 00:08:05.167 and we all sang "La Marseillaise." 00:08:05.167 --> 00:08:09.868 The whole city was singing "La Marseillaise." 00:08:09.868 --> 00:08:12.501 -Almost immediately after the liberation, 00:08:12.501 --> 00:08:14.934 Marthe enlisted in the French Army, 00:08:14.934 --> 00:08:17.534 where, initially, she worked as a social worker 00:08:17.534 --> 00:08:19.667 in the Alsace region of the country, 00:08:19.667 --> 00:08:22.200 close to her hometown of Metz. 00:08:22.200 --> 00:08:23.901 When her commanding officer learned 00:08:23.901 --> 00:08:26.133 that Marthe spoke fluent German, 00:08:26.133 --> 00:08:28.801 he recruited her to join Army intelligence. 00:08:28.801 --> 00:08:31.667 -I was introduced to Colonel Bouvet. 00:08:31.667 --> 00:08:36.367 He told me he needs me to interrogate people, 00:08:36.367 --> 00:08:43.968 to know what's going on, to know how the strategy of the German, 00:08:43.968 --> 00:08:47.033 if they are retreating or not retreating 00:08:47.033 --> 00:08:49.000 and how many people are there. 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:53.534 You know, all this military information. 00:08:53.534 --> 00:08:57.200 -After procuring information from Nazi POWs, 00:08:57.200 --> 00:09:00.367 Marthe was ready for her spy mission. 00:09:00.367 --> 00:09:03.400 It involved crossing the border from Switzerland into Germany 00:09:03.400 --> 00:09:06.367 to see how entrenched the Nazis still were. 00:09:06.367 --> 00:09:10.901 She would then have to pass that intelligence on to the Allies. 00:09:10.901 --> 00:09:13.167 It took more than 13 tries, 00:09:13.167 --> 00:09:16.200 but Marthe made it over the border into Germany. 00:09:16.200 --> 00:09:18.267 Her cover was that she was a German nurse 00:09:18.267 --> 00:09:21.834 trying to find out what happened to her Nazi fiancé. 00:09:21.834 --> 00:09:24.534 One day, she came upon a group of German soldiers 00:09:24.534 --> 00:09:26.834 who had retreated from the Allies. 00:09:26.834 --> 00:09:29.234 -And we were walking, and among us 00:09:29.234 --> 00:09:32.234 was an uncommissioned officer 00:09:32.234 --> 00:09:34.234 who was an SS, 00:09:34.234 --> 00:09:36.100 and he was raving about the Jews, 00:09:36.100 --> 00:09:39.901 how much he had killed Poles and Jews and all that, 00:09:39.901 --> 00:09:42.934 and he loved -- And he smelled Jews a mile away. 00:09:42.934 --> 00:09:45.767 You know, that's always what they'd say. 00:09:45.767 --> 00:09:48.667 He was going back to the Siegfried Line. 00:09:48.667 --> 00:09:52.501 He had been wounded, and he came back from the hospital, 00:09:52.501 --> 00:09:55.133 and as we walked, he fainted. 00:09:55.133 --> 00:09:57.734 So I was a good German nurse. 00:09:57.734 --> 00:09:59.834 I took care of him. 00:09:59.834 --> 00:10:01.834 -From this SS soldier, 00:10:01.834 --> 00:10:04.067 Marthe was able to obtain important information 00:10:04.067 --> 00:10:07.901 about exactly what was going on at the Nazi front lines. 00:10:07.901 --> 00:10:10.133 Making her way back to the Swiss border, 00:10:10.133 --> 00:10:11.834 she was able to transmit her report 00:10:11.834 --> 00:10:15.167 with the help of a Swiss farming family. 00:10:15.167 --> 00:10:17.567 Marthe then crossed the border again 00:10:17.567 --> 00:10:19.601 and made her way back into Germany 00:10:19.601 --> 00:10:22.701 to see if there was anything else she could uncover. 00:10:22.701 --> 00:10:26.767 -I walked to the Siegfried Line to see what's going on, 00:10:26.767 --> 00:10:28.734 and when I arrived at the Siegfried Line, 00:10:28.734 --> 00:10:30.701 they were all gone. 00:10:30.701 --> 00:10:33.067 The last stragglers were leaving, 00:10:33.067 --> 00:10:36.167 and they told me that the Siegfried Line is empty. 00:10:36.167 --> 00:10:41.767 Do you realize what an important information that was? 00:10:41.767 --> 00:10:44.200 -The information Marthe uncovered helped 00:10:44.200 --> 00:10:47.000 to shorten the Allied effort to defeat the Nazis 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:49.534 and saved untold numbers of lives. 00:10:51.767 --> 00:10:53.968 For the better part of a half-century, 00:10:53.968 --> 00:10:56.400 Marthe did not talk of her experiences, 00:10:56.400 --> 00:10:59.133 even with her family. 00:10:59.133 --> 00:11:02.667 But in the mid-1990s, while visiting in France, 00:11:02.667 --> 00:11:05.901 she made a request for her French Army records. 00:11:05.901 --> 00:11:07.434 When officials at the French Archive 00:11:07.434 --> 00:11:10.567 saw her file of commendations and achievements, 00:11:10.567 --> 00:11:12.133 the wheels were put into motion 00:11:12.133 --> 00:11:14.701 for her to be awarded the Médaille Militaire, 00:11:14.701 --> 00:11:17.434 one of France's highest military honors, 00:11:17.434 --> 00:11:19.868 and the same medal awarded to Sir Winston Churchill 00:11:19.868 --> 00:11:21.901 by the French government. 00:11:21.901 --> 00:11:25.067 Why was she so quiet about her exploits over the years? 00:11:25.067 --> 00:11:26.267 -It was not modesty, 00:11:26.267 --> 00:11:28.634 but I thought that nobody would believe me. 00:11:28.634 --> 00:11:33.434 You know, usually, a spy is a very tall, good-looking woman, 00:11:33.434 --> 00:11:37.667 and I didn't feel I was that type of a person at all. 00:11:37.667 --> 00:11:40.234 I was a very unlikely spy. 00:11:42.701 --> 00:11:46.968 -...to Marthe, who can tell us more about her story, 00:11:46.968 --> 00:11:50.801 and when she's finished, we'll go to our Q&A session. 00:11:50.801 --> 00:11:54.334 So take it away, Marthe. -Okay. 00:11:54.334 --> 00:12:01.267 I am sorry that I have so little time to tell you about my story, 00:12:01.267 --> 00:12:05.534 so I will be as brief as I can. 00:12:05.534 --> 00:12:09.000 After the liberation of Paris, 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:13.000 I wanted to join the French Army. 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:15.434 It was very difficult 00:12:15.434 --> 00:12:21.267 because many, many people wanted to join the Army, 00:12:21.267 --> 00:12:27.467 and I was not accepted because I had not the right documents. 00:12:27.467 --> 00:12:31.701 But several months later, in November -- 00:12:31.701 --> 00:12:37.534 because Paris was liberated in August 1945 -- 00:12:37.534 --> 00:12:43.734 but in November 1945, the mother of my fiancé, 00:12:43.734 --> 00:12:46.234 you saw in the DVD, 00:12:46.234 --> 00:12:52.367 was executed by the Germans along with his brother. 00:12:52.367 --> 00:12:55.767 My fiancé was a medical student, 00:12:55.767 --> 00:12:58.601 and his brother was a law student, 00:12:58.601 --> 00:13:03.133 and then they were both executed with two other friends 00:13:03.133 --> 00:13:06.901 on October 6, 1945. 00:13:06.901 --> 00:13:11.667 So as soon the train was again functioning 00:13:11.667 --> 00:13:14.801 between Paris and Préty, 00:13:14.801 --> 00:13:16.601 I went to see their mother, 00:13:16.601 --> 00:13:21.167 and I took her to Paris because she was very ill. 00:13:21.167 --> 00:13:26.834 Her two only sons had been executed, like I told you, 00:13:26.834 --> 00:13:30.567 and her husband was a resident 00:13:30.567 --> 00:13:35.901 in the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. 00:13:35.901 --> 00:13:43.367 So she met the Army at the cemetery 00:13:43.367 --> 00:13:47.234 where her two boys were buried by the Germans, 00:13:47.234 --> 00:13:52.734 and I was with her, and the Army asked her -- 00:13:52.734 --> 00:13:56.667 I am talking about the mother of my fiancé -- 00:13:56.667 --> 00:14:05.167 and the Army asked her if she needed any help. 00:14:05.167 --> 00:14:08.701 And she told them, "Miss Hoffnung" -- 00:14:08.701 --> 00:14:11.367 that's my maiden name -- 00:14:11.367 --> 00:14:13.567 "would like to join the Army 00:14:13.567 --> 00:14:17.734 but doesn't have the documents she needs. 00:14:17.734 --> 00:14:19.300 Can you help her?" 00:14:19.300 --> 00:14:22.400 In a few days, everything was done, 00:14:22.400 --> 00:14:30.133 and I was now assigned to the 151 Regiment of Infantry 00:14:30.133 --> 00:14:34.601 of the First French Army, and I left -- 00:14:34.601 --> 00:14:44.334 The regiment, like the front, 00:14:44.334 --> 00:14:48.000 in November 1945 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:50.334 was in Alsace. 00:14:50.334 --> 00:14:57.133 So I left Paris in a bus for Alsace, and when I arrived, 00:14:57.133 --> 00:15:01.667 the captain of intelligence 00:15:01.667 --> 00:15:03.868 who debriefed me 00:15:03.868 --> 00:15:11.167 decided that I was going to be a social worker 00:15:11.167 --> 00:15:13.200 and not a nurse. 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:18.934 So for several weeks, I visited our troops at the front 00:15:18.934 --> 00:15:22.100 and brought them what they needed -- 00:15:22.100 --> 00:15:25.033 mostly underwear, socks, 00:15:25.033 --> 00:15:28.267 hats, scarves, blankets, 00:15:28.267 --> 00:15:33.734 food, and reading and writing material. 00:15:33.734 --> 00:15:37.834 And then one day, crossing the square of the village, 00:15:37.834 --> 00:15:41.934 I met the colonel of the regiment. 00:15:41.934 --> 00:15:49.501 He had, in 1943, 00:15:49.501 --> 00:15:52.667 killed the first German 00:15:52.667 --> 00:15:57.467 in the metro station Barbès-Rochechouart in Paris. 00:15:57.467 --> 00:16:03.100 So that colonel stopped me in the square of the village 00:16:03.100 --> 00:16:08.334 and asked me to answer his phone during his lunch break, 00:16:08.334 --> 00:16:14.200 and he showed me around, and leaving, he told me, 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:20.033 "I am sorry I have nothing to read for you but German books." 00:16:20.033 --> 00:16:24.434 And I answered that I read German fluently, 00:16:24.434 --> 00:16:29.133 so very interested, he walked back towards me 00:16:29.133 --> 00:16:33.567 and asked me if I spoke German, 00:16:33.567 --> 00:16:36.968 and I told him, yes, as well as French. 00:16:36.968 --> 00:16:41.868 Then he explained to me that, in the German Army, 00:16:41.868 --> 00:16:47.234 all males from the age of 12 to old age 00:16:47.234 --> 00:16:50.868 were in the Army in uniform. 00:16:50.868 --> 00:16:55.300 So any man in civilian clothes 00:16:55.300 --> 00:17:00.534 walking the streets of Germany would be noticed and arrested. 00:17:00.534 --> 00:17:03.167 That's why they needed a woman. 00:17:03.167 --> 00:17:07.267 And he asked me if I accepted to be transferred 00:17:07.267 --> 00:17:11.801 to the intelligence service of the First Army, 00:17:11.801 --> 00:17:14.300 and I accepted. 00:17:14.300 --> 00:17:18.033 And he left, and I sat on the chair 00:17:18.033 --> 00:17:22.234 and wondered what predicament I'd put myself. 00:17:22.234 --> 00:17:23.567 Too late. 00:17:23.567 --> 00:17:30.367 Two days later, I was picked up by intelligence officers 00:17:30.367 --> 00:17:32.634 of the First French Army 00:17:32.634 --> 00:17:34.901 and taken to Blois, 00:17:34.901 --> 00:17:37.601 another city in Alsace, 00:17:37.601 --> 00:17:42.968 where I underwent an extremely intensive training 00:17:42.968 --> 00:17:45.601 for what I was going to do. 00:17:45.601 --> 00:17:48.367 After the training was terminated, 00:17:48.367 --> 00:17:54.133 they asked me to devise my own alibi 00:17:54.133 --> 00:17:55.801 so that -- 00:17:55.801 --> 00:17:58.534 Because if I devised it, 00:17:58.534 --> 00:18:03.901 it would stick much better than an alibi given to me. 00:18:03.901 --> 00:18:09.901 So I devised an alibi, presented it, and it was accepted. 00:18:09.901 --> 00:18:13.434 After that, I was assigned 00:18:13.434 --> 00:18:17.701 to the Commanders of Africa regiment 00:18:17.701 --> 00:18:20.400 of the First French Army, 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:26.000 and Colonel Bouvet -- you heard his name in the DVD -- 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:29.100 was commanding that regiment. 00:18:29.100 --> 00:18:36.868 And Colonel Bouvet asked me first to interrogate prison -- 00:18:36.868 --> 00:18:43.734 German prisoners of war to learn what was the plan of attack -- 00:18:43.734 --> 00:18:48.100 the plan of retreat of the German Army 00:18:48.100 --> 00:18:51.067 from Alsace to Germany. 00:18:51.067 --> 00:18:55.934 We were now in January 1945. 00:18:55.934 --> 00:19:00.767 The Germans had counterattacked in Belgium, had lost. 00:19:00.767 --> 00:19:06.934 Now they were counterattacking in Alsace, 00:19:06.934 --> 00:19:12.133 coming from Strasbourg, and all our Allied armies, 00:19:12.133 --> 00:19:14.968 the French Army included, 00:19:14.968 --> 00:19:19.834 had to retreat west quite a bit for several weeks 00:19:19.834 --> 00:19:23.267 until we stopped the counterattack. 00:19:23.267 --> 00:19:27.901 So I interrogated generals and colonels 00:19:27.901 --> 00:19:31.467 and obtained important information. 00:19:31.467 --> 00:19:36.400 I can boast about it because in one of my medals, 00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:39.934 the Croix de Guerre, was two citation. 00:19:39.934 --> 00:19:43.467 In one citation, it was noted -- 00:19:43.467 --> 00:19:48.067 It is noted that I provided Colonel Bouvet 00:19:48.067 --> 00:19:51.968 with extremely important information 00:19:51.968 --> 00:19:59.868 about the retreat of German from Alsace to Germany. 00:19:59.868 --> 00:20:05.634 After that, Colonel Bouvet asked me to cross the front in Alsace, 00:20:05.634 --> 00:20:11.000 and 13 times, I tried to cross the front in Alsace, 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:13.501 and I was not successful. 00:20:16.033 --> 00:20:18.501 And one... 00:20:21.934 --> 00:20:31.100 Crossing the front was very difficult for many reasons. 00:20:31.100 --> 00:20:36.567 First, we had very little information, 00:20:36.567 --> 00:20:41.734 and the information we got was not always accurate. 00:20:41.734 --> 00:20:45.601 So if I needed to go to a certain place 00:20:45.601 --> 00:20:47.501 and find something, 00:20:47.501 --> 00:20:50.334 I went there and couldn't find anything, 00:20:50.334 --> 00:20:52.434 so I could not proceed. 00:20:52.434 --> 00:21:02.467 Another reason -- the military guides who knew exactly the -- 00:21:02.467 --> 00:21:08.334 how to proceed on the ground 00:21:08.334 --> 00:21:12.501 explained to me how to go from A to B 00:21:12.501 --> 00:21:15.467 and what would be found on the ground, 00:21:15.467 --> 00:21:18.934 but they are humans, and they make mistakes. 00:21:18.934 --> 00:21:23.567 For example, one night, I was taken to a big field 00:21:23.567 --> 00:21:27.501 in February 1945, 00:21:27.501 --> 00:21:28.934 and by -- 00:21:28.934 --> 00:21:30.767 We were in a Jeep. 00:21:30.767 --> 00:21:32.200 We stopped. 00:21:32.200 --> 00:21:37.667 We got out of the Jeep, and I was told to cross the field 00:21:37.667 --> 00:21:43.534 to go to a small town northwest of the field 00:21:43.534 --> 00:21:50.901 where I would find a small group of German military 00:21:50.901 --> 00:21:56.634 who were going to retreat somewhere still in Alsace, 00:21:56.634 --> 00:21:59.167 not yet in Germany. 00:21:59.167 --> 00:22:06.234 So I crossed the field, and suddenly, I heard a big crack, 00:22:06.234 --> 00:22:10.868 and I was submerged in an ice-cold canal. 00:22:10.868 --> 00:22:13.534 I could not call for help. 00:22:13.534 --> 00:22:16.400 I had to do it by my own. 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:21.100 So I finally, after long time, 00:22:21.100 --> 00:22:24.701 found the place which was not as frozen, 00:22:24.701 --> 00:22:31.868 where I could grasp sufficiently the side of the canal 00:22:31.868 --> 00:22:33.567 to get out of it. 00:22:33.567 --> 00:22:36.934 And I never even caught a cold. 00:22:36.934 --> 00:22:40.901 But I never found the town, 00:22:40.901 --> 00:22:45.934 and at daybreak, I noticed that my -- 00:22:45.934 --> 00:22:47.734 the prints of my boots 00:22:47.734 --> 00:22:51.601 showed that I had walked in circles, 00:22:51.601 --> 00:22:54.501 so that was an experiment. 00:22:54.501 --> 00:22:56.400 After that, the captain 00:22:56.400 --> 00:23:01.067 who directed our small intelligence group 00:23:01.067 --> 00:23:03.567 decided that I was going to go 00:23:03.567 --> 00:23:07.033 into Germany through Switzerland. 00:23:07.033 --> 00:23:14.000 Swiss was a neutral country, but they had helped the Germans 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:17.434 as long as the Germans were successful. 00:23:17.434 --> 00:23:20.801 Now we were successful. They helped us. 00:23:20.801 --> 00:23:29.934 So I was taken to Basel, where I met again Colonel Reinhart, 00:23:29.934 --> 00:23:34.033 who commanded the intelligence service 00:23:34.033 --> 00:23:37.501 of the Swiss customs in Basel, 00:23:37.501 --> 00:23:39.968 and Colonel Reinhart accepted 00:23:39.968 --> 00:23:44.501 that I cross from Switzerland into Germany. 00:23:44.501 --> 00:23:50.501 And he called an agent, Mr. LeMer, 00:23:50.501 --> 00:23:53.634 who took me by car to Schaffhausen, 00:23:53.634 --> 00:23:58.467 which was very close to the German town of Singen, 00:23:58.467 --> 00:24:01.167 where I was supposed to go, 00:24:01.167 --> 00:24:05.467 and we went by car to Schaffhausen, 00:24:05.467 --> 00:24:09.701 and Mr. LeMer stopped the car 00:24:09.701 --> 00:24:11.601 and showed me -- 00:24:11.601 --> 00:24:15.267 We crossed a small forest, and on the other side, 00:24:15.267 --> 00:24:20.300 he showed me a huge field bordered on the northern edge 00:24:20.300 --> 00:24:25.234 by a German road, country road. 00:24:25.234 --> 00:24:29.634 There was no barrier on that field 00:24:29.634 --> 00:24:34.067 going from the field until the road. 00:24:34.067 --> 00:24:38.167 The forest and the field was Switzerland 00:24:38.167 --> 00:24:40.534 but the road was Germany, 00:24:40.534 --> 00:24:43.100 and because there was no barrier, 00:24:43.100 --> 00:24:47.067 the road was controlled by two military -- 00:24:47.067 --> 00:24:52.267 German military sentinels heavily armed 00:24:52.267 --> 00:24:57.367 who walked from the eastern edge of the width of the field 00:24:57.367 --> 00:25:00.200 to the center and stopped. 00:25:00.200 --> 00:25:04.834 The other sentinel came from the west, met him. 00:25:04.834 --> 00:25:08.400 They talked two seconds and turned their back 00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:11.200 and walked to the edge of the field. 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:14.667 And they were doing that constantly, 00:25:14.667 --> 00:25:18.267 without stopping, night and day. 00:25:18.267 --> 00:25:23.901 So Mr. LeMer and I, we stayed all afternoon in the forest, 00:25:23.901 --> 00:25:25.501 and towards the evening, 00:25:25.501 --> 00:25:29.200 he told me it was the time to go. 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:34.667 And he had told me before, he said before nightfall, 00:25:34.667 --> 00:25:38.200 I would have to crawl along the field, 00:25:38.200 --> 00:25:45.067 hide behind the bushes when both sentinels had met and separated 00:25:45.067 --> 00:25:47.234 and turned their back to me, 00:25:47.234 --> 00:25:50.801 walking to the edges of the field, 00:25:50.801 --> 00:25:55.400 and when they came back and separated again, 00:25:55.400 --> 00:26:00.534 turning their back to me, I had to go up the road, 00:26:00.534 --> 00:26:05.701 walk towards the east, towards the right, towards Singen. 00:26:05.701 --> 00:26:09.467 So we stayed in the forest all afternoon 00:26:09.467 --> 00:26:11.133 until it was evening. 00:26:11.133 --> 00:26:14.434 Mr. LeMer told me, "Now is the time." 00:26:14.434 --> 00:26:16.834 I took my little suitcase. 00:26:16.834 --> 00:26:23.567 I had no compass, no map, no radio, no... 00:26:23.567 --> 00:26:25.467 I had nothing written. 00:26:25.467 --> 00:26:30.300 Everything I needed to know was in my memory, 00:26:30.300 --> 00:26:35.868 but I had vouchers for everything I needed in Germany, 00:26:35.868 --> 00:26:39.400 like hotels, restaurants, trains, 00:26:39.400 --> 00:26:42.968 buses, food, whatever I needed. 00:26:42.968 --> 00:26:46.634 And I had a lot of money in my suitcase. 00:26:46.634 --> 00:26:52.868 So when Mr. LeMer told me it was time to go, 00:26:52.868 --> 00:26:54.734 I took my little suitcase, 00:26:54.734 --> 00:26:59.667 where there were only a change of clothes, 00:26:59.667 --> 00:27:02.901 of which I had taken all the labels off 00:27:02.901 --> 00:27:07.167 so that nobody knows that they came from France, 00:27:07.167 --> 00:27:14.300 and I crawled along the field and hid behind the bushes 00:27:14.300 --> 00:27:17.601 until everything was perfect. 00:27:17.601 --> 00:27:23.601 But once behind the bushes, I became so terrified 00:27:23.601 --> 00:27:27.067 that I was paralyzed by fear, 00:27:27.067 --> 00:27:34.501 and it took me a very, very long time to overcome that fear. 00:27:34.501 --> 00:27:40.133 And suddenly, something clicked in my brain. 00:27:40.133 --> 00:27:45.067 I remembered something, and that made me get up, 00:27:45.067 --> 00:27:48.801 take my little suitcase, and walk on the road, 00:27:48.801 --> 00:27:52.968 meet the soldier who came back towards me 00:27:52.968 --> 00:27:56.501 from the eastern edge of the field. 00:27:56.501 --> 00:27:59.901 I raised my right arm, "Heil Hitler," 00:27:59.901 --> 00:28:03.968 and he asked to see my identity card. 00:28:03.968 --> 00:28:07.267 I was now called Marthe Ulrich. 00:28:07.267 --> 00:28:14.968 Like I told you, I had an entire alibi, and he looked at my card, 00:28:14.968 --> 00:28:18.601 and I wondered if he would recognize 00:28:18.601 --> 00:28:21.601 that the card was a forged card, 00:28:21.601 --> 00:28:25.067 but he gave it back to me without questioning. 00:28:25.067 --> 00:28:28.601 I was now in Germany. How much? 00:28:28.601 --> 00:28:30.167 -You have about 12 minutes left. 00:28:30.167 --> 00:28:31.534 -Oh, okay. 00:28:31.534 --> 00:28:34.667 Then in Germany, 00:28:34.667 --> 00:28:39.501 I had no idea what was going on 00:28:39.501 --> 00:28:43.801 because I was sent to Germany for two purposes -- 00:28:43.801 --> 00:28:47.234 for military information, of course, 00:28:47.234 --> 00:28:51.501 but also information how the civilians 00:28:51.501 --> 00:28:56.033 were reacting to the war... 00:28:56.033 --> 00:29:02.100 which was extremely important for all the Allied armies 00:29:02.100 --> 00:29:06.033 to know before they invaded Germany. 00:29:06.033 --> 00:29:11.200 So in Freyburg... 00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:15.667 My sector was from the Swiss border to Freyburg. 00:29:15.667 --> 00:29:21.200 In Freyburg, I was checking... 00:29:21.200 --> 00:29:26.300 watching what the Germans were doing to do the same things, 00:29:26.300 --> 00:29:29.667 and I noticed that in daytime, 00:29:29.667 --> 00:29:33.567 there was no transportation whatsoever. 00:29:33.567 --> 00:29:38.834 The trains, the military cars, the buses, 00:29:38.834 --> 00:29:41.467 nothing functioned in daytime. 00:29:41.467 --> 00:29:44.200 They functioned only at night 00:29:44.200 --> 00:29:47.767 because of the Allied bombardments. 00:29:47.767 --> 00:29:52.067 But in daytime, when the Germans wanted to walk 00:29:52.067 --> 00:29:56.400 from A to B, they had to walk, 00:29:56.400 --> 00:30:00.100 and they always walked in groups. 00:30:00.100 --> 00:30:04.467 And I joined a group, like you saw in the DVD, 00:30:04.467 --> 00:30:07.300 with an SS, 00:30:07.300 --> 00:30:10.300 and he was immediately -- 00:30:10.300 --> 00:30:15.400 He told us that he came back from the Russian front, 00:30:15.400 --> 00:30:17.734 where he had been wounded, 00:30:17.734 --> 00:30:22.133 and he had left just the hospital and came back 00:30:22.133 --> 00:30:26.067 because he was now assigned to the Siegfried Line. 00:30:26.067 --> 00:30:30.534 And during the whole time we walked, 00:30:30.534 --> 00:30:34.534 he was telling all the atrocities 00:30:34.534 --> 00:30:37.200 that the SS and the... 00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:40.567 had committed on the Eastern Front, 00:30:40.567 --> 00:30:43.267 which was a thousand times worse 00:30:43.267 --> 00:30:47.467 than what they committed on the Western Front. 00:30:47.467 --> 00:30:53.968 So as we walked, and he was talking constantly, 00:30:53.968 --> 00:30:57.968 he suddenly fainted, so I took care of him. 00:30:57.968 --> 00:31:00.934 And when he regained consciousness, 00:31:00.934 --> 00:31:06.167 he was so thankful that I took care of him 00:31:06.167 --> 00:31:10.634 that he invited me to come to the Siegfried Line 00:31:10.634 --> 00:31:15.133 and to visit him, and he gave me his phone number. 00:31:15.133 --> 00:31:17.534 For three weeks, I didn't go back. 00:31:17.534 --> 00:31:20.200 I had other things to do. 00:31:20.200 --> 00:31:24.000 But three weeks later, I came back to Freyburg, 00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:27.367 and I heard on the German radio, 00:31:27.367 --> 00:31:30.801 said Allied armies were very close 00:31:30.801 --> 00:31:33.868 and were going to invade Freyburg. 00:31:33.868 --> 00:31:37.501 So I went back to the Siegfried Line 00:31:37.501 --> 00:31:40.734 to visit my friend in the SS, 00:31:40.734 --> 00:31:43.434 and when I arrived, I discovered 00:31:43.434 --> 00:31:48.501 that the Siegfried Line was completely evacuated. 00:31:48.501 --> 00:31:51.834 The last cart loads were leaving. 00:31:51.834 --> 00:31:55.734 So I questioned several stragglers 00:31:55.734 --> 00:31:59.400 who walked independently 00:31:59.400 --> 00:32:03.400 to make sure that I had the right information, 00:32:03.400 --> 00:32:07.334 and when they all confirm that the Siegfried Line 00:32:07.334 --> 00:32:11.501 was completely evacuated in that region, 00:32:11.501 --> 00:32:16.167 I walked back to Freyburg as fast as I could, 00:32:16.167 --> 00:32:19.667 and the city was completely deserted. 00:32:19.667 --> 00:32:24.434 All the Germans said that the Allied armies 00:32:24.434 --> 00:32:26.534 were going to invade. 00:32:26.534 --> 00:32:28.534 They were locked in their homes. 00:32:28.534 --> 00:32:34.334 I was all alone in the center of Freyburg, 00:32:34.334 --> 00:32:37.868 and I waited in the main artery, 00:32:37.868 --> 00:32:43.934 and suddenly, a tank arrived and rolled towards me. 00:32:43.934 --> 00:32:48.767 How was I going to tell the members of the tank 00:32:48.767 --> 00:32:52.434 that that I was a friend and not an enemy? 00:32:52.434 --> 00:32:57.434 I had absolutely no paper proving who I was. 00:32:57.434 --> 00:33:00.868 So I went in the middle of the street 00:33:00.868 --> 00:33:04.367 and raised my right arm, which I cannot do, 00:33:04.367 --> 00:33:09.534 and as high as I could, and I made the victory sign, 00:33:09.534 --> 00:33:13.801 the V sign of Winston Churchill. 00:33:13.801 --> 00:33:18.367 And the tank, because I was extremely lucky, 00:33:18.367 --> 00:33:21.267 did not kill me, but stopped. 00:33:21.267 --> 00:33:25.234 I asked that the officer in charge come down 00:33:25.234 --> 00:33:28.367 and talks to me, and he came, 00:33:28.367 --> 00:33:34.767 and I asked him to take me immediately to headquarters 00:33:34.767 --> 00:33:39.067 because I had important information, and he did. 00:33:39.067 --> 00:33:42.634 I was quite assertive, I must say. 00:33:42.634 --> 00:33:48.834 And I arrived at the headquarters. 00:33:48.834 --> 00:33:52.901 I met Commander Petit... 00:33:52.901 --> 00:33:55.634 who was very suspicious and told me, 00:33:55.634 --> 00:33:58.167 "You tell me the truth." 00:33:58.167 --> 00:34:00.267 And I told him. 00:34:00.267 --> 00:34:04.901 I wrote on the piece of paper the phone number, 00:34:04.901 --> 00:34:08.133 because we had the same technology 00:34:08.133 --> 00:34:11.934 in the French Army as American Army. 00:34:11.934 --> 00:34:15.868 We could call any service on the field. 00:34:15.868 --> 00:34:17.701 He called my service. 00:34:17.701 --> 00:34:22.267 The way I showed him that he could trust me. 00:34:22.267 --> 00:34:25.901 And they were happy to know that I was still alive. 00:34:25.901 --> 00:34:28.067 I had no way to remember, 00:34:28.067 --> 00:34:32.067 so I could not communicate often with them. 00:34:32.067 --> 00:34:39.033 So after that, Commander Petit sent a patrol 00:34:39.033 --> 00:34:41.534 to the Siegfried Line, 00:34:41.534 --> 00:34:44.701 which came back eight hours later and said, 00:34:44.701 --> 00:34:49.767 "It's true. The Siegfried Line is completely evacuated." 00:34:49.767 --> 00:34:54.634 I now was a very important VIP 00:34:54.634 --> 00:34:59.968 at the French headquarters 00:34:59.968 --> 00:35:04.100 because it was the French Army I met. 00:35:04.100 --> 00:35:09.801 It was the French Army which invaded Freyburg, 00:35:09.801 --> 00:35:14.868 and you can all Google it and see that I tell you the truth. 00:35:14.868 --> 00:35:21.334 And Commander Petit invited me for dinner. 00:35:21.334 --> 00:35:24.734 I was given a room, and the next morning, 00:35:24.734 --> 00:35:31.234 he asked me if I want to go back to my service, 00:35:31.234 --> 00:35:36.133 and I told him, "No. I do not want to go back. 00:35:36.133 --> 00:35:42.234 My mission terminates the day of the armistice. 00:35:42.234 --> 00:35:46.567 I have to call the front today again." 00:35:46.567 --> 00:35:53.801 And I ask him for very important thing. 00:35:53.801 --> 00:35:58.501 I asked him for a bicycle because I was tired of walking, 00:35:58.501 --> 00:36:01.534 so he gave me a bicycle, and I left. 00:36:01.534 --> 00:36:06.567 And so that's very important information I got. 00:36:06.567 --> 00:36:09.033 I cannot tell you the details. 00:36:09.033 --> 00:36:11.434 You have to read my book. 00:36:11.434 --> 00:36:17.767 So next information I got 00:36:17.767 --> 00:36:22.901 was where the exact location 00:36:22.901 --> 00:36:31.133 where the remnant of the German Army 00:36:31.133 --> 00:36:36.767 was hidden in ambush, waiting for the Allied armies, 00:36:36.767 --> 00:36:40.200 and that's why I got all my medals. 00:36:40.200 --> 00:36:42.133 Thank you very much. 00:36:42.133 --> 00:36:44.601 -And since you -- That's the perfect segue. 00:36:44.601 --> 00:36:46.834 Since you talked about your medals, 00:36:46.834 --> 00:36:50.734 let's share with the students some of your medals. 00:36:50.734 --> 00:36:53.467 So here, this medal -- -No. No, no. 00:36:53.467 --> 00:36:54.901 -Oh, you want to start with this one? 00:36:54.901 --> 00:36:57.067 Okay. All right. 00:36:57.067 --> 00:37:02.367 So I'm going to put this one up closer so they can see it. 00:37:02.367 --> 00:37:04.801 And can you let everyone know what this one is? 00:37:04.801 --> 00:37:06.968 -That's a Legion d'honneur, 00:37:06.968 --> 00:37:12.234 the highest medal you can get in France. 00:37:12.234 --> 00:37:15.167 -And which one would you like to show next? 00:37:15.167 --> 00:37:17.968 All right. 00:37:17.968 --> 00:37:23.501 -That's a Médaille Militaire that Winston Churchill got, too. 00:37:23.501 --> 00:37:29.300 And that's like the Congressional Medal in America. 00:37:33.033 --> 00:37:34.133 -This one. 00:37:34.133 --> 00:37:36.200 -You have no time to show all of them? 00:37:36.200 --> 00:37:38.000 -Yes. We can show them all of them. 00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:41.434 Then show this one. -Okay. 00:37:41.434 --> 00:37:46.300 -That's a Reconnaissance of the Nation from France. 00:37:52.501 --> 00:37:58.067 That's a Croix de Guerre, and I told you one of the citations 00:37:58.067 --> 00:38:01.300 was that I provided Colonel Bouvet 00:38:01.300 --> 00:38:08.901 with very important information on the retreat of the Germans 00:38:08.901 --> 00:38:11.434 from Alsace to Germany. 00:38:18.534 --> 00:38:24.701 That's a medal to show that I was three years in Vietnam 00:38:24.701 --> 00:38:31.634 after the war in Europe as a nurse for the French Army. 00:38:34.334 --> 00:38:36.901 -This one here? 00:38:36.901 --> 00:38:42.033 -And that one was given to me in 2014 00:38:42.033 --> 00:38:44.634 by the German government 00:38:44.634 --> 00:38:52.367 to thank me for having helped save many lives in Germany, too, 00:38:52.367 --> 00:38:59.701 because my information was provided so much 00:38:59.701 --> 00:39:03.133 that the war was shortened. 00:39:03.133 --> 00:39:04.634 Thank you. 00:39:04.634 --> 00:39:06.467 -And did you want to show this one? -No. 00:39:06.467 --> 00:39:10.300 -Okay. And thank you for sharing a little bit of your story 00:39:10.300 --> 00:39:11.567 with the students. 00:39:11.567 --> 00:39:12.767 It's amazing. 00:39:12.767 --> 00:39:16.167 And again, if you have not read the book yet, 00:39:16.167 --> 00:39:17.734 I highly recommend it. 00:39:17.734 --> 00:39:22.300 It's a very amazing book with so many amazing stories 00:39:22.300 --> 00:39:26.167 that includes your entire family, all amazing people 00:39:26.167 --> 00:39:29.234 that did wonderful things during the war. 00:39:29.234 --> 00:39:32.834 But we have a lot of questions from the students, 00:39:32.834 --> 00:39:35.567 so let's get started with those. 00:39:35.567 --> 00:39:39.400 A question I received quite a bit from students is, 00:39:39.400 --> 00:39:43.901 "Do you see yourself as a Holocaust survivor?" 00:39:43.901 --> 00:39:48.434 -I don't know because I was never arrested. 00:39:48.434 --> 00:39:52.901 I, several times in Germany, was very close, 00:39:52.901 --> 00:39:55.234 but I was never arrested. 00:39:55.234 --> 00:39:58.200 Am I a survivor? Sure. 00:39:58.200 --> 00:40:04.300 I lived for five years 00:40:04.300 --> 00:40:08.434 under the occupation of the German Army, 00:40:08.434 --> 00:40:10.067 and that's -- 00:40:10.067 --> 00:40:16.300 I deserve the title of... 00:40:16.300 --> 00:40:18.067 Okay. -All right. 00:40:18.067 --> 00:40:21.234 Another question that we've gotten quite a bit -- 00:40:21.234 --> 00:40:24.000 "Were there ever any times where you felt like 00:40:24.000 --> 00:40:25.601 you were going to get caught 00:40:25.601 --> 00:40:29.100 or it was going to be discovered that you were a spy?" 00:40:29.100 --> 00:40:32.000 -Yeah, many times. 00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:35.033 And do you want an example? 00:40:35.033 --> 00:40:36.300 -Yes, please. 00:40:36.300 --> 00:40:38.901 -Okay. 00:40:38.901 --> 00:40:45.701 One day in Freyburg, I wanted to go back to the Swiss border 00:40:45.701 --> 00:40:50.901 because I had family in the Swiss border 00:40:50.901 --> 00:40:53.534 where I needed to go, 00:40:53.534 --> 00:40:56.300 and I hitchhiked 00:40:56.300 --> 00:41:03.801 because I saw other Germans hitchhiking with an army truck. 00:41:03.801 --> 00:41:05.968 And I asked the driver 00:41:05.968 --> 00:41:10.133 if he was going towards the south of Germany, 00:41:10.133 --> 00:41:16.434 towards the Swiss border, and he told me, "Yes." 00:41:16.434 --> 00:41:20.767 So I went on the bus, which was an open bus. 00:41:20.767 --> 00:41:22.934 We drove all night. 00:41:22.934 --> 00:41:24.934 It was extremely cold. 00:41:24.934 --> 00:41:28.434 It was in April 1945. 00:41:28.434 --> 00:41:32.033 And I was with several Germans. 00:41:32.033 --> 00:41:36.067 We all lied next to each other to keep warm. 00:41:36.067 --> 00:41:40.100 We had no blanket, and it was an open truck. 00:41:40.100 --> 00:41:46.400 So at daybreak, the driver stopped in the countryside 00:41:46.400 --> 00:41:51.400 where there was nothing and told us that we had to get out. 00:41:51.400 --> 00:41:56.501 And we found out that we were not in the south of Germany. 00:41:56.501 --> 00:41:59.300 We were east of Freyburg. 00:41:59.300 --> 00:42:01.934 He took us where he was going. 00:42:01.934 --> 00:42:05.734 He felt if we were hitchhiking, 00:42:05.734 --> 00:42:10.300 then we would go where he wants us to go. 00:42:10.300 --> 00:42:16.801 So we all got out of the truck, and it was a little sunshine. 00:42:16.801 --> 00:42:21.601 I laid down on the grass, and I fell asleep, 00:42:21.601 --> 00:42:26.033 and suddenly, somebody shook my shoulder 00:42:26.033 --> 00:42:28.000 and told me to awake 00:42:28.000 --> 00:42:32.167 because there were bombardiers, 00:42:32.167 --> 00:42:37.567 of the American Army flying above us, 00:42:37.567 --> 00:42:40.834 and anytime they saw small groups, 00:42:40.834 --> 00:42:44.067 they would throw bombs on them, 00:42:44.067 --> 00:42:49.367 so they wanted me to awake and open my eyes. 00:42:49.367 --> 00:42:53.767 I said, "Why? What is going on?" 00:42:53.767 --> 00:42:57.901 but I said it in French, not in English. 00:42:57.901 --> 00:43:05.067 So they became extremely hostile and came walking towards me. 00:43:05.067 --> 00:43:09.033 I took my little suitcase, and I said to them, 00:43:09.033 --> 00:43:11.234 "I do not know about you, 00:43:11.234 --> 00:43:14.300 but my brother is going to explode, 00:43:14.300 --> 00:43:19.167 and I ran up a little hill because, before lying down, 00:43:19.167 --> 00:43:25.334 I always check where I was to find an escape if I needed it, 00:43:25.334 --> 00:43:31.734 and I'd seen that little hill behind us, 00:43:31.734 --> 00:43:36.467 and there was very tall grass on top of the hill. 00:43:36.467 --> 00:43:40.367 So I run up there, and from there, 00:43:40.367 --> 00:43:44.300 I saw on another road very far away 00:43:44.300 --> 00:43:48.100 a cart coming pulled by a horse. 00:43:48.100 --> 00:43:49.868 It was a milkman. 00:43:49.868 --> 00:43:54.367 So I run towards him, and I ask him, 00:43:54.367 --> 00:43:59.167 "Could you take me to the next town?" 00:43:59.167 --> 00:44:00.868 And he said, "Yeah." 00:44:00.868 --> 00:44:03.100 And that's how I was saved. 00:44:03.100 --> 00:44:06.968 -Wow. That's amazing. Thank you so much for sharing. 00:44:06.968 --> 00:44:12.767 -I had many, many other problems like that. 00:44:12.767 --> 00:44:16.400 I was always watching for 00:44:16.400 --> 00:44:22.167 and ready in case I was tried to be arrested. 00:44:22.167 --> 00:44:24.033 -So that answers another question 00:44:24.033 --> 00:44:25.834 that we've gotten quite a few times. 00:44:25.834 --> 00:44:29.000 A lot of students wanted to know, were you ever scared 00:44:29.000 --> 00:44:30.801 while you were doing this work? 00:44:30.801 --> 00:44:36.000 -Yes. Sometimes I was scared, but never like the once 00:44:36.000 --> 00:44:41.334 when I was lying behind some bushes 00:44:41.334 --> 00:44:44.701 waiting to cross into Germany. 00:44:44.701 --> 00:44:49.133 If I was scared, I was scared for guns, 00:44:49.133 --> 00:44:52.567 and then I became extremely quiet 00:44:52.567 --> 00:44:56.167 and ready for what was going to happen. 00:44:56.167 --> 00:44:58.400 And I think very fast, 00:44:58.400 --> 00:45:03.367 so I always found the right answers to the questions, 00:45:03.367 --> 00:45:07.133 and that's why I was saved so many times. 00:45:07.133 --> 00:45:10.968 -And that leads me to another question from Terry B. 00:45:10.968 --> 00:45:14.667 Terry B. wants to know why you were unsuccessful 00:45:14.667 --> 00:45:16.734 getting into Germany 00:45:16.734 --> 00:45:19.434 the first 13 times you tried. 00:45:19.434 --> 00:45:24.667 -I tried to explain to you, there were many reasons. 00:45:24.667 --> 00:45:29.000 One of them was that our -- 00:45:29.000 --> 00:45:32.767 During the war, everything changes very fast, 00:45:32.767 --> 00:45:35.367 and everything is very fluid, 00:45:35.367 --> 00:45:40.601 and I was told that I would find certain things 00:45:40.601 --> 00:45:43.968 and couldn't find them, so I couldn't proceed. 00:45:43.968 --> 00:45:50.334 Another reason is the military guides, like I told you, 00:45:50.334 --> 00:45:52.634 and that happened twice. 00:45:52.634 --> 00:45:58.400 And the first time I was arrested 00:45:58.400 --> 00:46:04.234 by some American soldiers in our army. 00:46:04.234 --> 00:46:12.834 And because I was on the wrong pathway 00:46:12.834 --> 00:46:14.934 on the mountain, 00:46:14.934 --> 00:46:24.434 and they had only received orders to protect a ghost, 00:46:24.434 --> 00:46:30.067 they never were told if it was a man, a woman, or a child. 00:46:30.067 --> 00:46:33.801 And they arrested me because the military guy 00:46:33.801 --> 00:46:37.868 put me on the wrong pathway. 00:46:37.868 --> 00:46:42.767 On the second instead of the third, so that's why. 00:46:42.767 --> 00:46:47.601 So there were many, many reasons like that because... 00:46:47.601 --> 00:46:49.267 But you have to read my book. 00:46:49.267 --> 00:46:53.133 I have no time to go into so many details. 00:46:53.133 --> 00:46:54.400 Okay. 00:46:54.400 --> 00:46:55.868 -Now, we're going to go back 00:46:55.868 --> 00:46:58.000 to the beginning of your story 00:46:58.000 --> 00:46:59.934 because a lot of the students are interested 00:46:59.934 --> 00:47:03.968 about your childhood and growing up in France. 00:47:03.968 --> 00:47:08.033 And Marley wants to know if you were ever treated poorly 00:47:08.033 --> 00:47:11.701 when you were growing up because you were Jewish. 00:47:11.701 --> 00:47:15.501 -There were two I remember, 00:47:15.501 --> 00:47:20.601 only two episodes when I was growing up. 00:47:20.601 --> 00:47:23.000 When I was 5 years old, 00:47:23.000 --> 00:47:26.467 we were leaving the synagogue of Metz, 00:47:26.467 --> 00:47:30.634 which was in a very bad neighborhood at that time. 00:47:30.634 --> 00:47:32.534 Now it's changed. 00:47:32.534 --> 00:47:35.200 It's a very good neighborhood now, 00:47:35.200 --> 00:47:38.567 but at that time, it was a very bad neighborhood, 00:47:38.567 --> 00:47:41.868 and when we left the synagogue, my father, 00:47:41.868 --> 00:47:44.234 my two brothers, and I... 00:47:48.100 --> 00:47:50.167 Young boys -- 00:47:50.167 --> 00:47:53.133 they were really very bad kids -- 00:47:53.133 --> 00:47:56.701 started to call us dirty Jews, 00:47:56.701 --> 00:47:59.467 and they threw pebbles at us, 00:47:59.467 --> 00:48:03.367 and one pebble hit me on the chin. 00:48:03.367 --> 00:48:05.467 And I looked at my father. 00:48:05.467 --> 00:48:08.868 I was 5 years old, and I couldn't understand 00:48:08.868 --> 00:48:11.934 why we were treated differently 00:48:11.934 --> 00:48:14.133 because we were Jewish. 00:48:14.133 --> 00:48:18.634 That was beyond my comprehension. 00:48:18.634 --> 00:48:25.167 So my father became -- understood my looking at him, 00:48:25.167 --> 00:48:29.534 and he took off his belt and ran after these kids, 00:48:29.534 --> 00:48:33.100 and I've never loved him as much as that day. 00:48:33.100 --> 00:48:37.601 And my two brothers took my hand and took me home. 00:48:37.601 --> 00:48:43.033 So the second episode happened when I was about 10 years old 00:48:43.033 --> 00:48:46.834 in our neighborhood. 00:48:46.834 --> 00:48:51.434 My mother sent me to buy a dozen eggs 00:48:51.434 --> 00:48:55.601 in the little shop very close to the house, 00:48:55.601 --> 00:49:03.434 and when I walked back with my eggs in a little bag, 00:49:03.434 --> 00:49:08.267 I met a young girl about my age from the neighborhood. 00:49:08.267 --> 00:49:12.767 I knew her by sight, but I didn't know her otherwise. 00:49:12.767 --> 00:49:17.701 And she started to call me dirty Jew, and I told her, 00:49:17.701 --> 00:49:21.200 "It's true. I'm Jewish, but I'm not dirty." 00:49:21.200 --> 00:49:27.868 And she kept saying, "Dirty Jew, dirty Jew, dirty Jew," 00:49:27.868 --> 00:49:31.334 so I got enough, and I took my dozen eggs, 00:49:31.334 --> 00:49:34.267 and I broke them on her head. 00:49:34.267 --> 00:49:39.801 And she was covered in yellow and white eggs. 00:49:39.801 --> 00:49:43.901 And I ran home, and I told my mother what happened, 00:49:43.901 --> 00:49:46.434 and she told me that I was right, 00:49:46.434 --> 00:49:50.767 never to accept to be insulted. 00:49:50.767 --> 00:49:53.234 -That's a great story. Thank you for sharing that. 00:49:53.234 --> 00:49:55.667 And that leads me to our next question. 00:49:55.667 --> 00:49:57.968 A lot of students are interested to know 00:49:57.968 --> 00:50:01.934 what it was like living in Nazi-occupied France, 00:50:01.934 --> 00:50:03.534 with all of the restrictions 00:50:03.534 --> 00:50:08.267 that they placed on Jewish citizens. 00:50:08.267 --> 00:50:14.534 - We -- You know, as soon as the Germans invaded France, 00:50:14.534 --> 00:50:19.367 they made all the fathers of Jewish families 00:50:19.367 --> 00:50:21.334 come to the city hall, 00:50:21.334 --> 00:50:23.100 to French city hall, 00:50:23.100 --> 00:50:27.167 and register all members of the family. 00:50:27.167 --> 00:50:30.634 That way, the Germans had the perfect list 00:50:30.634 --> 00:50:34.501 of all the Jews in occupied France. 00:50:34.501 --> 00:50:37.701 And we were refugees in Poitiers, 00:50:37.701 --> 00:50:40.767 like you saw in the DVD, 00:50:40.767 --> 00:50:44.868 and Poitiers was in occupied France. 00:50:44.868 --> 00:50:50.067 So very soon, 00:50:50.067 --> 00:50:55.934 we got identity cards with the stamp "Jew" on it. 00:50:55.934 --> 00:51:02.601 With the stamp "Jew," we had no right to go to any public space. 00:51:02.601 --> 00:51:06.767 Not the train station, not the post office, 00:51:06.767 --> 00:51:12.801 not any public garden or the river, 00:51:12.801 --> 00:51:16.033 to swim in the river of the town. 00:51:16.033 --> 00:51:20.000 We had no right to be anywhere public. 00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.367 Not in the cinema, not in the store. 00:51:24.367 --> 00:51:27.367 We had no right to go in a food store 00:51:27.367 --> 00:51:30.634 until 4:30 in the afternoon, 00:51:30.634 --> 00:51:35.067 when the Germans thought that everything would have been sold. 00:51:35.067 --> 00:51:39.367 But all the owners of the store -- 00:51:39.367 --> 00:51:43.100 At that time, there were no supermarkets. 00:51:43.100 --> 00:51:46.601 There were only mom-and-pop shops. 00:51:46.601 --> 00:51:51.267 And the owners all told us, "Do not worry. 00:51:51.267 --> 00:51:54.167 We know what you are used to buying. 00:51:54.167 --> 00:51:58.167 We will put it aside, and you come at 4:30." 00:51:58.167 --> 00:52:01.100 And as long as we lived in Poitiers, 00:52:01.100 --> 00:52:04.767 we were never deprived of anything. 00:52:04.767 --> 00:52:14.133 And all the town was punished if caught by this for the person 00:52:14.133 --> 00:52:17.801 and for every member of their family. 00:52:17.801 --> 00:52:21.000 And that gives me the opportunity 00:52:21.000 --> 00:52:23.934 to tell you that, in France, 00:52:23.934 --> 00:52:28.434 75% of Jews survived 00:52:28.434 --> 00:52:32.667 because so many French people who were not Jewish 00:52:32.667 --> 00:52:37.000 risked their lives and of all members of their family 00:52:37.000 --> 00:52:39.000 to save us, 00:52:39.000 --> 00:52:43.200 and I'm very happy that I can tell you that. 00:52:43.200 --> 00:52:46.767 -And that brings up something from the book. 00:52:46.767 --> 00:52:49.868 In your book, you talk about how your family 00:52:49.868 --> 00:52:51.734 helped a lot of people, 00:52:51.734 --> 00:52:54.467 and Spencer and Hannah B, 00:52:54.467 --> 00:52:59.000 they're interested to know what made you want to help people, 00:52:59.000 --> 00:53:02.100 and was there ever a point where you got scared 00:53:02.100 --> 00:53:04.400 and you wanted to stop? 00:53:04.400 --> 00:53:06.033 -We were. 00:53:06.033 --> 00:53:11.667 It was absolutely normal to help other people. 00:53:11.667 --> 00:53:16.234 And we had in our family a little boy 00:53:16.234 --> 00:53:20.167 who lived with us since 1938. 00:53:20.167 --> 00:53:25.400 My oldest brother and my older sister had taken him out, 00:53:25.400 --> 00:53:29.968 and his little brother was -- Jacques was 3 years old, 00:53:29.968 --> 00:53:33.801 and his little brother, Georgie, was only 2 years old 00:53:33.801 --> 00:53:35.901 when they came to our house. 00:53:35.901 --> 00:53:39.467 My brother and sister went into Germany 00:53:39.467 --> 00:53:45.400 the day after Kristallnacht in November 1938 00:53:45.400 --> 00:53:48.167 and got them out of Germany. 00:53:48.167 --> 00:53:53.367 And Jacques lived during the whole occupation with us. 00:53:53.367 --> 00:53:58.334 His brother was raised by one of our aunts, 00:53:58.334 --> 00:54:04.000 and both children survived the war. 00:54:04.000 --> 00:54:07.234 Jacques is now in Israel, 00:54:07.234 --> 00:54:11.534 and he's professionally 00:54:11.534 --> 00:54:14.534 an electrical engineer 00:54:14.534 --> 00:54:18.734 in a university, 00:54:18.734 --> 00:54:23.868 and he's extremely successful professionally, 00:54:23.868 --> 00:54:28.267 and he's married and has three children 00:54:28.267 --> 00:54:30.968 and eight grandchildren. 00:54:30.968 --> 00:54:34.000 So you see, it was worth saving him. 00:54:34.000 --> 00:54:38.868 His brother survived the war at my aunt's house, 00:54:38.868 --> 00:54:47.234 but he died as a soldier in Israel in the Seven Day War. 00:54:47.234 --> 00:54:49.434 -Thank you. 00:54:49.434 --> 00:54:54.100 -And my sister Stephanie and I, 00:54:54.100 --> 00:54:58.767 we saved hundreds of people who rang our bell. 00:54:58.767 --> 00:55:01.767 We did not know where they came from. 00:55:01.767 --> 00:55:05.834 We didn't know who they were, but they needed help. 00:55:05.834 --> 00:55:09.934 That meant they needed to get out of occupied France 00:55:09.934 --> 00:55:12.234 to non-occupied France, 00:55:12.234 --> 00:55:17.300 and we sent them to a farmer, Mr. Noel Degout, 00:55:17.300 --> 00:55:19.400 who was in Dienne, 00:55:19.400 --> 00:55:23.033 a small town 00:55:23.033 --> 00:55:26.267 an hour away from Poitiers. 00:55:26.267 --> 00:55:31.601 And Mr. Degout was very clever, 00:55:31.601 --> 00:55:37.467 and he had the farm which was partially in occupied France 00:55:37.467 --> 00:55:40.767 and partially in non-occupied France, 00:55:40.767 --> 00:55:43.801 and he saved thousands of people, 00:55:43.801 --> 00:55:47.834 and he accepted all the people we sent him 00:55:47.834 --> 00:55:49.834 and helped them cross. 00:55:49.834 --> 00:55:57.567 But my sister Stephanie, with whom I walked on that 00:55:57.567 --> 00:56:02.367 to help to send these people to Mr. Degout, 00:56:02.367 --> 00:56:08.934 wrote to Mr. Degout a letter in which she put the topic 00:56:08.934 --> 00:56:11.067 "Tobacco Voucher," 00:56:11.067 --> 00:56:16.868 that the young men we had helped cross into non-occupied France, 00:56:16.868 --> 00:56:22.801 so Mr. Degout's property had forgotten it in our house. 00:56:22.801 --> 00:56:26.601 And there were no paths to communication at that time 00:56:26.601 --> 00:56:31.734 between Poitiers and to non-occupied France, 00:56:31.734 --> 00:56:36.400 so we sent our mail to Mr. Degout, 00:56:36.400 --> 00:56:39.634 who mailed it to non-occupied France 00:56:39.634 --> 00:56:42.067 and sent us answers. 00:56:42.067 --> 00:56:45.434 But my sister made the big mistake 00:56:45.434 --> 00:56:50.767 of signing a real name on that letter, 00:56:50.767 --> 00:56:56.934 and the Germans were suspicious of Mr. Degout, 00:56:56.934 --> 00:57:02.167 but he was very clever, and they never had any evidence. 00:57:02.167 --> 00:57:06.634 But when they got my sister's letter 00:57:06.634 --> 00:57:09.434 that they stopped and read, 00:57:09.434 --> 00:57:13.567 they came to the house and arrested her 00:57:13.567 --> 00:57:18.267 and took her to their office to question her 00:57:18.267 --> 00:57:22.367 because they wanted information about Mr. Degout 00:57:22.367 --> 00:57:26.033 and what he was doing on his farm. 00:57:26.033 --> 00:57:30.267 And my sister refused to give any information, 00:57:30.267 --> 00:57:34.434 so they came back to the house and arrested my father 00:57:34.434 --> 00:57:39.167 to put pressure on my sister to give the information. 00:57:39.167 --> 00:57:42.801 But even in the presence of my father, 00:57:42.801 --> 00:57:47.133 she absolutely refused to give any information 00:57:47.133 --> 00:57:51.667 which would have been a denunciation of Mr. Degout. 00:57:51.667 --> 00:57:57.934 So she was kept, and she was in prison for one month, 00:57:57.934 --> 00:58:02.067 and she celebrated her 21st birthday 00:58:02.067 --> 00:58:08.300 on July 10, 1942 in prison. 00:58:08.300 --> 00:58:12.934 After that month, she was sent to a camp 00:58:12.934 --> 00:58:15.667 on the fringes of Poitiers. 00:58:15.667 --> 00:58:20.868 The camp was called the camp of Route de Limoges. 00:58:20.868 --> 00:58:24.667 Limoges is a city south of Poitiers, 00:58:24.667 --> 00:58:29.834 and you can find the camp, the camp of Route de Limoges 00:58:29.834 --> 00:58:31.200 in Google. 00:58:31.200 --> 00:58:36.100 And see what kind of camp it was at that time. 00:58:36.100 --> 00:58:39.234 And she was a medical student, 00:58:39.234 --> 00:58:42.400 and she started to give medical care 00:58:42.400 --> 00:58:44.267 to the foreign Jews 00:58:44.267 --> 00:58:48.200 who were in the camp until then, 00:58:48.200 --> 00:58:51.200 until June -- 00:58:51.200 --> 00:58:59.767 Now, we were in July. Until July 1942. 00:58:59.767 --> 00:59:04.467 These children had received no medical care 00:59:04.467 --> 00:59:06.834 whatsoever in the camp, 00:59:06.834 --> 00:59:10.434 and only the foreign Jews had been arrested. 00:59:10.434 --> 00:59:14.834 The French Jews had not yet been arrested, 00:59:14.834 --> 00:59:20.501 but my sister was sent to the camp with these foreign Jews, 00:59:20.501 --> 00:59:24.801 and I told you that she gave them medical care. 00:59:24.801 --> 00:59:29.801 She had very poor tools, but it was better than nothing. 00:59:29.801 --> 00:59:36.701 But when we went, the family wanted to escape. 00:59:36.701 --> 00:59:40.868 We had found two French guardians in the camp 00:59:40.868 --> 00:59:43.601 who accepted to help her escape. 00:59:43.601 --> 00:59:47.701 She refused because she felt that what she was doing 00:59:47.701 --> 00:59:51.100 for the children was too important, 00:59:51.100 --> 00:59:53.601 so I went to see her. 00:59:53.601 --> 00:59:57.767 In the camp, we could see one person of the family 00:59:57.767 --> 00:59:59.400 once a week, 00:59:59.400 --> 01:00:04.300 and one week, I went to see her and reminded her 01:00:04.300 --> 01:00:08.767 that her mother needed her as much as the children, 01:00:08.767 --> 01:00:10.501 and she answered me, 01:00:10.501 --> 01:00:14.734 "Don't you realize that if I escape, 01:00:14.734 --> 01:00:17.801 you're all going to be arrested?" 01:00:17.801 --> 01:00:20.934 So on my way back to home, 01:00:20.934 --> 01:00:25.734 I decided that we were all going, 01:00:25.734 --> 01:00:30.334 all the members of the families still in Poitiers -- 01:00:30.334 --> 01:00:32.300 several had left -- 01:00:32.300 --> 01:00:36.734 were going to cross into unoccupied France 01:00:36.734 --> 01:00:40.400 so that my sister can escape, too. 01:00:40.400 --> 01:00:44.434 And we were able to do it, and you have to read my book 01:00:44.434 --> 01:00:47.434 to read that beautiful story 01:00:47.434 --> 01:00:52.367 how the help we got to escape. 01:00:52.367 --> 01:00:55.067 But my sister never escaped, 01:00:55.067 --> 01:01:03.234 and she was deported on September 21, 1942, 01:01:03.234 --> 01:01:06.501 to an unknown destination. 01:01:06.501 --> 01:01:10.734 And in her last letter that she hold to a friend 01:01:10.734 --> 01:01:12.467 because she couldn't write to us -- 01:01:12.467 --> 01:01:15.701 We were already in unoccupied France, 01:01:15.701 --> 01:01:19.434 and I told you there were no postal communications 01:01:19.434 --> 01:01:21.667 between the two sectors. 01:01:21.667 --> 01:01:24.634 So she hold to a friend in Poitiers, 01:01:24.634 --> 01:01:27.534 and in the... she added, 01:01:27.534 --> 01:01:29.634 "In the last rumors, 01:01:29.634 --> 01:01:33.033 we are leaving for Metz to work, 01:01:33.033 --> 01:01:35.934 so no need to dramatize." 01:01:35.934 --> 01:01:39.100 These are the last words she ever wrote 01:01:39.100 --> 01:01:41.501 because years, years later, 01:01:41.501 --> 01:01:46.734 we found out that she had been sent to Auschwitz, 01:01:46.734 --> 01:01:49.234 and she never came back. 01:01:49.234 --> 01:01:55.868 So after that, Mr. Degout could never do anything anymore. 01:01:55.868 --> 01:02:02.267 But he got, in 2011, the title of Righteous Among the Nations 01:02:02.267 --> 01:02:09.400 from the Museum of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. 01:02:09.400 --> 01:02:10.601 -Thank you for sharing that. 01:02:10.601 --> 01:02:13.601 And your sister, like many people in your family, 01:02:13.601 --> 01:02:16.100 she was certainly a hero. 01:02:16.100 --> 01:02:19.234 And our last question of the day, 01:02:19.234 --> 01:02:21.801 and I think this is a great way to end it. 01:02:21.801 --> 01:02:23.834 Shannon B wants to know, 01:02:23.834 --> 01:02:27.868 "What lessons did you learn from this experience?" 01:02:31.300 --> 01:02:33.701 -You know, I did -- 01:02:33.701 --> 01:02:38.234 You are students, so I'm going to give you -- to tell you 01:02:38.234 --> 01:02:42.434 I refuse to give advice to others. 01:02:42.434 --> 01:02:45.767 But to students, it's okay. 01:02:45.767 --> 01:02:50.701 What I learned from that is that you have to be engaged. 01:02:50.701 --> 01:02:54.267 Everybody can make a difference, 01:02:54.267 --> 01:02:57.367 but you have to be engaged for that. 01:02:57.367 --> 01:03:01.901 And so, certain advice I give 01:03:01.901 --> 01:03:06.901 is do not accept any order 01:03:06.901 --> 01:03:10.400 that your conscience would refuse. 01:03:10.400 --> 01:03:15.834 So these are the two things I get out of my -- 01:03:15.834 --> 01:03:20.868 But what is extremely important is to be engaged. 01:03:20.868 --> 01:03:23.267 -Thank you so much for being here today. 01:03:23.267 --> 01:03:27.400 Thank you so much for sharing your amazing story 01:03:27.400 --> 01:03:30.534 with all of these students all over the country. 01:03:30.534 --> 01:03:33.267 And, students and teachers, thank you so much 01:03:33.267 --> 01:03:34.701 for joining us today. 01:03:34.701 --> 01:03:38.167 And, before we go, I do want to let you all know 01:03:38.167 --> 01:03:40.634 about our next student Webinar 01:03:40.634 --> 01:03:42.467 that we have coming up, 01:03:42.467 --> 01:03:43.901 and this one is called 01:03:43.901 --> 01:03:47.634 "World War II Innovation and Problem Solving," 01:03:47.634 --> 01:03:51.300 and our STEM specialist here at the museum, Rob Wallace, 01:03:51.300 --> 01:03:53.868 will be joining me, where we talk all about 01:03:53.868 --> 01:03:56.067 how World War II innovators 01:03:56.067 --> 01:03:58.701 had to solve these big problems 01:03:58.701 --> 01:04:02.567 in order for the Allied Powers to be successful. 01:04:02.567 --> 01:04:04.434 Again, thank you, Marthe. 01:04:04.434 --> 01:04:05.901 Thank you, everyone out there. 01:04:05.901 --> 01:04:08.067 Thank you, Chrissy, behind the scenes. 01:04:08.067 --> 01:04:10.934 We hope to see you again at our next student Webinar. 01:04:10.934 --> 01:04:12.434 Bye, everyone.