During that time he and the rest of his family hid with a number of families in and around paris. This is about an hour. Good morning and welcome to the United States hall cost memorial museum. My name is bill benson. Im the host of the museums Public Program first person. Thank you for joining us today. We are in our 20th year of the first person program. And our first person today is mr. Albert garih. His 2019 season of first person is made possible by the generosity of the Louis FranklinSmith Foundation with additional funding from the arlene and Daniel Fisher foundation. We are grateful for their sponsorship. First person is a series of twice weekly conversations with survivors of the holocaust who share with us their firsthand accounts of their experience during the holocaust. Each of our first person guests serves as a volunteer here at this museum. Our program will continue until august 8th. The museums website at www. Ushmm. Org provides information about each of our upcoming first person guests. Albert will share with us his firstperson account of his experience during the holocaust and as a survivor for about 45 minutes. If time allows we will have an opportunity for you to ask albert a few questions. If we do not get to your question today, please join us in our online conversation never stop asking why. The conversation aims to inspire individuals to ask the important questions that holocaust history raises. You can ask your question and tag the museum on twitter, facebook and instagram using Holocaust Museum and the hashtag why. Today people will be joining us watching online from across the country and around the world. We invite everyone to watch our first person programs live on the museums website each wednesday and thursday at 11 00 a. M. Eastern standard time through june 6th. A recording of this program will be made available on the museums youtube page. Please visit a first person website listed on the back of your program for more details. What you are about to hear from albert is one individuals account of the hall cost. We have prepared a brief slide present asi presentation to help with his introduction. And we begin with a School Portrait of albert garih taken in 1945. Alberts parents benjamin and claire garih were born in const const constcon consturkey. His joining older siblings. We see all three siblings including albert on the left in this 1941 photograph. Alberts father worked in the garment factory and the family lived there in the janitors apartment. In 1940 germany invaded france and occupied paris. The arrow on this map of france points to paris. The garih family fled south, but they soon returned to paris where they were subjected to frances new antijewish legislation. In 1943 alberts father was deported to a forced labor camp and alberts mother and the children went into hiding with madam galoh and her husband for the next six months. When they returned home in 1944 police were sent to arrest the garihs but agreed to say instead the family was not home if the family would leave immediately. Albert was placed in a Catholic Boarding School for boys and his sister in a one for girls in a North Eastern suburb of paris. When paris was liberated in august 1944 alberts mother was able to bring her children back to the city. Claire and her children are shown together in this photograph. Alberts father released from the labor camp walked from belgium to paris returning to his family in september 1944 on Rosh Hashanah, the jewish new year. The garih family remained in france after the war. He then earned a decree in enlish and spanish to french translation to the school of advanced translation and interpretation studies in 1962 and immediately began his career in translation, which he continued until last year, 58 years later when he reached the age of 80. His early work was translation of scientific and technical documents and publications and later translation of political and economic documents. Albert speaks french, english, spanish and judeo spanish. His work took him from france, montreal and eventually to the United States. The organizations for which he worked included among others the International Civil aviation organization, the Interamerican Development bank, the world bank and the united nations. His work with the World Bank Brought him to washington, d. C. In 1976. In 1967 albert married who had moved to france from morocco in 1960. They have three daughters who have given them 11 grandchildren ages 24 to 4 years. Albert describes himself as a real movie buff, enjoys photography and loves to read, and he loves to travel. Albert and marcel have been to china and south africa. They went to australia and new zealand in 2018. And last month they returned from a trip to israel, vietnam and cambodia. Albert volunteers here at the museum speaking often to classes of students from all over the country, sometimes by teleconference in which he tells a story. And he sits a donors desk where visitors can talk to him. With that id like you to join me in welcoming our first person mr. Albert garih. [ applause ] albert, thank you so much for joining us and for your willingness to be our first person today. So thank you for being here. Youre welcome. We just have a short hour, so well get started as quickly as we can. World war ii began in september 1939 with nazi germanys invasion of poland. The following may in 1940 germany attacked france. You were nearly 2 years old at that time. Before we turn to the warriors and the holocaust and what it meant for you and your family, lets start first by having you tell us a little bit about your family and their life before germany invaded france. Well, my parents were born in istanbul, now istanbul in turkey. They were part of this they were descendants of the jews who were expelled from spain in 1492. And they spread all over the mediterranean and my parents ended up the Ottoman Empire. Turkey was part of the Ottoman Empire at that time. And thats where they were born, and there they spoke judeo spanish, which was a former spanish, that was the spanish they brought with them from spain, which evolved in a different way over five centuries, but they get it for five centuries which is remarkable and the generation who can speak it, unfortunately my children dont speak it, but they can understand a few because i use some expressions with them, but they dont speak it. So your parents when they moved to france at that time they lived separately, right . They did not know each other. No, they moved in 1923. Actually what happened is that during the First World War in 1914, 1918 the Ottoman Empire sield sie sided with germany. And when germany was defeated in 1919 there was a conference outside of paris and the Ottoman Empire was dismantled and then came to power a strong man in 1923 by the name of mustafa and at that point the jews were concerned because that seemed i think it was 1915 when they were massacred on their way back to armenia. And then when mustafa came to power there was a very strong Greek Community which is we dont have the map which is on the asia minor, the part of turkey. And they were pushed out literally by the turks. And they went back to greece. So the jews, maybe they were next. First the armenians and then the greeks maybe will be number three. So some of them a lot of them actually emigrated at that time. And since my parents had been educated in a school of an organization they were perfectly fluent in french. So france was a natural destination for them. And a lot of jews from the Ottoman Empire emigrated to france. So they emigrated in 1923 when mustafa came to power, and they met in 27, and they married in 1928. You described your father to me as a very smart but a selfeducated man. Just tell us a little bit about your father. My father had to go to work at the age of 10, so he was selfeducated. Actually he didnt go to school very long, you know, to help the family to make a living. The majority, they were poor and they had to struggle. So he had to help his family by working. He started working at a very young age. And how about your mom . She was very educated. My mother went to school. She got what they call at that time which was equivalent to a bachelor, and she was very educated and her french was absolutely perfect. She told me her story when she was a when she first came to france she got a job as a secretary in a company, and one day she had to write a letter and from the name who built all these large avenues in paris, modernized paris in the 19th century. But the only she knew which is spelled osman and her colleagues made fun of her and her boss said when you speak a Foreign Language the way she speaks french, you can then compare. What would the move from turkey to paris, what was your parents citizenship status . As soon as they emigrated from turkey they lost their citizenship. And they stayed the same place for about until 1948 actually. So they were stateless. They had no citizenship. Which means they were the first to be targeted by the germans because when france was invaded the french army capitulated and most of them were taken prisoner and a new government was formed and the head who was a hero of the First World War but in the meantime he had grown old i shouldnt say that because im about the age. He was a year older than me when he came to power. He was 85, and he started collaborating with the germans and the Prime Minister was even worse than him. And he and his French Police were doing all the dirty work for the germans. Your sisters are older than you. You were the youngest. You were born in 1938, and that was a pivotal year to the power of nazi germany and a time for your parents you described as ominous. 1938 was a glorious year of the annexation of austria by germany. Then it was also the year of the conference where hitler promised if he were allowed to take the land that is today the czech republic, that would be the end of his territorial ambition, he wouldnt go any further. And we know what happened. That was in september 1938. In september 1939 the german army marched into poland and the rest is history. And 1938 was also the year of a huge program performed all over the riche. So all over they destroyed the store, destroyed the apartment and they raided the apartment, burned synagogues all over and they killed 90,000 people, 90 people and imprisoned thousands. And imprisoned several thousand. Germany and poland start world war ii in 1939, but it wasnt until the following spring, may 10th when france invaded when germany invaded france. As they advanced on paris there was a max exodus of people leaving paris. I think as many as 80 of the population, as much as, fled paris. Im not sure about the exact proportion, but anyway the vast majority of the people of paris fled south by train, on foot, on bicycle, by whatever way they could and we you were part of that. We were part of that. We took the train and we ended up along the river who is famous for its beautiful chateau from the renaissance. Actually my mother told me because from that period i have no recollection. I was 2 years old, so what im telling you from that period is what i got from my mother. From 1942 onwards it would be my experience because i remember everything. I was 4 years old, and when you live under such circumstances youre bound to remember for the rest of your life. Anyway, so during the 1942 and when france was invaded, there was a massive exodus of the people of paris and we ended up on the river. As you were fleeing paris not only is it thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people on the road, the germans are attacking, dropping bombs and strafing. Tell us what is happening to your family. Thats where we sustained our first losses, actually. My grandmother was she went out to get some food for us, and she was killed by strafing, and it was the German Air Force and the Italian Air Force also. It was called a stab in the back. And so my grandmother was killed then. And my mother lost also her brother, a sister and two nephews. Their car was on the bridge and the bomb fell on it and they were killed. These were the first losses that we sustained during that period. As you were fleeing paris was your father with you at that time . No, my father decided to stay behind. I dont know the reason. Probably he wanted to keep on working. But thats all i can thats the only explanation i can find about that. So you ended up staying in a chateau, but you did return to paris, right . Yeah, but let me tell you some funny story about the chateau. Of course we were sleeping on the floor, on straw, i guess, i dont know. And my mother didnt have much to feed me. And i was a 2yearold. And when you have a 2yearold who was not fed, what does he do . He cries . And i was bothering and disturbing the peace of everyone who was trying to sleep and a soldier escaped and who was also staying in that chateau and gave my mother, he had a flask of schnapps. And he said give that to your son, that will keep him quiet and apparently it worked. It worked. But its chance i didnt become an alcoholic after that. But you did return to paris. And after your return to paris you would remain in your apartment for another two years until june of 1942. Tell us a little bit about those two years from what you know and the events then that led to you having to leave your apartment in 1942. As i said when the french capitulated and the new government was form they started to enact laws which were patterned after that were depriving the jews of most of their rights, basic rights. Doctors were not allowed to practice men, lawyers were debarred and teachers were kicked out of public school. And we were not allowed to go in public transportation, for instance. One day of my mother, we were really branded. We had a census and they put a stamp on the Identity Cards jewish, and that was, if you had to show that to police, they would put you aside and send you to camp. So one day my mother had to run an errand in paris. You know, i have no recollection of that because i was probably very young, but she told me many years later, and she took me along. And when we came out of the subway, we had to take the subway. When we came out of the subway there was an identity check, and an identity check, you know what it means, meant if you show your idea with a stamp jewish on it, they put you aside and they send you to transit camp and from there to auschwitz. So my mother took me in her arms, she told me she was pretending to look in her purse, she walked between two police, they didnt stop her. If one of the police had said, maam, let me see your papers, i wouldnt be here today. Thats how close it was. And we had a few close calls like that anyway. You told me about an incident that stuck in my mind where your mother was chatting with neighbors on your balcony in your apartment and she handed it over to him. Actually in july 1942 we were excelled from our apartments. And my father was working in a garment factory. She was their doing the repair work. And with the new statute of the jews the garments factory, they put a german manager. And we were living in the janitors apartment of that factory. That was an arrangement with the owner and my father. But when the owner was had to run away, we were excelled from that apartment and we had to find an apartment in no time. It was in july 1942, and from then on all i am going to tell you is what i really remember because when you are 4 years old, you are forced out of your apartment and you end up in a tiny apartment like that. I still remember the wallpaper. I was i was a kid, you know, i was 4 years old. And in one of the tool it was an apartment with one toilet and a small kitchen and there was no bathroom, nothing. And i remember in the bedroom what was our bedroom, the children your two sisters. Yes. There were flowers like dahlias, and they look like faces and they were frightening to me, a 4yearold. I was looking at them, i didnt like that. Anyway, so thats where we ended up. And they started rounding up people in 1941 actually. It started really for good and before i think 1941, and he didnt stop until the very last moment, just one month before the liberation of paris in 1944. And there were trains going from paris to to auschwitz. That summer of 1942 is when when they really intensified and thats when you were forced out. Yes. And at that point also with my parents being aware of the round ups that were taken place, july 1942 when we moved it was the biggest round up of all took place where they rounded up the germans. Id asked the French Police to round up 20,000 men. They were not able to find 20,000 men, but they rounded up 13,000 people, women, children, elderly people, sick people, everyone. And they took them, they put them in a stadium where they used to have bicycle races on track for about one week. And it was in july. It was very hot, and the conditions were deplorable actually because they were soon out of order. It was not designed to to house 13,000 people for one week nonstop. So it was terrible. And after i think it was about one week the people from that round up were sent to transit camps south of paris, at least the mothers and the children were sent to transit camps. Close to the river also, they stayed there for a few days and eventually they were sent to auschwitz. And out of them, out of 13,000 there were 4,000 children, and none of them came back. So my parents were really concerned and very afraid about what could happen to us and they decided to send us into hiding. They sent us into a farm out of paris but without telling the lady, it was two eladies attending the farm. I guess the men must have been taken prisoner with the french army at the beginning of the war, so there were only two women there, and i was with my sisters. My sisters would go to school and they would stay with the ladies. And we stayed in the winter of 194243 like that. I remember the winter was very cold, there was a lot of snow and my sisters would go to school and they brought back some songs that bring me back to that period but it was in french. That song brings me back. To