Additional funding from arlene and Daniel Fisher foundation. Were 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 the 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 first person account of his experience during the holocaust and as a survivor. 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 hash tag, ask why. Todays program live streamed on the museums website, meaning people will be joining us on the program, online, and watching with us today 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 the first person website listed on the back of your program for more details. What youre about to hear from albert is one individuals account of the holocaust. We have prepared a brief slide presentation to help with his introduction. We begin with a School Portrait of albert garih taken in 1945. Alberts parents, benjamin and claire were born in con stan ten open he will, now turkey, moved to paris in the 1920s. Albert and his twin brother that died in infancy were born june 24th, 1938 in paris, joining older siblings. We see all three siblings, including albert on the left in this 1941 photograph. His father worked in a garment factory, and family lived there in the janitors apartment. In may, 1940, germany invaded france and occupied paris. The arrow on this map of france points to paris. The garih family fled south but soon returned to paris where they were subjected to frances antijewish legislation. In 1943, alberts father was deported to a forced labor camp. And his mother and the children went into hiding with madam gallo and her husband 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 sisters in one for girls in a northeastern suburb of paris. When paris was liberated, his 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 september, 1944, on rash has schon a, the jewish new year. They remained in france after the war. He received a back lawyer at degree, then learned a degree in engineer lynn and spanish from french translation from the school of 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. Alberts work took him from france to cameroon and africa to montreal and eventually the united states. Organizations for which he worked included among others, International Civil aviation organization, Inter American development bank, world bank, and united nations. His work with the World Bank Brought him to washington, d. C. In 1976. In 1967, albert married, she moved to france from morocco. 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, loves to read and loves to travel. They have been to china and south africa, went to australia and new zealand in 2018, and last month 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 his story. He sits at donors desk where visitors can talk with him. With that, i want you to join me 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. Well get started quickly as we can. World war ii began september 1939 with nazi germanys invasion of poland. The following year, germany attacked france. You were nearly two years old at that time. Before we turn to the war years and holocaust, what it meant for you and your family, lets start by having you tell us about your family and their life before germany invaded france. Well, my parents were born in istanbul in con stan continue opal, now istanbul in turkey. They were part of this descendants of junes ex and they were spread over the mediterranean. They end up in the Ottoman Empire. Turkey was part of the Ottoman Empire at that time. Thats where they were born. And there they spoke judeo spanish, that they brought from spain which evolved in a different way over five centuries, but get it right for five centuries which is remarkable. And last generation can speak it. Unfortunately my children dont speak it. But they can understand a few, i use some expressions with them, but they dont speak it. So your parents when they moved to france, at that time they moved separately, right . They did not know each other. Yes. They moved in 1923. What happened is that during the first world war, 1914, 1918, the otto man empire sided with germany. When germany was defeated in 1919, there was a conference in versailles outside paris, and the Ottoman Empire was dismantled. Came to power a strong man in 1923. And at that point the jews were concerned because they witnessed what happened to armenians in 1915 when they were massacred on the way back to armenia. Then when he came to power, there was a strong Greek Community in ismir which is, we dont have the map, which is on the asian minor part of turkey. They were pushed out by the turks. And they went back to greece. So the jews maybe were next. First the armenians, and greeks maybe will be number three. So some of them, a lot of them immigrated at that time. Since my parents had been educated in school of an organization, they were perfectly fluent in french. France was a natural destination for them. A lot of jews from Ottoman Empire immigrated to france. So they immigrate in 1923 when he came to power, and they met in 27 and married in 1928. You described your father to me as a very smart but self educated man. Tell us a little about your father. My father, i go to work at the age of ten. He was self educated actually. He didnt go to school very long. He had to help the family to make a living. Conditions in turkey for people who are not millionaires, and there were very few rich people, the majority were poor and they had to struggle. So he had to help his family by working. He started working at a very young age. How about your mom . She was very educated. My mother went to school, she got what they call at that time equivalent to baccalaureate, and yeah, and she was very educated, and her french was absolutely perfect. She told me a story 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 to the address, from the name of it who built all these large avenues in paris, modernized paris in the 19th century. The only one she knew was a sul tan by the name of osman, and they made fun of her. Said when you speak 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 in. As soon as they immigrated fr from turkey, they lost citizenship. They stayed for stateless until 1948. They were stateless. They were the first targeted by germans. When france was invaded, the french capitulated, most of them were taken prisoner. The government resigned and new government was formed which was a collaboration, and he was hero of first world war, meantime he had grown old, i shouldnt say that, im about the age, he was still older than me when he came to power. He was 85. And he started collaborating with german, and Prime Minister was even worse than him. Pierre la vell and they were doing all the dirty work for the germans. Your sisters are older than you, you were the youngest, born in 1938. That was a pivotal year to the power of nazi germany and a time for your parents that you describe as ominous. Yeah. 1938 was a glorious year of an exagency of austria, also the year of the munich conference where hitler promised that if you were allowed to take the language what is today the czech republic, that would be the end of his territorial ambition. It wouldnt go any further. And it was also we know what happened that was in september, 1938. In september, 1939, the german army marched into poland and the rest is history. And it was also 1938 was also the year of crystal nokt. It was a huge program performed. The rash was there were all over, they destroyed stalls, destroyed apartment, they raided apartment, destroyed synagogues, burned sinynagogues, killed 90 people. Imprisoned several thousand. Germany invades poland, starting world war ii september 1939. But it wasnt until the following spring, may 10th, when germany invaded france. As they advanced on paris, there was a mass exodus of people leaving paris. As many as 80 of the population fled paris. Yeah. Im not sure about the exact proportion, but anyway vast majority of people of paris fled south by train, on foot, on bicycle, by whatever way they could. You were part of that . We were part of that. We took the train and ended up along the river which is famous for beautiful chateau from the renaissance. Actually my mother told me because from that period, i have no recollection. I was two years old. What i am telling you from that period is what i got from my mother. From 1942 onward, it will be my experience because i remember everything. I was four years old. When you live under such circumstances, youre bound to remember for the rest of your life. Anyway, so during in 1942 when france was invaded was massive exodus of people of paris and north of france, wasnt only paris, and we ended up on the river and slept in a chateau. 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, tell us what happened. Thats where we sustained the first losses. My grandmother was she went to get some food for us and she was killed by strafing. The German Air Force and Italian Air Force also. It was called a stab in the back. So my grandmother was killed then. And my mother lost also a brother, a sister, two nephews when a bomb fell on their car. The 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. Our father decided to stay behind. I dont know the reason. Probably he wanted to keep on working, but, you know, thats all i can thats the only explanation i can find about that. You end up staying in a chateau. But you did return to paris, right . Yeah. But let me tell you some funny story about that, 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. I was a twoyearold. When you have a twoyearold who is not fed, what does he do, he cries. And i was bothering, disturbing the peace of everyone trying to sleep. And a soldier escaped, was also staying in the chateau gave my mother, he had a fast being of schnapps. Gave her a shot of schnapps, give that to your son, will keep him quiet. Apparently it worked. But you know, it is a chance i didnt become alcoholic after that. But you did return to paris. After you returned to paris, you would remain in your apartment for another two years until june of 1942. Yes. Tell us a little about those two years from what you know and events then that led to you having to leave your apartment in 1942. As i said, when transget liberated and new government was trans, they start to enact laws patterned after newer emburg laws that deprived jews of most of their basic rights. Doctors were not allowed to practice medicine, lawyers debarred, teachers kicked out of public school, and we were not allowed on public transportation, for instance. And something about that. Z z zpl. Share it, please. We were really branded. We had a census and put a stamp on identity cards, jewish. If you had to show it to police, they would put you aside and send you to a camp. One day my mother had to run an errand in paris. You know, i have no recollection of that, i was probably very young, 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 identity check, you know what it means, meant if you show your id with the stamp jewish, they put you aside, sent you to transit camp and from there to auschwitz. My mother took me in her arms, she was pretending to look in her purse. She walked between two police, they didnt stop her. If one of the police said maam, i havent seen 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 the balcony in your apartment, handed you over to them. We were actually in july, 1942, we were expelled from our apartments. My father was working in a garment factory. He was the accountant, doing the payroll. And with the news of the jews, they were expropriated, the owner had to go into hiding, 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 had to run away, we were expelled from that apartment and had to find an apartment in no time. It was in july, 1942. From then on, all i am going to tell you is what i really remember because you know, when youre four years old, youre forced out of your apartment and end up in a tiny apartment like that, i still remember the wallpaper. I was a kid, you know, i was four years old. In one of the two, it was a tworoom apartment, with one toilet, a small kitchen, that was it, no bathroom, nothing. I remember the bedroom, what was our bedroom, the children. Your two sisters. Yes. There were flowers like dalias. They looked like faces. They were frightening to a fouryearold. 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 in the fall i think 1941. And it 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 auschwitz. That summer of 1942 is when they really intensified. Thats when you were forced out. Yes. At that point also, you know, with my parents being aware of the roundups that were taking place, actually july, 1942, when we moved it was the months where the biggest roundup of all took place. They rounded up the germans and 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, men, women, children, elderly people, sick people, everyone. You know. And they took them, put them in a stadium where they used to have bicycle races and track, and for about one week and it was in july, it was very hot, and the conditions were deplorable. They were soon out of water. It was not designed to house 13,000 people for one week nonstop. So it was terrible. After i think about one week the people from that roundup were sent to transit camps south of paris, at least mothers and children were sent to transit camps. Close to the river also. And they stayed there a few days and eventually they were sent to auschwitz. 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. Without telling the lady, it was two ladies tending the farm. I guess the men were taken prisoner with the french army beginning of the war. So there were only two women there. And i was with my sisters. My sisters would go to school, i would stay with the ladies. We spent about, i dont know, winter of 1942, 43 like that. I remember that winter was very cold. There was a lot of snow and my sisters would go to school and brought back some songs that bring me back to that period. Like awe tenenbaum in french. But my parents had not told the ladies we were jewish. They said they could not feed is in paris. There was no food, too scarce, too bad. Thats the only reason they gave. But in the conversation one day, i was a fouryearold, i was very social and talking to them. One day in the conversation i say yes, were jewish. And thats all it took to the ladies to send us back to our parents. So at that point when we went back home, my father took me apart and said dont ever, ever say youre jewish. It was dangerous to say youre jewish. That stayed with me quite a few years, even after the war, you know. It was a traumatic experience to think of the danger if anybody could find out that we were jewish. We went back home and stayed with our parents. And in september when you went back, september 1943, your father was then taken for forced labor to the Channel Islands. Yes. My father was summoned for labor. Deportation. Islands off the coast of britney which were the only british territory under nazi occupation. They were building camps there. And my father was sent, he was with 900 detainees there, and they were building what they called the atlantic wall. Building block houses and bunkers and things like that. And my father had a terrible accident. They thought the allies might invade. Yes. It was called the atlantic wall. It was supposed to stop any invasion from the allies. And my father had a very bad accident when he was there. He was carrying a trough of cement on his head on a scaffolding. He stepped on a loose board. The loose board came to hit him on the head and he f