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 constantinople, now istanbul in turkey. Bl, constan that time. 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 form of spanish. That was the spanish that they brought with them from spain, which evolved in a different way over five century, but they kept it alive for five century which is remarkable. And the last generation who can speak it, unfortunately, my parents 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 19141918, the Ottoman Empire 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 strongman in 1923 by the name of mustafa kimar and at that point, the jews were scared. They were concerned because that seemed, witnessed what happened to the almanians earlier in the century, i think it was in 1915 when they were massacred on theirway back to armenia. And then when mustafa kamir came to power, there was a very strong Greek Community which is we dont have the map which is on the asia 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. Since my parents had been educated in a school, in 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 back into power. 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, he had to help the family to make a living. Conditions in turkey for people who were not millionaires, and there were very few rich people. The majority, they were poor and struggled. 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. Yeah. She got what they call at that time which was equivalent to the bachelor. 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 to an address, and she, from the name of it, men who built all these large avenues in paris, modernized paris in the 19th century, but the only osman that she knew was a man by the name of osman spelled osman, so she wrote osman and the colleagues made fun of her. It was her boss who defended her and said, when you speak a Foreign Language the way she speaks french, you can then compare. [ laughter ] 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 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. The government resigned and a new government was formed. The head 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 munich conference where hitler promised that if he were allowed to take the land which is 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 in september 1938. In september 1939, the german army marched into poland and the rest is history. And it was also 1938 was the year of cristalnot, a huge program performed all over the reish, comprised of austria, germany. So all over they destroyed stores, day destoroyed apartmen. They raided apartment. They destroyed synagogues, burned synagogues all over and killed 90,000 people, no, 90 people imprisoned 30,000. Imprisoned several thousand. Yes. 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 in 1942 when france was invaded, a massive exodus of people of paris, and the north of france, and we ended up on the river and we 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 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. When a bomb fell on their car which is a city on the river. Their car was on the bridge. A 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 back, 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. When you have a 2yearold who is not fed, what does he do . He eyes. 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. He gave her a shot of schnapps, give that to your son, it will keep him quiet. And apparently it worked. It worked. [ laughter ] you know, its a chance that i didnt become an alcoholic after that. Anyway. Albert, but you did return to paris. Yes. After you returned to paris, you would remain in your apartment for another 2 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 formed, they started to enact laws which were patterned of the nuremberg laws in germany depriving the jews of most of their rights. Basic rights. Doctors were not allowed to practice medicine. Lawyers were debarred. And teachers were kicked out of public school. And we were not allowed to go in public transportation, for instance. Share about that. Please. One day, my mother, we were really branded. Every year, we had a census and they put a stamp on identity cards, jewish. And that was if you had to show that to a police, they would put you aside and send you to a camp. So one day my mother had to run an errand in paris. I, you know, i dont 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. An identity check, you know what it means, meant if you show your i. D. With the stamp, jewish, on it, they put you aside and they send you to a 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, i dont 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 you over to them. Actually in july 1942 we were expelled from our apartments. And my father was working in a garment factory. He was doing their repair work. And with the new statute of the jews, the garments factory, they put a german manager. The owner had to flee and go into hiding. And we were living in the garment in the janitors apartment of that factory. That was the arrangement with my owner and my father. 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, and from then on, all i am going to tell you is what i really remember because, you know, when youre 4 years old, you are forced out of your apartment and you end up in a tiny apartment like that. I still remember the wall paper. I was i was a kid, you know, i was 4 years old. And in one of the two it was a twobedroom apartment with one toilet and 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 looked 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 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 to auschwitz. That summer of 1942 is when they really intensified and thats when you were forced out. Yes. And at that point also, you know, with my parents being aware of the roundups that were taking place, you actually july 1942 when we moved, that was the month where the biggest roundup of all took place, where they rounded up the germans and 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, they put them in a stadium which where they used to have bicycle races on track, and for about one week, and it was in july. It was very hot, and the sanitary conditions were deplorable, actually, because they were soon out of order. It was not designed to to house 13,000 people for 1 week nonstop. So it really was terrible. And after i think it was about one week, the people from that roundup 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 day 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 ladies who were tending 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 i would stay with the ladies. We spent about 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 like taunenbaum but it was in french. That song brings me back. Today, its famous for safari park there. In those days, was just farmland. So i was staying with the ladies, but my parents had not told the ladies that we were jewish. They just said that day could not feed us in paris, there was no food, it was too scarce and too bad. So that was the only reason they gave, but in the conversatio