Henri and Betty

Henri & Betty Koprak

Like many Polish Jews, Henri's parents chose to live in France, the land of freedom. One morning in July 1942, Henri and his brother woke up in the family apartment in Niort to find that their parents had disappeared. Neighbors who had witnessed the arrest came to fetch the two boys and entrusted them to the Assistance publique, from where they were sent to a convent. The day the Germans arrived at the convent, the nuns had the presence of mind to pass them off as sick and sent them to a hospital, thus saving their lives. They were then taken in by the OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants - a French Jewish humanitarian organization) until the end of the war. Orphaned, they both grew up in foster homes.

Betty was one years old when her father was deported in 1942. The following year, her mother entrusted her to the care of an aunt and uncle living in the Dordogne (southwest of France), who were in turn arrested. A German soldier, present at the arrest, entrusted Betty to the care of neighbors, who treated her as their own daughter. At the end of the war, her mother, who had spent a year in a camp, came to fetch her, much to the despair of the little girl and her adopted family. Betty was five at the time, and had no memories of her mother. Over the years, she stayed in touch with her adoptive family.