Victor

Victor Perahia

Victor was born in Paris in 1933. During the war, he lived in Saint-Nazaire with his parents and brother. On July 15, 1942, Victor was then 9 years old, the family was having dinner when a knock came at the door. It was the police, taking him, his mother and his father in for a so-called identity check. His brother who was not at home that day was spared. His father was taken directly to Auschwitz, and Victor never saw him again. Victor was sent to Drancy with his mother, who miraculously managed to pass herself off as a prisoner's wife, a category that was spared deportation. They remained in Drancy for 22 months until they were taken to Bergen-Belsen where they spent almost a year. Thanks to his mother's presence by his side, he felt nothing bad could happen to him. That's what kept him going, until the day he saw her being assaulted by a man on a cattle car journey to Germany. She then told her son: "If you love me, don’t give up”. That was just before the end of the war. After the war, they had nothing to start a new life. In addition to having lost everything, Victor had to live with images of corpses spinning around in his head. He no longer considered himself a normal human being, but he fought with great bravery and dignity to rebuild his life. He got married, had two children and opened a contemporary art gallery. He never talked about his past and refused to answer his daughter's questions. But deep down, he felt shame for not fulfilling what he considered to be his duty: speaking up. So, in secret, and for six years, he wrote his story. Since then, he has been able to share his painful past on a regular basis, with the loving support of his family.