Simone Bowers memoir
Extent and Medium
folder
1
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of William and Dorothy Bowers
William and Dorothy Bowers donated this memoir to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2012.
Scope and Content
Consists of one memoir, 11 pages, written by a friend of Simone Bowers, originally of Benfeld, France, based on notes of conversations about Simone's Holocaust experiences. The memoir describes Simone's childhood and the early days of the German occupation of Benfeld. In 1944, her parents were deported, first to Drancy and then to Auschwitz, where they perished. Simone and her siblings were taken in by families in the town who baptized them in order to say that there were no Jewish children in the town. Includes information about her sensory memories of life in hiding, as well as about life after the war, when the siblings were split up. Simone had a very unhappy childhood as Berthe, the aunt who took her, was abusive and had mental issues.
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--France--Personal narratives.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--France--Alsace.
- Benfeld (France : Canton)
- Hidden children (Holocaust)--France.
Genre
- Document
- Personal Narratives.