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Hidden children - Toni Rinde
12017-06-20T14:11:24-04:00Anonymous123Toni Rinde with the woman who hid her.plain2017-10-25T13:26:42-04:00Image from The Florida Holocaust Museum permanent collection.Anonymous
12017-06-21T11:39:10-04:00Hidden Children23plain2020-06-17T10:13:47-04:00As the threat of deportation to the camps and eventual murder grew, many families went into hiding to delay or avoid persecution. In many cases, the children were given false identities and hidden with non-Jewish families or cared for by Christian organizations. Older children were sometimes able to find work or travel across borders under their assumed identity. Each story is unique, but all show the strength and courage that enabled many of them to survive.
Toni Rinde's parents arranged for her to be hidden in the home of a Catholic woman from 1941 to 1945. Each week she was taken to an appointed place so her parents could see her. During this time she was given the name Marysia and was raised as a Catholic. When the war ended, Toni's parents came to get her. She did not know her parents and it took 3 months before Toni would go with them. The family emigrated to the United States in 1947.
Remember that it is easy to save human lives. One did not need to be crazy to feel pity for an abandoned child. It was enough to open a door, to throw a piece of bread, a shirt, a coin; it was enough to feel compassion... In those times, one climbed to the summit of humanity by simply remaining human. - Elie Wiesel
In 1940, Marie Silverman's family fled Belgium and went into hiding on a farm in Toulouse, France. After being discovered and deported to a camp in Perpignan, she, her mother, and sister escaped with the help of the underground. After hiding in Nice, they were moved to a chateau in the French Alps. Her mother then gave the two girls to paid couriers who took them across the Pyrenees to Barcelona, Spain in August, 1943. The sisters were reunited with their mother in 1949 in the United States.
Toni Rinde talks about her rescue experience in Poland:
Halina Herman talks about being a hidden child in Poland:
Betty Goldberg talks about being rescued in France:
