About the Family

The SCHRAUB/ZWIEBEL family received visas from Aristides de Sousa Mendes in Bordeaux on June 18-19, 1940.

The family left Metz, France, on September 1st or 2nd 1939 when Poland was invaded. They were in Vittel for a few weeks. They arrived in Bordeaux at the end of September 1939 and remained there until December of 1940. Simi Schraub was born there in January of 1940. They were unable to cross the French-Spanish border and remained in France, constantly on the move.

They lived at Monts, Camps de La Lande from December 1940 until October 1941, in a small house just outside of the camp and were warned by a policeman that the camp which had been open until then was going to have barbed wire put up the following day. Benno (Benjamin) decided that they should leave immediately. From November 1941 until February 1943 the family lived in Marsac where they joined other family members. From February 1943 until September 1943 they lived in Nice. There, Max (Meyer SCHRAUB), Marcelle (Malka SCHRAUB née GITLER) and their daughter Annette separated and managed to get to Italy where they remained until the end of the war.

The other family members lived in Grenoble from September 1943 until January 1944. From there they moved to Valence until April of that year. Albert and Gaby SCHRAUB remained in Valence with Brucha SCHRAUB née KURZ (mother of Max, Benno, Albert and Gaby) until the end of the war. On the 11th of May 1944, Benno, Cécile, Germaine, Simy, Anna ZWIEBEL (mother of Cécile) and another cousin were able to enter Switzerland clandestinely. They returned to France in 1945.