Charles Middleberg, 88, of Marlton, grew up during the Nazi occupation of France.
By JACK TOMCZUK
The Sun
It’s a difficult story for Charles Middleberg to tell, but he does it anyway.
The 88-year-old Marlton resident recounted his experience growing up Jewish in Paris during the Nazi occupation of France to a group of about 130 eighth-grade students at Burlington Township Middle School on June 15.
Middleberg and his brother were able to avoid being captured by German soldiers with the help of some family friends and friendly strangers, but his parents weren’t so lucky.
His father survived the Holocaust after being captured by the Nazis, but Middleberg said he was never the same. Middleberg’s mother was killed in the gas chambers at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
“This is not a very pleasant thing to keep repeating, I can assure you that, but I just feel that it is important that I do,” Middleberg told the students.
“I think it’s important that you should know that this is not just a page of history but a horrible time actually took place,” he added. “People say I’m a survivor. I believe, better than that, I am a witness.”
Middleberg was 12 years old when German soldiers raided his family’s apartment building in 1942. He said a janitor who worked in the building warned his family and found a hiding place for them near the roof.
Not long after the raid, Middleberg said his mother sent him and his brother to stay at a farm in the French countryside. The people who owned the farm told the boys not to do anything that would make authorities suspect they were Jewish.
“The day we kissed my mom goodbye, and we went to the countryside was the last time we ever saw my mom,” Middleberg said.
While at the farm, Middleberg received a letter from a woman who said she saw his mother being captured by German soldiers. The woman owned a café and invited Middleberg and his brother to come and stay with them in the city.
Middleberg said he and his brother moved back to Paris to try and reunite with their mother. However, the café owner was worried that taking in the boys would draw unwanted attention.
“So now, my brother and I have put that whole family in danger,” Middleberg told the students.
So the woman took Middleberg and his brother to a Catholic priest who told the boys to come to church every week. He told them to tell the other members of the church that they were orphans.
The boys were shielded from the German soldiers until the allied forces liberated Paris in 1944.
Middleberg moved to the United States in 1950 and settled in Philadelphia. He now has four children, 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
“My story has a very happy ending,” he said. “I am a very happy, lucky man. I really am.”
After Middleberg told his story, several students asked him questions about what happened after the war to the various people who helped him and his brother stay hidden from the Nazis.
“The memory of those people will never be erased from my mind,” Middleberg said. “These people took tremendous chances with their own lives to save two boys.”
“That, I think, is a tremendous lesson to learn,” he added. “Whenever you can, whenever you see an injustice taking place, be a saver.”
Middleberg also urged the students not to join hate groups and not to be swayed by people who hate others based on their religion or skin color.
“I think it is important for you to know that something like this did happen,” Middleberg said. “My fervent hope is you will never let it happen again. It is entirely up to you.”
“Any kind of hate group will never lead you into something beneficial,” he added. “Hate only wants harm to the person that you hate.”
