Edda Maillet, née Steinberg in 1922, a Holocaust survivor, Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, honorary curator of the Musées de Pontoise, painter and engraver, has passed away recently.

Secretary General of the "Friends of Jeanne and Otto Freundlich", she defended to the end of her life the memory, and the preservation of the masterful works of this German Jewish painter and sculptor, who took refuge in France, was arrested and deported on 9 March 1943 to Sobibor. In 2004, Edda Maillet published with Joel Mettay (Mare Nostrum): "Otto Freundlich et la France, un amour trahi" (Mare Nostrum), depicting her tragic journey. It was on this occasion that she met Claude Bochurberg, while residing at the Rothschild Foundation, where her empathy brought much comfort to those around her. "If you knew what I am happy to live!" she declared to him at their meeting; she, whose parents and brother were deported without return.

Claude Borchurberg wants to understand what was covered by his words. For nearly a year, in 2009, he filmed her in his daily life at the Rothschild Foundation, where his radiance marked by high human values left an indelible mark.

«The smallest thing, such as the flight of a bird or a butterfly, was always the object of fresh wonder in her house. I remember "her" trees and plants, which she had "chosen" in the small park of Fondation, that made her happy just by contemplating them. Such was Edda. All in gratitude for her happiness to live! Her commitment to the recognition of the work of Otto Freundlich, for which she organized more than 120 exhibitions was unparalleled.

Passionate about Jewish texts, which gave her "infinite joy", Edda, with a smile on her face, repeated over and over again: "The love I have for life. I don’t know if I chose him. Since childhood, he has been carrying and guiding me. He is the source of my most beautiful encounters." C. Bochurberg.

In 2009, he directed: "Edda Maillet, Lehaim, à la vie," produced by AMIJC. A film bears witness to the journey of this great lady, mother of three daughters, at the origin of beautiful descendants, who never ceased to spread good around her,