Bertrand Herz and Yvette Lévy

Bertrand Herz © Shoah Memorial / Michel Isaac.

Bertrand Herz was 14 years old when he was arrested with his parents and sister on July 5, 1944 in Toulouse by the Gestapo. Deported to Buchenwald with his father, he is sent with him to an outside Kommando in Niederorschel to work on the assembly of Junkers planes. Released on 11 April 1945, he returns alone to Paris where he finds his sister, who had been deported to Ravensbrück, but not his mother, who died in this camp. He published Buchenwald’s Pull-over (2015).

Yvette Lévy © Shoah Memorial

Yvette Lévy is 16 years old in 1942. Young scout, she is responsible for recovering the children whose parents were arrested during the roundup of the Vel'd'Hiv. They will then be placed in a reception house in Paris, rue Lamarck. But during the night of July 21 to 22, 1944, the children from all the homes in the Paris region were arrested and transferred to Drancy. Yvette and the children are deported to Birkenau on July 31, 1944.