Frida Wattenberg finds her half-brothers, Charles and Marie Smiétanski
On 29 January 2019, during the photo collection organized every Tuesday afternoon at the Shoah Memorial, Charles Smiétanski came to deposit personal archival documents. Born in 1936, he was hidden during the war with his sister Marie and her cousins. His father Hersh Smiétanski was deported to Auschwitz by convoy 46. He never returned. At 83 years old, Charles Smiétanski has just found his half-sister, Frida Wattenberg.
About two months ago, Charles Smietansky discovers, thanks to research carried out by his son in Israel, that he would have a big sister. He tells: "My son called me, he told me ‘Dad, you have a sister!” He had done a lot of research, and he gave me her name: Frida Wattenberg."
Charles, Frida, Marie and their cousin Cécile
Frida was born twelve years before Charles, in 1924. His father Hersh Smietanski, a Jew of Polish origin, was expelled from France before Frida’s birth, without him being able to recognize her. Upon his return to France, Hersh Smiétanski will have another child with Frida’s mother; he will divorce five years later.
From a second marriage with Frajdla Borenstein will be born Charles and Marie Smiétanski. They will escape deportation, hidden in Orsay with their cousins, in the valley of Chevreuse, by a family paid by the Red Cross. Charles and Marie will find their mother after the war.
Frida, as for her, joins a Gaullist cell of the Victor Hugo high school (Paris 4e) in October 1940, at only 16 years old. She will be recruited in 1941 by the O.S.E (Organisation de Secours aux Enfants) and will help make fake papers for jewish children and their parents. She will then succeed in having her mother released from Drancy thanks to a certificate justifying that her mother worked for the German Army. In 1943, she left Paris for Grenoble and joined the jewish resistance : she leads groups of children to Annecy for their passage in Switzerland. Frida is then transferred to Toulouse where she works with theAJ (Jewish Army). After the Liberation, Frida works at theWork for the Protection of Jewish Children (OPEJ) who takes care of the children whose parents have died in deportation.
The war having dispersed the families and Charles and Marie having no knowledge of their father’s first life, they always ignored that they had a brother and a sister, born from their father’s first marriage.
Charles Smiétanski and Frida Wattenberg
About two months ago, they finally found Frida Wattenberg, their half-sister, whom they regularly visit, at least once a week. "We found ourselves a family!" declares Marie as she takes Frida in her arms. "I am happy to see you around me today, I feel much more alive!" replies his half-sister.
Frida Wattenberg has been a volunteer for more than 20 years at the Shoah Memorial and testified for years for school students. Today a children’s workshop is dedicated to his story at the Memorial.
Frida Wattenberg is a Knight of the Order of Merit, Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honor, Resistance Volunteer card, Veteran’s card, member of the Association of Jewish Resistance Veterans (ARJF) and of "Mémoire juive de Paris" SEE HIS TESTIMONY
