Henri Minczeles, survivor of the Holocaust, died on March 10, 2017

Henri and his brother Roser in Paris in 1941. © Shoah Memorial

Henri Minczeles was born in 1926 in Paris to a Polish-Jewish immigrant family. In 1941, the father of Henri Minczeles is interned at the camp of Pithiviers then deported by the convoy n'°6 of July 17, 1942. He will be gassed at Auschwitz. Henri continues his studies in Paris with his mother and brother, they escape the raid of July 16, 1942. Thanks to false papers and the help of two women, Marie Ménérat, concierge, and Suzanne Leulier, leather worker, Henri remains clandestinely in Paris and will participate in the Liberation of Paris on August 25, 1944.  He then became a journalist and worked at the Centre de Formation des Journalistes between 1946 and 1948 before marrying Léa Radacz in 1949, with whom he had two children, Chantal and Alain.

Henri Minczeles was a fierce activist for memory. In the book dedicated to "Convoi 6" for the memory of his father Charles Szepsel Minczeles he writes:

“Hitler is responsible for my return to Judaism. This is the reason why I have been an activist for memory for more than half a century, a guard dog of remembrance. I expressed it in many studies and articles on the radio. I have written books on Judaism, its historical events and various ideologies and doctrines of Judaism.  I have been attending the commemoration of the Warsaw ghetto uprising since 1946. I encouraged my children and grandchildren to come to this commemoration. The rest is silence.

From his earliest youth, Henri Minczeles actively participated in the Bundist movement of which he became an essential figure. He will later chair the Cercle amical Arbeter Ring. In 2000, Henri joined the Association for the memory of deported Jewish children from the 18th arrondissement. He was a delegate to the CRIF from 1979 to 2001 and then to the CRIF’s remembrance commission. Henri Minczeles was also an activist of the Association of Sons and Daughters of the Jewish Deportees of France by Serge Klarsfleld.

Henri Minczeles left us on March 10, 2017, his funeral will take place on Wednesday, March 15 at 2:30 PM at the Parisian cemetery of Bagneux. All our thoughts go to his loved ones.

Book: A History of the Jews in Poland, by Henri Minczeles

Henri Minczeles in Paris after the war

Last letter from Charles Minczeles sent to his wife and children on July 16, 1942
«Fear nothing my dear. We will not kill so many people».