Arlette Testyler, born Reiman, president of the Union of Auschwitz Deportees and Holocaust survivors, died on Friday 12 June in Paris.
Arlette was born on 30 March 1933 at the Rothschild Hospital in the 12th arrondissement of Paris. She is the daughter of Abraham and Malka (Marie) Reiman, from Poland. With her parents and her sister Madeleine, a year older than her, she lives at 114 rue du Temple in the 3rd
Arlette, her mother and sister were arrested on 16 July 1942 at the family home and sent to the Vel d'Hiv. They were transferred three days later to the Beaune-la-Rolande camp from Austerlitz station.
Thanks to the courage of Malka who pretended to recover clothing materials useful for the German war effort, they escape from the train that brings them back to Paris. Arlette and Madeleine are hidden by Jeanne and Jean Philippeau, craftsmen-craftsmen, in Vendôme in the Loir-et-Cher, where Arlette says she was born a second time. Their mother takes them back in 1944.
At the Liberation, understanding that Abraham would not return, Malka lets herself die of sorrow. Orphaned by war, Arlette continued her studies and became a chartered accountant. She married in 1952 Charles Testyler, a former deportee from Poland, whose brother Joseph had married his sister. The couple has two children, Nathan and Marina. With Charles, they founded in 1994 the association Mémoire et Vigilance des lycéens, testified in schools and organized many trips to Poland. They are also the authors of the book "Les Enfants aussi!", published by Delattre in 2010.
Administrator of the Union of Auschwitz Deportees, Arlette became vice-president in 2023 and then president in 2024.
That same year 2024, she published with Alexandre Duyck "J'avais 9 ans quand ils nous ont raflés", at Hugo Doc, while continuing to testify everywhere in France.
Shoah Memorial
His last struggles were the denunciation of the development of antisemitism in our country and the recognition in 2025 as "Righteous among the nations" of the Philippeau couple.
Arlette was elevated to the rank of Officer of the Legion of Honor on September 26, 2025 at the Shoah Memorial by Patricia Miralles, Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Armed Forces, in charge of Memory and Veterans. A few months earlier, in July, Pierre-François Veil, president of the Fondation pour la mémoire de la Shoah, presented him with the Commandeur des Palmes académiques tie.
The Shoah Memorial presents its most sincere condolences to his daughter Marina and all her family. He salutes a major figure in the memory of the Shoah, whose warmth and strength of character touched all those who knew her.
