Blanche Feinberg recalls her experience as a hidden child in World War II Belgium
Holocaust survivor Blanche Feinberg was hidden during the German occupation of Belgium. When I visited Blanche in her Palm Beach County home she recalled the righteous gentiles that saved her life.
“I was born July 4th, 1934 in Antwerp, Belgium. My father’s name was Bernard Wochennark and my mother was Tillie Delman. I had two older siblings (Leo and Sarah). My family was Modern Orthodox and I attended Yeshiva as a young child. One of Antwerp’s economic mainstays was the diamond industry in which Jews, including my father, were very involved. On the eve of the German invasion of Belgium in May 1940, about 50,000 Jews lived in Antwerp. Fearing the uncertainty of the Nazi occupation, my family and I tried to go to London where my mother’s cousins lived. After our taxi cab ran out of gas and the driver abandoned us, we walked to Dunkirk, a port city located in northern France. As we arrived in Dunkirk in late May 1940, more than 300,000 allied British and French soldiers that were trapped by the invading German army were waiting to be rescued by British ships. This military action that became known as Operation Dynamo, derailed our plans to escape to England, so we returned to Antwerp. For the first few months of the occupation, daily life continued as usual. We lived in a beautiful suburb and I continued my Yeshiva education. Persecution against Antwerp’s Jews soon began when we were forced to wear the yellow star and I was threatened by gentile children who called me a ‘Dirty Jew!’ When I turned 8 my parents threw me a birthday party. I get emotional as I recall my parents and the other children dancing. Unbeknown to me this occasion would be the last time I would ever see my father again. Early the next morning he kissed me on the forehead and left the house after being summoned by the Germans to report to a designated area. My brother and sister were taken away shortly after. My mother was so courageous. She went to the Gestapo and tried to get my sister Sarah released. My mother saw Sarah in a courtyard with other Jewish girls her age and pleaded with the Gestapo to release her. A soldier held a bayonet up to my mother’s throat and threatened to kill her if she didn’t leave. When my mother came home and told me what had happened we cried all day. My father, brother and sister all perished at Auschwitz.”
Feinberg recalled going into hiding.
“My mother’s brother knew a Roman Catholic priest named Abbé Joseph André in the Belgium city of Namur. From his parish office, Father Abbé worked with an underground Jewish organization to locate hiding places for children in monasteries, convents and private homes. Though he was occasionally suspected by the Gestapo and several times interrogated, Father Abbé and his operation were never uncovered and remained active till the end of the war. After securing my passage with a woman from the Belgium resistance who would accompany me to Namur, my mother went into hiding that was also arranged by the priest. On the train bound for Namur we were surrounded by German soldiers. I remember my chaperone saying to me, ‘Hold my hand, but don’t speak’. After arriving in Namur my uncle took me to Father Abbé. He was such a gentle soul and had the face of an angel. Father Abbé took me to stay with a family that lived on a farm with their nine children. I remember the weather was so humid and the two eldest girls offered to give me a bath. They had never seen a Jew before and expected me to have horns because that’s what they were taught to believe in school. I became a member of the family but couldn’t go to school because the family feared I would be discovered and they would be arrested. The Gestapo set up headquarters nearby. Three times during the 14 months I stayed with the family I had to hide in the cellar during a routine search for Jews. The Germans would have surely killed me and the entire family if I was discovered. A mailman and his wife that I became friendly with suspected I was Jewish so I was sent back to the priest. After staying a week in the priest’s home where he was hiding other Jewish children I was taken to a castle in Luxembourg that served as an orphanage. Luxembourg is a small country in Western Europe bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France to the south. I was one of 50 Jewish girls known as the Flemish children. The castle also housed 700 non-Jewish children who were orphaned after bombardments killed their parents. The priest would visit and share news about our families and the war. The castle wasn’t far from where the Battle of the Bulge was fought and other bombardments took place. I recall going to the area where planes had been shot down and the children would collect debris from the plastic airplane windows that were used to make jewelry. There was very little to eat but we were always clean. We always lived in constant fear and had to evacuate the orphanage as the bombardments came closer. I was then taken to live in a house that hid Jewish children. The woman who was paid to take care of us wasn’t feeding or bathing us. If I found an apple in the yard I would eat it for several days by hiding it under my pillow. I came down with pneumonia and was told I would die. One night I thought I was hallucinating and heard my mother’s voice. This was no hallucination. My mother was alerted by the priest that I might be dying and she walked three days to come see me. During my bout with pneumonia the American soldiers liberated us and transported me by jeep to a hospital where I was injected with penicillin that saved my life.”
Feinberg reflected on life after liberation.
“My mother found an apartment with my aunt in Namur and cooked for Father Abbé. He was always interested in the destiny of the Jewish people and supported the State of Israel. In 1967 Father Abbé was declared ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ and a tree in his name was planted in Yad Vashem. During the two years following the war that my mother and I lived in Namur I attended a Catholic parochial school run by nuns. My mother was so overwhelmed with losing my father and siblings that if she didn’t have me I don’t think she would have survived. In 1947 my mother and I moved back to Antwerp and she worked at odd jobs to support us. When I asked my mother if I could have a bicycle like the other children had she replied, ‘I don’t have the money to buy one for you’. It was hard being denied what other children had. However she made me beautiful clothes and I was thankful to have her love.”
Feinberg recalled moving to the US.
“In 1949 my mother and I moved to Newark, New Jersey and lived with relatives for a short time. My cousins made me feel like an outsider and never treated me with respect. We moved to Brooklyn where I finished high school and enrolled in night classes at Brooklyn College. I worked as a file clerk in a small office and eventually became secretary to the firm’s vice president. I later worked for a company on Wall Street. I married my husband, Lee in 1956, who worked as a stockbroker.”
Feinberg shared her words of wisdom.
“Be ambitious, kind and never give up!”