Michel C. Jeruchim

In 1940 when Michel Jeruchim was three, Nazi Germany invaded France. Two years later, under Nazi orders, the French police staged a roundup of all Jews living in the Paris metropolitan area, to be deported to concentration camps. The Jeruchim family escaped arrest. But, they could no longer remain at home. Michel’s mother, Sonia, was acquainted with a Protestant couple who hid them in their home until arrangements were made for a safe haven for the children in Normandy where Michel was placed with a Catholic family.

Their children safe, Sonia and Samuel attempted to cross to the unoccupied zone of France, but were caught and sent to Auschwitz where they were murdered.

Michel, and his siblings, Alice and Simon, survived the war. During the three years Michel lived with the Leclères, they formed a loving bond, and after the war, with no word from Michel’s parents, the Leclères sought to adopt him. But an estranged uncle who survived the war came to “reclaim” him. Michel was placed in an orphanage. Reunited, Michel, Simon, and Alice immigrated the United States in 1949.

Michel embraced American life. He quickly became fluent in English and eventually earned Master’s Degree and a Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania. Michel, a scientist, was among those at the onset of the communication age. But he never fully came to terms the loss he suffered early in life. Years later, Michel’s wife, Joan, a psychologist, urged Michel to attend the first gathering of Jewish children who had been hidden in WWII. There, Michel found kindred spirits, who like him had kept their traumatic childhoods inside, but could now begin the process of recovery.

That recovery, the journey to healing and bearing witness, unfolds in Michel’s compelling memoir.