The FHM highlights the individual stories of 25 Holocaust Survivors
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May 25, 2018 [St. Petersburg, FL] – The Florida Holocaust Museum (The FHM) has partnered with Eckerd College to release a 25th Anniversary oral history series titled “25 Survivors, 25 Stories… Celebrating 25 Years!”
Over the next 25 months, the Museum’s oral history series will feature a different Holocaust Survivor on the 25th of every month. Each Survivor brings to the series an individual voice that enlivens our understanding of the Holocaust; the war’s effects on individuals, families, and communities dispersed across the world; and its reverberations into the present moment.
The fourteenth story was released this morning and features Holocaust Survivor Renée Fritz. An excerpt from the piece is as follows:
Renée’s mother eventually joined her in Belgium, where they went into hiding in the basement of a factory with her whole family, including her parents’ siblings. After hiding in the factory for some time, by chance Renée’s mother struck up a conversation with a well-intentioned Catholic woman, Mrs. Degelas. “For some reason, the woman seemed to sense that something wasn’t right,” Renée says, and the woman asked her mother if she was Jewish. When Renée’s mother said yes, Mrs. Degelas offered to take in Renée’s family and hide them in her three-story townhome. “I would be more than happy to put all of you up,” she said.
Renée’s mother accepted the offer, but because Renée was so young at the time, still only three years old, the adults were concerned that she would not be able to remain quiet and keep everyone safely hidden. Mrs. Degelas was closely involved in her church, where she asked her pastor to help find a place where Renée could be hidden in safety. Once again, Renée left her family, this time for a convent in Belgium where she assumed a false name and was raised as a Catholic.
Renée was able to stay in the convent for a few years, until the Nazis became suspicious that the convent was working with the underground resistance. The nuns were able to find a family living on a farm in the country who were willing to take Renée in…
To read Renée’s story in its entirety, please visit:
The Florida Holocaust Museum is located at 55 5th Street S, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.
About The Florida Holocaust Museum
2017 marked a monumental milestone for The Florida Holocaust Museum (The FHM) as the Museum celebrated its 25th Anniversary. One of the largest Holocaust museums in the country, and one of three nationally accredited Holocaust museums, The FHM honors the memory of millions of men, women and children who suffered of died in the Holocaust. The FHM is dedicated to teaching members of all races and cultures the inherent worth and dignity of human life in order to prevent future genocides. For additional information, please visit www.TheFHM.org.
Photos and credits
Renée Fritz with her mother in Vienna, 1937.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Renée Fritz.
Renée Fritz in Vienna 1939, age 2.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Renée Fritz.
Photograph of the nuns who helped keep Renée Fritz safely hidden.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Renée Fritz.
Renée Fritz (right) at the orphanage across from Nazi headquarters before the end of the war, 1944.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Renée Fritz.
Renée Fritz and Jack Schultz in 1945 (left) and Renée and Jack in 1967 (right).
Photo credit: Courtesy of Renée Fritz.
Renée Fritz in 2018.
Photo credit: Eckerd College
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