Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

Berthe Moskowicz's mother was rounded up for transport to Auschwitz.
On the day she was arrested, Berthe's mother took her her down to the concierge to await being picked up.
When two French policemen and a German officer came for them, the German officer told her mother to leave the girl with the concierge.
After a few days with the concierge, Berthe, age 5 years, was sent to an orphanage, and from there, she was taken to a railroad station.
Mademoiselle Mathieu took her on a train to Nantes, where a man with a horse and buggy took her to a small village near Chavagne-en-Paillers.
Berthe was one of 35 other Jewish children hidden in that cluster of small villages, placed there by the Women’s International Zionist Organization WIZO, working with the French underground that placed her and the other children with families.
For two years. Berthe lived with the Piveteau family, who were farmers and, though not a very warm family, treated her well.
She attended school and helped on the farm churning butter by hand, and taking their six cows to pasture.
Berthe was baptized and attended church regularly with the family.

After the war, Berthe Moskowicz was taken to a children’s home at a villa in Malmaison, where she stayed until 1948.