“We are the dinosaurs of the Shoah”

«Am I here for you? No way. You are the one who is there for me. You will understand why. At my age, my future is behind me. We are the dinosaurs of the Shoah, truly the last. It is you who, later, will testify against those who are called revisionists, who say that all this did not exist. I'm counting on you. You will be my memory. »

Arlette Testyler raises the issue, this Thursday, November 14, in a room at the Edgar-Quinet college in Saintes. At 91, the Parisian continues to travel through schools to speak about her war, lived alongside a 10-year-old girl who miraculously escaped the death camps. The speech is rehearsed, impactful, without embellishments. Around a hundred third and final year students from Bellevue High School listen respectfully.

“More French than a Frenchman”

“My father came from Poland at 17, to escape anti-Semitism. He was more French than a Frenchman. At the age of 8, I heard him say that if there was war, he would join up right away. That's what he did. » An artisan furrier, he was robbed of his workshop by the Vichy regime at the start of the war. Later, he goes to a summons to the police station. “He said: 'What am I risking? I fought for France. We are in the homeland of Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau. I thought they were friends of my parents! These were the last words I heard from my dad. »

Mr. Reiman died in September 1942 in a gas chamber at Auschwitz. Arlette, her sister and her mother were arrested on July 16, 1942 during the Vél'd'Hiv roundup. The nonagenarian recalls that Marshal Pétain had written in his own hand the order to also take the children. “What they did there is unspeakable. »

“I am very afraid of this youth who only knows how to speak while fighting. Stop with your phones and computers! Talk to yourself! »

Thanks to a huge lie, their mother manages to get out of the Beaune-la-Rolande transit camp with her daughters. They go to hide in the Vendôme region, in Touraine. Arlette remembers with emotion this very poor family who took in six Jewish children. In two months, she will obtain the Medal of the Righteous, she says.

Guilt

What relationship does she have with violence?, asks a high school student. “Excellent question!” The violence we see today terrifies me. I am very afraid of this youth who only knows how to speak while fighting. Stop with your phones and computers! Talk to yourself! The French language is rich and beautiful. You have the right to disagree with each other, but talk about it! And send postcards to your grandparents, it’s the greatest gift you can give them,” advises the happy grandmother of six.

When Arlette Testyler passes in front of 114 rue du Temple, in Paris, she still “feels guilty”. Of all the residents, only she and her sister survived. His mother died of grief at the end of the war. It is for all these people that she testifies today. She wrote a book entitled “I was 9 years old when they rounded us up” whose profits are donated to the Vigilance et Mémoire association.