Death of Denise Holstein at the age of 97, French survivor of Auschwitz who “did not want to forget”

His memory was precious. The survivor of the Nazi extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau Denise Holstein died on Saturday in Antibes (Alpes-Maritimes), at the age of 97. This woman, one of the last survivors of the place in France, was arrested with her family in 1943 during a raid in Rouen (Seine-Maritime). First held in the Drancy internment camp (Seine-Saint-Denis), she was then transferred to the Louveciennes hospital (Yvelines) to care for nine Jewish children.

During the summer of 1944, at the age of 17, she was deported to Auschwitz. Then transferred to the Bergen-Belsen camp, she was not released until the following spring, in April 1945, when the British army liberated the place. For much of her life, Denise Holstein remained silent about her traumatic experience of the place. But, at the beginning of the 90s, a discussion with Serge Klarsfeld, historian and figure of anti-Nazism, finally managed to convince her to speak in classrooms.

Passing on your experiences to the youngest

Since this period, she has tirelessly traveled to schools to tell her story and pass on what she had experienced. In a long interview given to Point in 2020, she said she became aware of the poor knowledge of the Shoah among part of the population. “For years, we didn't talk about it, and ultimately few people spoke up to testify, she said at the time. National Education has not done its job. The teachers who heard me in the classes I visited, starting in the early 1990s, were choked up by what I was saying. It’s a good thing we didn’t teach them!“

Denise Holstein had also written a book called “I will never forget you, my children of Auschwitz”, published in 1995. A testimony on deportation aimed at young people, in which she talks about her arrest and deportation. In addition to her few returns to Auschwitz during school trips with students, she published a second book in 2008, she published a second work, “The Manuscript of Cayeux-sur-Mer”. Part of this book is based on the text she wrote upon her return from the camps, when she was only 18 years old.

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The figure of Denise Holstein has been praised by several political figures. “Denise Holstein was a great lady from Rouen, reacted on the social network Wes We are proud that a municipal hall bears his name, and that a commemorative plaque honors his memory.“The president (Renaissance) of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, Renaud Muselier, also published a message to pay tribute to him.”The Southern Region bows to the memory of Denise Holstein, one of the last French survivors of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen“, he declared.