Be Good to Each Other

Posted On Wednesday June 26, 2019
Edith Gelbard Visit-1
Edith Gelbard signs copies of the book Hiding Edith, which tells the true story of how she survived the Holocaust.

Edith Gelbard shares her story of surviving the Holocaust

In recognition of Jewish Heritage Month, this past May the intermediate students at Stephen G. Saywell Public School in Oshawa had the opportunity to hear a first-hand account of the Holocaust from survivor Edith (maiden name Schwalb) Gelbard.

Students spent time leading up to Gelbard’s visit reading the book Hiding Edith by Kathy Kacer. The book tells Gelbard’s story of survival as a young girl during the Second World War and the Nazi occupation in Europe.

Gelbard was just five years old in 1938 when her home in Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany. Her family (consisting of her mother, father, older sister, and younger brother) was forced to flee to Belgium, where she says her family was seen differently, “In Brussels we were bullied for being immigrants, and because we didn’t speak the language.” Her family spoke Austrian-German, and most people in Belgium spoke either French or German at the time.  

But, just as the family was getting used to their life in Belgium, Hitler invaded in May of 1940. “We had to flee to a tiny village in the south of France, and we (the children) were separated from our parents,” explains Gelbard.

Hiding in Plain Sight

Gelbard’s mother sent Edith and her brother to a home in Moissac, France where a couple named Shatta and Bouli Simon took them in. The House of Moissac (as it’s now referred to) housed approximately 100 children at the time Gelbard and her brother lived there, and approximately 500 children from 1939 to 1945. Gelbard says that everyone in the town knew the children in the House of Moissac were Jewish, and that it was a well-kept secret to protect the innocent children.

“Everybody that hid us risked their lives to protect us. The town made us fake birth certificates with new names and places of birth… a whole new identity,” Gelbard recalls.

After the war Gelbard was reunited with her family, but unfortunately her father died shortly after liberation, before having the chance to return to his wife and children.

On May 1st, 1955 Edith moved to Canada with her husband and newborn baby to start a new life.

Gelbard answered student questions after her presentation saying, “Be good to each other. It’s up to you to defend others. Do not be a bystander.” She also took the time to sign copies of Hiding Edith for students.

Zaara, a Grade 8 student, was moved by Gelbard’s story, “It’s really powerful. The things she went through at such a young age…no child should have to go through that.”

Grade 8 student Jackson adds, “Some people forget that this happened not that long ago. Us young people need to hear these real and personal stories so that we can learn from history.”