Dan’s mother, Bertha Schwarz (Nee Teitelbaum) was born in Antwerp, Belgium, on January 10th, 1933. She was the eldest of her parents Asher and Dora’s three daughters and lived with her grandparents.
Bertha grew up in a Hasidic household and recalled going to synagogue with her father who was the Cantor. She recalled her mother commenting on the radio about news about what was happening to the Jews in Germany.
When the Nazis invaded Belgium in May of 1940, Bertha and her family fled Antwerp by train. After several days of the train being bombed by German warplanes, Bertha and her family arrived in the small village of Villemur in Southern France.
They were met by the Red Cross, which provided them with an apartment. Bertha and her family remained hidden until September 1940. The family was arrested by the French police and taken to the Brens Internment Camp in Southern France.
Upon their arrival, Bertha’s Grandparents were sent to a different camp, Saint Sulpice, and eventually to Auschwitz in 1942.
