大象传媒

1940 German Invasion of Paris

My Grandparents Henri and Marie-Therese Serennes lived in Paris and were members of the French Resistance. When the Germans invaded and took over Paris, life changed drastically for them. There were tight curfews and if you ventured from your front door you had to have a good reason and make sure you had your personal identification papers with you.

My Grandparents were very friendly with Docteur Freid and his young family. His wife was French and with their baby daughter went to live with her family in the country whilst the worst of the war was to carry on. Docteur Freid was a Jew and my Grandparents agreed to hide him in their appartment. They made a false wall and during each day he lived with my Grandparents and my mother Marie-Madeleine, who was just six years old. She had to learn to knock the front door in a special code-like way so the Docteur Freid would not have to hide when she came back from school. Anyone not knocking the door in this manner would be a stranger and no risks could be taken, if the Doctor was found he and my Grandparents would be executed. They lived like this until the end of the war, and although they got close to being caught, they never found the Doctor. Once, they were burning French Resistance propoganda papers in their chimney and large unburnt bits of paper were found floating in the air outside by the Germans and my Grandmother was imprisoned in a Paris jail so they could keep an eye on my Grandfather. She was released after six weeks.

At the end of the war the Israeli Government recognised my Grandparents war efforts after Docteur Freid recommended them for bravery and they have a beautiful certificate half written in Hebrew and half in French commemorating their efforts. They were awarded a medal presented in an olive-wood box and they have had an olive tree planted in the famous 'Avenue of the Righteous'. My heroic Grandfather died at the age of 72 in 1984 but my Grandmother still lives at the grand age of 96 and still remembers a lot about the war years. She lives in a Nursing Home in the village in Brittany where she grew up.

My Grandfather continued to carry the French Resistance flag at each Bastille Day Commemmoration in Paris, on 14th July until he died, and at his funeral was given full French Resistance military honours and has a plaque on his grave 'French Resistance - To Our Comrade'.

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