Lili Keller-Rosenberg was 92 years old on September 15, 2024. Surviving concentration campsshe could very well have never been blowing so many candles. So to celebrate this, the northerner from Roubaix decided to browse France, even Europe, to tell her story, which is part of history. Thursday, January 30, Lili was on the stage of the Elispace de Beauvais (Oise), in front Almost 1,800 children Coming from five high schools, six colleges (including those in Aneuil and Crèvecœur-le-Grand) and eleven schools. The next day, she showed up again in the Galileo area, in front of a top hall. In order not to lose a crumb of this testimony of the precious past, Oise weekly Offers a small catch -up session to those who have not had the chance to listen to it.
Barely back Auschwitzwhere were commemorated The 80th anniversary of the Liberation From the concentration camp, Lili Keller-Rosenberg therefore resumed his pilgrim’s stick and plunged back in his past, so that no one forgets. “”It’s my missionShe smiles.
Deported to 11
Born at Roubaix (North) On September 15, 1932, Lili Keller-Rosenberg came from a Jewish family. It is the eldest of a siblings of three children. “”I was 11 years old at the timerewind the nonagenarian. Robert was 9 and a half years old, and the very small André 3 and a half years. We were afraid when we saw the Nazis helmeted and kicked, rifle in the shoulder. But our parents were by our side, we didn’t realize. We lived near the Saint-Antoine parish. One day, the priest came to see our parents and told them to hide the children. I was hidden from the priest’s brother and sister-in-law, welcomed as one of their own. Robert was with the parents of the parish priest, André with his sister and his brother-in-law. We were very good there. But we no longer see our parents. “
So one day, Lili’s parents, Robert and André, thinking that there was no risk, ask their children to go home. Until October 27, 1943, day of arrest. “”Have we been denounced? It is very likely. Families took risks to hide Jews, others denounced them. In any case, it is a date that will remain engraved in my memory. It was mom’s birthday. The day before, we had prepared our presents and made beautiful drawings. But at 3 am, the gendarmerie came, we were woken up with a start. The soldiers followed us everywhere. They were constantly shouting “Schnell” (Quick, editor’s note). We had to pick up everything we had most precious. André had a toy he liked, a wooden duck on a roulette. He picked it up, caught under his arm, and we left.»»
Direction Belgium, then Germany
Climbed into a truck, the family takes the Loos prison management. “”We wondered why we were sent to prison. What did we do? We were so wise, so obedient …»Shortly after, the family is sent to Saint-Gilles prison, in Brussels (Belgium). Then in a large gathering camp, Mischievous. “”Each evening, you had to lie on beetles well in view of the SS. We received whips to go was washing in the cold. But all that was not compared to what followed.»»
One day, the prisoners were gathered on the Place du Camp. “”We knew we were going to leave, and we had vaguely heard of deportation. But we didn’t know what it meant. In a huge room were separated women and young children on the one hand, men and older children on the other. We had to get nakedwhile we were so modest. And in front of an SS, you had to spread your legs, lean forward so that it enlightens us, to see if no precious object was hidden. They won everything.»»
From Lili to n ° 25612
Then direction the station, where the Jewish prisoners are piled up in “”cattle wagons»»where he was registered “Capacity 8 horsepower”. They were more than a hundred. THE Four to five days of travel without eating or drinkinghaving to do their needs in front of everyone, are hell. Before arriving.
“”We went down to the darknessbreathes Lili. Many blocks were aligned. The SS appeared with their threatening dogs. After a quick shower, we were shaved. We were unrecognizable. Gray and blue convicts have been distributed to us, as well as our number number. I was the 25612. You had to know him by heart in French and German, because if we did not answer, we received lashes. From there, we were no longer anyone, we had no names, we had no more civil status. We learn that we are at Ravensbrückin a large concentration camp for women.»»
Locked in a forty block for forty days, Lili, his brothers and mother are walked from block, before landing in block 31. “They were all similarshe recalls. They were large rectangular wooden buildings. In each room, there were three -story wooden berths. At the beginning, there were two of us in beds before being much tighter. In our block, there was Martha Desrumauxa large resistant, as well as Jeanne Tetard, but also Geneviève de Gaullethe niece of the general, and the viscountess Jacqueline d’Alincourt. Nobles or workers, rich or poor, we all suffer the same fate. “
New deaths every night
Every morning, The siren resounded at 3:30 am. The jostles began to go to the “showers”. “”Mom woke us thirty minutes earlier so that we can washrecalls Lili, still moved. I would never forget this lesson in dignity.“Then came breakfast,”A infamous juice sometimes hot, and a very hard German black bread quignon». Before the daily call. “”It was so painful. We were standing, five by five, without moving. The SS counted us. During the night, some had fallen ill and did not have the strength to come, others had already died. The figure was never the same as the day before. “
Women too badly came out of the ranks and disappeared. The others were going to work. Their tasks were painful: reducing the roads, digging pits, emptying the eases … “”Mom was requisitioned for worksays Lili. She was small, she suffered physically but above all morally. Each evening, She was afraid of not finding her three little children. We were too weak to work, and we were unnecessary mouths … The days did not end. We only breathed in the evening, on the return of mom. Our only distractions were to kill our licebecause they could give serious illnesses. We were hungry, and we suffered a lot from the cold. And we were afraid, we lived like shadows. The SS were always walking with their cursed dogs. Even today, I’m still afraid of dogs …»»
From Ravensbrück to Bergen-Belsen
In early February 1945. Some blocks were gathered on the Place du Camp. A new trip is planned. A new trip of three-four days piled up in cattle wagons, without eating, without drinking. “”When the train stopped, trucks were waiting for us. But before, some were requisitioned to empty the wagons. Mom was part of it. She had to Pick up the corpses of newborns And put them in boxes …»»
The deportees arrive at the Bergen-Belsen camp, the “slow death camp”. “”It was even more sinister. We had to cross the corpses on the ground. We were lying on the ground. Dead and alive were mixed, in a stench. An epidemic of typhus raged. The corpses were put in carts, they were sprayed with petrol and burned.The family began to lose courage, especially since the mother was not at best. “”Mom was strange, she was lying on the ground and no longer answered. We wanted to die …»»
April 15, 1945, day of deliverance. British soldiers release the camp. “”I see the dread in the eyes of the soldiers when I saw us, they did not dare approaching us.Later, a food distribution was organized. “”With the habit of not eating, we no longer had so hungry. Fortunately, we did not throw ourselves on food. Some have swallowed everything suddenly, they died shortly after.»»
“One day the door opens, it was mom”
Then came the time to return. “”André was swollen, he didn’t know how to walk. We had to abandon our food to wear itwith Robert. One holding it by the feet, the other by the arms.»Arrived at the station, the siblings go up in the cattle wagons, without their mother. A long trip to Brussels, where a crowd was waiting for the deportees. Lili, Robert and André, they will go to Paris. But no one will come to pick them up. “”We were happy to have returned, but sad to be alone. We were without news of dad.»»
After being welcomed by the brother of a social worker, the three children leave in the southwest with an aunt. Being in bad shape, the Red Cross places them in a preventorium in Hendaye. “”One day, the room door opens, it was momsmiles Lili. She was thin, less than 27 kg, but she was there. Life resumed its meaning.»»
Returned to the north, The family discovers their entirely pillaged house. Up to the tapestry. Fortunately, solidarity has been set up, and each neighbor brought their stone to the building so that the Keller-Rosenberg rebuild. Without their father, deported to Buchenwald, machine -gunned a few days before the release of the camp.
“With the appearance of negationists, my blood has only one tour”
Today, Lili takes her duty as a core witness. “”At first, we couldn’t talk about itshe says. We were traumatized by these years of suffering. And when we talked about it, People did not believe us. But with the appearance of negationists, my blood only went on. You had to meet young people to explain these horrors. The first testimonies were not easy, it was not easy to remember the past. But I couldn’t stay without saying anything.»»
Completing her remarks with a few songs in Dutch, Czech or German that she retained from this tragic era, Lili Keller-Rosenberg thanked her young audience, silent for almost two hours, drinking her words. Before resuming his pilgrim’s stick and telling his story to other informed ears.
