Early Years
Serge Klarsfeld was born in Bucharest to a family of Romanian Jews. They migrated to France before World War II began. In 1943, his father was arrested by the SS in Nice during a roundup ordered by Alois Brunner. Deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, Klarsfeld's father died there. Young Serge was cared for in a home for Jewish children operated by the OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants) organization; his mother and sister also survived the war in Vichy France, helped by the underground French Resistance beginning in late 1943.
Beate was born Beate Künzel, the daughter of a Christian German family; her father served as a regular Wehrmacht soldier. In 1960, she went to Paris to work as an au pair, where she began to learn more about the Holocaust. Later she worked for the Deutsch-Französisches Jugendwerk (Franco-German Alliance for Youth).
Read more about this topic: Serge And Beate Klarsfeld
Famous quotes related to early years:
“Even today . . . experts, usually male, tell women how to be mothers and warn them that they should not have children if they have any intention of leaving their side in their early years. . . . Children don’t need parents’ full-time attendance or attention at any stage of their development. Many people will help take care of their needs, depending on who their parents are and how they chose to fulfill their roles.”
—Stella Chess (20th century)