Mona Ginsberg, left, who was hidden by nuns from Nazis in Belgium, related her story to Dr. Suzanne Vromen, who wrote a book about such rescues.
Photos by Elaine Durbach
Former hidden child Hanna Keselman came with her husband, Jose, also a survivor, to hear Vromen’s talk about the rescue of Jewish children during the Holocaust.
March 26, 2009
For Dr. Suzanne Vromen, one of the greatest pleasures of publicizing her new book about Belgium’s hidden children has been meeting people who know just what she is writing and talking about. About 160 people came to the YM-YWHA of Union County on March 22 to hear her speak; among them were two such people.
One was Hanna Keselman of Springfield, who was hidden by people in France, and later in Italy. As Vromen wrote in her book, Hidden Children of the Holocaust: Belgian Nuns and their Daring Rescue of Young Jews from the Nazis, Keselman said she adapted to whatever the adults around her required of her.
Mona Ginsberg of Tom’s River — or Manya Rapaport as she was at the time — was living in Belgium like Vromen and her family (see Related Article). She told Vromen she remembers her parents giving her and her little brother into the care of nuns to hide her from the Nazis who had taken over control of the country. She was later transferred to the care of a Catholic family, as was her brother.
Vromen listened intently as the softspoken, gray-haired woman, with her son and daughter-in-law at her side, related what happened to her. She was eight years old and didn’t see her mother again for three years. But being thrust into the unfamiliar Catholic environment wasn’t as traumatic as one might have expected. “I was with all these other children, and I did what they were doing,” she said.
The aftermath was as varied as the wartime experience. As Vromen told the audience at the Y and in talks the following day at Kean University, some put the war experience behind them, locking out the memory; others have spoken willingly and fondly about their rescuers.
Ginsberg said her younger brother formed a bond with the people who hid him that he renewed as an adult. But for Ginsberg it was different. “For me it was too difficult to get in touch with the family who hid me, because I felt very guilty about leaving them,” she explained. As Vromen related, the childhood feelings imprinted at the time remain unchanged by the adult perspective, even after all the years that have passed.
Vromen’s talk was sponsored the National Council of Jewish Women Union County Section, with cosponsorship from the Y, the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey, the JCC of Central New Jersey, and Kean University’s Human Rights Institute.
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