Holocaust survivor recounts experience to joint base community

Published April 24, 2013
By 2nd Lt. David J. Murphy
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Joint base community members attended the Candlelight Remembrance and Holocaust Remembrance Luncheon April 16, 2013, at Tommy B's Community Activities Center here.

The luncheon was one of the culminating events in Days of Remembrance celebration. The event featured guest speaker Charles Middleberg, who recounted his Holocaust experience growing up as a Jewish child in France during World War II.

Middleberg spoke about how his family's life in Paris changed after the Germans came to power.

"In every country the Germans conquered in Europe they immediately went after the Jews," said Middleberg. "I suppose this is something our glorious Mr. Hitler had decided to do, to get rid of all the Jews of Europe."

Middleberg's father, Robert, was sent to work in a prison camp after reporting to city hall.

"When he got in front of city hall, where he was supposed to be at that particular day and particular time, it turned out to be 9,000 Jewish men had been called at the same time," Middleberg recounted. "The men were bussed 120 miles south to a camp."

At the same time, the Germans instituted rules restricting Jews' movements, school admission and business ownership. The only time anyone in the Middleberg family was allowed to travel was when Middleberg's mother, Berte, received a postcard from their father, permitting her to visit him.

"Once a month she would get a postcard. That postcard allowed her to take the train to go see my dad and bring a change of clothes and some food," said Middleberg. "I remember the first time she went to see my dad she asked 'you're a watch maker, what kind of work do you do for the German military,' and my dad said 'we don't do any work, we just sit here, there is nothing for us to do. One day they'll take a few hundred guys out into a field, dig a ditch and then a few days later they'll take another few hundred guys, same field, and fill up the ditch.'"

The postcards stopped after a few months because Middleberg's father, along with all the camp's 9,000 men, was shipped off to unknown locations.

Middleberg's mother feared the Germans would soon raid buildings throughout Paris to get any remaining Jews. She shared this concern with their seven-story apartment building's janitor who gave the Middleberg family access to an attic hiding place. The janitor devised a system where he would bang his peg leg on the stairs to alert the family to hide when the Nazis were coming.

"It was the middle of the night, what time I don't remember, we heard the banging in the steps, we ran out of the apartment, my brother, my mother and I, came up here, opened up the trap door, climbed up the way they showed us to do and we just lay there," said Middleberg.

The family returned to their apartment, after the German's had left, to find all the other families gone. Middleberg's mother knew the Germans would be back and decided to get her sons out of Paris. She knew of a woman who could take her sons out of Paris to live with a family in the countryside.

"Immediately we objected, but there was no point arguing with my mom," recalled Middleberg. "We met with the lady, kissed my mom goodbye, because it was too dangerous for her to go to the train station, and we went."

A few weeks after relocating to the other family's house, Middleberg received word that his mother had been captured by the Nazis. He received this information from a woman who offered the Middleberg brothers a place to live with her family back in Paris. Middleberg, 12 at the time, decided he and his brother Victor would go back.

The Middleberg's new Paris caretaker realized she had put herself and her family at risk by bringing the two boys into her home. She decided to have the brothers converted to Catholicism to protect them and her own family.

"She went to the local church to talk to the priest," said Middleberg, "she told the priest about how she suddenly found herself with two little boys and wasn't quite sure if they were catholic. She said she didn't know who they were. The priest understood what she was driving at and told her to bring the boys to him."

The priest baptized the Middleberg children and told them to behave like "good Catholic boys." Middleberg went to cataclysm, attended mass, took part in communion, acted as an altar boy and worked to be the "best, most observant little Catholic boy," in the parish.

The Middlebergs lived as Catholics with their new family until August 1942 when the American military liberated Paris. Middleberg hoped to see his family at this point but he slowly lost hope as the war dragged on and months went by. It wasn't until August 1945 that Middleberg was reunited with his father in Paris, but has never seen his mother again.

"The day we kissed my mother goodbye and went to the country was the last time we ever saw my mom," said Middleberg.

Middleberg discovered, through the extensive documentation kept by the Germans, that his mother was killed in a gas chamber.

The Middlebergs eventually immigrated to the United States. Middleberg emphasized his appreciation to the people who risked their lives to save him and his family's lives
"All these people are righteous people who stood up at a time when it was very, very difficult to do so," said Middleberg. "To those people I have eternal gratitude and I must talk about them, I must remind everybody that there are such people, that under the worst circumstances, stand up and say 'we can't allow this to happen, we have to do something about it.'"

The event stirred emotions within many of those in attendance.

"It was beautiful, very touching and moving," said Army Staff Sgt. Shanna Mueggenberg, Walson Medical Support Element equal opportunity leader. "It provided a different perspective on the Holocaust. It was nice to have so many different stories. I feel very strongly that we need to appreciate these stories while we still can."

Air Force Capt. Harper Vaughan, 87th Force Support Squadron sustainment services flight commander, said the event was incredible. She has family members who were lost during the Holocaust and said the event had a personal impact on her.

Middleberg speaks to numerous organizations throughout the southern New Jersey area as a member of the Goodwin Holocaust Museum and Education Center. Many of the speaking engagements are at schools because New Jersey's requirement to teach all students about the Holocaust.

A candlelight-remembrance ceremony hosted by Air Force Chaplain (Maj.) Raphael Berdugo, 87th Air Base Wing chaplain, preceded the event. Seven candles were lit during the ceremony, each recognizing a different group murdered by the Nazis during World War II.

"This is a time to reflect and realize that such a thing did happen, could happen and to make sure it doesn't happen again," said Berdugo. "If we don't stop to think about it and take the time to reflect it could happen under our very noses and we wouldn't react to it we wouldn't prevent it from happening."

Second Lt. Sarah Strickland, 87th Force Support Squadron food service officer and the Joint Base Special Observance Committee, organized the event.

"We wanted to remember the survivors and the ones lost during the Holocaust," said Strickland. "By having these events, we were able to bring in a survivor who was able to speak to everyone about the impact of the Holocaust."

The luncheon was one of multiple events during the Days of Remembrance here. Other events included a Holocaust display and story time at the Librar-e and Resource Commons and the Paperclip Campaign.

The U.S. Congress established the Days of Remembrance as a nation's commemoration of the Holocaust and created the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum as a permanent living memorial to its victims in 1982.

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Holocaust Remembrance Luncheon