Andrée Geulen-Herscovici was a teacher in Brussels.


 One summer day in 1942, some of her students came to school wearing yellow stars on their clothes. This star was forced on Jewish people to shame them. Seeing her students marked like this made Andrée very angry. She told all her students—both Jewish and not—to wear aprons to cover the yellow stars.

This experience showed Andrée how serious the danger was for Jewish people, and she decided she had to help. While still teaching, she became an important member of a secret group called the Jewish Defense Committee. Jews and non-Jews worked together in this group to hide Jewish children and save them from being taken away and killed.

Andrée had a hard job: she had to convince parents to let their children go so they could be hidden safely. Then, she would take the children to the families hiding them, which was very dangerous. She kept teaching at the Gaty de Gamont School, where twelve Jewish children were being protected.

In May 1943, the Germans raided the school late at night. They woke the students and checked their papers. The Jewish children were arrested, and the teachers were questioned. When a German soldier asked Andrée if she was not ashamed to teach Jewish children, she bravely answered, “Aren’t you ashamed to make war on Jewish children?”

Andrée Geulen-Herscovici saved almost 1,000 Jewish children during the Holocaust

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