Bernard and Henry Schanzer, WWII

Bernard and Henry Schanzer, twin sons of Bruno and Bella Schanzer, were born in 1935 in Liege, Belgium. When the Germans invaded Belgium in May of 1940 the Schanzer family fled to St. Etienne France. In August of 1942, Bruno was arrested by the French police and was deported to Auschwitz, where he was killed (date unknown). Bella managed to elude arrest and survived with the help of a Frenchwoman (Mme. Bonhomme) who obtained false papers for Bella and who also personally undertook the care of the twins’ older sister Anna. Henry and Bernard were separated from their mother in 1942 and hidden in various places. Mme. Bonhomme located Bernard and Henry in the spring of 1943 and placed them with her mother (Mme. Dorel) on a farm in St. Pal De Mons in Central France. They lived there from 1943 until the end of the war in 1945.

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