Born: 1937, Vienna, Austria
Describes her experience, as a Jewish child, in a Catholic convent [Interview: 1989]
Renee's father left for the United States in 1939. Before Renee and her mother could join him, they had to flee to Belgium to escape the repression of Jews in Austria. The Germans occupied Belgium in 1940. Renee was hidden in a convent for two years, until the Germans became suspicious. The underground took Renee to a Protestant family's farm, and then to an orphanage. After the war she was reunited with her mother, who had survived Auschwitz. Five years later they joined her father in the United States.
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