Antoinette Feuerwerker
Antoinette Feuerwerker (24 November 1912 – 10 February 2003) was a French jurist and an active fighter in the French Resistance during the Second World War.
Antoinette Feuerwerker | |
|---|---|
| Born | 24 November 1912 |
| Died | 10 February 2003 (aged 90) |
| Nationality | France/Canada |
| Occupation | Jurist and economist |
| Spouse(s) | Rabbi David Feuerwerker |
| Children | Atara, Natania, Elie, Hillel, Emmanuel, Benjamine |
Early years
Antoinette (Antonia, Toni, Toibe Rochel) Gluck was born in Antwerp (Borgerhout), Belgium. She was the daughter of Pinchas Gluck-Friedman and Henia Shipper.
Her father was a direct descendant of Hasidic leaders going back to the Magid Dov Ber of Mezeritch. During World War I, the family moved from Poland to Belgium, and from there to Switzerland where her three siblings, Rose Warfman, Hedwig [Heidi], and Salomon Gluck were born, then to Germany, and finally to France, where they became citizens. Feuerwerker studied at the Lycée des Pontonniers (now Lycée international des Pontonniers) in Strasbourg.
After her Baccalauréat, she studied law, a rarity in those days for a woman. One of her professors, René Capitant, became Minister of Education (1944–1945) in the Provisional Government and Minister of Justice (Attorney General) (1968–69) under Charles de Gaulle. She worked in René Capitant's law firm. She graduated from business school (HEC).
With her family, she moved to Paris, where she met David Feuerwerker, a young rabbi. They married in November 1939, at the beginning of World War II. David, deployed at the Maginot Line, had to obtain a special permit to attend the wedding. In June 1940, Feuerwerker moved to Brive-la-Gaillarde where her husband was the rabbi of three French Departments : Corrèze, Creuse, and Lot. They joined the Resistance movement "Combat" (the main Movement of the Résistance) to fight the Nazis.[1][2]
Role in the Résistance
According to Combat, Feuerwerker actively participated in all the activities in the Résistance with her husband, Rabbi Feuerwerker, in particular recruiting liaison agents and distributing clandestine journals. Together with Germaine Ribière, who was later recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations, she organized the evacuation of young people hunted by the Nazis.
Escape from the Nazis
In the last months of World War II, she hid in a Catholic convent with her baby daughter, Atara, surviving on potatoes and water. She was later hidden by Germaine Goblot, daughter of French philosopher Edmond Goblot. Her sister, Rose Warfman, who was deported to Auschwitz, survived. Her brother, a 29-year young physician, Dr. Salomon Gluck, was deported from France on the convoy 73, led to Kaunas in Lithuania and Reval (Tallinn) in Estonia, never to return.
Role in the Exodus affair
In Neuilly, she was given a stash of gold coins for safekeeping which she hid under her husband's bed, without his knowledge. The money was used to finance the operation of the illegal immigration ship, The Exodus.
Post-WWII
After the war, they moved to Lyon, where David Feuerwerker served as chief rabbi[3] (1944–46). From 1946-48, he was the rabbi of Neuilly-sur-Seine, outside Paris. From 1948-66, they lived in Paris, in the Marais district, where her husband became the rabbi of the Rue des Tournelles synagogue. Feuerwerker collaborated with her husband in his research on the emancipation of the Jews of France. In 1966, they settled in Montreal, Quebec, where Feuerwerker taught law and economics at the Collège Français.
Personal life/death
Feuerwerker and her husband had six children: Atara, Natania, Elie, Hillel, Emmanuel, and Benjamine. Her husband died on 20 June 1980. She moved to Israel, where she spent the last three years of her life. She died on 10 February 2003, aged 90, and was buried in Sanhedria, Jerusalem, next to her husband.
Medals
As a Combattante Volontaire de la Résistance (Voluntary Combatant of the Resistance), she received the French Liberation Medal. Later the French government awarded her the Palmes Académiques and the Médaille de la Santé Publique, for her contributions to public education and public health.
References
- JoAnn DiGeorgio-Lutz; Donna Gosbee (25 April 2016). Women and Genocide: Gendered Experience of Violence, Survival, and Resistance. Canadian Scholars' Press. pp. 96–. ISBN 978-0-88961-582-3.
- Michel Klen (2010). Femmes de guerre: une histoire millénaire. Ellipses. ISBN 978-2-7298-5465-2.
- Georges Vadnai (1999). Jamais la lumière ne s'est éteinte: un destin juif dans les ténèbres du siècle. L'AGE D'HOMME. pp. 84–. ISBN 978-2-8251-1241-0.
- David Feuerwerker. L'Emancipation des Juifs en France. De l'Ancien Régime à la Fin du Second Empire. Albin Michel: Paris, 1976. ISBN 2-226-00316-9
- John F. Sweets. The Politics of Resistance in France, 1940-1944. Northern Illinois University Press: DeKalb, 1976. ISBN 0-87580-061-0
- Edmond Michelet. Rue de La Liberté. Dachau 1943-1945. Seuil: Paris, 1955, 1983. [Lettre-Préface de Charles de Gaulle; aussi avec Préface pour l'édition allemande de Konrad Adenauer]. ISBN 2-02-003025-X
- Elie Feuerwerker. Le Rabbin Dr. David Feuerwerker, ZT"L (2 Octobre 1912-20 Juin 1980/21 Tichri 5673-6 Tamouz 5740). Le Combat d'Une Vie. Revue d'Histoire de la Médecine Hébraïque, Paris, 1980. [Reprinted in Gad Freudenthal & Samuel S. Kottek, editors, Mélanges D'Histoire De La Médecine Hébraïque: Etudes Choisies De La Revue D'Histoire De La Médecine Hébraïque (1948-1980). Brill: Netherlands, 2003]. ISBN 978-90-04-12522-3
- Margaret L. Rossiter. Women In The Resistance. Praeger: New York, 1986. ISBN 0-03-005339-0
- André Kaspi. Les Juifs pendant l'Occupation. Seuil: Paris, 1991. ISBN 2-02-013509-4
- Susan Zuccotti. The Holocaust, The French, And The Jews. Basic Books: New York, 1993. ISBN 0-465-03034-3
- Margaret Collins Weitz. Sisters in the Resistance. How Women Fought to Free France, 1940-1945. John Wiley: New York, 1995. ISBN 0-471-12676-4
- Michèle Cointet. L'Eglise sous Vichy. 1940-1945. La repentance en question. Perrin: Paris, 1998. ISBN 2-262-01231-8
- Catherine Poujol. David Feuerwerker, Rabbin, Résistant, Enseignant, Historien. Archives Juives, Paris, 2002.
- Valery Bazarov. "In The Cross-Hairs: HIAS And The French Resistance." The Hidden Child. Vol. XXI, 2013, p. 8-11. [Published by Hidden Child Foundation/ADL, New York].