Interview with Henri Parens,

Interview Summary

Henri Parens discusses his early years in Brussels, Belgium leading up to 1940, when Germany invaded Belgium and Parens fled to the vicinity of Toulouse, France with his mother. He recounts their relocation to an internment camp in Rivesaltes, France, where living conditions were continually becoming worse for the refugees confined there. In spring of 1941, he says that he obeyed his mother's wish for him to escape and ended up in a home for Jewish children in southern France operated by French social workers. In 1942, Parens explains, he was taken to the United States, where he, along with a friend, were adopted by a family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, finished school, and completed college. He discusses the impact of his wartime experiences on his interpersonal relationships and on his attitude toward religion. After college, he explains, he was drafted into the military and was shipped to Europe, where he found out more about the circumstances surrounding his mother's death in Auschwitz.

Interview Keyword

Brussels (Belgium) Child psychology Family life Holocaust survivors. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Psychologists Rivesaltes (Concentration camp) Toulouse (France) World War Two World War, 1939-1945--Jews.

Interview LC Subject

World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps

Interview Rights

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Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.