PHOENIX – A Holocaust survivor is making plans almost 70 years later to visit the family who saved her during World War II.
Charlotte Adelman was born in Paris, France and raised Jewish. At just 12 years old, she was to be separated from her mother and father, and left with a family in Eastern France.
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Her mother would later be captured and transported to a concentration camp, while her father joined the Jewish resistance.
“I was scared but I said I have to exist to be able to see my parents back,” Adelman said
The family hid her in a cellar for nine months with a mattress and no windows. One day, Adelman convinced the family to let her move upstairs.
“And that night the Germans and police comes in,” Adelman said.
Adelman said that during the time the German’s searched the house, the family stuck a bar of soap inside their 4-year-old son’s mouth to keep him from calling her name.
After the war, Adelman reunited with her father and migrated to the United States, where they settled in Phoenix, Arizona.
It wasn’t until 2016 when she received a message on Facebook from that same “little boy” who helped save her life.
“It was really special,” Adelman said.
That little boy who is now a man is named Alain. He and Adelman have since become pen pals, regularly writing each other letters.
“I couldn't believe that he remembered. He said that bar of soap traumatized him,” Adelman said.
After writing for over a year, Adelman is now planning a trip to France to reunite with Alain and his family.
“I’m going to hug him…I’m so grateful to that family. That family saved my life,” Adelman said.
KNXV reports there is a GoFundMe page to help Adelman raise money for her trip.