Anne-Gilberte Stemmer Hercberg collection

Anne-Gilberte was born on July 30, 1938 in Metz, France to Malka Tannebaum (b. May 5,1911, Przeworsk, Poland) and Charles Salomon Stemmer (b. April 19, 1910, Worms, Germany). Anne-Gilberte has one sister Claudine Stemmer Braunstzyn (b. September 15, 1946, Lyon, France). Charles Salomon and Malka were introduced by a matchmaker and married in Metz in 1935. Charles was a jeweler and diamond dealer. The family was religious and didn’t travel on Shabbat but they were very modern. In the end of August 1939 the family left Metz for Montceau les Mines where they remained until November 1939. From November to December 1940 they were in Bordeaux and then in the area of Camp de la Lande in Monts (near Tours) from December 1940 until May 1942 where they were allowed to live outside, but had to register in the camp on a daily basis. In October 1941 it became an internment camp. The spiritual leader of the camp was Rabbi Moise Kalhenberg from Metz. Afterwards the family managed to escape and passed the Maginot line towards Lyon and then Nimes. At that time Anne-Gilberte’s parents contacted Pasteur Saint Martin in Lasalle, a small village in Cevennes, above Ales. Pasteur Saint Martin was part of a resistance network created by Pasteur Boegner. Anne-Gilberte was sent in June 1941 by the resistance to a Mr. and Mrs. Jules Hebrard that lived on an isolated farm in the mountains above Lasalle. They didn’t have any children of their own and she was adopted by them as though she was their biological daughter. She called Jules uncle. Anne-Gilberte was totally integrated in their family life and went to school, church, and studied the catechism. Her parents had false papers using the names of Charles and Marguerite Quinard and hid in the area of Nimes and Bordeaux. Her parents sent funds to defray the cost of Anne-Gilberte’s keep and occasionally they were able to visit her. Anne-Gilberte remained with the Hebrards until May 1944 when her father came to pick her up and succeeded in persuading her to leave with him with chocolate bar. They crossed illegally into Switzerland with the help of a smuggler who left them in the middle. However, they managed to get to Annemasse and crossed the border successfully. Anne-Gilberte was sent to a Jewish family in Thun and her parents were sent to a refugee camp in Beatonberg in Switzerland. After the war, they returned to Metz and then the family moved to Lyon. Anne-Gilberte remained in contact with the Hebrards all their life. They adopted legally several other children after the war that they brought up. Anne-Gilberte married Henri Hercberg, but they divorced. She later married to David Perlmutter, a child survivor of Buchenwald, and was known as one of the Buchenwald boys. She lives in Paris and spends part of the year in Israel. In 1995 she applied to have Odette and Jules Hebrard recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous of All Nations which they were granted.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Anne-Gilberte Stemmer Hercberg

Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Anne-Gilberte Stemmer Hercberg donated the collection to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2017.