us-005578-irn516253
type: RecordSet
archival history: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
biographical history: Alice Berney (born Alice Menkes) was the daughter of Leopold Menkes and Rebeka Adler Menkes. She was born on June 7, 1929 in Vienna, Austria where her father was an attorney. She had one older brother, Herbert, born in 1925. Alice first became aware of the changing European political situation in late 1937 when cousins of her mother fled Germany and temporarily stayed with them in in Vienna until they found a permanent refuge. Half a year later, Alice's family found themselves in the same situation following the German annexation of Austria on March 11, 1938. Almost immediately two plainclothes policemen arrested Alice's father Leopold despite the fact that he was a partially disabled veteran. A few minutes later, other men came to their apartment and told Rebeka that she and the children had to vacate the premises and move in with another Jewish tenant. She appealed to the building's Nazi concierge who told her to ignore the order, and they remained in their home. Four days later Leopold was released from custody, but as a Jew he was prohibited from practicing law. About a month later Alice and other Jewish classmates were expelled from school. Alice's parents immediately began searching for ways to leave Austria. When they could not obtain visas for the entire family, they decided to send Herbert and Alice on a Kindertransport to France in the hope that they would be able to illegally cross into France, rendezvous with the children and immigrate to the United States as a family. On March 23, 1939 Alice and Herbert left Austria confident that they would see their parents soon. They were sent to La Guette, a mansion owned by the Rothschilds near Paris, which was being used as a children's home. At the beginning of the school year Herbert and some other boys were sent to a boarding school in Clamart, and Alice only saw him once during the next year and a half. After the German invasion of France in May 1940, the children of La Guette were evacuated to La Bourboule, a…
date: circa 1938-1944
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: fra
has or had subject: 701
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn516253
record resource extent: folder 1
record resource structure: The collection is arranged as a single series.
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: The papers consist of eight photographs from the children's home belonging to the Rothschild estates,"Chateau de La Guette" in France, one photograph depicting a group of girls at the École Hôtelière de Clermont Ferrand in France, and two medical certificates issued by the Comité Israélite pour les Enfants for siblings Alice and Herbert Menkes.
title: Alice M. Berney papers