The ceremony was initiated at the Hall of Remembrance with the attendance of the granchildren of the saving couple, Daniel and Patricia Materne, who especially flew to Israel from Belgium for the occasion and lit the symbolic eternal flame.  Also attended Dr. Zalman Shiffer, who as a child was saved by the Materne’s, and the Ambassadors of Belgium and Spain.

The ceremony continued at the Garden of the Righteous, where Patricia and Daniel received the medal and diploma for the feats of their grandparents, who saved the life of the little Zalman (then called Zenon Fajertag), who was previously unknown to them.

During the dark days of WWII, Louise and Joseph Materne gave shelter to the little Zenon (nowadays known as Dr. Zalman Shiffer). Zenon’s mother, Chaya Sarah,  in her state of anguish, gave her little child to the couple, who were unknown to her, with the aim of saving his life from the Nazis. The Materne’s did not have children of their own, but earlier on they had given shelter to Juanito, a Spanish orphan boy who escaped from the horrors of the Spanish civil war.

Both Zenon and Juanito lived like brothers, sharing the love of the Materne’s warm home, till the very end of the war. Joseph was active with the Belgian Resistance and together with his wife, they did not hesitate to offer shelter to a Jewish child, even knowing the dire consequences they would face if caught.

In the wake of the war, Zenon was reclaimed by his mother and they both continued their relationship with his rescuers. Back in 1949, Zenon and his mother emigrated to Israael and ever since, the contact with the Materne’s was lost.

Zalman has tried for many years to regain contact with his saviors and with Juanito.  Eventually, only after a thorough and worldwide research made by the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, Zalman manages (70 years after the end of the war) to locate the descendants of the saving couple. Both Louise and Joseph, as well as their adopted son, Juanito, had already passed away, but as far as Zalman was concerned, his reunion with the daughter and son of his “brother” was of great significance.

Patricia and Daniele Materne received the medal and diploma of the Righteous on behalf of their late grandparents and they unveiled the names of the former, which were especially engraved on the Wall of Honor.

By mid 1942, the Nazis intensified their persecution of the Jewish population in Belgium, beginning an era of massive deportations.

Zenon’s mother began looking for a safe place to hide her little son. This proved extremely difficult, as the Nazis applied harsh consequences against any gentiles who were caught hiding Jews. Eventually, she managed to find a family that was willing to take the risk of hiding Zenon. While this family originally agreed to do so without accepting any form of compensation, she managed to persuade the couple to accept one egg per day, to feed little Zenon.

The courageous couple who took-up Zenon were Louise and Jospeh Materne. Joseph was working at the Belgian railways, and the family was living in a modest quarter of Brussels. They had no children of their own, but since they were fervent anti-Fascists, they had also given shelter to a Spanish boy named Juanito, whose parents were victims of the Spanish Civil War.

The Maternes put only one precondition to accepting Zenon: they had to get the consent of Juanito, who at that time was roughly 7 years old. Juanito approved, and by so doing, he saved Zenon’s life.

Zenon lived quite peacefully with the Materne’s and Juanito until the liberation of Belgium in 1944. Zenon’s mother, went into hiding in a nearby location.

In 1949, Zenon and his mother emigrated to Israel, where Zenon changed his name to Zalman Shiffer. Eventually, Zenon (now known as Zalman,) became a prominent economist and is known today as Dr. Zalman Shiffer.

During their first few years in Israel, Zalman and his mother corresponded with the Maternes. Eventually, however, the two families lost contact. When Zenon returned to Brussels in 1965, he was unable to trace neither the Maternes nor Juanito – who had been like a brother to Zalman.

All of his attempts to reestablish contact with his rescuers and Juanito, were fruitless.

In October 2009, Dr. Zalman Shiffer was interviewed by the famous journalist and TV reporter Henrique Cymerman, of La Vanguardia and Antenna 3. In this interview, Zalman made a public appeal to trace his beloved Juanito.

The IRWF was informed about this case and immediately mobilized volunteers in several countries, in search for Juanito.

Eventually, this worldwide campaign succeeded. Unfortunately, Juan Manrubia Sanchez (Juanito) had passed away in 2003. He was adopted by Louise and Joseph Materne, and became Juan Materne. Materne remained in Belgium, and married there. His three surviving children, Daniel, Patricia and Jean-Claude are back in touch with their ”uncle” Zenon.

This important mission was accomplished, but for the IRWF, the work is far from over.

Our team of researchers and volunteers are now collecting evidence to build-up a file that will be conveyed to Yad Vashem, with the recommendation to posthumously declare Louise and Joseph Materne, Righteous among the Nations.

Concurrently, the IRWF is investigating the circumstances of the rescue of Dr. Shiffer’s mother, who passed away a few years ago at the age of 101. Based on preliminary reports, she too was helped by two brave families during WWII.

Louise, Joseph and Juanito are no longer with us, but thanks to the passionate work of the IRWF’s volunteers, their stories will reverberate forever, and their descendents will have the opportunity to share their memories with Zenon.

DR. SHIFFER’S ORIGINAL APPEAL OF OCTOBER 2009

HELP ME FIND JUAN

I am looking for a Spanish-born man by the name of Juan, with whom I was hidden as a child in Belgium during World War II.

I was born as Zenon Fajertag in Brussels, Belgium, in May 1940 during the Nazi occupation of that country. In 1941 my father died from a sickness and my mother was left alone with me.

By mid 1942, as the Nazi repercussions against the Jews in Belgium intensified and deportations started, my mother began looking for a place to hide me, so that I may hopefully be able to survive. This was very difficult, since the hiding of Jews was punishable by death penalty. Finally, she found a family that was willing to take the risk of hiding me.

The courageous people who took care of me were Joseph and Louise Materne. Joseph was working in the Belgian railways and the family was living in the Forest quarter (Commune) of Brussels. As far as I know they had no children of their own.

As highly motivated anti-Fascists, they were not only active in the Resistance, but they had also given shelter to a Spanish boy- a refugee from the Spanish civil war.

This Spanish boy was called Juanito, a diminutive name for Juan. He was probably about six to seven years old in 1942, implying that he was born around 1935-6. His parents had fought for the Republicans during the Spanish war and his father was put in jail by the Franco regime. Since the Spanish war has ended by 1939 and some 200,000 Republican refugees fled over the French border in the last stages of that war, I assume that this was about the time that little Juan had been taken by the Belgian Materne family.

I stayed at the Maternes with Juanito, who was like a brother to me, from 1942 to 1944. As far as I have been able to find out their address was 132 rue de Paepsem (or Paapsemlaan; it could also be Paepsen). I remember that it was in the Commune of Forest, but have found in some map that it is in Anderlecht.

At the beginning of 1944 we all moved to a small village called Folx-les-Caves to avoid the heavy Allies bombing of Brussels; my mother, who had been hiding elsewhere in Brussels also joined us there. It was in this village that we were liberated by the British Army sometime between August and October 1944.

As WWII ended I returned with my mother to Brussels. We used to meet the Maternes and Juanito, who continued to live with them, quite often; we also spent some vacation with them at the beach.

In 1949 my mother and I immigrated to Israel where I changed my name from Zenon Fajertag to Zalman Shiffer. We corresponded with the Maternes for a while, but the correspondence faded away gradually. When I came back for a first visit to Belgium in 1965, my Belgian relatives told me that they had lost contact with the Maternes and thatb they may have passed away (I recently found out that this was wrong and that the Maternes have moved out of Brussels in 1955 and lived in their small family village until the late 1970s). My relatives may also have told me that Juan had moved back to his family in Spain, but I am not sure about it.

Many years have passed since then. I have often remembered with love the Maternes and Juan, but somehow assumed that there was no way to locate him since I had no idea where he could be and did not even know what his family name was.

With the worldwide improved access to information, I feel now that I may have a better chance of finding Juan. It is very important to me to learn what happened to him during all those years and to meet him again. I believe that the time he spent with me at the Maternes was very meaningful to him also and hope that he will want to meet me again.

I am enclosing a few pictures which may be of some help. The first two pictures show me and Juanito, one at the beach after the war, and one in front of the Materne house during the war. The third picture shows the two of us again with Louise Materne and the fourth one is a photograph of Joseph Materne and me. Finally, the fifth picture was also taken in front of the Materne house: my mother is on the left, the Maternes on the right and my aunt and uncle with me at the middle.

I would appreciate very much any help that you can extend to me to find Juan.

Dr. Zalman ShifferÇ
(formerly Zenon Fajertag)

DR. SHIFFER’S INTERVIEW ON ANTENA 3

”Chadashot Hashabat” – conducted by Oshrat Kotler, News in depth program, Channel 10 (Israel) – July 17th., 2010

”Al Haboker” – morning news program, Channel 10 (Israel), July 18th., 2010.

Yvonne lovingly took care of those children and even assumed the risk of accompanying Ruth Eisenfeld to a fostering home in Tournay. Thanks to Mme Verly, Ruth, as well as many other children, saved their lives.

After the war, Yvonne married Georges Verly, a high-ranking officer in the Belgian Army, himself a Resistance Worker who spent years in Nazi concentrations camps. George died young. Yvonne has one married son and two grandsons, all living in Brussels.

After the war, Maurice Pochet even helped Munisch to stand on his own
feet by giving him the commission to sell Mr. Pochet’s stamp collection.
Nicole, Mr. Schneider’s daughter, is in touch with family Pochet’s 3
children.

The Adnet’s only daughter, Josianne, who was just one year older than Nicole (Munisch Schneider’s daughter) became a very good friend towards the end of the war. Nicole David, stayed with the family for some time after the liberation and then immediately after the war ended,started her schooling in the village. Both Nicole and her father remained in touch with Jules, Marie and Josianne. They have unfortunately all died but Nicole is still in touch with Josianne’s 40 year old son Alain.

Five of them were still at home when they gave shelter to Nicole Schneider (nowadays, Nicole David), a small Jewish child, aged 6 at the time. Nicole was taken, by members of the Belgian Resistance, to the Champagne family on 7 October 1942, the day her mother was arrested by the Germans.

Nicole’s mother, Chawa Matzner, had, a few months earlier befriended one of the family Champagne’s older sons, Carlos, and asked him if he could suggest a family who would be prepared to take the child, as danger of deportation
of Jews was ever present.

The Champagne family always treated Nicole as one of their own children, and took care of all her needs without asking nor expecting any financial compensation, despite the enormous risk they took upon themselves.

While leading a double life, posing to the outer world as a Catholic young child and going to church daily with the family, the Champagnes never tried to talk her into converting. On the contrary, they were always reminding Nicole not to ”forget her Jewish prayers”. To this day Nicole is in touch with the six surviving Champagne children, all in their seventies and eighties, and with some of the grand-children.