Kestenberg Archive

DB was born in Paris, France in 1934. DB has two siblings, a sister and a brother who was born bowlegged. Their father was worked in the textile business in the flea market. As the tension rose and the danger increased in 1944, DB and her sister were sent to a village to seek refuge. A Catholic family in Seches looked after DB and her sister. They were baptized, converted and attended a Catholic school. At the same time, their father was taken away and shot by the Nazis, in Mont Valerien. Her crippled younger brother remained with their mother. DB was ten years old at the time. In 1944, her mother was taken to Majdanek camp and died there. Her younger brother was thrown out of the transport bus and survived. After the war, DB and her sister were taken to Paris and lived with their uncle after which they were sent to boarding school. The girls were later sent to a Jewish orphanage in Andresy castle, where they, along with other Jewish orphans, attended a village school. Her maternal uncles later placed them in a French boarding school. In 1949, when DB was 14, DB and sister were brought to America by another surviving uncle. However, they felt that this uncle did not want them there. After attending high school for a short time, they had drop out of school and begin working. DB married twice- her first husband was a French Protestant man and her second husband was a Jewish man from northern Africa. DB was extremely close to her mother. DB's brother who is institutionalized in France and is emotionally unstable. DK has two children, one from each marriage.