Open Book!
.avif)
Names Not Numbers
Doris Seeman
Doris Seeman
Doris Seeman was born on April 26, 1933, in Dortmund, Germany. She lived there until the age of five, before moving with her family to Belgium in 1938 and then toFrance in 1940. Doris had three siblings: Eric, born in 1931, Leo, born in1940, and Miriam, who was born later. Her father worked in business, while her mother stayed at home to take care of the children.
1
On Kristallnacht, Doris and her family were at home having breakfast when the SS entered their apartment. The SS beat two men who were with them, though her father was not harmed. The family was told to go to the police, but the police offered no help, and upon returning home, they found their apartment destroyed.
2
3
Doris's father left Germany the next day and snuck into Belgium to avoid being arrested, while her pregnant mother stayed behind with Doris and Eric.
To reunite the family, Doris (age five) and her brother Eric (age seven) were given to a smuggler and sent to Belgium. Their mother walked them to the train station and waved them goodbye from the train platform. Doris started to cry, raising the attention of the police at the train.
4
They were arrested at the Dutch border because the papers didn’t match up and the police suspected the smuggler of kidnapping. They were sent back to their mother in Germany. Their mother attempted two more times to send them out of the country, but both efforts failed. Eventually, their father’s landlady in Belgium agreed to pick them up at the border, and they were reunited with their father.
5
Doris stayed with the landlady while Eric attended school. Their mother remained in Germany, where she gave birth to Miriam on December 31, 1938. At seven weeks old, Miriam was sent with a smuggler to Amsterdam for safety. In 1939, Doris's mother finally joined the family in Belgium.
6
In 1940, Doris’s baby brother, Leo, was born in Belgium. Shortly afterward, Belgium was invaded. From 1940 to 1942, Doris was imprisoned in two concentration camps, Agde and Rivesaltes, located in southern France. In 1942, she was rescued by the French children’s aid society, OSE (Oeuvre de Secours Aux Enfants), which placed her in a Catholic children's home under a false identity.
7
Doris lived under the name Dorothee Shenier, a common French surname at the time. Her brother Eric also assumed a false identity, and they both lived under these names until liberation.
During the war, Doris and Eric were able to write letters to their parents, though all of them were living under different names to protect their identities. This unusual communication helped them maintain a connection throughout the war.
8
Doris remained in the Catholic home until August 1944, when she was liberated. After the war, she was reunited with her parents and younger brother, Leo. However, their family endured significant hardship as they had no money. Her father took on odd jobs to support them, and despite the challenges, they managed to survive.
9
Tragically, her younger sister Miriam, who had been sent to Amsterdam, perished in Auschwitz (in October 1943 at age 4.5 with the family who took her in). Doris and Eric later discovered this fact during a visit to Yad Vashem, but they never told their parents, who believed Miriam had survived under a new identity with another family.
In 1959, Doris emigrated to the United States.
10
11
12
13
14
The End
Doris Seeman interview at Clarkstown North High School - 2023-2024
Clarkstown North High School