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Louise was born in Brussels on January 27, 1932, as an only child to her mother and father. Her childhood before the war was simple, living on a street with many Jewish families. She played with the neighborhood kids and went to school while her parents worked as tailors from their home, renting an upstairs space for their work.
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When Louise was around 9 or 10, she began going out to buy food for the family because she didn’t look Jewish, and that’s when she realized that a war was happening. She would use food stamps and stand in long lines to purchase food. In 1942, everything changed when the Germans came with trucks, closing off streets in search of Jewish families. Her father hid in a closet, while Louise was sick with eczema.
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The Nazis found her father and took him away. They wanted to take her mother as well, but her mother begged them to let her stay, saying Louise was ill. The Nazis allowed her mother to stay but ordered her to report to the commander the next day. As soon as they left, Louise and her mother fled to hide with a gentile neighbor.
The neighbor took them to a friend’s house where they hid in a secret room with several other families.
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Eventually, Louise’s mother placed her in a convent for safety. Louise stayed there for six or seven months, but her mother could no longer afford it, so she was taken out and returned to the hidden room.
Louise continued going out to buy food because her appearance didn’t raise suspicion. One day, when she returned, she saw that everyone who had been hiding in the rooms had been taken by the Germans. She quickly ran to another house to hide.
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Not long after, her mother was arrested by the Germans and sent to Malin, and then to a camp. Tragically, her mother attempted to jump from the train and was shot by the Germans, who kept records of the incident.
Louise then went to live with another family for a month or two. However, the family grew fearful of their neighbors, so they moved to a new area where no one knew them. They pretended that Louise was their daughter.
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This managed to work and she stayed with them until the end of the war.
Her father, who survived the camps, eventually found her. He had managed to survive because he was a skilled tailor and had done work for the Nazis in the camps. After the war, Louise and her father went to live with friends who owned a store, and Louise worked there. They stayed in Belgium until she was 19.
Louise met her future husband on a trip to Frankfurt, Germany.
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They married in December 1952. Afterward, they moved to the United States for seven or eight years before applying to immigrate to Canada, where they arrived in July 1958. Louise still lives in the house she bought on Winnett Avenue.
She has two sons, Jonny and Mark, five granddaughters, and also has great-grandchildren. Louise later returned to Belgium with her children to visit the family who had hidden her during the war.
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Louise Lubelski interview at The Leo Baeck Day School - 2023-2024
The Leo Baeck Day School
