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Félicie, who was born on 29 December 1931, lived with her parents, Feiwel and Ilse, in Antwerp. She was eight years old when the Nazis invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940. Félicie and her parents were Jewish and had to comply with the increasingly strict anti-Jewish regulations. In 1942, a raid was organised in the street where the family lived. A neighbour gave the family away and they only just managed to avoid being arrested. Feiwel then decided to look for a hiding place for his family and a few other relatives.
In June 1943, Félicie’s grandfather died at their hiding place. The following morning, as the family were preparing for a clandestine funeral, the SS stormed the house. Feiwel managed to convince a German officer that Félicie was not his daughter, which meant she was allowed to stay behind with a few other family members who held Swiss passports.
Félicie’s parents ended up at the Dossin Barracks in Mechelen. They wrote letters to their daughter and begged her rescuers to take good care of her.
On 20 September 1943, Feiwel and Ilse were put on Transport XXII A and taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau. They did not survive the deportation.
Following her parents’ arrest, it was too dangerous for Félicie and her family to remain at their hiding place. A new hiding place was found in a monastery where Félicie spent the rest of the war and survived. Her grandmother, aunt and cousin also survived. After the war, Félicie was brought up by her grandmother. She continued to bear witness to her experiences throughout her life and passed away on 6 July 2018 at the age of 86.