Landscape view not supported, please use protrait view!

Jacqueline Birn

Holocaust Survivor

Read Theory of Knowledge teacher Russell Cailey’s reflection about his visit to the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Jacqueline was born on April 23, 1935 in Paris, France. Her father, Frits, ran a food import-export business and her mother, Ellen, took care of Jacqueline and her older sister, Manuela.

Jacqueline had a normal childhood before the outbreak of the war in 1939, but everything changed in May 1940 when Germany invaded France. In the early days of the invasion the bombardments often forced the family to don gas masks and seek shelter in the cellar of their apartment building. Shortly after the invasion they fled to Deux-Sèvres, but returned to Paris after the armistice was signed and Jacqueline and Manuela were able to attend the local public school that September. In July 1941, the Vichy government instituted a program of “Aryanization” and although her father was forced to sell his share of the business to his non-Jewish partner, he continued to work and would hide in a back room if someone came in. In June 1942 French Jews were ordered to wear the yellow Star of David and the following month 13,000 Jews were rounded up and sent to the Drancy transit camp where most were deported to Auschwitz. Most of the roundups took place in areas of Paris with a high concentration of foreign Jews, but the Mendels lived in a primarily Catholic, French neighborhood where they were one of only a few Jewish families and the authorities did not come for them.

On 30 July 1942 the Mendels left Paris for the Vichy-controlled southern region of France, telling their daughters that they were going on a vacation so as not to frighten them. At the train station they picked up their backpacks which had been left there by two young men in the French underground. The police did not search the Mendels’ train as they had many others, but after crossing the border and arriving in Ribérac her parents were arrested and interrogated by the French authorities. They were not imprisoned but were ordered to remain within 100km of the regional capital of Périgueux. They settled in the two upstairs rooms of a house with no electricity or water in the tiny village of Le Got in Dordogne, where they lived for the next twenty-nine months. Jacqueline’s father exchanged anything of value for food, including the family radio and even Jacqueline’s doll clothes. Circumstances were more dangerous for men, especially Jewish men, as they could be conscripted for forced labor. Consequently, Frits spent most of the time hiding in the dilapidated cellar of a friendly farmer, occasionally performing some work for him in exchange for food.

In August 1943, Ellen gave birth under terrible conditions to a son they named Franklin after Franklin Roosevelt. Their situation became more precarious after the Allies landed in Normandy but when Paris was liberated, Frits was able to return to check on his business and the family’s apartment. After reclaiming their apartment, Frits returned to Le Got and in November 1944 the family returned and resumed their life in Paris. They later learned that around twenty close family members had been deported and killed in Sobibor and Auschwitz.

Jacqueline met her American husband, Richard, while he was studying in Paris. They came to the U.S. in 1958, where they married and later had two children. Jacqueline retired from the U.S. Foreign Service Institute in 2007 and began volunteering at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The Birns have one granddaughter.

YeonJeong KimHead of Global Kpop & K-content Partnerships at Twitter

Read More

Christian FelberEconomist

Read More

Sir Richard BransonVirgin Group Founder

Read More

Noam ChomskyPolitical Commentator

Read More

Reza PahlaviCrown Prince of Iran

Read More

Hans RoslingStatistician and TED Speaker

Read More

Johan RockströmEnvironmental Scientist

Read More

Lynda WilliamsCEO and Founder of Vim & Vigour PR

Read More

Ray ZahabLong Distance Runner

Read More

Tshering TobgayPrime Minister of Bhutan

Read More

Tony Wagner

Read More

Greg SimonPolitician

Read More

Nicholas KulishJournalist and Writer

Read More

Lucy AlibarPlaywright

Read More

Phillipa ThomasBBC Correspondent

Read More

Richard ListerBBC Correspondent

Read More

Taylor MaliSlam Poet

Read More

Yolanda KakabadseWWF International President

Read More

Sunil GulatiU.S. Soccer Federation President

Read More

Giselle WilzBrigadier General

Read More

Doug LanskyHuffington Post Journalist

Read More

Amir DuranovićHistorian, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Read More

Jacqueline BirnHolocaust Survivor

Read More

William LindesayGreat Wall Expert

Read More

Urmi BasuNew Light Founder

Read More

Tan LeEmotiv Founder

Read More

Oliver RothschildSocial Entrepreneur

Read More

Dilip SimeonLabor Historian

Read More

Alice FrickStand-Up Comedian

Read More

Yong ZhaoProfessor and author

Read More

Sara WallénMjuka Flytten (The Soft Move) Founder

Read More

Nils OlsenStatistician

Read More

Matthew AlbertSAIL Program Co-Founder

Read More

Kim McKaySocial and sustainability marketer

Read More

Sacha Krjatian

Read More

Lijia Zhang

Read More

Los Argentinos por la Concordia NacionalNGO

Read More

Jay HeinrichsAuthor

Read More

Jeremy GoldkornDanwei Media Editor

Read More

Peter SingerProfessor

Read More

Nick SagarRock Climber

Read More

Kate ForsythInternational Bestselling Author

Read More

Walangari KarntawarraAboriginal Elder

Read More

Jens HonoréPhotographer

Read More

Soren ThielemannGraphic Designer

Read More

Jin MoenEntrepreneur

Read More

Scott AtranAnthropology Professor

Read More

Tobias RawetHolocaust Survivor

Read More

Fredrik HärénAuthor and Speaker

Read More

Malin Ah-KingEvolutionary Biologist

Read More

Grethe RostboellCultural Minister of Denmark

Read More

Dave MartinExtreme World Races Founder

Read More

María Virginia Farinango

Read More

Natalia GreeneCEDENMA President

Read More

Steve Kluger

Read More

Merlin KauffmanDomain and Angel Investor

Read More

Brandon LitmanOne Day on Earth Co-Founder

Read More

Carolina de Robertis

Read More

Dr. Robert JacobsProfessor and Author

Read More

Nicole WantanabeCross-Cultural Facilitator

Read More

Jose Antonio Cao VoceroYoga Instructor

Read More

Brando YelavichAdventurer and Public Speaker

Read More

Travis Cole MarcumFormer United States Marine

Read More

Paul MoonNew Zealand Historian

Read More

Katharina BeckmannBerlin Architecture Tour Guide

Read More

Stan & Marlene WaxmanCommunication Changes Lives Co-Founders

Read More

Rob WettonSocial Entrepreneur

Read More

Carolin WürfelHistorian

Read More

Ready to embark on the educational journey of a lifetime?

A passion for travel. A strong academic record. And the desire to improve the world as you experience it. If this sounds like you, you just might be our ideal candidate! Start your application with a five-minute inquiry form - you never know where you might end up.

It all starts here.

Ready to embark on the educational journey of a lifetime?

A passion for travel. A strong academic record. And the desire to improve the world as you experience it. If this sounds like you, you just might be our ideal candidate! Start your application with a five-minute inquiry form - you never know where you might end up.

It all starts here.

Apply now

Sign up if you would like to receive occasional news from us.

Subscribe

Now available! Professional development opportunities through THINK Learning Studio

Explore