The Ribouleaus

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On Sunday morning, July 19, 1942 at 5AM there was a knock on the Malmeds’ apartment door. Srul went to answer the door thinking it was the neighbors’ son but standing in front of him were two French police officers. The two men said that they had to take Leon’s father down to the Police station with no reason given. Leon’s mother said that she would accompany her husband. There was a problem of what to do with Leon and his sister, Rachel. The Ribouleau family, from the apartment below, wondering what the noises were all about so early on a Sunday came up the stairs, understood what was going on said, “Mr. and Mrs. Malmed, do not worry, we will take care of your children until you return.” So, Leon’s parents were then escorted down to the station. Guards were outside of the apartment building. It was the last time that Leon and Rachel saw their parents. 40 years later Leon found out that his parents were taken to Drancy immediately after their arrest and 10 days later were transported by boxcars to Auschwitz. Leon’s mother either died during the transport and or was gassed upon arrival. According to the German archives his father was still alive in September of 1944. There is no record of what happened to him between September and the liberation of Auschwitz in January 1945. From July 19, 1942 until September 1945, Leon and his sister, Rachel lived with the Ribouleau family awaiting the return of their parents. Henri Ribouleau was a rope maker and worked on parachutes for the French Air Force before the war. Henri and Suzanne had two sons, René, 20 and Marcel, 17 when the two Malmed children moved into their small apartment.

After Leon’s parents were taken away by the French police, Leon and Rachel quickly became part of the Ribouleau family. Leon was only 4 ½ years old and his sister, Rachel was 9. During all this time, any non-Jewish person hiding a Jew would be punished with death or deported to a Death camp. Many people in town that the Ribouleaus were hiding two Jewish children. Leon and his sister were hiding in plain sight. The family was extremely concerned about denunciations as the Germans were offering ration cards to anyone denouncing the whereabouts of Jews and other undesirables. One lady, a neighbor, even asked Suzanne, “Why are you doing this?” Several times, the Gestapo came to arrest Leon and Rachel. They were lucky not being home or being warned. In 1944 there was one instance Leon tells that they were just barely able to avoid arrest by about 2 minutes. Suzanne was on her way home from work and decided to take a short cut. She saw an SS truck in the neighborhood and had a feeling that they were on their way to her apartment to arrest Leon and Rachel and maybe the whole family. Mrs. Ribouleau hurried desperately home and told Leon and Rachel to run and hide. After hearing about the mater, Henri decided it would be time to go see a fishing buddy, and the only thing that he knew about this person was that he was a German soldier. It was a huge risk that Henri was taking, but he met his “friend.” It turned out that this was no ordinary German soldier. He happened to be the German SS Commandant. He said, “I know you are hiding 2 Jewish children; you are a good person and I promise that nothing will happen to them.” By fall of 1944, the Americans liberated Compiegne from the enemy. Leon and Rachel had been living with the Ribouleaus for close to 3 years. Unfortunately, it was not the end of the Malmed children’s problems…