Lola

The family settled in the 19th arrondissement, a modest and lively neighborhood. Her father worked in the garment industry, and her mother was a nurse. As her parents did not speak French, young Jackie quickly became their voice — translating, navigating daily life, and carrying responsibilities far beyond her years. She attended the Rothschild Jewish school.

Then, as a teenager, everything changed. One day, Jackie returned home from school to learn that her father had been taken by the gendarmes, supposedly for work. A year later, it was her mother’s turn. When Jackie came back from school that day, she found the door of their apartment sealed. She would never see her parents again.

Forced to grow up overnight, she wore the yellow star and went into hiding. An aunt took her in for a time, until false papers were secured. Under a new identity — Jacqueline Guillaume — she removed the star and fled to Lyon, where no one would recognize her. There, she found work with a leather goods maker.

She narrowly escaped arrest more than once.

Later, she moved to Marseille, working as an apprentice. Although the city was close to liberation, the area where she lived remained dangerous. In a desperate attempt to reach safety, Jackie ran through the night, pillows strapped around her body to protect herself from bullets.

At Liberation, she was reunited with her brother. Through him, she met the man who would become her husband. Together, they built a life and had a son.

Jackie’s story is one of loss, courage, and survival — a testament to the strength of a young girl who was forced to become invisible in order to live, and who carried her past with her into a rebuilt future.