Background
Vivette Samuel was born on May 23, 1919, in Paris, France. She was the daughter of Nahum, a journalist, and Rachel, also a journalist Herman.
Vivette Samuel ( in the center)
Vivette Samuel
Vivette Samuel
75005 Paris, France
Vivette Samuel studied at the University of Paris.
Vivette Samuel was born on May 23, 1919, in Paris, France. She was the daughter of Nahum, a journalist, and Rachel, also a journalist Herman.
Vivette Samuel graduated from the Sorbonne, the University of Paris.
Vivette Samuel started to work as a social worker for the Œuvre de secours aux enfants in 1941 (OSE, or Society for Assistance to Children). Also, she served as an assistant director in 1954-1979, then a director from 1979 to 1985, up to the time of her retirement.
Besides, Vivette Samuel was a writer. She was the author of Sauver les enfants (Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir). Her primary motivation for writing that book was to testify about the children in camps in France during World War II.
The story had based on Vivette Samuel's writings from 1943 and by interviews of children. In 1992 she began to work with her granddaughter, Judith Elbaz, who was twenty-two years old, just the age Samuel had been during her work in rescuing children. When the book was published in France, Judith wrote the first preface. In the English edition, Elie Wiesel, who was one of the rescued children, wrote the second preface. Charles Paul wrote a long introduction to the translation. He and his sister were also among the children described in the book.
Vivette Samuel married Julien Samuel on October 1, 1942. They had three children, Françoise, Jean Pierre, and Nicole.