Shortly afterward we received a visit from a Frenchman who informed us that he’d been assigned by the Germans as a gérant commissaire, a non-Jew to take over our business. Realizing what was likely to happen, Cecile, Arnold, and I, along with Hélène, Rosy, and Stéphanie, completely emptied the store, filling suitcases with the most valuable merchandise and carrying them upstairs to the apartment of Madame Le Touchais, with whom we’d become friendly. A few days later we transferred them to the home of Madame Blondet, a former cleaning woman of my cousins’, whom we knew we could trust.
