Renee Singer

Born: Brussels, Belgium, 1933
Wartime experience: Hiding, passing/false identity
Writing partner: Dianne Moore
Renee Singer (née Cymerman) was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1933. When the Nazis occupied Belgium in 1940, Renee and her family fled to France, where they were captured by the collaborating French government and imprisoned in a transit and internment camp.
They were smuggled out of the camp and returned to Brussels, where Renee’s father was taken by the Nazis, and the rest of the family went into hiding. Renee’s mother then sent her to a Catholic monastery. After the war, Renee, who had been orphaned, remained in the monastery for a year and was then sent to a Jewish orphanage in France. In 1947, Renee was on the ship Exodus, which attempted to sail to Palestine but was turned away by the British. Renee spent about a year in a displaced persons (DP) camp in Germany and then immigrated to Israel in 1948. She married and had three children and later moved to Canada, settling in Toronto.
When Everything Changed
I was born in Belgium in March of 1933. My mom’s name was Fanny Lajtman, and my dad’s name was Ely Cymerman. My dad was a manager at the Côte d’Or chocolate factory. We lived in Brussels, and before the war, we had a good life. We lived in a two-storey attached house on rue Eloy 29, and our house was always full of family and friends. My mom was an excellent seamstress. She did embroidery and made men’s shirts, as well as pillowcases and duvet covers. She also did manicures. My grandmother lived with us and did the cooking and took care of me. I was very attached to my grandma. I called my mother Maman, and I called my grandmother Mama.
In 1940, everything changed. The German army was advancing toward Belgium, and our family decided to leave Brussels to join my aunt’s family in Paris. Nobody believed that France would fall into the hands of the Germans, and my family thought that we would be secure in France. We could already hear bombing when we left and boarded a train destined for Paris. Along the way the train was bombarded and the railroads to Paris were destroyed. Our train was forced to reroute to the south of France. After six days on the train, we finally arrived in Fronton, a small town near Toulouse in southwestern France. We rented a room in a family’s house, and I attended school, starting Grade 1. At that time, my mom was in the late stages of pregnancy, and shortly after we arrived, my brother, Albert, was born in Toulouse on Bastille Day, July 14, 1940. I don’t remember where my dad was during our time in Fronton — maybe he was away looking for work. I don’t have a lot of memories of my dad, and I only remember him vaguely.
I can still remember hearing the SS soldiers’ boots when they came down the street to round up Jewish people from their homes.
Becoming a Devout Catholic
We had wonderful gentile friends who lived in rue Eloy 21. Their two children were my age, and we were good friends. Every evening, before the 8:00 p.m. curfew, they would let us hide in one of their bedrooms and stay for the night. They even arranged for my little brother to sleep on a special bed under their beds. My grandma refused to leave our house and insisted on remaining in her room.
I can still remember hearing the SS soldiers’ boots when they came down the street to round up Jewish people from their homes. They were very loud and scary. On one of these nights, my father was trying to hide on the roof. The SS soldiers spotted him and chased him. I never saw my dad again.

Renee Singer. Place and date unknown.

Renee, left, with her Sustaining Memories writing partner, Dianne Moore. Toronto, 2015.