Testimony of Esther (maiden name: Gaetano) Soetens, born in Paris, France in 1932, regarding her life in hiding in a monastery during the war

Testimony of Esther (maiden name: Gaetano) Soetens, born in Paris, France in 1932, regarding her life in hiding in a monastery during the war Family background; an immigrant family from Thessaloniki; the outbreak of war; life under German occupation; her parents’ status in 1942 and their deportation to the Drancy camp; her parents’ transfer to Auschwitz Birkenau; receiving assistance from the Comite des Oeuvres Sociales de la Resistance organization; finding a hiding place in a monastery at Jouveaux in the Eure region; description of life at Jouveaux; the nuns’ attitude; the end of the war; receiving information regarding the fate of her parents; voluntary conversion to Christianity; living after the war in France, to this day, as a Christian.