Maleve Raoul & Pauline

Malève, Raoul Malève, Pauline In 1942, Raoul and Pauline Malève, about 20 years old, and just married, were farmers in the village of Auvelais, east of Charleroi. During the war, the young couple sheltered a two–year-old Jewish toddler from Brussels, Edith Bialer. When Edith’s mother went down to buy some milk in July 1942, she was arrested and never came back. Edith’s aunt, Régine Altbregin, whose husband had also been deported, had placed her own daughter with a farm family in Malonnes. She asked her daughter’s rescuers if they knew a person willing to shelter a young girl. They addressed her to their cousins, Raoul and Pauline Malève, in Auvelais. They greeted Edith with great warmth and gave her a new home. The Malèves raised and loved her as their own daughter. Pauline’s mother, Mrs. Milican, also lived with them and Edith called her “Bobonne”. They were able to support her and themselves with the produce of their farm. She was presented to the neighbors as a young girl from the city suffering because of the food restrictions there who needed a better diet. They taught Edith to learn by heart that she was Edith Malève. Edith retains wonderful memories of those times in spite of the horrors that befell her family. She stayed with the Malèves a long time after the war until her father was able to take her back. The separation was traumatic for both sides. Pauline initially refused to testify for the title of Righteous Among the Nations. She said: “My husband Raoul and I sheltered and hid a young Jewish girl of three years old out of human duty and I ask for no reward. I did it with love and dedication and if Edith’s father had not come to take her back after the Liberation, we would have adopted her as our own child”. On March 30, 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Raoul and Pauline Malève as Righteous Among the Nations.