Storder Edmond & Marguerite (Sandron)

Edmond and Marguerite Storder Bernard Dov Warhaftig was born in Antwerp in 1913, into a prosperous family. His father died at a relatively young age. He served In the Belgian army in 1931, and moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1935. Bernard's mother asked him to return to Belgium in 1939, to help her run her wholesale fabric business and he was trapped there because of the war. In January 1941, Bernard married Rosa, and half a year later when the Germans confiscated his mother’s business, the family decided to relocate to Visé, a town not far from Liège, where they habitually spent their summer vacations. While in Visé, the Germans rounded up the young Jews for forced labor and so Bernard, his wife, and his siblings were sent to work in a Belgian small arms factory in Herstal outside of Liège. One day Germans arrived and decided to remove all the Jews from the plant. Bernard, a Belgian citizen, showed his letter of protection from the Queen of Belgium, which claimed Jews of Belgian citizenship were to be protected. The Gestapo officer decided the letter was irrelevant, but Bernard insisted and a higher-ranking officer decided to release him. Following this incident, the family decided to split up and go into hiding separately. In early 1943, a friend sent Bernard and Rosa to Edmond and Marguerite Storder, who lived in Bouillon, with a letter introducing them. The couple had three children and lived on the crossroads of the borders of three countries: Belgium, France and Germany. Edmond was a customs official and there were only three buildings at that point – his house, a cafe and the customs house. When Edmond read the letter he warmly welcomed Bernard and Rosa into his home. They remained under the guardianship of the Storders until the end of the war. The first thing they arranged for their guests was a new identity. Edmond and Marguerite sent the Warhaftigs to a municipal clerk in Bouillon, who supplied them with false ID papers as Jean and Rosa Charlier, and monthly food-ration coupons. Next, they sent them to stay at a hotel empty of tourists because of the war, until they could find an apartment to rent. In time, Bernard worked as a woodchopper in the forest just over the border in France. He stayed there during the week, returning home for weekends. Rosa found work as a housekeeper. One day in July 1944, the brother of Léon Degrelle, founder of the anti-Semitic anti-communist, Rexist party was executed in Bouillon. In retaliation, the Germans took about 50 Belgians hostage – among them Bernard – and imprisoned them in Arlon. Luckily, he was freed eight days later and decided to return to the house of the Storders, where he and Rosa remained until the Allies liberated the area. Bernard and Rosa Warhaftig – known as Amitai in Hebrew – at first joined the efforts to help Jewish survivors immigrate to the Land of Israel, then made Aliyah and joined Kibbutz Ein Hahoresh. Over the years the Amitais maintained contact with their rescuers. The Stroders visited them in 1982, and the Amitais joined them in Belgium on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary in 1985. On January 14, 2014, Yad Vashem recognized Edmond and Marguerite Storder as Righteous Among the Nations.