Carton Georges & Madeleine

Carton, Georges Carton, Madeleine The Zylberberg couple and their eighteen-year-old daughter Ruchla (later Ruchla Cygler) lived in Brussels where their next-door neighbors and friends were Georges and Madeleine Carton, who were members of the resistance group ‘The White Army’ (l’Armée Blanche). Ruchla’s father had built a safe hiding place in his own cellar, and the family Zylberberg secretly remained at home from August 1942 till September 1943. The Cartons, who had a key to their friends’ house, provided them nightly with food and other necessities. Whenever danger loomed, Georges or Madeleine knocked on the wall to inform the Zylberbergs, who immediately hurried into their special hideout. One day the Germans raided the Zylberberg home, but the Cartons had managed to warn the Zylberbergs just in time, allowing them to hide inside the house, without the Germans succeeding in finding them. The Cartons also kept valuables for the Zylberbergs and returned everything after the war. They never asked for any monetary reward. After the war the two couples maintained excellent relations with each other. Apart from helping the Zylberbergs, the Cartons sheltered the Sverdloff couple and their two children, and lodged them in their attic, which had been fitted with a special hideout. Although the Germans searched the house several times, they never found the refugees who stayed with Georges and Madeleine for ten months, without recompense. When the situation became too dangerous, the Cartons found an alternative hiding-place for their charges. On May 16, 1989, Yad Vashem recognized Georges and Madeleine Carton as Righteous Among the Nations.