Marcel was born in Paris in 1939. He was born to Austrian parents, who had fled to Paris in 1938 after the Anschluss, Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria.
The German Army invaded France in May 1940 and entered Paris on the 14th June 1940. Paris was controlled by the Nazis whilst southern France was governed by Marechal Petain, a fascist who gladly followed the example of the Nazis.
In May 1941 Marcel’s father was arrested by the French police, leaving his mother alone whilst heavily pregnant and with two year old Marcel. Realising the desperate situation, she decided to go into hiding with the children. If they had not gone into hiding they would have been arrested in 1942 and sent to Velodrome D’Hiver. Unfortunately, this stressful situation led to Marcel’s mother being hospitalised.
The family who had been hiding Marcel realised how dangerous it was for them to harbour Jews and they arranged for Marcel to be hidden by two sisters, Olga and Esther Masoli. Marcel was hidden by these women for the duration of the war. Being five years old he was unaware of the dangers that faced him. In fact, Marcel recalls being happy with the sisters and enjoying glorious Christmas days with toy soldiers and toy cars.
Marcel and his brother had been split up when Marcel went to live with the Masoli sisters. He was reunited with him at the end of the war. Marcel’s father was killed in Auschwitz, but his mother survived. However, after a short period together Marcel’s mother was unable to care for her boys and in 1948 Marcel and his brother moved to Manchester to live with their aunt.
Marcel studied at Manchester University and worked as a dentist until his retirement in 2002. Marcel now lives in Surbiton with his wife, Bobbie and has three children and five grandchildren.