Like A Door Opening to the World: The Story of Ephraim Mol

Ephraim Mol was born on March 9th, 1938, in Uccle, a suburb of Brussels, Belgium. In September 1942, Ephraim's parents attempted to escape Nazi-occupied Belgium via Besançon, France. They planned to reach Switzerland in other to receive assylum, but were arrested en route by the German Gestapo. Ephraim and his parents were separated - Ephraim was sent to a monastery at Besançon, where he was looked to, along with other Jewish children, by nuns; whereas his parents were taken to the Drancy transit camp and from there deported to Auschwitz. Ephraim was later adopted by the Weil couple, French Jews. As deportations of Jews in Paris intensified in 1942, Lucie Cartier hid the adoptive family in her house, and located a hiding place for Ephraim in an apartment in the suburbs of Paris, where she tended to him until liberation in the summer of 1944. After liberation, Ephraim completed his studies and enlisted to the French standing army, taking part in the Algerian War. Following his discharge, he immigrated to Israel, settling in the Sde Eliyahu kibbutz. He later married Rachel and the two have children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. He lives in Jerusalem. Ephraim has delivered his testimony to a variety of audiences at Yad Vashem.