Charles Louis Middleberg was born November 4, 1929, in Warsaw, Poland, and immigrated to Paris, France, at the age of 2 with his parents. He remained in France until March 1950. On September of 1939, Germany invaded France, where they lived. In 1940, Charles's father, Robert (Reuven), was taken away by the Nazis occupying France. In 1942, Charles and his brother, Victor, were separated from their mother, Berthe, and never saw her again. Charles and Victor were taken in by a family and remained there until they were reunited with their father in August of 1945. Both brothers returned to school, which had been forbidden during the Nazi occupation. Charles met Mathilde at that school. She too was a survivor, also as a hidden child. Her father was murdered in a concentration camp, but miraculously, her mother and siblings survived. Charles, with his father and brother, came to the United States in March 1950 and lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mathilde joined Charles in June 1951. Charles and Mathilde were married in June 1952. Charles went to school at night and learned English well enough to enter Temple University. He graduated from Temple with honors as an electronics engineer. Charles and Mathilde have four children - two sons and two daughters, twelve grandchildren and now three great-granddaughters. They moved to Cherry Hill, New Jersey, in 1988 and became involved with the Esther Raab Holocaust Museum and Goodwin Education Center. As survivors, they have dedicated much of their lives to speak to so many people in schools, universities, churches, civic groups and others, of the horrors of their experiences during Holocaust. Mathilde passed away in 2009. Charles continues to tell his story in order to teach everyone to stand up against hate, like those that saved him, to promote tolerance and to know that this really happened.
