First Person with Michel Margosis May 24, 2018

Through the First Person program, Holocaust survivors have the opportunity to share their remarkable personal stories of hope, tragedy, and survival with thousands of visitors at the Museum. This program was recorded on May 24, 2018. It features Michel Margosis, whose parents were Russian born Jews. His father had been a policeman in Russia who had been deported to Siberia for being an outspoken Zionist. After escaping, Michel's parents made their way to Belgium. Michel's father owned and edited two newspapers, one French and one Yiddish. In 1940 when the Germans invaded Belgium, Michel and his family fled to the south of France where they ended up in Marseilles. The Margosis family hoped to get exit visas and sail for the United States. However, they did not succeed in obtaining visas and escaped over the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain. The yellow arrow on this map shows their escape route. Arrangements were then made for Michel to come to the United States in 1943.