{{Short description|French writer and Holocaust survivor (1933–2021)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Annette Muller | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing brackets --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = 15 March 1933 | birth_place = Paris, France | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|2021|08|09|1933|03|15}} | death_place = Le Blanc-Mesnil, France | other_names = | occupation = Writer | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }}
'''Annette Muller''' (15 March 1933 – 9 August 2021) was a French writer and Holocaust survivor.<ref>{{cite news |last=Arlot|first=Alexandre|date=17 August 2021|title=Figure du Blanc-Mesnil, "la petite fille du Vél d'Hiv" Annette Muller s'en est allée|trans-title= |url=https://www.leparisien.fr/seine-saint-denis-93/figure-du-blanc-mesnil-la-petite-fille-du-vel-dhiv-sen-est-allee-17-08-2021-P4SHGPTZKBAK7KFAPXNYOO7XSU.php|language=French|work=Le Parisien|location=Seine-Saint-Denis|access-date=25 August 2021}}</ref> She was an escapee of the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rajsfus|first=Maurice|date=2002|title=La rafle du Vél d'Hiv|trans-title= |url= |language=French|location=Paris|publisher=Presses universitaires de France|isbn=9782130514497}}</ref> Her autobiography, ''La petite fille du Vel' d'Hiv'', published in 1991, gives rare accounts of the roundup and the destiny of her fellow prisoners.
==Biography== Muller was born in Paris on 15 March 1933 to a family of Polish Jews from Tarnów who emigrated to France in 1929.<ref>{{cite news |last= |first= |date= |title=Annette Muller, la petite fille du Vél'd'Hiv|trans-title= |url=https://www.franceculture.fr/oeuvre-annette-muller-la-petite-fille-du-vel-d-hiv-de-annette-muller|language=French|work=France Culture|location= |access-date=25 August 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://jewishtraces.org/rachelmulle|title=Plus qu'un nom dans une liste : Rachel Muller|date=27 March 2012|work=Jewish Traces|language=French}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |people= |date= |title="Au Vel d'Hiv, mon enfance a basculé"|trans-title= |medium=Dailymotion|language=French|url=https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xcith1|access-date=25 August 2021|archive-url= |archive-date= |format= |time= |location= |publisher=Europe 1|id= |isbn= |oclc= |quote= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.histoiredenlire.com/20e-siecle/petite-fille-vel-dhiv.php|title=La Petite fille du Vel d'Hiv|work=Histoire d'en Lire|language=French}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= |first= |date=19 August 2020|title=" Annette Muller, la petite fille du Vel d'Hiv. "|trans-title= |url=https://yadvashem-france.org/la-vie-du-comite/actualites/actualites-de-paris/annette-muller-la-petite-fille-du-vel-dhiv/|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126084619/https://yadvashem-france.org/la-vie-du-comite/actualites/actualites-de-paris/annette-muller-la-petite-fille-du-vel-dhiv/|archivedate=26 January 2021|language=French|work=Yad Vashem|location= |access-date=25 August 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cinemadelsilenzio.it/index.php?mod=interview&id=16133|title=Intervista: Gilles Paquet-Brenner|work=Cinema del Silenzio|language=Italian}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=|first=|date=16 July 2012|title=Annette Müller, 7 ans, raflée... et sauvée|trans-title=|url=http://www.nordeclair.fr/france-monde/annette-mueller-7-ans-raflee-et-sauvee-ia28b0n54806|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20140712131236/http://www.nordeclair.fr/france-monde/annette-mueller-7-ans-raflee-et-sauvee-ia28b0n54806|archivedate=12 July 2014|language=French|work=Nord éclair|location=|access-date=25 August 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Bryant|first=Lisa|date=10 April 2010|title=French Movie Recounts Role in Holocaust|trans-title= |url=https://www.51voa.com/VOA_Standard_English/VOA_Standard_English_36762.html|language= |work=Voice of America|location=Paris|access-date=25 August 2021}}</ref> Her mother, Rachel Muller, was born on 16 October 1908 in Wojnicz,<ref name="Klarsfeld">{{cite book |last=Klarsfeld|first=Serge|author-link= |date=1976|title=Le Mémorial de la déportation des Juifs de France.|url= |language=French|location=Paris|publisher=Beate et Serge Klarsfeld|page= |isbn=}}</ref> and her father, Manek, was a communist militant and tailor. She grew up poor with three siblings: Henri, Jean, and {{ill|Michel Muller (actor)|fr|Michel Muller (acteur)|lt=Michel}}. Her father was a member of the Main-d'œuvre immigrée and the General Confederation of Labour.<ref name="Marianne">{{cite news|last=Rabino|first=Thomas|date=11 July 2012|title=Michel Muller, rescapé du Vel d'hiv'|trans-title=|url=https://www.marianne.net/Michel-Muller-rescape-du-Vel-d-hiv_a220610.html|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110235324/http://www.marianne.net/Michel-Muller-rescape-du-Vel-d-hiv_a220610.html#selection-249.1-249.37|archivedate=10 November 2016|language=French|work=Marianne|location=|access-date=25 August 2021}}</ref>
Following anti-Semitic discrimination, Muller's father was laid off. Days before the roundup, he was warned and managed to hide in Creil.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rees|first=Laurence|date=2006|title=Auschwitz. I Nazisti e la soluzione finale|trans-title= |url= |language=Italian|location=Milan|publisher=Oscar Storia Mondadori|isbn=}}</ref> At the start of the roundup, her older brothers, Henri and Jean, escaped to the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul orphanage in Neuilly-sur-Seine.<ref>{{cite book |last=Zuccotti|first=Susan|date=1999|title=The Holocaust, the French and the Jews|trans-title= |url=https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska-paperback/9780803299146/|language= |location=New York|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-8032-9914-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=|first=|date=1 March 2013|title=Spéciale La Rafle du Vél d'Hiv|trans-title=|url=https://www.tf1.fr/au-field-de-la-nuit/les-emissions-tv/2010/speciale-la-rafle-du-vel-d-hiv-5705567.html|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141228202535/http://www.tf1.fr/au-field-de-la-nuit/les-emissions-tv/2010/speciale-la-rafle-du-vel-d-hiv-5705567.html|archivedate=28 December 2014|language=French|work=Au Field de la nuit|location=|access-date=25 August 2021}}</ref> However, Annette, her mother, and her brother, Michel, were arrested and held at the Vélodrome d'Hiver, where the siblings were separated from their mothers and subject to neglect and abuse from guards.<ref name="Marianne"/>
Muller's mother managed to bribe a guard and send a letter to her husband, and was later sent to Auschwitz.<ref name="Klarsfeld"/> Later that year, she was murdered in the camp at the age of 33.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mairie20.paris.fr/pages/les-plaques-commemoratives-du-20e-13837|title=Les plaques commémoratives du 20e|date=8 March 2019|work=Mairie du 20e Arrondissement de Paris|language=French}}</ref> Muller and her brother were sent to Drancy internment camp before escaping with the help of the other two brothers and the Union générale des israélites de France. They stayed at the Catholic orphanage before moving to another in Le Mans, where they stayed until 1947.
Following the Liberation of Paris, Muller married Daniel Bessmann, a former resistant in Basses-Alpes and later worked various jobs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sfi.usc.edu/sites/default/files/lessons/units/Biographies%20des%20te%CC%81moins.pdf|title=Expériences vécues de la persécution : le port de l'étoile jaune|date=2011|work= USC Shoah Foundation Institute|language=French}}</ref>
Muller published her autobiography in 1991, titled ''La petite fille du Vel d'Hiv : Du camp d'internement de Beaune-la-Rolande (1942) à la maison d'enfants du Mans (1947)'' and published by Éditions Denoël. The story was made up of three parts: her childhood, the early stages of World War II, and the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://paril.crdp.ac-caen.fr/_PRODUCTIONS/memorial/enfants_shoah/co/survivre_muller.html|title=Annette Muller|work=Les enfants de la Shoah|language=French|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714182258/http://paril.crdp.ac-caen.fr/_PRODUCTIONS/memorial/enfants_shoah/co/survivre_muller.html|archivedate=14 July 2014|access-date=26 August 2021}}</ref> Throughout her later life, she was adamant about maintaining the memory of the Holocaust so that it can never be repeated.
Annette Muller died in Le Blanc-Mesnil on 9 August 2021 at the age of 88.<ref>{{cite news |last=Denéchère|first=Antoine|date=19 August 2021|title=Annette Muller, inlassable témoin de la rafle du Vel d'Hiv et du camp de Beaune-la-Rolande, est décédée|trans-title= |url=https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/societe/annette-muller-inlassable-temoin-de-la-rafle-du-vel-d-hiv-et-du-camp-de-beaune-la-rolande-est-1629384868|language=French|work=France Bleu|location=Orléans|access-date=25 August 2021}}</ref>
==Publications== *''La petite fille du Vel d'Hiv : Du camp d'internement de Beaune-la-Rolande (1942) à la maison d'enfants du Mans (1947)'' (1991)
==Filmography== *''Les Enfants du Vel d'Hiv'' (1992)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.film-documentaire.fr/public/194.shtml|title=États généraux du film documentaire|work=film-documentaire.fr|language=French}}</ref> *''The Round Up'' (2010) *''Un voyage pas comme les autres'' (2011)<ref>{{cite AV media |people= |date=January 2011|title=Un voyage pas comme les autres - un film de Samuel Muller|trans-title= |medium=Dailymotion|language=French|url=https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgney1|access-date= |archive-url= |archive-date= |format= |time= |location= |publisher=Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah|id= |isbn= |oclc= |quote= }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Annette}} Category:1933 births Category:2021 deaths Category:Writers from Paris Category:French writers Category:French Holocaust survivors Category:French people of Polish-Jewish descent Category:French women writers