You move in with the Savigny family. In their small apartment at the base of Montmartre, they make you feel welcome and comfortable. After a few months, you even think of yourself as the person whose identity you've assumed. You begin to venture out of the apartment, walking along the streets, stopping in sidewalk cafes, browsing in shops. Every morning, you spend a half-hour at the Basilica de Sacré-Coeur, learning from a friendly priest how to behave like a Catholic.
Soon, you can attend mass without anyone suspecting that you were not born into the Catholic Church. You were fortunate to have made this choice because Mother Marie's Convent of the Little Cloister is raided by the Germans, and everyone there is transported to Auschwitz. Recalling with deep gratitude how these good people helped you escape, you are especially saddened by their fate. However, you are relieved that you were not hiding among them.
When Paris is liberated during the summer of 1944, you join the Savigny
family near the Arc de Triomphe, waving the Tricolor, the French flag, and
singing the Marseillaise. You feel that you have crossed a line; you have
become a Savigny, and you can never return to your old self again. You ask
the family if they would consider adopting you, and Mme. Savigny bursts
into tears. I thought you would never ask,
she blurts out. With the
help of the priest, you make a formal conversion to Catholicism and remain
in Paris as the devoted child of this kind and courageous French family.
END