My Voice: Jeannine Scher

Jeannine Scher was born in Paris in February 1935. She was the second of seven children in a religious Orthodox family. At the outbreak of war, her family moved to Laprugne in the Allier department of Vichy. When Nazis rounded up foreign Jews in the Vichy Zone, the family moved to Broût-Vernet, where her father became director of a home for refugee children, and eventually escaped to Switzerland.

Post-war, the family moved back to Paris, where Jeannine attended a lycée and went on to study Maths at university, after which she taught Maths and Jewish Studies at a secondary school. Jeannine married Naftoli Scher (Tuli) and moved to England in 1958. They had eight children and later moved to Manchester, enjoying being surrounded by many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Jeannine’s book is part of the My Voice book collection, a stand-alone project of The Fed, the leading Jewish social care charity in Manchester, dedicated to preserving the life stories of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.