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41
KARL JUDA
1910: born in Bitburg (D)
1936: flees with his family to Luxembourg
Jan. 1941: internment near Wittlich (D) and forced labour in the Reich motorway construction
Sept. 1941: escape to Düsseldorf (D)
Dec. 1941: return to Luxembourg
1942: illegal flight to Switzerland, subsequent arrest and deportation; hidden by several friends after his return to Luxembourg
Sept. 1944: after liberation, work as auxiliary policeman of the UNIO’N resistance organization
Dec. 1944: fights alongside US troops during Battle of the Bulge
Sie hatten meine liebe Mutter mitgeschleppt, weil sie mich nicht finden konnten. Kann ich je im Leben wieder froh sein? [...] Muss ich nicht immer daran denken, dass diese Hunde meine Mutter vielleicht umgebracht haben [...] und dass sie um mich zu schützen und um mich nicht zu verraten, all dies erleiden musste. Ich habe gut durchgehalten und mein Leben gerettet, aber um welchen Preis! Teurer konnte niemand bezahlen; denn was gilt das eigene Leben als eine Mutter?
Karl Juda, letter to Richard Meyer, 6 Mar. 1946
House of the Jodocy family, where Karl Juda lived in hiding for 2½ years
Work
In 1936, the Juda family was forced to sell their family business in Germany for less than its value and emigrate to Luxembourg. They settled in Walferdange, later in Weiler and Befort. Karl Juda had trained as a farmer.
In 1941 Karl Juda was assigned to forced labour for the construction of the Reich motorway and interned at Greimerath labour camp near Wittlich. He escaped in September 1941 and spent several months working undetected for a German baker. In December 1941 he returned to Luxembourg. He was wanted by the Gestapo. In October he had been meant to report for deportation to the Litzmannstadt ghetto with his mother Klara. His mother did not comply with the order, and Karl decided to flee to Switzerland. He travelled to the Swiss border undiscovered and swam across the Rhine.
Once in Switzerland, Karl Juda worked as a lifeguard. However, he was discovered and deported to Nazi Germany as an illegal immigrant. He managed to return to Luxembourg, travelling mainly at night and hiding during the day.
In Luxembourg he was first hidden in a hotel by a friend. Later he returned to Befort, but his mother was already gone. She had been deported to Theresienstadt ghetto in July 1942 and murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1943. In Befort Karl Juda was hidden for over two years by the Jodocy-Godefroit family. After the liberation of Luxembourg in September 1944, the 34-year-old worked as an auxiliary policeman and helped arrest collaborators.
D’Jodocys ware gutt kathoulesch Leit. An ech soen: wann all d’Mënschen esou wïere wéi si! Bei hinnen hat nëmmen de Mënsch eppes ze soen. Keng Nationalitéit, keng Relioun, keng Hautfaarf.
Karl Juda, contemporary witness interview, 3 May 1976
The Jodocy-Godefroit couple
Fir mech war et eng Diskriminéierung, well jiddwer Friemen, deen dech op der Strooss gesinn huet, dee konnt dech
beleidegen. Ech war deemools jonk an ech weess net, ob dat esou einfach ewech gaange wier.
Karl Juda, contemporary witness interview, 3 May 1976
Before the introduction of the yellow “Jewish star” in October 1941, Jews in Luxembourg had to wear a yellow armband with the Star of David.
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