Marcel Marceau, Hero

Editor's Note:  A friend sent me this earlier today.  I am not sure of the source.  I will never make fun of mimes again.




Marcel Marceau was a Holocaust Hero.

He was born Marcel Mangel on March 22, 1923,

in Strasbourg , Alsace .

His father Charles, was a kosher butcher who loved the arts.

Marcel's mother Anne nee Werzberger, took him to a

Charley Chaplin movie when he was five. He was entranced.

At the beginning of WWII, he and his brother, Alain,

hid their Jewish origins, and changed their name

from Mangel to Marceau.

His father died in Auschwitz . His mother survived the war.

The French Resistance was headed up by many Jews.

Marcel and Alain joined the Resistance in Limoges .

The Jewish children had to be protected from both the

French police and the Germans.

Although he was trilingual, Marcel taught hundreds of

Jewish children the art of communicating in mime because

it was important for the children to converse silently.

The children were brought to safety by Marceau in Switzerland .

In 1944, he joined the Free French Forces under General Charles

de Gaulle, acting as liaison officer to General Patton's army.

Marceau entertained thousands of US troops after the liberation of Paris .

Marceau was "discovered" by Laurel and Hardy.

He spoke only once in a performance....In Mel Brooks'

film "Silent Movie"

His career lasted over 60 years as an actor, director, teacher,

interpreter, and public multilingual speaker on five continents.

He died on Yom Kippur in 2007.

"Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us without words?"

~Marcel Marceau