[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 118 (Thursday, July 21, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1158]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING MATHILDE FREUND

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JERROLD NADLER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 21, 2016

  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mathilde Freund on her 
100th birthday.
  Mathilde Freund was born in Vienna, Austria in 1916. She married her 
husband in 1937. Within a few months, Hitler's army entered Vienna, 
Austria and by August of 1938, Mathilde, her husband, her parents, and 
all her able bodied relatives quickly fled to Paris, France where they 
again had to suddenly flee, this time to Lyon, France. Once there, the 
men in her family all volunteered to fight with the French army in 
Northern Africa. By 1943 they were back in Lyon, where her husband was 
eventually captured and deported to Buchenwald where he died days 
before liberation. Her only brother, Alfred, was taken hostage on 
August 18, 1944 in Lyon, and then shot along with more than 100 other 
men at the Lyon Airport less than a week later.
  In 1952, Mathilde came to New York with her mother and daughter where 
she settled on the Upper West Side. Embracing New York, and her new 
life in the United States, Mathilde earned several degrees and worked 
for many years as a medical social worker at the Beth Israel Cancer 
Detection Center and later at the French Hospital until it closed in 
1977, when she retired. She lost her own daughter to breast cancer a 
little over 10 years ago, but is very blessed to have an extremely 
loving grandson and five great grandchildren.
  Mathilde has never forgotten those difficult years between 1938 to 
1945, somehow surviving in the forest and stables surrounding Lyon, and 
she is dedicated to telling her story to grade school and university 
students in New York City.
  She continues to live life to the fullest as she takes classes at 
Fordham University, and she loves to go to the theater, museums and 
concerts.
  Mathilde has been a vendor at the Upper West Side Green Flea (now 
known as Grand Bazaar NY) market since it was opened to non-PTA vendors 
more than 30 years ago. Grand Bazaar NY is run by the PTA of four on-
site schools which benefit directly from the revenue. In recognition of 
her long running service, this Upper West Side market will name Sunday, 
July 31, 2016 in her honor.
  Mathilde Freund will turn 100 years old on August 15, 2016, and I 
wish her a very happy birthday.

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