Armand Handfus was born in Paris, May 22, 1927 and died December 22, 2019. The photo of him above is from when he was 15 years old, during the German occupation in France.
Armand, his older brother Daniel, and his father Max survived the Shoah by hiding in a secret room devised by his father. Armand’s mother Ita and his 8-year-old younger brother Robert were arrested on a visit to a neighbor and deported to Auschwitz, where they died.
In video testimony he gave for the Museum, Armand recalled the trials of the war years, how he evaded the French Police, and the effects of antisemitism on Jews in occupied France.
After emigrating to the U.S. he was employed by the United Nations for 42 years, since its founding. He was a volunteer, a donor, and a benefactor for the Museum. At age 80, he was bar mitzvah’ed at the Wall Street Synagogue since he wasn’t able to have a ceremony in 1940.
Armand died at age 92, survived by wife, daughter, and two grandchildren.