Montreal Holocaust Museum Hosts First French Recording In ‘Dimensions In Testimony’ Collection

While the Montreal Holocaust Museum already has a collection of over 870 recorded testimonies of Holocaust survivors, this marks the Museum’s first interactive biography. Once Marguerite’s interactive biography has been adequately tested, a final version will be presented in a custom-built testimony room at the new downtown Montreal Holocaust Museum, set to open in 2025.

“We are honored to invite the public to take a behind-the-scenes look at the future of preserving survivor testimony,” stated Daniel Amar, Executive Director of the Montreal Holocaust Museum. “The human connection replicated by an interactive biography will allow future generations to discover Marguerite’s story of loss and survival, but also her individuality and resilience. Dimensions in Testimony enables visitors to comprehend the diversity, uniqueness, and complexity of each survivor story.”

Marguerite Élias Quddus was born on December 4, 1936, in Paris, France. In August 1941, Marguerite’s father was deported to the Drancy transit camp and then to the Compiègne camp. From Compiègne, he was transferred to Auschwitz where he was murdered in April 1942. In the summer of 1942, Marguerite’s mother began looking for hiding places for herself and her two daughters. From that summer until the spring of 1945, Marguerite and her sister Henriette lived with several families and in convents, hiding their Jewish identities. In the spring of 1945, Marguerite and her sister reunited with their mother who had survived under a false identity in Lyon. Together they returned to Paris. In 1965, Marguerite married Abdul Quddus, and in 1967, they moved to Canada. Marguerite now lives in Montreal.