Child's white blouse with red, yellow, and pink floral embroidery worn by 2 sisters prior to living in hiding

Embroidered white smock worn by 2 sisters, Jacqueline, when she was 3, and Manuela, when she was 5, before the family had to go into hiding during the German occupation of France, which began in June 1940. The girls and their parents, Ellen and Frits Mendels, fled German-occupied Paris in 1942. They were French Jewish citizens who had to abandon their home and assume false identities. They found a safe place to live in hiding in the southern French village of Le Got. A son, Franklin, was born during this time. After the war ended in 1944, the family returned to Paris.