Jewish survivors hidden in castle during World War II thank Belgian royals

A Belgian prince saved Jewish children from the Nazis by hiding them in his castle during World War II. Three-quarters of a century later, the prince's descendants met some of the survivors in an emotional gathering at the Israeli presidential residence in Jerusalem.

"They gave us food, clothes. They let us walk in the prince's large park, swim in the lake and, in winter, ice-skate," said Ephraim Oelkuchen, 80, who was seven when hidden by Prince Eugene II of Ligne in his castle in southern Belgium during World War II.

"During that time of hell, we were in a place that was like a real heaven," he said.

On Wednesday, the descendants of the Belgian prince who saved dozens of Jewish children by hiding them in the Chateau de Beloeil, held an emotional gathering in Jerusalem with Jewish survivors rescued by their grandfather.

The girls were kept inside the palace itself, while the boys were housed in a building, known as the Orangerie, on the palace grounds. There were about 43 Jewish children, hidden among some 1,000 non-Jewish children, including sons or daughters of prisoners of war, given a haven in the palace.

The Jewish children kept their identity secret - even from each other - and did not know there were others like them. Oelkuchen went by the name of Francois Demien so as not to give away his roots.

"Three people only knew about the presence of Jewish children," said Prince Michel de Ligne, Eugene II's heir, while being hosted by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. "Their silence was a guarantee of survival."

The Nazis searched the palace grounds more than once, he told dpa, meaning the royal couple were risking their lives. In 1975, they were recognized as one of the so-called Righteous Amongst the Nations, a term used by the Israeli state to refer to non-Jews who saved Jews at their own risk during the war.

Oelkuchen recalled how the prince "himself would come down from the palace to our dining room to check whether we were getting good food. I remember him sitting down next to us and tasting the soup."

Asked how he felt to meet the grandchildren of the man who saved his life, he said, "I can't stop myself from kissing them."

"We blended in like chameleons," said Abraham Kapotka, 83, who was eight when sent to the palace. "We were in a safe and quiet place, while around us war raged." He added he was also moved to meet other survivors, including a boy his age he had not seen since the Americans liberated the area in late 1944. Kapotka said his mother sent him to the chateau after a brief period of hiding, shortly after the Nazis rounded up almost all Jews in his neighborhood of Brussels.

"Almost all were caught. They moved from house to house," he told dpa. "I heard shouting and screaming." Kapotka, who now lives near Tel Aviv, remembered how the Jewish children hid in the basement near their dwelling "all night" when the Nazis searched the castle grounds. "You could cut the tension with a knife."

Oelkuchen's 16-year-old sister was sent to Auschwitz and did not survive, while his other sister, then 10, was also hidden at Beloeil and now lives in the United States. Kapotka lost his brother, sister and father in the war.

Prince Antoine Lamoral of Ligne, one of 10 direct grandchildren of Eugene II who attended the meeting, and who still lives at the same castle on the weekend, told dpa: "We did not quite realize until today what my grandfather did."