With All the Trying Times, We Nevertheless Had a Tremendous Sense of Luck

Friday, March 7, 2025

Featured Guest: Refugee Miriam Ailloni-Charas

Holocaust survivor, Miriam Taytelbaum Ailloni was born on July 31, 1935 in the Town of Veere, the Netherlands, located in the Province of Zeeland to Elzina & Maurits Taytelbaum. By the late 1930’s the warning signs of antisemitism were evident, as Miriam’s dad, a doctor by trade, knew it was time to leave. So, following Holland’s surrender in 1940, after four days of war, he along with his family – his wife, and his two children, Miriam & her brother, Jochanan, (Jay) – were prepared & got into their car to drive to Paris, France, where Miriam & her family stayed in the unoccupied part of France in the town of Confolens, for two and a half years.

While there, as part of a fairly large group of Dutch refugees, the Dutch Government in exile in London, provided support to her family, pertaining to resources & documentation (visa). Subsequently, Miriam & her family also received help from the Dutch Government, as they sought refuge in Portugal & Spain, prior to leaving on the Marquis de Comillas, a Spanish ship that emigrated to Jamaica in 1943