When the Wehrmacht invaded Belgium in May 1940, Charles Aufrychter fled to southern France with his family. They were interned in a camp by the French government in the fall of 1940. Their attempt to obtain visas for the United States failed.
In the summer of 1941, the Jewish children’s charity OSE achieved the release of Charles Aufrychter and other children from Rivesaltes internment camp. He was taken to a temporary OSE home for undernourished children in Palavas-les-Flots near Montpellier. Once he regained his strength, he was put into another OSE home in Château du Masgelier in the Creuse region.
His parents managed to escape from the camp and return to Belgium. They brought Charles back to the family. After his father’s deportation in the summer of 1942, Charles Aufrychter went into hiding with his mother. He worked as a baker’s assistant under the assumed name of Charles Dupont.
Charles Aufrychter’s mother was also arrested in April 1944. Charles experienced Charleroi’s liberation in early September 1944, however. Apart from him, only his oldest brother Lajbus Aufrychter survived the persecution.