For 2 central Ohio families, Macron’s visit hit home

WASHINGTON — When French President Emmanuel Macron took the podium Wednesday to address Congress, two central Ohio families with deep ties to France watched from the congressional galleries.

The youthful president’s appearance meant something different — but deeply personal — to both.

For Fran Greenberg of Bexley, it was a reminder of how far she’d come. She left Paris, having avoided the Holocaust, in 1948 with her sister. Her parents had died, one of illness, the other in a concentration camp. As she watched Macron, she thought of her parents, of the close brushes with death that she’d had, and the French neighbors and friends who protected her.

“Can you imagine I’m here?” she said. “Can you really imagine I’m here today?”

For Columbus business owners the Wielezynskis, Macron’s address was a reminder of the close bonds between France and the United States. The Wielezynski family owns La Chatelaine, a French bakery and bistro with multiple locations in Columbus, and every year on D–Day, they close one of their locations to honor America’s contributions to liberating France.

Stan Wielezynski’s father fought for the Polish Army. His mother was a nurse for the Red Cross. Macron’s visit was a reminder of the power of the friendship between those two countries.

Greenberg was invited to watch Macron’s speech by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D–Ohio. The Wielezynskis were invited by Rep. Steve Stivers, an Army National Guard officer who has attended the D–Day celebrations at La Chatelaine.

Their stories are vastly different, but the themes — the kindness of others, the unity created between the two nations during World War II — are the same.

Greenberg was four when the Nazis took her father away. Her life was immediately upended. Her mother had to get a job, and she and her sister were put in day care. One day, the Nazis came to her day care during pickup time, rounding up all of the mothers. Greenberg’s mother hid in a fireplace. She was the only mother who survived. Later, the family moved in with friends, hiding in an abandoned apartment during the day to escape detection.

Eventually, the kids were sent to foster families, where Greenberg and her sister endured bombings, too little food and conditions that eventually caused Greenberg’s health to deteriorate. After the war, they were reunited for a time with their mother before she died.

The girls were ultimately sent to the United States. Greenberg’s life, said her son Steven, is a testament to “the strange power of taking care of the people who come into your space.”

The Wielezynski family moved to the United States in 1985 with three of their four children — they gave birth to a fourth in the United States — and opened up the restaurant in 1991. They now have three locations.

Over the years, they say, their celebrations of D–Day have given them a family of friends — a dwindling group of World War II veterans. When the veterans started coming in 1991, some had never spoken about their experience during D-Day. They got the chance to exchange stories, said Charlotte Harden, Stan and Gigi’s daughter, and the family got to express their gratitude for the veterans’ heroism and friendship.