The fight for custody resulted in kidnapping charges against Antoinette Brun, the children's war-time guardian who defied court orders to surrender the boys to their surviving relatives after World War II.
[1] Fritz, a medical doctor, was not permitted to practice medicine in Grenoble due to antisemitic laws put in place by the Vichy government.
[2] Fearing for the safety of their children, the Finalys left Robert and Gerald at Saint-Vincent de Paul nursery in Meylan on February 10, 1944, and shared the boys' location with family friend, Marie Paupaert.
[2] In February 1945, Marguerite Fischel, one of Fritz Finaly's three sisters, learned the fate of her family and, in May of the same year, secured the immigration permits needed for her nephews to join her in New Zealand.
'[2] Marguerite Fischel requested assistance from the Mayor of Grenoble, the French foreign minister, and the Red Cross, but was unsuccessful.
[1] From the ages of four or five, Robert and Gerald were mostly cared for in institutions run by the nuns of Notre-Dame de Sion in Paris, Grenoble, and Marseille.
[1] Nuns then moved the boys between Catholic institutions in Lugano, Switzerland, Paris, Voiron, Marseille, and Bayonne, where they were hidden under the names Francois Martella and Antoine Olivieri.
[4] On August 12, 1952, Anni Finaly's brother and the boys' uncle, Otto Schwartz, received a visit from Eugen Berthold, a Franciscan father from Vienna.
In the letter, Brun offered to pay for Schwartz's train ticket so he could visit the boys at a Franciscan monastery in Strasbourg.
Fearing the boys would be found, Mother Antonine had priests lead them on foot through the Pyrenees to San Sebastian, Spain.
[1][4] Cardinal Gerlier of France and Jacob Kaplan, chief rabbi of Paris, negotiated the terms of the boys' return in March 1953.
Spanish monks were not pressured by the Church to return the boys and continued to hide Robert and Gerald for an additional three months.
[2] Hedwig Rosner was awarded legal guardianship of Robert and Gerald and flew with the boys to Tel Aviv on July 25.