Editing The Rebbe's Visit To Paris (section)

== Historical Background ==
During World War II, the borders between Russia and Poland were not well guarded, and many refugees fled from Poland deep into Russia to escape the line of fire.

Due to the great famine that prevailed in Russia during the war, hundreds of thousands of refugees perished. After the war ended, Russia sought to hide this fact and allowed Polish citizens to return to their country, deliberately turning a blind eye and enabling massive forgery of Polish identification documents. After receiving the blessing of the Previous Rebbe (Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn), Chabad chassidim in Russia took advantage of this breach and escaped to free countries.

One of those who escaped was the Rebbe's mother, Rebbetzin Chana, who left at the last moment with forged documents from "Mume Sarah," who was among the chief organizers of the escape. She gave the Rebbetzin her own forged documents despite knowing that the KGB was pursuing her, while she herself remained in Russia where she eventually perished.

After leaving Lvov, the Rebbetzin stayed for a period in the Pocking displaced persons camp, from where she arrived in Paris in late winter 5707 (1947), and stayed with her relative, Rabbi Shneur Zalman Schneerson.