Josie Traum was born Josiane Aizenberg in Brussels, Belgium on March 21, 1939 into a traditional Jewish home. Her father, Jaque, worked as a tailor and her mother, Fanny, was a clothing designer for many prominent Belgians, including the Belgian royal family. After the German invasion of Belgium in May of 1940, Josie’s father and uncle fled to England, fearing that men were likely to be arrested by the Nazis, while women and children would be left alone. Josie remained in German-occupied Belgium with her mother and grandparents. Fanny, Josie’s mother, became active in the Belgian Resistance movement, hiding refugees in her apartment. Eventually, Fanny was caught and deported to Auschwitz. 

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The underground arranged to have Josie hidden in the Sisters of Spermalli Convent in Bruges in 1942 under the false name Josiane van Bergh, one of three Jewish children being hidden in the convent’s orphanage. She and the other children spent their days saying the rosary and playing in the courtyard. From the convent, she was smuggled to another Christian family, the father of whom was occasionally taken away by the Nazis for questioning. She spent the rest of the war with this family, the Debrackelaers, in Brussels. 

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After Belgium was liberated, Josie’s aunt found her through connections in the underground. Fanny survived Auschwitz and returned to reunite with Josie. Jaque returned to their home in Belgium in 1946. He had been seriously injured when his London home was bombed. In 1949, the family moved to the United States and settled in New Jersey. After the war, Josie learned that her grandparents had been murdered after their arrest and deportation.

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Josie met her husband, Alfred "Freddie" Traum, a Kindertransport survivor from Austria, on a study-abroad program in Israel. She went on to earn her graduate degree and work as a social worker with abused children. After her retirement, Josie began to volunteer at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.