Letter
1 image
- Held by
- Montreal Holocaust Museum via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)
- Dates
- 1939-September 22, 1944 (indexed as 1939–1944)
- Level
- item
- Scope & content
- Notification that inquiry to Vichy on whereabouts of Sophie Philipson and family has not been answered due to military situation. Narrative: In the 1920’s Serge and Sophie Philipson (nee Orbach) left Berlin for Paris due to rising antisemitism. On July 15, 1930 their daughter Rachel was born. Serge, Sophie and Rachel were Polish citizen, they never got either the German or the French citizenship. In Paris, Serge worked for Les Modes Modernes, the hat factory of his brother-in-law, Henri. When an opportunity to expand the business in Ireland arose, Serge moved to Galway. The new factory opened in July 1938. In August 1939, Sophie, Rachel, and 4 other family members (Rachel’s cousin Stéphane, his maternal grandmother Néné, Serge’s sister Esther and Serge’s sister-in-law Choura) left for Cabourg, in Normandy. After the winter 1939-1940 it became difficult to communicate with Ireland but Rachel and Sophie could still send and receive letter from Serge. At the end of winter 1940, the group moved to Néris and in July 1940, after the occupation of France by Germany, they settled in the zone libre in the village of Cauterets, on the border with Spain. They were reunited with Robert, Serge’s brother. In August 1942, 4 family members (Sophie’s sister Ella and her husband Ernest, their daughter Ruth, Serge’s siblings Robert and Esther) were arrested by local police and deported. They were not seen again. At the beginning of 1943, Sophie, her mother Augusta and Rachel moved to Maubourguet. In April 1943, they moved to Cannes in Hotel Victoria with Henri, Stéphane and Néné. Henri, Sophie and Augusta went into hiding together while cousins Stéphane and Rachel were taken care of by Néné and returned to Maubourguet. In January 1944, Henri, Sophie and Augusta were denounced and arrested. They were transferred to Marseille before being sent by train to Drancy transit camp from where they were deported. It is believed they were killed in a Polish killing centre. In 1944, Rachel moved from one place to another – under a non-Jewish identity - and continued to correspond with her father. In June 1945, she reunited with her father Ireland. They had not seen each other for 6 years. In 1951, Rachel got married. In 1954, she immigrated to Montreal.
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- DiplomacyDocumentGovernmentGovernment BuildingLetterLetterheadMilitarySignatureTypewrittenWarTagged automatically by a vision model; may contain mistakes.
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- Extent
- Letter : Paper : Beige ; Ht: 4 3/4 cm x W: 7 1/2 cm
- Genre / form
- textual record
- Format
- Document
- Text in the image
- Uimh. Tagartha(Reference No.)ROINN GNOTHAÍ EACHTRACHADepartment of External Affairs,202/285.ÉIREBAILE ATHA CLIATHDublin.22 Meán Fomhair, 1944.A Shéanadóir a chara,Senator S. McEllin,Chairman,Les Modes Modernes, Ltd.,I am directed by the Minister for External Affairs to refer to your letter of the 20th September regarding the whereabouts of Mrs. Philipson and her family in France, and, to inform you that, at the request of the Secretary of Les Modes Modernes, Ltd., a cabled enquiry was despatched to the Legation at Vichy on the 9th August in the matter, but no reply has yet been received thereto.You will appreciate that, owing to the most recent developments in the military situation, communications with and in France have been dislocated. It may be some time therefore before a report is forthcoming from the Legation.Mise, le meas,Té Rúnaí.Read automatically; may contain mistakes.
- Language
- English
- Harvested
- 2026-10-19T03:21:16Z · source datestamp n/a · andornot
Digital objects at the source
- imageOpen original at source ↗2011X-215-16.jpg