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Letter
Montreal Holocaust Museum · small copy hosted here (www.cjhn.ca blocks its images elsewhere)
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Letter

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Held by
Montreal Holocaust Museum via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)
Dates
May 28, 1942 (indexed as 1942)
Level
item
Scope & content
One page. 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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DocumentFamilyImmigrationJewish CommunityLetterPoliticsSignatureTelegramTypewrittenWarWeddingTagged automatically by a vision model; may contain mistakes.
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Extent
Letter : Paper : Beige, black ; Ht: 26,9 cm x W: 20,6 cm
Genre / form
textual record
Format
Document
Text in the image
28thMay'42My dearest Sophie and Rachel,YoursI am sending this letter to Mr.Arnet and he is going to very kindly sent it to you and I sincerely hope you will get it safely.Mr.Arnet told me you are in good health and I was very happy to hear this. A few days ago I received your telegram requesting me to renew the visas and this I did immediately and I think,in the meantime, you will have received the prolongation of the visa. If I could only know what to do to help you come over here, if you could let me know the difficulties, which I know must be very big, perhaps I could do something.In a few days it will be our wedding anniversary and we will be 18 years married. There is no need for me to tell you how I feel, if only this War was over so that we could be together always and enjoy all our wedding anniversaries and birthdays together. I am fed-up being alone but I suppose I should not complain as there are many people worse off than we are. How is Rachel? She must be a big girl now, probably a Madamoiselle and I hope she thinks always of her Daddie. I would give a lot to see her.Now for myself, as I have already told you in one of my letters I have furnished a house to receive you any time you will be able to come over here so that you will be at home immediately. My health is all right and business is going as satisfactorily as possible.I would be glad if you would send a letter to Mr.Arnet telling me all about yourself. How is Henri? your Mother? Ella and husband? my brother and wife? my sister? and Stephen and all the others. Will you please give them all my best wishes and regards. If you are in communication with Henri and Marcel will you tell them everything is satisfactory here.Awaiting the arrival of you and Rachel or at least a letter telling me all about yourself,I remain,with many kisses and best wishes,Read automatically; may contain mistakes.
Language
English
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2026-10-19T03:21:16Z · source datestamp n/a · andornot

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