Letter

Held by

Montreal Holocaust Museum via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)

Dates

October 09, 1939 (indexed as 1939)

Level

item

Extent

Letter : Paper : Beige, black ; Ht: 25,4 cm x W: 20,3 cm

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.

Location

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Genre / form

textual record

Format

Document

In the picture

Clothing StoreDocumentFactoryGarment IndustryHatLetterLetterheadOffice WorkSignatureTypewrittenWarTagged automatically by a vision model; may contain mistakes.

Text in the image

9thOct. '39Mr.Siemion,119 Castle Lane Mansions,London W.9My dear Szaja,Les Modes Modernes Ltd.,General Manager.London W.4I hope you will excuse me for not answering your letter before now but I was very busy trying to keep the Factory going as the War is causing us, like all others, a lot of trouble. It is very difficult to get supplies of raw material but we hope to keep going for the time being.Now, I am very glad to know that you are in London and concerning your living, do not worry about this as I am in a position to help and you will have, each month, sufficient money to keep you going.I have been away for a fortnight buying raw materials and have just returned.Have you had news from your wife and parents? Please let me know. I have nothing exciting to tell you about myself. I am suffering like everybody else over this terrible situation.I wish you all the best and good luck.Yours sincerely,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 ↗2002_08_182.jpg