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

Letter

1 image

Held by
Montreal Holocaust Museum via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)
Dates
November 02, 1942 (indexed as 1942)
Level
item
Scope & content
1 page, typed in the center of the page, with the date in the top right corner. 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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DiplomacyDocumentGovernmentImmigrationJewish CommunityLetterLetterheadOffice WorkSignatureTypewrittenTagged automatically by a vision model; may contain mistakes.
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Extent
Letter : Paper : Ink : Black, Beige ; Ht: 26,1 cm x W: 21,5 cm
Genre / form
textual record
Format
Document
Text in the image
DUBLIN.le 2 novembre, 1942.Monsieur H. Queiroz,Secrétaire de l'Ambassade de Portugal,LONDRES.Mon cher Collègue et Ami,Je suis confus de mettre votre amabilité à une telle épreuve mais voici le motif pour lequel je me suis permis de vous télégraphier vendredi. M. Henri Orbach est le frère de Madame Philipson, pour laquelle vous avez été si bon de faire les démarches passées. M. Orbach a de grands intérêts en Irlande et le Gouvernement irlandais lui a octroyé le visa d'entrée en Irlande. De plus, il est français et a obtenu le visa de sortie de France. Il ne lui manque plus que le visa de transit portugais et il possède ses tickets de voyage par avion Lisbonne-Angleterre. Dans les circonstances présentes, il est préférable qu'il voyage avec sa soeur, Mme. Philipson. M. Orbach se fera accompagner de son enfant(un garçon).M. Philipson lui a télégraphié d'entreprendre des démarches, localement auprès des autorités portugaises. Je me permets cependant de vous demander s'il vous est possible de hâter l'affaire, de votre côté. M. Philipson viendra à Londres, dans quelques semaines et tient beaucoup à vous remercier en personne pour tout ce que vous avez fait.Veuillez croire, mon cher Collègue et Ami, à mes sentiments les plus dévoués.Conseiller de la Légation.Read automatically; may contain mistakes.
Language
French
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2026-10-19T03:21:16Z · source datestamp n/a · andornot

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