Telegram

Held by

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

Level

item

Extent

Telegram : Paper : Ink : Black, Beige, Blue ; Ht: 17 cm x W: 21,5 cm

Scope & content

1 page, at the top is a row with 8 columns. 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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Genre / form

textual record

In the picture

DocumentEnvelopeFormHandwrittenLetterPostage StampSignatureTelegramTypewrittenTagged automatically by a vision model; may contain mistakes.

Text in the image

TELEGRAFA AN PHUIST.(POST OFFICE TELEGRAPHS)Telegrama Coigriche amháin (Foreign telegrams only)(Office of Origin, Route, Service Instructions and Indication).MRS. JULIUS FURSTHILARION E SLAVA 38PRO-DCHA MADRIDHave cabled Madame Philipson of Cauterets Post-Restante who holds Irish Visa to contact you for assistance enabling them enter your Country until journey completed to Dublin stop please give every help possible as her husband is intimate personal friend here in Dublin stop your assistance vitally necessary and greatly appreciated in view of critical situation stop cable reply love Aunt Rosie Cowan24 Raymond Tce.Uimh. No.Réimír (Prefix)Cód (Code)Focail (Words)Táille (Charge.)Seólta (Sent)Stampaí Fuist (Postage Stamps)Oifig Tosnuithe, Cúrsa, Treoracha Seirbhíse agus ComhartaMá's gádh ainm agus seóla an tSeoltóra no ceachtar acu do telegrafa, caithfear san do scríobh i ndeireadh téacs an telegrama.Iarraim go gcuirfar an Telegram so tré an chúrsa atá luaidhte agam thuas do réir na gCoinníollacha atá clóbhuailte lastall agus is na bhfuilim sásta bheith ceangailte.(I request that the above Telegram may be forwarded by the route indicated above by me, subject to the Conditions which are printed on the back hereof and by which I agree to be bound.)Ainm agus Seóla an tSeoltóra (gan a chur tré Thelegraf)(Signature and Address of Sender (not to be Telegraphed))Ba Cheart an deimhniú so do shighnin i gcás Telegrama Moille no Leitir-Thelegrama (feic an cúl).This Certificate should be signed in the case of a Deferred or Letter Telegram (see back).Dearbhuim leis seo ná fuil ach gnáth-chainnt shoiléir i dtéacs an telegrama so thuas (ás an teanga a húsáideadh ná*) agus nach féidir aon bhri bhaint aisti ach an gnáth-bhrí.I hereby declare that the text of the above Telegram is entirely in plain language (the language being*), and that it bears not any meaning other than that which appears on the face of it.Ainm an tSeoltóra (gan a chur sa Telegram) Signature of Sender (not to be Telegraphed)*Cuir síos anseo an teanga d'úsáideadh. *State here the language used.Read automatically; may contain mistakes.

Language

Irish

Harvested

2026-10-19T03:21:16Z · source datestamp n/a · andornot

Digital objects at the source

• imageOpen original at source ↗2012X_20_39.jpg
• imageOpen original at source ↗2012X_20_39b.jpg