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Volume
15d
Rachel
Phillipson-Levy
An Odyssey
Revisited
published
by the
Concordia University Chair in Canadian Jewish Studies
Copyright © Rachel Phillipson-Levy, 2001
Key Words
Berlin; Paris; Les Modes Modernes
(family owned hat factory); Cours Louise de Bettigny (private school); Lycèe Racine
(private school); Branch plant in Galway, Ireland; Le Touquet-Paris-Plage (temporary stay,
near Belgian-German border); Cabourg (town in Normandy); Néris-les-Bains; Sète on the
Mediterranean coast; Cauterets in the Pyrénés; Gurs (concentration camp); Maubourget in
the Pyrénés; Nice; Juan-les-Pins in the Midi; St. Etienne-de-St-Georgs (Isère);
Polémieux-sur-Saône, north of Lyon.
Abstract
Parents
leave Berlin in the early 1930s to settle in Paris where several family members are
established. After initial difficulties, her father becomes a partner in her uncleís
successful business. The partners are invited to open a branch in Galway and her father is
put in charge of the operation; the new factory opens in 1938. As the situation in
Germany deteriorates, several relatives emigrate, but those in Paris feel safe. As
the war starts, Paris is thought to be a bombing target and the family disperses to
Cabourg and Néris-les-bains. As France is divided, they move to the South, first to
Sète on the Mediterranean coast and then to Cauterets in the Pyrénés. In August
1942, rumour reaches the family that all Jews who entered France after 1933 will be
arrested. Some family members decide to hide in the mountains and they survive; the
others are arrested and sent to Gurs from where none return. In 1943 the family relocates
to Maubourguet because the cost of living is lower. When the Italian occupying troops are
replaced by Germans, life becomes more dangerous, resulting in another move to Nice.
Returns to Maubourguet, describes food rationing and further arrests. Financial resources
are exhausted, life becomes more hazardous. The author acquires new papers and a new
identity. In April 1944, moves to a primitive farm near the village of St.
Etienne-de-St-Georgs. Liberation comes in the summer of 1944 in the form of Canadian and
Senegalese soldiers. Another move follows to Polémieux-sur-Saône. Contact with father in
Galway is reestablished. After several complications, author reunites with her father.
This
memoir includes much detail on relatives and friends and their fate during these eventful
years. |
