Werner

My grandfather Werner passed away last thursday. I am sad, we are sad, for losing him and I am afraid my grandmother will not cope well without him.

It is very difficult for me to fathom what his life was, especially during his early years ; his separation from his parents at a young age, the threats to his life during the war, his having to build a life for himself from scratch in France after the war... We are lucky he wrote down his memories from the war and shared them with us.

Werner was born on March 8, 1926 in Breslau, Germany. His mother was from protestant origin and his father from jewish origin, "proud of his assimilation" according to Werner. My grandmother says that his mum never really loved him but I don't know how true this is.

In february 1939, Werner, his older sister Ursula and his mother left for France, for the kids, and England for his mother. His father was not allowed to leave Germany. The two kids were welcomed in the chateau de la Guette, a property of the baroness of Rothschild who aimed at protecting endangered children from all over Europe. The time spent there in the 'republic of children' was a great experience for Werner and Ursula.

In june 1940, the children were dispersed ; my grandfather and the younger kids were sent to La Bourboule and his sister and the older kids went to vocational schools.

In july 1941, the children left La Bourboule for different, safer places and Werner came to Ecole de Beauvallon, Dieulefit. The school was founded in 1929 by progressive teachers Marguerite Soubeyran and Catherine Krafft and sheltered many children in danger during those years.

Dieulefit, a small town of 2500 inhabitants in Drome, welcomed about as many refugees during the war and among them many intellectuals. It was a safe haven for a great number of jews.

Werner was very happy in Ecole de Beauvallon and spent a lot of time exploring Drome, helping local farmers, guiding resistance fighters to the local maquis. The years spent there were paramount for him.

On August 25, 1942, Werner was arrested by policemen. He was taken to a camp in Venissieux from where people were deported. Thanks to Marguerite Soubeyran and others, Werner and a few other detainees were hidden in a small hut and then taken out of the camp. His life, our life, could have stopped there...

The secretary of the city hall in Dieulefit gave Werner a new identity and he resumed his life in Ecole de Beauvallon, even getting his school diploma. In july 1944, he joined a maquis and fought in the Rhone valley.

Ursula managed to flee to Switzerland in 1943. She emigrated to Palestine in 1945, had two kids, one of them dying young, and died tragically in an accident in 1952. The last time Werner saw her was in 1942, in Dieulefit.

Werner's father lived in Berlin for most of the war. He was deported to Buchenwald where he died in january 1945.

Werner met again with his mother in 1945, in England. Oma went on to live in Orta, Italy and then in Switzerland.

After all he went through, Werner managed to make a life for himself in France. He became an architect, married my grandmother Mireille, had two kids. They started out living in an attic room, 12 m2, in the Marais and then traded up to a flat in the beautiful, but then run-down, Hotel de Beauvais, before moving in 1987 to a nice new place down the street. They bought a car. Then a farmhouse in Corbeil, Oise, which they renovated and where they spent many happy vacations (and where I grew up).

Then we were born and my uncle died.

My relationship with Werner growing up was not very good. He was quite harsh - I remember showing him my good grades in German when I was twelve years old, thinking he would be happy, and him scolding me for not yet speaking the language. The outings to the museum with him were quite dreadful also for us young kids. I had the feeling he only really appreciated my young brother, a fellow man, and not us girls..
But over the recent years, he showed us more and more he liked us and we became closer.

Werner loved the arts. He would go on trips all over Europe to visit museums and see exhibitions. He took pictures of many (all?) of the churches in Oise, documenting them thoroughly. He designed units to display art books.

Werner was extremely cultivated, knowledgeable about many things, and liked to share his knowledge and tell stories. He was unfortunately not a very captivating story teller, speaking slowly and looking to be perfectly accurately.

He was from an early age a communist and was a reader (one of the last!) of l'Humanite until the end. At the same time, he could not live without his bourgeois lifestyle and comfort. And he enticed his relatives to vote for Pasqua (!) in 1992 as he opposed Maastricht treaty. A man full of contradictions.

As an architect, he specialized in industrial buildings and labs. Looking at the pictures of the places he designed is quite fun now as they are so typical of the 1960s and 1970s.

He suffered a heart attack in 1987 (I think) and had to get surgery, but was in very good health until last summer when his heart began to fail. He was hospitalized early december and slowly the end came...

The family in Breslau.











Dieulefit in 1970. On the left Catherine Kraft, in the middle Werner and family, and to the right Marguerite Soubeyran.