Record Groups
Images
Metadata
Collection |
Monique Rauch Papers |
Object Name |
Collection |
Catalog Number |
RG-65 |
Dates of Creation |
1939 - 1998 |
Extent of Description |
0.3 linear feet (1 box) |
Admin/Biographical History |
Monique Rauch (nèe Blusztajn) was born in 1929 in Paris, France. In 1940, the Blusztajn family fled Paris as part of the "exodus." While her father, Juma Blusztajn, attempted to find the Polish Army, Monique and her mother ended up in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France where her father joined them in 1941. In Brive-la-Gaillarde, Monique's father found work as a tailor. The family was subject to several restrictions against the Jewish people; however, they were not required to wear the star. In 1943, the French police took Monique's father from their home. He was kept for two days at a transit camp near Brive-la-Gaillarde where Monique and her mother brought him food. That Sunday, he was moved to Nexon. Monique and her mother took the train to see her father, despite restrictions against Jewish people traveling. They spent the whole day waiting outside the camp but were unable to see Juma. On March 3, 1943, the men were sent on to Drancy. Juma sent a card from Drancy to his family, which said that he was okay and that he would write again soon if he could. That was the last Monique and her mother ever heard from her father. On March 6, 1943, he was sent to Majdanek, but all trace of him is lost after. A survivor visited them after the war, claiming to know her father. He claimed that they were marched from Majdanek to two other camps. Her father, being unable to walk to the last camp, was killed along the way. Monique never could confirm the accuracy of this account. After her father's disappearance, Monique's mother took over some of his work while Monique began working at a photo studio around the age of 14. Monique remembers significant Resistance activity around Brive-la-Gaillarde and a moment when she and her mother had to sneak out of a movie theater after Germans began checking papers; however, she said mainly men were being rounded up, and no one ever came for her or her mother. Brive-la-Gaillarde was bombed near the end of the war, and in 1945, Monique and her mother returned to their Paris apartment. She continued working in a photo studio in Paris until she married Borys Rauch in 1952. The Rauchs immigrated to the United States in 1957 at the insistence of Monique's cousins. These same cousins had previously encouraged the Blusztajn family to come to Richmond before the war; however, Monique's mother had been resistant. |
Copyrights |
No restriction on use. |
Language of Material |
English |
Scope & Content |
The Monique Rauch Papers describe the Holocaust experiences of Monique Rauch including the impact her father's deportation had on her childhood. These Papers include biographical materials, photographs, correspondences, and several documents depicting the various camps her father, Juma Blusztajn, was detained after being taken in 1943. Folder 1 contains a copy of Monique's USHMM survivor form. Folder 2 has a letter, dated 1998, from Monique to the museum describing what she knows about her father's deportation. Folder 3 contains copies of several documents, mainly in French, provided by the Tracing Service about the experiences of Monique's father, Juma Blusztajn after his deportation. Folder 4 includes two identical prints of Juma Blusztajn and a copy of the information provided to the museum in Monique's letter of 1998. Finally, Folder 5 contains notes from Monique's October 11, 1998 interview by the Virginia Holocaust Museum. |
Subjects |
Paris, France Brive-la-Gaillarde, France Nexon Concentration Camp Drancy Internment Camp Lubin/Majdanek Concentration Camp Richmond, Virginia, United States |
Imagefile |
008\RG65.JPG |
Oral History |
Monique Rauch |