Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/03/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Congrats to your Uncle Nathan, a family story and history worth telling and remembering for sure. That's a cast too. Reno, Yves Montant's daughter (I think) and others with a reputation here. Thanks for the inforamtion. OTT: Enjoy Paris freely, the law states that photography is allowed in public places (including shops) so long as the focus is NOT on a specific person engaged in private activity; your uncle speaking publicly in Le Mans is no problem, your daughter kissing boyfriend on Les Champs might sue you ;-) Amiti?s Philippe Le 5 mars 10 ? 07:05, Nathan Wajsman a ?crit : > > Around 1920 my granduncle Shmuel (Samuel) Wajsman emigrated from > Lublin in Poland to Paris in search of a better life. There, he and > his wife did indeed build a new life, under the name Weismann, > courtesy a French immigration official who had trouble with our > Polish-Yiddish name. In Paris, they had 3 children, two girls and a > boy, the latter named Joseph and born in 1931. > > In 1942 the Vichy government rounded up French Jews at the behest of > the Germans. Most ended up in the gas chambers at Auschwitz, > including Joseph's entire family. But not Joseph. He escaped the > French holding camp together with another boy. They made their way > back to Paris only to find empty apartments, and parted company > there. Joseph eventually was whisked off to a village in the Loire > Valley where he was taken in by the villagers and pretended to be > just another French village boy. > > After the war, Joseph settled in Le Mans and became an apprentice in > a furniture shop. He later took over that shop and built a > successful business on that basis. For the first 10 years or so > after 1945 he was unaware that any part of his family in Poland had > survived the war. He assumed that everyone had met the same terrible > fate as his parents and sisters, and anyway he had never had any > contact with his Polish family as a child. Then, one day in 1957 or > 58, my father "found" him. How it happened is another story. But it > did happen, and Joseph discovered that he was not alone in the world > as he thought. Since then he has been incredibly devoted to the > whole family. He attends all family gatherings and major events, > whether in Europe, the US or Israel. > > Since he retired, Joseph has devoted much of his life and energy to > telling the story to schools, civic groups etc. around France. He is > usually one of the people who gives a little speech at the annual > 8th May celebration in front of the prefecture in Le Mans. During > the past couple of years he has been collaborating with the director > and screenwriter of a feature film about his life: > > http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1382725/ > > It may not be a Hollywood blockbuster, but it is a substantial film > with some well-known actors. For Joseph, who has strived so much to > tell the story, this is of major importance--this film will be seen > by a 100 times more people than he has reached so far with his > message of "never again". > > And now the big moment has arrived. The film will be released in the > Francophone world on Wednesday, and on Monday evening there is the > "official" avant-premiere organized by Gaumont on Champs-Elys?es. We > will be there together with our French family, to celebrate this big > event on our family's history. > > Over the years, I have shown many pictures of Joseph here on the > LUG, for example: > http://www.nathanfoto.com/paw/20.jpg > http://www.nathanfoto.com/L2002_39_3.jpg > http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws/uploads/2008/32alt2.jpg > (the last one at the Holocaust memorial in Berlin in the summer of > 2008) > > This is all a long way of saying that I am off to Paris on Saturday-- > besides the film, I want to take my daughter to the Louvre and I > want to visit the graves of two very different musical geniuses at > the P?re Lachaise cemetery, Chopin and Jim Morrison. And, if the > weather permits, to violate French laws and take some people > pictures in the Jardin du Luxembourg and other similar spots. > > > Nathan > > Nathan Wajsman > Alicante, Spain > http://www.frozenlight.eu > http://www.greatpix.eu > http://www.nathanfoto.com > > Books: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/search?search=wajsman&x=0&y=0 > PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws > Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >