Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2015/12/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> > On 12/1/2015 2:53 PM, Nathan Wajsman wrote: >> As some of you know, the Wajsman clan has a branch in France (and a >> branch of that branch in Brussels). Actually, it was the first part of >> the family that emigrated from Eastern Poland, when Shmuel Wajsman left >> Lublin for Paris in 1920 in seach of a better life. He settled in to a >> working class existence in Paris and had three children, one of whom was >> Joseph, who is not technically my uncle (I think the correct term is >> granduncle or some such, but is totally immaterial?he is simply ?mon >> vieux oncle? when we speak). Joseph was born in 1930, and in 1942, like >> most other French Jews, he and his family were rounded up and sent to a >> transit camp, from where most were sent on to Auschwitz and perished >> there. But Joseph managed to escape the camp with a friend and was hidden >> by villagers in the Loire valley during the remainder of the war. He >> later settled in Le Mans where he lives to this day in an old house in >> the centre with a great wine cellar. In 2010, the story of his capture >> and escape in 1942 was made into a movie, La Rafle, the premiere of which >> I had the pleasure to attend at a theatre on Champs Elys?es in March of >> that year (the English title is The Roundup). >> >> Anyway, yesterday I had meetings at the OECD in Paris which required me >> to travel there on Sunday, and thanks to the French TGV it takes only 50 >> minutes to travel from Gare Montparnasse in Paris to Le Mans, so I spend >> Sunday night visiting Joseph. While I have seen him on various occasions >> here in Alicante or in Brussels in recent years, I had not been to Le >> Mans for 10 years or so. So it was nice to spend a quiet evening talking >> with him, and also having dinner with his daughter (so my cousin) >> Isabelle who lives just 100 meters away. Of course I took pictures: >> >> A portrait of Joseph in a pensive mood: >> http://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-pxv9nwz/A >> >> At his desk in his home office (explanation in the caption): >> http://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-9vTh6DD/A >> >> Isabelle: >> http://www.greatpix.eu/All/Picture-A-Day/i-gRq72bT/A >> >> The portrait of Isabelle is technically deficient, but I still like it as >> it portrays her personality very well. >> >> Cheers, >> Nathan >> >> Nathan Wajsman >> Alicante, Spain >> http://www.frozenlight.eu <http://www.frozenlight.eu/> >> http:// <http://www.greatpix.eu/>www.greatpix.eu >> PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws >> <http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws>Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/ >> <http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/> >> Cycling: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator >> <http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator> >> YNWA lovely Nathan, and I still remember with great fondness the photo of Joseph playing boules. steve