Raphaël (called Raph) FEIGELSON

Born on February 17, 1926 in the 6th district of Paris.
Widower, two children
33, rue Lacépède 75005 PARIS.
Retired shopkeeper

POEM by Raphaël Feigelson, quoted by Albert Bensoussan:

La fumée du crématoire
Charrie les larmes d’enfants
Dont les avenirs sanglants
Accusent devant l’Histoire.

The crematorium’s smoke
Wafts the tears of children
Whose blood-soaked futures
Impugn History

(translation by Steve Randel, 2017)

 

 

STUDIES:

Saint-Marcel elementary school and Lavoisier middle school in Paris’s 5th district. Berthelot upper elementary school In Toulouse.

the Sorbonne: psychology.

DIPLOMAS:

Certificate of Elementary Education; Middle School Certificate; High School (A levels).

RESISTANCE:

1940-1945: Entered the “resistance” with his parents at the announcement of the armistice in June, 1940.
Regional military commander in the United Forces of Young Patriots (F.U.J.P.)

Officer of the Interior French Forces, arrested on May 14, 1944 and tortured by the Vichy militia and the Gestapo.

Interned in the camps at Compiègne and Drancy.

Deported as a resistance activist to Auschwitz on July 31, 1944.

Escaped from Auschwitz on January 22, 1945 and joined the Red Army, leading the unit that liberated this concentration camp and prevented the SS from destroying it. Took part in the fighting to mop up the area.

CAREER:

1948:  Founding member of the Cahiers du cinéma.

1949:  Founder and chairman of the Club du 27 janvier 1945.

1950: Founder and chairman of the General Association of Israelites of the Resistance. Writer. Member of the Society of Writers. Former member of the board of the Association for the Defence of Latin. Founder and General Secretary of the Student Action Committee against all racial, political  or religious discrimination.

1951:  Founder and chairman of the du Club du 27 septembre 1791.

1959:  Member of the Association of Resistance Activists of November 11, 1940.

1960: Technical advisor and member of the national bureau of the National Union of Escaped War Prisoners.

1958-1965: Clothing manufacturer in Paris.

1966: Manager of the Armoire de Grand-Mère in Paris. Founder and chairman of the national Confederation of Commerce, Tradesmen and Services. Chairman of the Tourist Office of the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève.

1968: Manager of Aviae Arca, a publication dedicated to literature, the arts and fashion.

1971: Former member of the managing board of the Republican Committee for Commerce, Industry and Agriculture. Chairman of the Club Etienne-Marcel and the Club du Tiers-Etat. Founder and chairman of the Brotherhood of the Resistance. Founder and chairman of the national Committee for the Capture and Punishment of War Criminals, which brought together all the associations of resistance activists and deportees.

1972: Vice-chairman of the Paris Federation of Commerce and Tradesmen. Chairman of the Fashion Action Committee. Chief editor of Flash Fédération, a publication dealing with commerce and skilled crafts.

1974: Chairman of the Auschwitz-Birkenau-Monowitz Association. Chairman and founder of the Association of Survivors of the Holocaust against Oblivion and Neglect. Membership in the Escape Lines Memorial Society (Great Britain). Former member of the Paris Council of the National Office of War Veterans. Chairman of the Committee for Cooperation among the Associations of war veterans and victims of Paris’s 5th district. Former member of the Republican Club.

1983: Member of the Association of Veteran Writers.

1987: General delegate of the National Association for the Remembrance and History of the Partisan Fighters.

2007: Vice-chairman of the National Association for Medal Holders of the Resistance.

WORKS:

1958: The Battle of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

1960: French-speaking Jewish Writers.

1963: The Usage of Language.

The Insurrection of the Warsaw Ghetto.

1964: The Crime of December 15.

1961: Then Blew the Winds of Sorrow (poems)

DECORATIONS:

Named Knight of the Legion of Honor by the President of the Republic on May 8, 1975 at the Arc de Triomphe on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the Allied Victory.

Military Medal.

War Cross Croix with bar 1939-1945.

Medal of the French Resistance.

Cross of Resistance Deportee.

Cross of Volunteer Resistance Fighter.

Cross of 1939-1945 Combattant.

Medal of Escaped Prisoners.

Medal of the Wounded.

DISTINCTIONS:

Vermilion Medal from the city of Paris (1998)

Citation by Air Chief Marshal TEDDER, Deputy Supreme Commander allied expeditionary Force (1945)