Rachel LEVY, born NAMIAS

Rachel Lévy, née Namias, was born on January 25, 1890 in Thessaloniki, Greece. Rachel was married on October 17, 1914, to Joseph Lévy, born March 23, 1880 in Istanbul. The couple had two children, Liliane, born on November 4, 1919 in the 9th district of Paris and Mireille, born on August 27, 1915 in the 12th district of Paris. Rachel was a homemaker, a radical socialist and a lover of classical music. Before she married, Rachel was a milliner, and then worked with her future husband who was in the knitwear trade.

During the war, her daughter Liliane joined the resistance. Liliane was arrested twice and Rachel visited her in prison.

Rachel and Joseph fled to Chailley in 1942. It is not known whether they fled Paris before or after the Vel d’Hiv roundup. They were arrested in Chailley on April 15, 1944. According to the records, they were among the last Jews to be arrested in the Yonne department.

Interned in Auxerre on July 6, 1944, Rachel was transferred to the Drancy internment camp on July 11, 1944.

She left Drancy for Auschwitz on July 31, 1944 on Convoy 77. After a journey of some days in inhuman conditions, she was killed in the gas chambers and then incinerated in Auschwitz. Only Liliane returned alive from the Auschwitz camp. During her internment in the camp, Liliane saw her sister Mireille, who was sick. Mireille as also gassed and cremated in the camp. On her return to Paris, she learned that her parents, Rachel and Joseph Lévy had also been deported and killed in Auschwitz.

Research and written by the 12th grade customer relation class at the Jean de la Taille high school in Pithiviers, France.

Contributor(s)

The students of the 12th grade customer relation class at the Jean de la Taille high school in Pithiviers, under the gui-dance of their history and literature teacher, Caroline Ferrière.