Family genealogy
Aunt Marie's family:
the Doukhan
"Aunt Marie" was my mother's older sister.
We have remained very close to Marie's family.
We adored Uncle Victor, her husband, a Sephardic Jew overflowing with joy and kindness.
Their only son, our cousin William, was like a big brother to my sister and me.
They lived very close to us and we ate together every Saturday night: slices of bread, cheese, coffee with milk (chocolate for us children) and some cakes!
We also shared summer holidays, often at the seaside: La Baule, Arcachon, Cannes, the Balearic Islands...
Childhood
She was born at the beginning of the First World War, on 18/10/1914.
My grandparents had to hurry to have their civil marriage in August 1914.
I haven't been able to find the schools my uncle and aunts attended. Among the schools in the 3rd arrondissement, few have kept complete records.
I don't know if she went to nursery school, but since elementary school was compulsory, she must have been there in October 1920.
Are the schools closest to Rue St Claude on Rue de Turenne or Rue de Belleyme?
A question: My grandmother must have left for Epernon around March/April 1918 to give birth to Raymond. Did the whole family go? Did my grandfather stay with the two little girls: Marie, 4 years old, and Annie, 2 years old?
Another unknown moment: my grandparents successively made a trip to Warsaw, but without the children: my grandfather on March 26, 1921, and he returned two months later, on May 16. His mother had died in October 1920.
The situation is more complex; my grandmother left on August 24, 1921, but did not return until January 17, 1922.
Who took care of the children for more than 4 months?
Marie was 7 years old, Annie 5 years old and Raymond 3 years old?
I find it hard to believe that my grandfather could have taken care of them alone.
Were they placed in care? Did Fanny Chwast and her daughter Hélène (12 years old) help my grandfather (they lived in the same building)?
My grandmother invested her artistic desires in my Aunt Marie.
She facilitated his entry into the Châtelet dance school.
I'm investigating to see if there are any documents concerning her.
All the Archives of Parisian Theatres have been deposited in the collections of the Historical Library of the City of Paris (rue Pavée)w;
Paul Lehman, who took over the management of the Théâtre du Châtelet, created a dance school within it in 1929.
When did Marie join? Did she take private lessons?
I'm continuing the investigation!
We have several photos of my aunt as a dancer; I found two newspaper clippings where her name appears in connection with performances,
- on June 18, 1932, as part of the "festival of water, elegance, theatre and sport," at the Molitor swimming pool
- On March 4, 1934 in the Intransogeant: her name appeared in the context of the Union Gala at the Cirque d'Hiver, she danced in a choreography: "Oriental Waltzes".
Marie met Victor Doukhan (1912-1993).
I don't know when, or how?
Victor was born in Constantine to a Sephardic family.
I don't think that was a problem for my grandparents.
Nevertheless, they were married in a religious ceremony at the town hall of the 19th arrondissement on August 28, 1936.
Marie's witness was Grandfather's cousin, Léon-Alter Chwast, and Victor's witness was Simon Assoun, one of his cousins.
At the moment, I haven't done any research on my uncle Victor yet.
I don't know when he left Constantine, nor if he did his military service there.
When he got married, his father, Benjamin Doukhan, had died; he had been hit by a bus. I believe he owned a café in Constantine.
His mother, Tchekouna Assoun, was in Constantine.
The question of Annie and Marie's marriage created family tension.
My aunt Annie met her future husband, Jean Firer, long before Marie met Victor. She wanted to get married before her sister. My grandmother flatly refused, claiming they couldn't afford two wedding dresses. Marie, the elder, had to get married first, and her sister would then have the dress altered to fit her.
This greatly saddened my aunt Annie, and reinforced her resentment towards her mother.
We don't have any photos of the wedding ceremony.
Marie continued to be a dancer.
Victor was a salesman at that time. Before his marriage, he lived at 7 rue Manin.
I don't know if the couple lived there after the wedding.
Nor how Marie and Victor lived until the war.
Victor Tehekouna Assoun's mother, Lucien (Victor's brother), Marie and Victor
Another great mystery: what happened during the occupation.
According to the report of the "denaturalization" investigation, my aunt is listed as being in the free zone. The family rumor was that she had false papers and that she continued to dance at the Châtelet.
Apparently, she did not live with Victor and was allegedly "protected".
I don't know by whom or under what conditions. The fact remains that she provided something to improve her parents' daily life.
Was Victor conscripted into the army at the outbreak of war? Where did he live? He must have been in Paris for a while, because he was involved in black market activities with Raymond, his brother-in-law.
After the war, in 1944, Victor and Marie were reunited.
And on February 4, 1945, my cousin William was born, whom we called "Zizou".
I know that my uncle and aunt ran a cafe for a while.
My uncle was the most adorable man ever, but he had one serious flaw: he was addicted to gambling.
Therefore, their business did not prosper.
My uncle went back to sales: he must have been a good salesman because he had a way with words. One employer's name still sticks in my mind: Jablonska establishments.
at Marcelle's, a cousin of Madeleine Kronental.
My aunt found a job as a saleswoman: when I was young, she worked for the Rodier company and brought us back sweaters or little lightweight knit outfits. Later, she worked part-time on Saturdays.
I have always known them to live in the Passage des Fours à Chaux, five minutes from our house. This passage ran alongside the boys' school at 119 Avenue Simon Bolivar where my cousin was a student.
The building was old and so was the passage, in this area where gypsum (plaster stone) had been extracted since the 13th century.
There were underground quarries beneath the Buttes Chaumont hill.
Nearby, plaster kilns proliferated.
The lime burners monitored the firing of the gypsum. Although the lime kilns disappeared in 1875 with the closure of the quarries, the passage where they were located retained their name and appearance throughout our childhood.
At one end of the passage was Avenue Simon Bolivar, in the foreground of the photo, at the other end was a covered passage surmounted by a building opening onto Rue de Meaux.
This entire island was rebuilt in 1972.
My uncle and aunt had to move to rue de Belleville (near where my parents had moved 5 years earlier).
We used to go to my aunt's house very often, especially on Thursdays.
She lived in the middle of the passageway.
To enter her home, we passed through a porch leading to a large, square, paved courtyard. Several staircases led to a gallery on each floor, bordered by wooden balustrades, like logs, slightly carved.
Each apartment was accessible via this walkway.
I believe there were 4 floors. These buildings were a wonderful playground for children.
My aunt often took us to the Secrétan cinema on Thursdays.
I believe it was with her that we saw Ben Hur, released in 1959.
We spent many happy holidays with them!
I still have one mystery to solve.
We always knew our uncle with a sunken left side of his forehead. We often asked him about the circumstances of this accident. Each time, his explanations changed: one time, it was an accident when he was little; another time, he had jumped off a bridge in Constantine to escape pursuers. In short, he didn't want to talk about it! When I look at his wedding photos, his left forehead isn't sunken in 1936. In the post-war photos, you can see the mark of this sunken area. I think something happened to him during the war that he didn't want to talk about!
Top left in 1946 with Annie and Jean Firer and their children.
On the left, Tata Marie in 1945.
Below, on holiday with the grandmother, certainly in 1947/48.
The photo booth must date from 1945.
On the left, certainly in 1949.
On the right, spring 46.
Below, Zizou/William is growing up!
On the left, the Doukhan family with Raymond, I have not identified the two children, the one in the middle is William, the "grimacing" one from the early 1950s.
Below, with our cousin William, my sister and I, in the 1960s and my family and Aunt Marie, late 1950s.
On holiday together: on the right around 1960, on the left around 1962
My uncle Victor died of a heart attack on the platform of Cannes train station, in his son's arms on March 23, 1993. He was 84 years old.
My aunt Marie died on April 2, 2002 at the Rothschild retirement home in the 12th arrondissement of Paris. She was 88 years old.
Annie Coiffman, known as Nanou, the wife of our cousin William and practically our sister, passed away on April 23, 2023, at the Diagonesse Hospital in the 12th arrondissement. She waited until we left her room before dying two hours later. She was 78 years old.
William, who had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for several years, passed away at St. Antoine Hospital on June 1, 2023, a month after his wife. We were with him as best we could.
My sister and I have lost our older brother. He was 78 years old.