Fortunée BRAKHA

Fortunée Valentine Brakha was born in Tunis, in what was then the French Protectorate of Tunisia, on May 22, 1927.

Source: French national archives, decree of French citizenship by naturalization, dated 1927

Her father, Victor, who was a shoemaker, was born in Tunis on November 5, 1889. Her mother, Marie Sabban, was born in Le Kef on March 9, 1898. They had seven children: Meyr (born in 1917), Kamouna (1919), Simon (1921), Rose (1923), Roger (1925), Fortunée (1927) and Edouard (1928). The Brakha family was granted French citizenship on February 9, 1927 (just a few months before Fortunée was born).

We do not know when or why they moved to 5 rue des Nonnains d’Hyères in the 4th district of Paris. We only know that they were already living there by 1937, when Meyr was listed in a census (Military census 3, Seine Registration office 562). Rue des Nonnains d’Hyères is in the St Gervais district, a neighborhood that was home to a large number of Jews from North Africa.

Photo of the knife grinder’s sign on the corner of Rue de Jouy and Rue Nonnains d’Hyères – photographer unknown

 

On February 22, 1938, Victor, who was by then a street vendor selling fruit and vegetables, died. He was buried three days later in the Thiais cemetery in Paris (Division 15, Row 14, grave number 10).

In 1939, war was declared. In 1940, the Germans occupied Paris. In 1941, the Paris city authorities decided to renovate and “Aryanize” the St. Gervais neighborhood. Fortunée and her family were evicted and fled to 16 rue St Antoine, was also in the 4th district of Paris. That same year, Meyr was interned for two days in Drancy camp, but was released because he was suffering from edema.

Simon and Roger set off for London, England, where they joined the FFL (Forces Françaises Libres, or Free French forces) which was part of the Resistance movement.

On October 27, 1943, Marie, Meyr and Edouard were arrested and interned in Drancy. They were deported on Convoy 62 on November 20, 1943, bound for Auschwitz. None of them ever came home.

Memorial plaque at 9 rue Vauquelin, Paris

Simon and Roger set off for London, England, where they joined the FFL (Forces Françaises Libres, or Free French forces) which was part of the Resistance movement. On October 27, 1943, Marie, Meyr and Edouard were arrested and interned in Drancy. They were deported on Convoy 62 on November 20, 1943, bound for Auschwitz. None of them ever came home.
Fortunée was then sent to stay in a UGIF (Union Générale des Israelites de France, or Genearal Union of French Jews) home for young girls at 9 rue Vauquelin, in the 5th district of Paris. It was there that she was rounded up, together with 33 other young girls, during the night of July 21-22, 1944.

She was arrested on grounds of her “race”, and taken to Drancy camp, where she was interned on July 22, 1944 under prisoner number 25,470. She was deported on Convoy 77 on July 31, 1944, and there is no further trace of her after she boarded the cattle car that carried her to Auschwitz. The train arrived on August 3, and she would have been sent straight to the gas chambers. Her official date of death was later declared to be August 5, 1944. She was 17 years, 2 months and 14 days old.