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Jeanne NADAUD née GENSBOURGER
Photo courtesy of the Shoah Memorial in Paris, Elisabeth Strauss collection, reference MXII_24064.jpg.
This biography was written by Sigrid GAUMEL, Associate Professor of Geography
On 31 July 1944, Convoy 77, the last large convoy of deportees, left Drancy for Auschwitz-Birkenau, carrying 986 men and women and 324 children. On arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau, 836 of the 1310 deportees were immediately sent to the gas chambers and 474 were selected for work. Only 250 survived[1]. Among them were 2 Jewish deportees from the same family, who lived in Colmar in the Haut-Rhin department in eastern France: Jeanne Nadaud, née Gensbourger, and her daughter Jacqueline Strauss, née Nadaud. In this biography we have attempted to retrace the personal history of Jeanne Nadaud née Gensbourger. We encourage the reader to refer also to the biography of Jacqueline Nadaud, married name Strauss, on the Convoi 77 association website.
Jeanne Gensbourger as a child, adolescent and young woman growing up in the German Empire (1888-1919) in Colmar
Marthe Jeanne Gensbourger[2] was born on November 7, 1888 in Colmar[3]. Since the Treaty of Frankfurt, on May 10, 1871, the French regions of Alsace and Moselle in the east of France were de facto annexed by Germany. They were part of the Reichsland Elsass-Lothringen, and thus the people of Colmar found themselves in Germany. Jeanne’s father was the Jewish tradesman Félix Gensbourger, born on July 21, 1854 in Colmar[4]. Her mother was Sara Berthe Gensbourger, née Dreyfus, born on December 15, 1864 in Belfort[5]. Jeanne had an older brother, Georg Isidor Gensbourger, who was born on January 4, 1886 in Colmar, at 5 St Peterwall, (later 5, boulevard St Pierre)[6].
In 1892, the family lived at 1 Jugengasse (1, rue des Juifs[7]) in Colmar[8]. Jeanne’s paternal grandparents, Abraham Gensbourger, who was born around 1820, and his wife Sara Gensbourger, née Picard, born on March 19, 1819 at Wintzenheim in the Haut-Rhin department, lived in Colmar at 22 Langestrasse (later 22, Grand’rue)[9]. Jeanne had two uncles from her grandfather Abraham’s earlier marriage[10]: Isidor Gensbourger, born on March 22, 1848 in Wintzenheim[11] and Henri Gensbourger, born on May 12, 1850, also in Wintzenheim[12]. Isidor, who was married to Fanny Gensbourger née Gintzburger on March 5, 1851 at Rixheim in the Haut-Rhin department[13], had two children: Robert Gustav Gensbourger, born on January 11, 1876 in Colmar[14] and Aline Henriette Gensbourger, born on March19, 1877 in Colmar[15]. Isidor and Henri lived, with their father Abraham, at 22 Langestrasse in Colmar[16] and appear to have run a fabric and drapery in the town[17].
Jeanne’s paternal grandfather, Abraham Gensbourger, died on 7 May, 1895 in Colmar and is buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Colmar[18]. His wife Sara continued to live until her death at 22 Langestrasse in Colmar. She died on April 29, 1902 and she too is buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Colmar[19].
In 1907 or 1908, Félix, Sara Berthe and their children Georg and Jeanne moved house and set up home at 13 Marsfeldwall (13, boulevard du Champ-de-Mars)[20] in Colmar[21]. In 1911 to1912, the family was still living at 23 Marsfeldwall (23, boulevard du Champ-de-Mars) and Georg, aged 25, was, like Felix, as a manufacturer[22]. From 1905 Félix appears to have had a “Mechanische Weberei”, or mechanized fabric factory, which from 1909 onwards was at 55 Türckheimerstrasse (55, rue de Turckheim) in Colmar[23]. In 1913 to 1914, Jeanne, then aged 25, owned a business in her own name located at 1 Clausgasse[24] in Colmar. An advertisement in the Colmar directory for the years 1913-1914 and 1914-1915[25] refers to her store “Firma Jeanne Gintzburger” selling silk, wool, cotton, furniture fabrics, curtains, tablecloths, rugs, underwear, table linen, bed linen, and also socks, overalls, leathers and furs, pocket handkerchiefs, leather and fashion goods[26].
During the First World War, 380,000 people from Alsace and Moselle, 4400 of them Jewish, served in the German Army[27]. No trace remains, however, of any military files concerning Jeanne’s brother, Georg Gensbourger, or her cousin, Robert Gustav Gensbourger[28]. Jeanne’s parents died during the First World War. Her father, Félix, died in Colmar on April 10, 1915, at the age of 60[29] and her mother, Sara Berthe, died on October 3, 1918 in Colmar, at the age of 63[30]. Both are buried in the Jewish cemetery in Colmar[31].
Jeanne Gensbourger in Colmar in the inter-war period
After the First World War, Alsace-Moselle was returned to France by the Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June, 1919. On February 26, 1920, Jeanne Gensbourger married Pierre Jean Nadaud in the 13th district of Paris[32]. Both were 32 years old and of French nationality. Pierre Jean Nadaud was born on December 8, 1888 in Colombes, in the Seine department, north of Paris. He was the son of Antoine Nadaud, a sub-lieutenant in the 82nd Line Regiment, who worked in the recruitment section at La Roche-sur-Yon in the Vendee department, and Marguerite Nadaud, née David, who did not work outside the home. In 1888, they were living at 20, rue de la Chapelle in La Roche-sur-Yonne[33]. In 1920, Pierre Nadaud, a protestant[34], was working as a doctor in the army, equivalent to a lieutenant, and was living at 8, boulevard Arago in Paris. Prior to that, he had been living with his parents at 31 bis, rue de la Bastille in Nantes, in the Lower Loire region[35]. His father, Antoine Nadaud, was a lieutenant-colonel in the infantry in 1920.
After signing a marriage contract dated February 15, 1920, Pierre and Jeanne were married in the presence of Georg Gensbourger, Jeanne’s brother, an industrialist living at 19, avenue Foch in Colmar, France[36], and Isabelle Nadaud, who was not working and lived at 31 bis rue de la Bastille in Nantes. After their wedding, Pierre and Jeanne set up home in a first floor apartment at 23, boulevard du Champ-de-Mars in Colmar[37] and seem to have stayed there until 1939. The couple had an only daughter, Jacqueline Berthe Nadaud, born on December 30, 1920 in Colmar[38].
Jeanne and her brother Georg seem to have taken over their father’s fabric factory at 55, route de Turckheim in Colmar[39]. Their cousin, Robert Gustav, a merchant living at 40, rue du Fer à Moulin in Paris, a widower after his first marriage to Reine Morin, who died on March 17, 1920, was remarried on September 14, 1920 in the 5th district of Paris to Fany Nancie Aline Rivière, who was born on February 15, 1889 in Pont-de-Salers in the Aveyron department[40]. Henri Gensbourger, Jeanne’s uncle, a pensioner, was living in 1920 at 10, rue Chauffour in Colmar[41]. He died on August 27, 1923 and was laid to rest in the Jewish cemetery in Colmar[42]. Fanny Gensbourger, the widow of Isidor Gensbourger since April 18, 1903[43], lived at 24 Grand’rue in Colmar[44], until her death on March 2, 1924[45]. Isidor and his wife Fanny are buried in the Jewish cemetery in Colmar[46].
The Nadaud family’s escape to the Free Zone, where Jeanne was arrested and then deported to Auschwitz
On September 1, 1939, the German army invaded Poland. On September 3, 1939, France and England declare declared war on Germany. In 1939, it appears that the Nadaud family was no longer living in Colmar. Pierre Nadaud’s residency record mentions that he was “unbekannt”, or unknown, on September 1, 1939[47]. Pierre, Jeanne and their daughter Jacqueline seem to have fled to the Free Zone, since by this time they were living at 28, rue Saint Genès in Clermont-Ferrand, in the Puy-de-Dôme department[48].
Jeanne Nadaud, then aged 55, was arrested in Clermont-Ferrand on February 15, 1944[18]. Pierre and Jacqueline were most likely arrested on the same day. Jeanne arrived at the internment camp in Drancy on March 15, 1944[50], as did Pierre, and probably Jacqueline. Pierre was given a receipt on March 15, 1944 for valuables confiscated by the French authorities: 10 francs in cash, a gold and pearl brooch and a gold tooth. The receipt was signed by the Drancy camp “chief of police”[51].
Drancy was a transit camp, where Jews were held prior to deportation to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Jeanne, aged 55, and her daughter Jacqueline, who was 23, were deported to Auschwitz on July 31, 1944 on the last of the great convoys, Convoy 77[52]. They arrived in Auschwitz at night, three days after their departure from Drancy. It is not clear whether Pierre Nadaud, who was 55, was also deported on this convoy or not. Jacqueline did not mention him in her letters[53]. She wrote only: “My mother and I were deported to Auschwitz”.
On the night of their arrival in Auschwitz, Jeanne and Jacqueline were separated. Jacqueline probably did not learn of her mother’s fate until 1947, when a note was made on Marthe Jeanne Gensbourger’s birth record. It said “died in Auschwitz, Poland, on August 5, 1944. Record written in Colmar on 6 March 1947”[54]. Jeanne Gensbourger would thus have died on August 5, 1944 in Auschwitz-Birkenau, probably in the gas chambers. Jacqueline, whose left arm was tattooed with the serial number 16776 [55], remained in the camp at Auschwitz for two months[56]. She was then taken to the Kratzau camp in the Sudetenland, a subcamp of Gross-Rosen. She worked in an armaments factory in Kratzau until its liberation on May 10, 1945[57]. Jeanne’s husband, Pierre Nadaud, was also liberated but died in a bombing raid[58]. Kratzau is now known as Chrastawa, in the Czech Republic.
Conclusion
We do not know if Jacqueline Nadaud ever recounted her experiences, and we have been unable to locate any of her family’s descendants. The Nadaud family seems to have been forgotten: there are no family testimonies for the Nadaud family on the Yad Vashem website[59], and Jacqueline is not included in the list of Jewish deportees from the Haut-Rhin department[60].
On the Wall of Names at the Shoah Memorial in Paris are the names of Jacqueline Nadaud and Jeanne Nadaud[61]. The memorial monument in the Jewish cemetery in Colmar mentions the names and ages of the Jewish deportees who lived in Colmar, and includes that of Jeanne Nadaud-Gensbourger, aged 55
The memories of Jeanne Nadaud, née Gensbourger, and Jacqueline Strauss, née Nadaud, could be further commemorated by the laying of Stolpersteine, which are small paving stones conceived by the German artist Gunter Demnig, outside their former home at 23, boulevard du Champ-de-Mars in Colmar[62].
Editor’s note:
A photograph of Jeanne Nadaud, née Gensbourger, and a photograph of Jacqueline Strauss, née Nadaud, can be viewed on the website of the Shoah Memorial in Paris. They are included in this biography since the Memorial is one of the sponsors of our project.
References
[1] Convoi 77 association website.
[2] The records mention Gensbourger as Gensburger or Gintzburger. We have referred to Marthe Jeanne Gensbourger as Jeanne Gensbourger throughout.
[3] Birth certificate of Marthe Jeanne Gensbourger, Colmar Municipal Archives.
[4] Birth certificate of Félix Gensbourger, Colmar Municipal Archives.
[5] Address record for Félix Gensbourger, Colmar Municipal Archives, reference 173MURB-NA.
[6] Birth certificate of Georg Isidor Gensbourger, Haut-Rhin Departmental Archives, reference 2MiEC70.
[7] Now rue Berthe-Molly.
[8] Colmar town directories of 1892, 1895, 1898, 1901, 1902, 1904 and 1905, Colmar Municipal Archives.
[9] Colmar town directory of 1892, Colmar Municipal Archives.
[10] The name of Abraham’s first wife is difficult to read on Isidor and Henri Gensbourger’s birth certificates.
[11] Birth certificate of Isidor Gensbourger, Haut-Rhin Departmental Archives, online.
[12] Birth certificate of Henri Gensbourger, Haut-Rhin Departmental Archives, online.
[13] Birth certificate of Fanny Gintzburger, Haut-Rhin Departmental Archives, online.
[14] Birth certificate of Robert Gustav Gensbourger, Haut-Rhin Departmental Archives, reference 5Mi105/106.
[15] Birth certificate of Aline Henriette Gensbourger, Haut-Rhin Departmental Archives, reference 5Mi105/106.
[16] Colmar town directory of 1892, Colmar Municipal Archives.
[17] Colmar town directory of 1880, sections Gewebehändler (p.66) et Tuchwaarenhändler (p.91), Colmar Municipal Archives.
[18] According to the website of the Jewish community of Alsace and Lorraine: http://judaisme.sdv.fr/.
[19] According to the website of the Jewish community of Alsace and Lorraine: http://judaisme.sdv.fr/.
[20] Colmar town directories of 1907-1908, 1909-1910, 1911-1912, Colmar Municipal Archives.
[21] Currently, there is no address matching 13, boulevard du Champ-de-Mars. An Ibis hotel is located at 11, boulevard du Champ de Mars, which is spread over several blocks of former houses.
[22] Colmar town directory of 1911-1912, Colmar Municipal Archives.
[23] Colmar town directories of 1905, 1907-1908, 1909-1910, 1911-1912 and 1914-1915, Colmar Municipal Archives.
[24] Now rue Saint-Nicolas.
[25] Advertisement for “Firma Jeanne Gintzburger”, Colmar town directories of 1913-1914 (p. 52) and 1914-1915 (p. 444), Colmar Municipal Archives.
[26] “Stets grosse Posten. Seiden, Woll- und Baumwollstoffe, Möbelstoffe, Gardinen, Tischdecken, Teppische, Linoleum, Leib-, Tisch- u. Bettwäsche. Grosse Gelegenheitskäufe in Strümpfen, Blousen, Costümröcken, Pelzen aller Arten, Taschentüchern, Leder- und Galanteriewaren usw.”
[27] Philippe Landau, 1871-1918 Les citoyennetés à l’épreuve, sous la dir. de Freddy Raphaël, Juifs d’Alsace au XXe siècle, ni ghettoïsation, ni assimilation, Strasbourg, La Nuée Bleue, 2014.
[28] File consulted at the Haut-Rhin Departmental Archives, reference 17AL2 274.
[29] Address record of Félix Gensbourger, Colmar Municipal Archives, reference 173MURB-NA.
[30] Address record of Félix Gensbourger, Colmar Municipal Archives, reference 173MURB-NA.
[31] According to the website of the Jewish community of Alsace and Lorraine: http://judaisme.sdv.fr/.
[32] Marriage certificate of Pierre Jean Nadaud and Marthe Jeanne Gensbourger, Archives of the 13th district of Paris, online, reference 13M253. Jeanne was married in 1920, not in 1928 as stated in the book by Jacky Dreyfus and Daniel Fuks, Le Mémorial des Juifs du Haut-Rhin, Martyrs de la Shoah, Strasbourg, Jérôme Do Bentzinger, 2006.
[33] Birth certificate of Pierre Jean Nadaud, Hauts-de-Seine Departmental Archives, online, reference E_NUM_COL_N1888.
[34] Address record of Pierre Nadaud, Colmar Municipal Archives, reference 173MURB-NA.
[35] Marriage certificate of Pierre Jean Nadaud and Marthe Jeanne Gensbourger, Archives of the 13th district of Paris online, reference 13M253.
[36] Marriage certificate of Pierre Jean Nadaud and Marthe Jeanne Gensbourger, Archives of the 13th district of Paris, online, 13M253; Colmar town directory of 1920, Colmar Municipal Archives.
[37] Address record of Pierre Nadaud, Colmar Municipal Archives, reference 173MURB-NA; Colmar town directories from 1920 to 1938, Colmar Municipal Archives; Marriage certificate of Pierre Jean Nadaud and Marthe Jeanne Gensbourger, Archives of the 13th district of Paris, online, reference 13M253.
[38] Birth certificate of Jacqueline Nadaud, Colmar Municipal Archives.
[39] Colmar town directory of 1920, Colmar Municipal Archives.
[40] Marriage certificate of Robert Gensbourger and Aline Rivière, Archives of the 5th district of Paris, online, reference 5M259.
[41] Colmar town directory of 1920, Colmar Municipal Archives. There was probably a transcription error in the directory: there was no rue “Chauffeur” in Colmar, so it must have been rue “Chauffour”.
[42] According to the website of the Jewish community of Alsace and Lorraine: http://judaisme.sdv.fr/.
[43] According to the website of the Jewish community of Alsace and Lorraine: http://judaisme.sdv.fr/.
[44] Colmar town directory of 1920, Colmar Municipal Archives.
[45] According to the website of the Jewish community of Alsace and Lorraine: http://judaisme.sdv.fr/.
[46] According to the website of the Jewish community of Alsace and Lorraine: http://judaisme.sdv.fr/.
[47] Address record of Pierre Nadaud, Colmar Municipal Archives, reference 173MURB-NA.
[48] File marked “provisional” dated 05.01.1946 in the name of Nadaud Jeanne née Gensbourger. Victims of Contemporary Conflicts dept., Historical Service of the Department of Defense, Caen (document obtained through the Convoi 77 association); receipt for Mr. Nadaud’s property, Drancy search record no. 109, receipt no. 802, available on the website of the Shoah Memorial in Paris.
[49] Letter from Jacqueline Nadaud to the Prefecture at Mulhouse, dated December 3, stamped as arrived on December 6, 1945, n°329298. Victims of Contemporary Conflicts dept., Historical Service of the Department of Defense, Caen (document obtained through the Convoi 77 association).
[50] Letter from Jacqueline Nadaud to the Prefecture at Mulhouse, dated December 3, stamped as arrived on December 6, 1945, n°329298. Victims of Contemporary Conflicts dept., Historical Service of the Department of Defense, Caen (document obtained through the Convoi 77 association).
[51] Receipt for M. Nadaud’s property, Drancy search record n° 109, receipt n° 802, available on the website of the Shoah Memorial in Paris.
[52] Neither Jacqueline Nadaud nor Pierre Nadaud are mentioned in the book by Jacky Dreyfus and Daniel Fuks, Le Mémorial des Juifs du Haut-Rhin, Martyrs de la Shoah, Strasbourg, Jérôme Do Bentzinger, 2006.
[53] Letter from Jacqueline Nadaud to the Prefecture at Mulhouse, dated December 3, stamped as arrived on December 6, 1945, n°329298 ; Letter from Jacqueline Nadaud to the Minister of Prisoners of war, deportees and refugees, not dated, stamped June 29, 1945 ; Letter from Jacqueline Nadaud to the Minister of Prisoners of war, deportees and refugees, dated June 13, stamped June, 1945. Victims of Contemporary Conflicts dept., Historical Service of the Department of Defense, Caen (document obtained through the Convoi 77 association).
[54] Birth certificate of Marthe Gensbourger, Colmar Municipal Archives.
[55] Letter from Jacqueline Nadaud, not dated, stamped “letter arrived 28 July 19452 n° 171402”. Victims of Contemporary Conflicts dept., Historical Service of the Department of Defense, Caen (document obtained through the Convoi 77 association).
[56] Letter from Jacqueline Nadaud to the Minister of Prisoners of war, deportees and refugees, not dated stamped June 29, 1945. Victims of Contemporary Conflicts dept., Historical Service of the Department of Defense, Caen (document obtained through the Convoi 77 association).
[57] Letter from Jacqueline Nadaud to the Minister of Prisoners of war, deportees and refugees, dated June 13, stamped June 19, 1945. Victims of Contemporary Conflicts dept., Historical Service of the Department of Defense, Caen (document obtained through the Convoi 77 association).
[58] Letter from Micheline Bloch 5, rue Lafayette, Metz addressed to M. François Rosenauer, dated March 24, 1946. Victims of Contemporary Conflicts dept., Historical Service of the Department of Defense, Caen (document obtained through the Convoi 77 association).
[59] Yad Vashem website: www.yadvashem.org.
[60] Jacky Dreyfus and Daniel Fuks, Le Mémorial des Juifs du Haut-Rhin, Martyrs de la Shoah, Strasbourg, Jérôme Do Bentzinger, 2006.
[61] Inscription on the Wall of Names. Website of the Shoah Memorial in Paris.
[62] Such as the laying of the first Stolpersteine on April 30, 2019 in Muttersholtz and May 1, 2019 in Strasbourg and Herrlisheim-près-Colmar, which was initiated by the association Stolperteine 67.
Contributor Sigrid GAUMEL, Associate Professor of Geography
