Josué YAKAR

 
Josué YAKAR was born on August 15, 1882 in Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey). 1881 is also found as his date of birth.
He was the husband of Corinne YAKAR, née BEHAR, deceased. Their wedding took place in Paris’s 11^th district in 1911.
They had five children:

• Robert YAKAR, born on June 25, 1911 in Paris’s 12th district
• Bella (or Belline) YAKAR, born on July 25, 1915 in Paris’s 12th district
• Joseph YAKAR, born in 1918. In the 1950’s he was given the status of Severely Disabled Veteran. When his family was arrested in 1944 he was fighting in the Free French forces in Morocco. He went with his unit to Ravensburg in Germany in 1945. He is known to have lived at several addresses: in 1945 at Madame MOOLENAAR’s, 43 rue Croix de Seguey in Bordeaux; in the 50’s and 60’s at n° 6 rue de Cursol, 41 rue de Landiras, and 21 rue de Strasbourg, all three in Bordeaux; and at n° 75 rue Broca in the 13^th district of Paris.
• Albert YAKAR, who lived after the war at n° 23 avenue du Lac in Aix-les-Bains.
• Juliette YAKAR, who married Albert Le Faou. She lived after the war at n° 37 quai des Chartrons in Bordeaux and n° 48 rue de la Bienfaisance in the 8^th district of Paris.

The family was first despoiled in Bordeaux (82 cours d’Alsace) in May, 1942, before moving to Clermont-Ferrand in August of 1942 (n° 6 place des Bughes). Their lodgings in Clermont-Ferrand consisted of a ground floor and two upper floors. Their landlords were Monsieur Redon and his wife (née Henriette DESESBATS in 1895, a shop employee), residing at n° 17 rue Saint Genès in Clermont-Ferrand.
Josué YAKAR was a hosiery merchant. In 1943 he was ill and cared for by his daughter Belline. They drew 10 francs each in aid for this reason. Josué YAKAR was arrested with his children Robert and Belline on June 8, 1944 around 4:00 p.m. by the Gestapo. A certain Monsieur Antoine witnessed the scene.
The family was despoiled again twice in Auvergne after the confiscation in Bordeaux:

• first their residence in Clermont-Ferrand. The owner of the building in which the YAKAR family lived testified on October 31, 1945:

“About eight days later, as I was going out into our garden adjacent to the previously cited building, four men in civilian clothing arrived and identified themselves as “German Police“. It was sometime around 2:00 p.m. Two of them took me to the back of the garden and held me under the threat of a revolver. During that time the other two went inside and took away different pieces of furniture that they loaded onto a van, notably a sewing machine, an electric vacuum cleaner, several voluminous packages that looked like clothing and household linen. I later learned that the apartment had been thoroughly plundered; even the birds had been stolen.

• a furniture storage facility of the Transports Huguet-Clairet company, belonging to Monsieur Huguet (born in 1905), situated at n° 13 rue Bonnabaud in Clermont-Ferrand. The facility was located on the impasse de la Grande Porte in Royat. It was plundered on December 29, 1944.

We have a list of part of the plundered goods, for a total value of 34,400 francs:

• clothing: 1 pair of two-piece poplin pyjamas (500 F), 4 pairs of poplin boxer shorts (500 F), 1 blue woolen bathrobe (500 F), 1 pigskin belt (300 F), 8 pairs of woolen athletic socks (800 F), 2 white broadcloth shirts (500 F), 5 colored woolen scarves (500 F), 12 batiste handkerchiefs (600 F), 1 pair of black sport shoes (1000 F)
• household linen: 1 reversible pink/white woolen blanket (2000 F)
• toiletry: 1 box of 100 razor blades (100 F), 1 chrome shaving set (550 F), 12 colored terrycloth bathtowels (1300 F)
• sundry: 1 pigskin whip (200 F), 1 pair of Champax binoculars (3500 F), 1 movie camera and 3 cartridges (5000 F), 1 photograph tripod (200 F), 1 telescopic lens (x 30) (500 F), 9 boxes of unused film (900 F), 1Leica camera (15,000 F)

Sources consulted in the Puy-de-Dôme departmental archives:
66 W 2038, 68 W 44, 331 W 18, 368 W 82, 900 W 63
Research carried out by junior-year students (11th grade) at the Ambroise Brugière high school in Clermont-Ferrand (Allan Bulidon, Célia Couleaud, Vincent Debray, Léa Dexarcis, Clotilde Fernez, Mathilde Grivel, Clément Haffner) under the supervision of Monsieur Frédéric Jarrousse, teacher of history and geography — in 2016-2017