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On March 31, 1942, Jacques (Zyskind) ARBIZER, a
19-year-old Jewish member of the Resistance, was shot by the Germans at
Mont-Valérien. He was engaged to Hélène JAKUBOWICZ,
age 17, and wrote her a farewell letter: Little Hélène, I am
laughing as I write these lines because you must be making funny faces. You
didn't expect your little hero to finish so gloriously. One end is like
another, and if we have to die, let's die bravely. My dear, so here you are a
widow at 17. It's very sad for you. Little Hélène, to speak
frankly to you so that you'll not mourn for too long, 1 am going to tell you
that I never took our little love story seriously and I still wonder if I love
you and I think I love you only as a friend. So you see, I lied to you all
along, and everything that happens to me I shall have deserved. 1 am nothing
but a dirty liar. I don't want you to cry for me for 107 years because I am not
worth it. I wonder what you will do now, because when you read this letter,
I'll be crossed off the list of living people. I should have liked to write you
some sweet words, my last ones, and I am only writing of things that will make
you sad. Little Hélène, before bursting into tears, start by
comforting Mother. It's all really too bad, because you'll never find a guy
like me as a replacement because I have all the good qualities (without
knocking myself). My pals are going to look glum when they read my name on the
walls. Oh well, life is so strange, it always has surprises around the corner.
In spite of everything, I don't regret having lived in these times, it is a
very interesting period. When you have calmed down, you will find another
decent fellow (not like me, of course, since those who are absent have all the
virtues) but, anyway, fellows are never lacking and among them, choose one.
Goodbye Hélène, say hello to all my friends.
But
Hélène, who worked in the Resistance with her brother Maurice,
was arrested in July 1942 in Troyes (Aube), where she had gone to take
anti-Nazi leaflets. She was deported on September 23, 1942, on
convoy 36. |
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FRENCH
CHILDREN OF THE HOLOCAUST A memorial
Serge Klarsfeld
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