Epstein family collection

The Epstein family collection, circa 1920-1979, includes official documents, correspondence, and photographs relating to the family’s experiences during World War II. The majority of the collection relates to Julian Epstein (1889-1943), a Jewish opera singer and jeweler, who was imprisoned in a series of French internment camps and died at the Lublin-Majdanek concentration camp in Poland. The collection includes a series of letters between Julian and his wife Margarete (1898-1988) written between 1938 and 1943. The collection also contains photographs of the Epstein family before and after the war as well as photographs of French survivors working in an ORT workshop. The Epstein family collection, circa 1920-1979, includes official documents, correspondence, and photographs relating to the family’s experiences during World War II. A majority of the collection relates to Julian Epstein (1889-1943), an opera singer and jeweler, who was imprisoned in a series of French internment camps and died at the Lublin-Majdanek concentration camp in Poland. The collection includes a series of letters between Julian and his wife Margarete (1898-1988) written between 1938 and 1943. The collection also contains photographs of the Epstein family before and after the war as well as photographs of French survivors working in an ORT workshop. The collection’s biographical materials relating to Julian Epstein (1889-1943) include an Austrian registration card, April 17, 1936; official documents relating to medical care, 1938-1939; a European travel ticket booklet, 1938; two tickets, 1939; an exit card, July 8, 1940; and a receipt for possessions at camp Récébédou, 1942. The collection also includes documents relating to the Julian’s deportation and imprisonment at several French internment camps including a document of transfer from camp Noé to camp Gurs, January 19, 1945, and a declaration of death in absentia for Julian Epstein, March 24, 1959. Financial documents relating to the payment of five thousand francs by J. Epstein in 1943 and court documents relating to accusations that Julian trafficked in gold are also found within the biographical materials. The collection’s biographical materials relating to Margarete Epstein (1898-1988) include a certificate of safe passage for medical care, 1943-1944; a Red Cross identification document, 1943; a French identification document, 1945; an identification document in German, 1971; and a copy of the wedding certificate for Julian and Margarete Epstein, March 30, 1920. The miscellaneous materials found within the collection include an itinerary from a summer festival in Chelles, France, August 13, no year; an inventory list of the Epstein’s possessions, undated; a printed train map of Paris, circa 1930-1940; and a handwritten poem titled “Der Rythmus,” undated. The correspondence series includes letters from friends and family members, circa 1920-1979. The bulk of the correspondence are letters written between 1938 and 1943 by Julian and Margarete Epstein. These letters span Julian’s time with the French Foreign Legion and his imprisonment at several French internment camps before his death. The collection also includes twenty-five black and white photographs of the Epstein’s friends and family before and after World War II. The photographs include pictures of Julian and Margarete with friends in Vienna before the war, baby pictures of Monique Epstein (1941- ), as well as French survivors working at an ORT leather making workshop and possibly a vocational school. Julian Epstein (born Jüdel, 1889-1943) was born on May 1, 1889 to Joseph and Esther Epstein in Minsk, then part of Russia. His wife, Margarete (neé Pick, 1898-1988) was born in Vienna, Austria, on August 30, 1898 to Gisela (neé Fisher) and Ignar Pick. Julian and Margarete married on March 28, 1920 in Vienna. Their daughter Monique Goss (neé Epstein 1941- ) was born on April 29, 1941 in Toulouse, France. Prior to World War II, Julian worked as an opera singer and a jeweler in Vienna. In April 1938, a month after the German annexation of Austria, Margarete and Julian fled to Chelles, France. In 1940, Julian was forced to join the French Foreign Legion and the family moved to Toulouse. In 1942, Julian was arrested and imprisoned at the internment camp Récébédou in southwest France. Likely transported to the internment camp Noé due to the closure of Récébédou on October 5, 1942, Julian was held at Noé from October 1, 1942 to February 20, 1943. By February 24, 1943, Julian had been transported to the Gurs internment camp. On March 4, 1943, Julian arrived at the Drancy transit camp near Paris with 100 francs, two watches, and a pen. Two days later, on March 6, 1943, Julian was deported from Drancy to the Lublin-Majdanek concentration camp in Poland on transport 51, where he died. During the war, Margarete Epstein hid her young daughter in Carbonne, France. Though they hid separately throughout the war, both survived.