Lakhovitzky family collection

Natan Lakhovitzky (born, Simferapol, 17 August 1902, died 24 August 1992) and Vera Lakhovitzky, nee Strachinsky (born Odessa, 1 February 1905, died 24 May 1973) left the Soviet Union in January 1927. Since they were unable to obtain a rabbinical wedding there in Russia, they were married in Istanbul, Turkey, on 17 June 1927, and immigrated to France the following year, arriving in Strasbourg in October 1928, where Natan found employment in a hat-making company. The Lakhovitzkys had two sons during their time in France, Gilbert (born, Strasbourg, 28 May 1933) and Raymond (born 25 October 1939).

Beginning in December 1940, the family was interned in a series of camps, first at Camp d’Adge in southern France, and then Rivesaltes, where Natan was able to convince camp authorities to keep the family together, due to Mrs. Lakhovitzky’s rheumatoid arthritis. During this time, Raymond contracted chicken pox, and given the poor sanitary conditions at this camp, Vera refused to place him in the infirmary and took care of him until he recovered. Natan sought to improve conditions as he could, obtaining stubs of candles from a nearby church to give some light in the dark barrack, and gaining permission to walk to nearby Perpignan, to obtain some food for his family.

In April 1941, Natan was transferred to Camp Les Milles, near Marseille. The family had sought to immigrate to the United States, hoping to obtain an affidavit from Natan’s sister, who lived in New York. Vera and the two children were held at the Centre Bompard in Marseille, while awaiting their visas and authorization to emigrate, and Natan was able to persuade a guard at Camp Les Milles to let him leave once a week in order to check on the status of his immigration paperwork. In April 1942 they were granted safe-conduct passes as well as visas that permitted them to immigrate to the United States on the Soviet quota, and they departed France 12 May 1942 on the SS Marechal Lyautey, arriving in Lisbon and travelling from there to Morocco, where they boarded the SS Serpa Pinto, which was transporting 700 European Jews to the United States. After the ship was detained by the British in Bermuda, it arrived in New York on 25 June 1942. The family, who changed their last names to Lachow, settled in Brooklyn, where Gilbert subsequently went to school and eventually obtained a degree from the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy in 1955, and worked in various retail pharmacies and for the Merck Corporation until his retirement in 1993.