Wooden thread spool from tailoring shop in Paris

Yitzhak (Isaac, Jacques) Kornowski was born February 1, 1896, in Lasku, Poland, to an orthodox Jewish family. His father was a fabric merchant. He married Chaja Giske, born January 15, 1897, in Zdunska-Wola, Poland. In 1920, they immigrated to Paris, France, where they started a tailoring and sewing business. They had three sons, George (1925-1927), Paul, b. 1926, and Henri, b. 1929. The household was not religious and they worked hard to assimilate, speaking French to the children at home and taking the names Jacques and Helene. They had a comfortable life, including summer vacations in the country.

Following the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Jacques was given enlistment orders for the French Army. In June 1940, the Germans invaded and occupied France and Helene decided to flee with the children to Normandy. Soon after this, the Armistice was signed, Isaac was demobilized, and the family returned to Paris. The Germans enacted anti-Jewish legislation and there were periodic round-ups of Jews for deportation to concentration camps. Jews were not allowed to operate businesses and an Aryan custodian was attached to oversee the business. The family managed to sell or barter the store inventory for food and other needed supplies. On August 23, 1941, after spending the weekend in the country with his family, Isaac left to return to Paris. A friend arrived after he had left to warn him not to return to the city because a barricade had been set up to capture Jews. Paul, then 15, tried to catch up with his father but to no avail. Isaac was arrested and sent to the Drancy transit camp. The family was able to smuggle packages to him until one day, they received a postcard from him telling them that he was being sent by train to an “unknown destination.” Years after the war, they learned that he had been transported to Auschwitz where, age 47, he was murdered. The family moved to the south of France which was not occupied by the Germans. In September 1943, the 2 boys were smuggled into neutral Switzerland by the Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfant [OSE, Children’s Aid Society], a Paris based organization dedicated to helping Jewish and refugee children. They lived in the Home de la Foret in Geneva and were reunited with their mother in 1947.