Overview
- Brief Narrative
- Gaston Schmir took this book from the school library in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France, in April 1943 prior to going into hiding. He left the book in Haute-Savoie, France, before crossing into Switzerland, and he returned and recovered it after World War II.
- Title
- Contes et légendes du grand siècle
- Date
-
publication:
1933
- Geography
-
publication:
Paris (France)
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Gaston Schmir
- Contributor
-
Author:
Charles Quinel
Author: A. de Montgon
Publisher: Librairie Fernand Nathan
Subject: Gaston L. Schmir
- Biography
-
Gaston Schmir and his family escaped from Brive-la-Gaillarde, France, in April 1943. They stayed in hiding until March 1944 when Gaston was smuggled into Switzerland at Pas de L'Echelle (Haute-Savoie), France, with the aid of Mme. Germaine Pinget, a member of the French Resistance. Mme. Pinget has been honored by Yad Vashem as a Righteous among the Nations.
Born in Metz, France, on June 8, 1933, Schmir spent his childhood escaping throughout France during WWII as his father sought safe havens for his Jewish family. In 1944, at the age of 11, Schmir and his nine-year-old sister were smuggled into Switzerland with the aid of members of the French Resistance.
Schmir arrived in the United States in 1946. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1950 and Harvard College in 1954, then received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Yale in 1958. He was engaged in scientific research at the National Institutes of Health, Laboratory of Chemistry in the Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, from 1958 to 1960. He was a commissioned officer in the United States Public Health Service.
Despite the progressive deterioration of his illness, Schmir was able to slowly use the keyboard on his computer to begin writing his recollections of a childhood spent in wartime France. “This memoir,” he wrote in 1994, “has evolved from a strictly personal account to a documented research paper.”
Schmir is survived by his wife of 48 years, Barbara Chesney Schmir; three daughters, Miriam Schmir Glasberg of Santa Monica, California, Lisa Schmir of Fairfax, Virginia, and Nina Schmir of Brooklyn, New York; his brother, Dr. Maurice Schmir of Eliot, Maine; two grandsons, Eli and Dashiell; and a niece and four nephews. He was predeceased by his sister, Louise Schmir Hay.Gaston Leonard Schmir, professor emeritus in the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, died on July 2. He was 75 years old.
Schmir was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1970 and had battled the disease for 38 years.
Schmir was appointed to the Yale faculty in 1960. His research emphasis was in the area of enzyme mechanisms and related physical-organic chemistry. Many of his papers on these topics are considered classics in the field. He was also known for his encyclopedic knowledge of enzyme kinetics and organic reaction mechanisms.
Physical Details
- Language
- French
- Classification
-
Books and Published Materials
- Category
-
Books and pamphlets
- Object Type
-
Books--France (lcsh)
- Physical Description
- Library stamp on second page of the book; signature of Gaston Schmir in two places on the beginning pages of the book.
- Materials
- overall : paper, ink
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- No restrictions on access
- Conditions on Use
- No restrictions on use
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Legends--France. Tales--France.
- Geographic Name
- France--History--17th century.
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The book was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by Dr. Gaston L. Schmir in 2003.
- Record last modified:
- 2024-05-30 13:04:11
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn520919
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Also in Gaston Schmir collection
The collection consists of two children's books, "Mon Petit Trott" and "Contes et Légendes Du Grand Siècle," taken by Gaston Schmir from a school library in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France, in Apr. 1943. Gaston Schmir left the books in Haute-Savoie, France, before crossing into Switzerland, and he returned and recovered them after World War II.
Book
Object
Gaston Schmir took this book from the school library in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France, in April 1943 prior to going into hiding. He left the book in Haute-Savoie, France, before crossing into Switzerland, and he returned and recovered it after World War II.