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Framed portrait of a woman owned by an American internee

Object | Accession Number: 2018.426.8 a-c

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    Framed portrait of a woman owned by an American internee
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    Overview

    Brief Narrative
    Framed portrait owned by Leonie Roualet while she was interned in Vittel internment camp in German-occupied France from September 1942 through September 1944. Leonie was born in New York to Leonie Calmesse and Henry Charles Roualet, French champagne vintners who had immigrated to the United States in the 1890s. In the 1930s, Leonie’s mother returned to France to take care of her ailing brother. While caring for her brother, she too became sick, and in 1939 Leonie traveled to France to take care of her mother and her uncle. In May 1940, Germany invaded France and occupied the northern half of the country. Leonie’s sister, Henriette, began to worry about the fate of her mother and sister as she struggled to contact them, and she wrote repeatedly to the U.S. State Department for information on their whereabouts. In November, she received a telegram stating that her mother was in a hospital in Bordeaux, while Leonie was living with their uncle in Épernay. On September 24, 1942, the Gestapo arrested Leonie as an enemy alien and sent her to a prison in Châlons. From there she was transferred to Frontstalag 194 in Vittel. She remained there for two years until the camp was liberated by Free French forces on September 12, 1944. Immediately following liberation, Leonie worked for the Red Cross and helped establish the first displaced persons (DP) camp in Paris. In December 1945, Leonie returned to the United States, accompanying a convoy of refugees at the request of the American Embassy.
    Date
    use:  1942 September-1944 September
    Geography
    use: Vittel (Concentration camp); Vittel (France)
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Mark Roualet
    Signature
    front, lower right, handwritten, brown paint : illegible signature
    Contributor
    Subject: Leonie B. Roualet
    Biography
    Leonie Berthe Roualet (1900-1978) was born in Hammondsport, New York to Leonie (née Calmesse, 1869-1942) and Henry Charles Roualet (1866-?). Leonie and Henry were both originally from France, where they worked as champagne vintners. They immigrated to New York in 1890, where they continued to work as wine merchants. Leonie Berthe was raised Catholic and had two older brothers, Georges (George, 1891-1951) and Andre (Andrew, 1894-1973), and one older sister, Henriette (1898-1969). Georges served in the U.S. Navy during World War I aboard the USS Wisconsin. After the war, the entire family moved from New York to Cleveland, Ohio.

    In the 1930s, Leonie’s mother, Leonie Calmesse Roualet, returned to France to take care of her ailing brother. While caring for her brother, she too became sick, and in 1939 Leonie traveled to France to take care of her mother and her uncle. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and two days later France and Britain declared war on Germany, officially starting World War II. In May 1940, Germany invaded France and occupied the northern half of the country. Leonie’s sister, Henriette, began to worry about the fate of her mother and sister as she struggled to contact them, and she wrote repeatedly to the U.S. State Department for information on their whereabouts. In November, she received a telegram stating that her mother was in a hospital in Bordeaux, while her sister was living with their uncle in Épernay.

    On December 11, 1941, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Germany declared war on the United States. Following this declaration, German authorities began arresting American citizens in their occupied territories with the hope that they could exchange them with German citizens interned abroad. On September 24, 1942, the Gestapo arrested Leonie as an enemy alien and sent her to a prison in Châlons. From there she was transferred to Frontstalag 194 in the Vittel internment camp. In Vittel, Leonie lived in hotel-like accommodations with running water and heat. She was able to send and receive mail, and accept Red Cross packages. The Germans published propaganda photos and press stories about Vittel to showcase it as representative of conditions in German camps. Despite these improved living conditions in comparison to other German camps, Vittel was still surrounded by barbed wire and constantly patrolled by armed guards. Leonie often suffered from malnutrition while interned in the camp.

    On September 12, 1944, the Vittel internment camp was liberated by Free French forces. Immediately following liberation, Leonie worked for the Red Cross and helped establish the first displaced persons (DP) camp in Paris. In December 1945, Leonie returned to the United States aboard the S.S. Gripsholm, accompanying a convoy of refugees at the request of the American Embassy. She resettled in Cleveland, reuniting with her sister, Henriette. In Cleveland, Leonie continued working for the Red Cross before becoming the director of the diocesan Catholic Resettlement Council when it was established in 1949. Working for the Council, Leonie helped resettle thousands of refugees from wars and political strife around the world.

    Physical Details

    Classification
    Art
    Category
    Paintings
    Genre/Form
    Portraits.
    Physical Description
    a. Painted, oval portrait of a woman in left profile. The woman has wavy, blonde hair in a low bun and is wearing a pink and white top. The background is a multihued green and blue. The illegible artist’s signature is on the lower right. The portrait is adhered to a slightly larger cardboard oval backing. The front of the backing is covered with light pink lined paper, and the back and sides are covered with brown faux leather. There is brown paper between the portrait and the backing that is incredibly frayed and torn. The back has an attached kickstand which hinges out, allowing the portrait to be placed upright. The backing is very worn overall, particularly around the edges where the faux leather has flaked off revealing the cardboard underneath.
    b. Metal, oval-shaped frame with no backing, originally used to frame a small portrait (a). The front of the frame is raised at the interior edge and slopes down as it extends to the outer edge. The front is covered with a purple enamel, and has a leafy vine design going around the frame underneath the enamel. The back is unfinished, discolored, and has remnants of paper from the portrait backing stuck to it.
    c. Oval-shaped convex piece of clear class, originally used to cover a small framed portrait (a&b). There is staining in a ring near the border, and the glass is slightly chipped around the edges.
    Dimensions
    a: Height: 4.250 inches (10.795 cm) | Width: 3.250 inches (8.255 cm) | Depth: 0.250 inches (0.635 cm)
    b: Height: 4.375 inches (11.113 cm) | Width: 3.250 inches (8.255 cm) | Depth: 0.500 inches (1.27 cm)
    c: Height: 4.000 inches (10.16 cm) | Width: 2.875 inches (7.302 cm) | Depth: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm)
    Materials
    a : paper, cardboard, paint
    b : metal, enamel
    c : glass

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    No restrictions on access
    Conditions on Use
    No restrictions on use

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The portrait drawing was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Mark Roualet, great nephew of Leonie Roualet.
    Record last modified:
    2024-10-02 14:45:47
    This page:
    http:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn628039

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