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Watercolor painting of women collecting Red Cross packages acquired by an American internee

Object | Accession Number: 2018.426.21

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    Watercolor painting of women collecting Red Cross packages acquired by an American internee

    Overview

    Brief Narrative
    Watercolor painting of women receiving Red Cross packages at Vittel internment camp in German-occupied France, originally owned by Gertrude Hamilton and eventually given to Leonie Roualet. Gertrude and Leonie became friends while interned together in Vittel. Both women were from the United States, but were living in France when Germany invaded in May 1940. Leonie was taking care of ailing relatives, while Gertrude worked as an ambulance driver for the American Hospital in Paris. In July 1941, Gertrude started working for the bureau for civilians set up by the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association), where she took care of civilians released from prison camps. 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. Gertrude was also arrested in September 1942, and she lived in Vittel for two months before the YMCA secured permission for her release from the Germans. She was arrested again in September 1943, and sent back to Vittel for another six months. Following the liberation of Paris, Gertrude continued her work with the YMCA helping civilians released from prison camps, while Leonie worked for the Red Cross and helped establish the first displaced persons (DP) camp in Paris.
    Date
    creation:  1943
    Geography
    creation: Vittel (Concentration camp); Vittel (France)
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Mark Roualet
    Signature
    front, lower right, handwritten, brown paint : ANN NAIJON / Vittel ‘43-
    Contributor
    Subject: Leonie B. Roualet
    Subject: Gertrude Hamilton
    Original owner: Gertrude Hamilton
    Artist: Ann Naijon
    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.
    Gertrude Hamilton (née Trick, 1887-?) was born in St Louis, Missouri to Marie (1871-1949) and Frank Trick (1852-1913), and had one younger sister, Hilda (1892-1951). The family lived comfortably with Frank working as an architect for Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association. In 1905, Gertrude married George Wenzlick (1883-1957), a clerk for Anheuser-Busch. The couple moved to California in 1908, and filed for divorce in 1909. Following her divorce, Gertrude travelled through Europe, and spent time living in Paris. While there she met Gregory Warren, a British officer, and they married in 1914. On March 24, 1916, Gertrude was aboard the French passenger steamer, the Sussex, when it was attacked by a German U-boat in the English Channel, resulting in roughly 50 casualties and multiple injuries. Due to the presence of several Americans aboard the ship, including Gertrude, Germany responded with the Sussex pledge, agreeing to give adequate warning before sinking merchant and passenger ships, in order to keep the United States out of World War I.

    Following the death of her husband, Gregory, Gertrude continued to live in Paris where she met Laurens Morgan Hamilton (1900-1978). Laurens was the great-great-grandson of Alexander Hamilton and the grandson of J. P. Morgan, and was in France as a Lieutenant with the United States Army. The pair eloped in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on January 22, 1920, against the wishes of Laurens’s parents who objected to the couple’s age gap. Gertrude and Laurens travelled together back and forth between Europe and America before getting divorced in Florida in 1940. Following her divorce, Gertrude returned to Paris, despite France having declared war on Germany in September 1939.

    In May 1940, Germany invaded France, eventually occupying the northern half of the country. During the invasion Gertrude worked as an ambulance driver for the American Hospital in Paris. When German troops entered Paris, Gertrude drove her ambulance throughout the night to move wounded French prisoners of war (POWs) from the Palais de l'Élysée, which was occupied by Germans, to the hospital. For her services to wounded French, the government of France awarded her the Medal of Honor of the Service de Sante. When the American Red Cross took over the American hospital, Gertrude started working for them and taking supplies to POWs in prison camps. On December 1, 1940, the American Red Cross ceased activities in Paris, so Gertrude transferred to the French Red Cross. Then in July 1941, she began working for the bureau for civilians set up by the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association).

    On December 11, 1941, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Germany declared war on the United States. Following this declaration, Germany began arresting American citizens in Germany-occupied territories with the hope that they could exchange them with German citizens interned abroad. In September 1942, Gertrude was arrested and sent to Vittel internment camp. Gertrude 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 the improved living conditions at Vittel --when compared to other German camps-- it was still surrounded by barbed wire and constantly patrolled by armed guards. Gertrude was in Vittel for two months before the YMCA secured permission from the Germans for her release, so she could return to her job of taking care of civilians released from prison camps. She was arrested again in September 1943, and sent back to Vittel for another six months. During her second internment conditions had worsened, so that Gertrude was no longer able to receive mail and food rations. In fact, rations were so low that the internees relied on Red Cross packages for food. Gertrude was released on a six-month permit and was expected to return to the camp in August 1944, but Paris was liberated that same month, saving Gertrude from a third internment. Following liberation, Gertrude continued her work helping civilians released from prison camps.

    Physical Details

    Language
    English German
    Classification
    Art
    Category
    Paintings
    Genre/Form
    Art.
    Physical Description
    Watercolor painting on cream-colored, mediumweight paper of a group of women in a small, high ceiling room. On the right, there are six women standing around a long desk opening two boxes. On the side of one of the boxes is a white label with a small red cross on it. On the left side, there are four tables with boxes stacked on top of them. These boxes also have white labels with red crosses. Four additional women stand in-between the desk and tables. In the background there are two, tall windows. The artist’s signature, location, and date are written in brown paint on the lower right. On the back there are several inscriptions in pencil and a rectangular stamp in purple ink in the upper right corner.
    Dimensions
    overall: Height: 9.125 inches (23.178 cm) | Width: 11.625 inches (29.528 cm)
    Materials
    overall : paper, paint, pencil, ink
    Inscription
    back, upper left, handwritten, pencil : Mme Audré Naijon / 4 Villa Pairies / Paris XV [Madame Audre Naijon 4 Villa Poirier Paris XV]
    back, center, handwritten, pencil : The Red Cross package distribution / Hotel des Thermes / 1943 / Vittel France
    back, lower left, handwritten, pencil : Collection Gertrude Hamilton
    back, lower right, handwritten, pencil : Naijon
    back, upper right corner, stamped, purple ink : Geprüft / 12 / Front-Stalag 194 [Tested 12 Front Stalag 194]

    Rights & Restrictions

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

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The watercolor was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Mark Roualet, great nephew of Leonie Roualet.
    Record last modified:
    2023-08-25 13:00:30
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn628060

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