Lob family papers

Marcel Pierre Lob (1902-1990) was born on 12 May 1902 in Paris, France to Gaston and Lucie Levy Lob (1872-1944). He had two siblings: Mathieu (b. 1898) and Stephanie. His brother Mathieu married Gilberte May and they had two daughters, Francine and Huguette. His sister Stephanie (b. 1905) married Ernest Carrance (b. 1894), and they had three children, Jacqueline (b. 1929), Jean-Jacques, and Bernard. Gaston died several years before the war. Marcel worked at Carrance & Cie, a stock brokerage firm where his brother-in-law also worked. He also served in the French Army, but was demobilized after the German invasion of France, and subsequent armistice signed on 22 June 1940.

In July 1942, Marcel learned he would likely be arrested soon and fled Paris for Moriond in Haute-Savoie. He was involved in Resistance activities, including forging documents and gathering intelligence on the Italian army. Marcel was arrested in July 1943 by the Italian secret police (OVRA), and sent to a prison in Turin, Italy. In September 1944 he was sent to Bolzano transit camp and in October 1944 he was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. He was liberated by the Soviet Red Army in January 1945. He went to Krakow, Poland, and then was repatriated to France in May 1945 where he was reunited with his brother Mathieu and his daughters in Paris. In 1946 he met fellow Auschwitz survivor Helene Flanzweig (née Bybelezer) and they married on 15 April 1945. The couple had two sons, Gerard (b. 1947) and Stephane (b. 1950).

Around July 1942, Marcel’s brother Mathieu and his family went to Lyon. Germany occupied Vichy France’s “free zone” in November 1942 and the family joined Marcel in Moriond. They all survived the war.

Marcel’s mother Lucie, sister Stephanie, her husband Ernest, and their children fled Paris to Nice in 1942. They remained there until the Germans took control of the area from the Italians in September 1943. They went to a small village in Auriac-sur-Vendinelle. Jacqueline remained with her parents, but the two sons were sent to a nearby boarding school. Lucie, Stephanie, Ernest, and Jacqueline were denounced and arrested on 6 May 1944 and sent to a prison in Toulouse. The family was transferred to Drancy on 13 May 1944. They were deported on 20 May 1944 on Transport No. 74 to Auschwitz-Birkenau where they all perished. Stephanie and Ernest’s sons Jean-Jacques and Bernard were warned by the boarding school principal that they would be arrested, and both fled the school. They survived the war in hiding with their maternal uncle Gaston Carrance and his wife Suzanne Carrance.

Maria Helene Lob (Helene, previously Maria Flanzweig, 1913-2000) was born Maria Helene Bybelezer on 15 January 1913 in Warsaw, Poland to Jacques Bybelezer and Haya Shapiro. She was married to Bernard Flanzweig, and they had a son, Bernard. Her husband was killed at the Belgian front in 1940. Helene hid her son with the family of Jeanne Meriat. He survived the Holocaust, and remained with the Meriats in Neuilly-sur-Seine after the war.

Helene was arrested in Paris, France on 15 April 1944 and deported to Drancy. On 20 May 1944 she was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and then transferred to Bergen-Belsen on 31 December 1944. Helene was suffering from typhoid fever in the camp, and was liberated by British troops on 15 April 1945. After she recovered she was repatriated to France in May 1945. She met fellow survivor Marcel Lob in 1946, and they married on 15 April 1946. The couple had two sons, Gerard (b. 1947) and Stephane (b. 1950).