In the Ashkenazi culture, Yiddish, the language used by the East-European Jewish diaspora if full of unique expressions or words which, being so specific to that world, cannot be translated into any other languages.
The Yiddish word “ Mensch” is often used to designate he who practices moral virtues such as being an honest person, making his family a daily priority, respecting parents or doing good deeds. A Mensch (1) is usually a person known for being honest and enjoying a good reputation.
In the early fifties, I knew a Mensch living in Paris, not far away from Porte d’Orléans, in the 14th district of the capital, when Paris was still recovering from the wounds of world war II and the Nazi occupation. He had arrived from his native Poland where he had been brought-up in a religious family. His parents, Feigel and Moshe had wanted for him and his brother and sister, the best possible education and a bright future so that the three of them could become “gerotene kinder” and above all “shayner yids” (2)
For historical reasons going back to Louis the XVth, one of the Frecn kings, and his royal spouse Maria Leszczynska, France appeared as being the right place to go to for someone hoping to conduct serious studying. The Mensch emigrated to France with the idea of returning to Poland once he would have graduated.
(The Mensch...)
The Mensch settled in Nancy (3) for a while and graduated
from the Institute of Electricity. He was now an engineer and had his whole life ahead of him! The first contact with Paris took place in 1937 during the International Exhibition where 54 countries were represented, including Adolph Hitler’s Germany who had sent architect Albert Speer to build the German pavilion. The Mensch immediately fell in love with Paris. His fight to master French was a long one. His attempts to understand why and how a fox would smell “bad” or smell “well” (4)were however as numerous as unsuccessful.
I am not convinced that the Mensch paid attention to the Swastika floating up in the air on the top of the German pavillon.There were so many other things to see as this International Exposition was devoted to Art and Technics in the Modern Life! He certainly did not know that he would have to live in hiding during four years.
Shortly after the invasion of Poland in September 1939, by the troops of an insignificant moustached corporal turned dictator in 1933, things became difficult for Jews regardless if French or foreign, and the “Vichy” laws of October 1940 and June 1941 (5) marked the end an “easy student life” for the Mensch.
(Paris International Exhibition in 1937. The Mensch visited it, the black swastika was already flying in Paris on the German pavillion. Two years later, Germany invaded Poland and the Mensch will soon have to go in hiding)
Thanks to several “authentic” forged identification documents provided by “contacts” Alexandre survived the initial shock. He understood also early enough that salvation would come from changing residence at a fast pace, so he moved from one small hotel to another one, and included in his sheltering places a list of bordellos used by German military personnel and officers. Being close to the enemy could be a good strategy and he stayed there as long as necessary, depending on the events of the week .
Moving back to Paris from the Castle of Merignac, near Bordeaux where he had received shelter in June 1940 to Rue Thérèse in Paris, hiding in Rue Montmartre, living a few days in the Hotel des Grand Hommes facing Paris Pantheon, moving again to hide in Rue Saint-Romain, the Mensch learnt the geography of the city.
In august 1944, during the liberation of Paris, the Mensch and his future spouse whom he had met while being in Med School, participated into the events with a team of first aid medical students, picking up wounded soldiers or members of the “resistance” alike. I remember the Mensch mentioning that german soldiers who had received Molotov cocktails were badly burnt and that their skin would simply “melt away” when trying to pick them up and lay them on a stretcher.
The Mensch kept for a long time an SS dagger and a Mauser pistol electrically engraved with the identification number of its owner.
(Paris is standing-by for the arrival of American and French troops in August 1944. The street corner on the right is Rue Alphonse Daudet)
Then came the end of the war, the time for the tragic summary after four years of occupation by the Nazi hords. In 1942, the flow of letters between Moshe, Feigel and Alexandre suddenly stopped and the Mensch realized that the rest of his family, besides a brother settled in the east of France, would stay for ever in the land of Chopin. So he probably thought about Podgorze, a Krakow district where he was born on Ulicka Rekawka, in 1912, and where the rest of the family got locked-up by the General Government of Poland operated by the Nazis, who had set-up five huge ghettos in the land of King Casimir.
The Mensch did not like to speak about money. I guess it came from his education and I never found out how he did buy his first apartment as a “free”man in the 14th arrondissement of Paris at number 2, Rue Alphonse Daudet.
Neither did I find out where he got all the strength needed to create several successful companies in his line of business: sound systems. The Mensch never mastered French and continued for the rest of his life to astonish associates, friends or family members when mixing words, verbally assaulting those who did not agree with the line of his thoughts, and often assigning to males or females such names as “cons” or “connasses”(6) as, if the Mensch never understood all of the intricacies of French, he had mastered French slang beautifully and certainly knew the signification of “Petard”(a hand gun) “Pute” (a prostitute) and “Boxon” (a bordello)!
(The Mensch and "Francette" in the 80's in Roquefort-les-Pins, South of France)
Although he had been brought-up at the Jewish College of Krakow, and lived in an observant family, the Mensch was an anarchist and anything that was not to his taste simply "deserved to be bombed-out”, ranging from a line of people queing-up at the post office, to a train running behind schedule!
The Mensch had however mastered French politics and was against the independence of Algeria. He would spend hours reading on the subject, holding General de Gaulle responsible for the future decline of France, a great nation governed by “ a general who should have stayed a general”.
He hated the catholic church, pope Pius XII, spat on priests, looked with suspicion at anything "made in germany",called the Poles “villains” (7) and verbally assaulted those who opposed his opinions! The Mensch rarely laughed and if he certainly loved his children, it was from far away.
The rules were simple: he would bring the money in, and Francine was to raise children. The Mensch should have been a lizard as whenever possible, he would pay tribute to the God-Sun by spending entire days on a deckchair, letting his brownish skin becoming darker by the minute. For some reason, it was often mentioned that in his veins run a small part of blood from Mongolian origin.
He looked down on rich people but enjoy spending time in the “Palaces” of wealthy ski resorts of Switzerland, he would belittle young women in a bikini on the beaches of Juan-les-Pins, but would admire with passion, any woman close to his age educated enough and able to hold an adult conversation (!)
Often, the Mensch appeared as being “out of the world”. When asked if things were allright, he would always answer:” I am thinking” but no one ever knew what he was thinking about, although later, I found out that a part of him had stayed with his family. The Mensch was a man of culture, a convinced atheist, a well-versed scientist, a non-conventional human being .Every now and then he would have lunch at “Bartek”, the polish restaurant in the Quartier Latin on Rue Royer Collard near the Luxembourg. The poles were “villains” but the “borscht” and the “bigos” were tasty at Bartek.
( The Mensch reading "Le Monde")
(Francette, the Mensch and Grand-son Cyril-Alexandre are on the balcony at 2, Rue Alphonse-Daudet, the Mensch ' "Headquarters")
The Mensch wanted to understand “why”, but when after the war he found out “ how”, he lost hope in mankind and cursed the world !
Although the war had been a hardship for him, the Mensch was now a successful businessman spending a lot of time between Italy, England and the Swiss Alps. He was a subscriber of “Le Monde” (8) and had built a comfortable reserve of real estate.
In the fifties, I knew a Mensch living in Rue Alphonse Daudet in Paris. Those who loved him called him “Olek”
In July of 2000, the Mensch had an important meeting with life!
This Mensch was my father.
© 2017 Sylvain Ubersfeld for Paris-Memoires
(1)This definition of a « Mensch » is probably better than mine : Mensch (Yiddish: מענטש mentsh, cognate with the German word Mensch meaning a "human being") means "a person of integrity and honor". The opposite of a "mensch" is an "unmensch", meaning an utterly unlikeable or unfriendly person. According to Leo Rosten, the Yiddish maven and author of The Joys of Yiddish, a "mensch" is "someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character. The key to being 'a real mensch' is nothing less than character, rectitude, dignity, a sense of what is right, responsible, decorous. The term is used as a high compliment, implying the rarity and value of that individual's qualities.
(2) Gerotene Kinder = “Brillant” child Shayner Yid= a “Good” Jew !
(3) an important city in the east of France
(4) amongst linguistic debates at French school, students were to understand the difference between smell well ( Sentir bien = being able to follow the scent of an other animal) and smell good ( sentir bon = smell nice) . I am not sure the he was ever convinced that there was a difference.
(5) The various Vichy laws edicted by the Etat Français under Marshall Philippe PETAIN covered the modification and restriction of status of the Jews in France.
(6) “Cons” or “Connasses” derogatory terms (refer to a French dictionary) used in vernacular French to designate incompetent,crooks,idiots,political opponents,the man in the car ahead of you, thieves,corrupt lawyers,quite a wide range of male or women fitted in this “category”....check by yourself....
(7) Quite a lot of Poles hated the Jews and the distressful situation of the Jewish community on Polish soil never was a priority for the Tajnia Arma Poslka, the secret army founded by Polish partisans in Germany occupied Poland in November of 1939
(8) Le Monde : a long time left-wing newspaper.