My apologies for the English; I haven’t written in French since I was a teenager in Québec, and I’m sure that’s more offensive than the English.

I am a Holocaust researcher and I’m working on one family that seems to have disappeared out of thin air. The Dutch government (they are Dutch) never officially concluded a fate for 9/13 of the siblings, so here I am, trying to do just that.

I got another two solved (plus dad), but one couple frustrated me in particular: one of the brothers married a woman from Paris. I have their visas, passports, immigration paperwork. I have a death record for her from 1974, so she survived. On top of that, someone was granted a Righteous Among the Nations award for hiding her… in France… and she later married him. And as a bonus, her (first) husband’s niece shows up in a death record in France in the 1990’s, despite having no connection to France.

This is the type of conundrum that local newspapers can answer, so I’d love it if anyone knows of a general online, searchable Newspaper archive? i.e. the USA has [newspapers.com](https://newspapers.com) and The Netherlands has [delpher.nl](https://delpher.nl) . I did a lot of digging and couldn’t find a French version, so I’d love to be pointed in the right direction if possible!

Thank you guys, I appreciate the help immensely. I assume most of these siblings are going to end up being declared victims and I find it important to bring closure to their stories, even if their family is long passed on.

Thanks 🙂

5 comments

  3. Hi. You should also contact the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris. They have close ties with Yad Vashem so they should be able to help you.
    I had a lot of professional contact with them recently, they’re pros and helpful.

  5. A few databases of interest:

    * People who died as deportees: [http://www.lesmortsdanslescamps.com/indexfr.html](http://www.lesmortsdanslescamps.com/indexfr.html)
    * Deportation lists: [http://www.bddm.org/liv/index_liv.php](http://www.bddm.org/liv/index_liv.php)

    I assume you have scoured the Bad Arolsen archives already.

    Newspapers:

    * Gallica: [https://gallica.bnf.fr/accueil/en/content/accueil-en?mode=desktop](https://gallica.bnf.fr/accueil/en/content/accueil-en?mode=desktop)
    * Retronews: [https://www.retronews.fr/](https://www.retronews.fr/)
    * Europeana: [http://www.europeana-newspapers.eu/](http://www.europeana-newspapers.eu/)
    * Lectura Plus (for newspapers from region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes): [https://www.lectura.plus/Presse/](https://www.lectura.plus/Presse/)

    A lot of Archives départementales have newspaper collections online, too. Search “Archive départementale” + the département’s name.

    >I have a death record for her from 1974, so she survived. On top of that, someone was granted a Righteous Among the Nations award for hiding her… in France… and she later married him.

    If she married a second time, she was either a widow or divorced: if she was a widow, the date and place of death of her first husband will be indicated in the marriage record, so you need to find that. The easiest way would be through her second husband, whom I’m assuming is French. Do you have his birth date/place or failing that, his death date/plate ? If yes, ask for the record from the mairie. The death record will give you the birth date/place if you don’t have it. Ask for that record (though check online first, it might be already freely available): it should bear the date and place of the marriage. You won’t be able to get the complete record unless you can prove that both parties have been dead more than 25 years, but I *think* that the death date/place of the first husband is included in the abbreviated record.

    If you’re willing to share names, I might be able to help more. Also, I have Filae and Geneanet memberships, so I can search their databases.

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