Biographies of the Jacob family as part of the exhibition "Simone Veil. My sisters and I"

Madeleine "Milou" Jampolsky, born Jacob (1923–1952)

Eldest of the Jacob family, Madeleine, nicknamed Milou, was born in Paris. In 1924, her parents André and Yvonne settled in Nice with their children. During the Occupation, Milou worked to provide for the family while her sister Denise entered the Resistance. On March 30, 1944, Milou is arrested with her mother Yvonne, her sister Simone and her brother Jean.

Deported to Auschwitz by convoy No. 71 on April 13, 1944, Milou, Simone and their mother were then transferred to the camp of Brobeck, then taken in a death march to Lobbyis in January 1945. After an eight-day train journey, without food or water, they arrive in Bergen-Belsen. Separated from Simone, Milou stays with her mother, who dies of typhus in March 1945. Herself reached, Milou survives thanks to the liberation of the camp by the British troops on April 15, 1945 and watches over Simone.

Back in Paris, the sisters discover the tragic fate of their family. In 1949, Madeleine married Pierre Jampolsky and gave birth to a son, Luc. On 14 August 1952, on the way back from a stay in Stuttgart at Simone and Antoine Veil’s, Milou lost his life instantly in a car accident. His son Luc, one year old, dies in the hospital a few days later, in the arms of Simone.

Denise Vernay, born Jacob (1924-2013)

Second daughter of the Jacob family, Denise was born in Paris and grew up in Nice. Like her brothers and sisters, she is a scout under the totem of Miarka. Under the Occupation, while she was a high school student, she relayed messages from Radio London, distributed leaflets and helped hide Jewish children.

In 1943, she fully committed to the Resistance. Put in contact with the Franc-Tireur movement, she becomes at 19 liaison officer in Lyon under the code name Miarka. After the arrest of her family in April 1944, she joined the United Movements of the Resistance in Haute-Savoie under the pseudonym "Annie". Arrested while transporting transmitters and funds for the Glières maquis, she was tortured by the Gestapo, then deported to Ravensbrück on 28 July 1944. Registered under a false name, his Jewish identity is not known.

Transferred to Mauthausen on 2 March 1945 in a convoy of deportees "Night and Fog", she was released by the International Red Cross on 21 April 1945. In 1947, she married the resistant Alain Vernay, with whom she has three children. She then dedicates her life to the transmission of the memory of the Resistance and deportation.

Simone Veil, born Jacob (1927–2017)

Youngest member of the Jacob family, Simone is born in Nice. Her childhood is happy, marked by a united sibling family and a very strong bond with her mother Yvonne. As a teenager under the Occupation, she continues her schooling and her commitment as a scout, while persecution intensifies. In November 1943, equipped with false papers under the name of 'Jacquier', she left the high school to work at the municipal library. In March 1944, she takes her baccalaureate, which she will only learn to pass after the war.

On 30 March 1944, she was arrested by the Gestapo, resulting in the arrest of her mother Yvonne, her brother Jean and her sister Madeleine. Interned in Drancy, the three women are deported to Auschwitz by convoy No. 71 on April 13, 1944. Simone, aged 16, is transferred with her mother and sister to the Brobeck labour camp, then undergoes the death march before being sent to Bergen-Belsen, where she is separated from his.

Released on April 15, 1945, she returns to Paris and learns of the disappearance of her father and brother and the deportation of her sister Denise. She then began studying law and at Sciences Po, married Antoine Veil in 1946 and became the mother of three sons. The accidental death of Madeleine, the only person with whom she shared the experience of deportation, is a new drama for her. Having become a magistrate, Simone Veil begins a life of major societal struggles. Simone Veil embodied resilience and courage: marked by deportation, she transformed her experience into a commitment to justice, memory, and women’s rights.

Jean Jacob (1925–1944)

The only son of the Jacob family, Jean was born in 1925 and grew up in Nice. As a teenager, he joined the Éclaireurs and interrupted his studies in 1941 to work, nurturing the project of becoming a photographer. In August 1942, he was employed as a photographer’s assistant at Emka Photo but the laboratory closed due to antisemitic laws. In March 1944, he is hosted with his mother and sisters by friends.

On March 30, 1944, he was arrested by the Gestapo with his sister Madeleine and their mother Yvonne, then interned in Drancy on April 7. Jean then attends the departure of his sisters and mother to Auschwitz-Birkenau. His father André, arrested in Nice, joins him there on April 21, 1944. Hoping to escape deportation, Jean and his father volunteer for the Organisation Todt. But they were deported on 15 May 1944 by convoy No. 73 to the Ninth Fort in Kaunas and the Patarei prison in Reval (Tallinn). Only 22 of the 878 deportees will survive. Jean dies in deportation in 1944. The destination of this convoy will only be known to the families in the mid-1990s.

Yvonne Jacob, born Steinmetz (1900–1945)

Yvonne Célestine Marguerite Jacob, born Steinmetz, was born on December 12, 1900 in Paris, to a non-practicing Jewish family. Bachelor and chemistry student, she marries André Jacob at 21 years old and gives up her studies. After the birth of his daughters Madeleine and Denise, the family settles in Nice. A son, Jean, is born in 1925, then Simone in 1927. Yvonne dedicates herself to her children and builds a home where culture and art occupy a central place. Modern and committed woman, she participates in community activities while striving to preserve a family life as normal as possible in the face of persecution. Arrested on March 30, 1944 with Madeleine and Jean, shortly after the arrest of Simone, she is interned in Drancy.

On April 13, 1944, she is deported with Madeleine and Simone to Auschwitz-Birkenau by convoy no. 71. All three are then transferred to the Brobeck labour camp. Yvonne survives the death march and arrives at Bergen-Belsen on January 30, 1945. Stricken with typhus, she died in March 1945, at 45 years old, in the arms of her daughter Madeleine.

André Jacob (1891-1944)

Born in the 9^e arrondissement of Paris, André is the son of Edmond Jacob and Mathilde Schnerb. Admitted to the architecture section of the School of Fine Arts, his studies are interrupted by the First World War, during which he is taken prisoner from 1914. He is interned in Germany, from where he returns after more than four years of captivity on March 17, 1919. He resumes his studies and, in 1919, receives the second grand prix de Rome. Two years later, he married Yvonne Steinmetz and, after the birth of their first two daughters, moved to Nice in 1924 with his family. He then worked as an architect, participating in the local professional life in a booming real estate market, until the 1929 crisis that hit economic activity.

With the arrival of the Second World War and the anti-Semitic laws of the Vichy regime, André gradually lost the right to practice his profession due to his Jewish origin. According to the internment records of the Drancy camp, he arrived at the camp on April 21, 1944, a few weeks after the arrest of his wife, daughters, and son. He finds his son Jean there. Both were deported on May 15, 1944 by convoy No. 73, an exclusively male convoy that leaves from Drancy towards the camps in the Baltic countries (Lithuania and Estonia). André Jacob dies in deportation at the age of 53.

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