Tribute to Léa Rohatyn, who died on the night of Saturday 10 to Sunday 11 September 2022

Léa Rohatyn née SchwartzmanN, (1925-2022) 

Léa was born in 1925, in the province, in Trinqueux near Reims, into a very large family, a very patriotic French Jewish family.

Our photo: Henriette and Michel Schwartzmann live in Tinqueux (Marne) with their children: Suzanne, 22 years old, Léa, 18 years old, Simone, 16 years old, Robert, 15 years old, Antoinette, 12 years old, Jeanne, 11 years old, Pierre, 10 years old, Marcel, 7 years old, Maurice, 5 years old, Madeleine, 4 years old, Ginette, 2 years old and Marie-France, 11 months old. All were arrested during the great roundup of the Jews of Reims, transferred to Drancy and deported together on February 3, 1944 by convoy No. 67. The two eldest daughters, Suzanne and Léa, are the only ones to have survived. Léa Schwartzmann Rohatyn, rank of the upper 2nd right – © Coll. Shoah Memorial

Léa Rohatyn, Mrs. Rohatyn, as she was called in her community, passed away on the night of Saturday, September 10 to Sunday, September 11, 2022. Léa was born in 1925, in the province, at Trinqueux near Reims, into a very large family, a French Jewish patriot family.

Léa was the daughter of Henriette, born in Reims on November 24, 1898, and of Michel Schwartzmann, born on February 21, 1893, in Uman in the Russian Empire. Henriette and Michel Schwartzmann had thirteen children: André, born in 1920, Suzanne, born on 15 July 1921, Léa, born on 20 March 1925, Simone, born on 6 June 1927, Robert, born on 26 February 1929, Antoinette, born on 8 April 1931, Jeanne, born on 18 June 1932, Pierre, born on 29 November 1933, Marcel, born on September 5, 1936, Maurice, born on March 5, 1938, Madeleine, born on May 16, 1939, Ginette, born on August 9, 1941, Marie-France, born on February 22, 1943, ...

The whole family was arrested, except André, on January 27, 1944, then deported from Drancy to Auschwitz by convoy No. 67, on February 3, 1944. Alone, Suzanne and Léa return from deportation.

André, resistant was imprisoned in Spain while trying to join free France.

After the war, Suzanne leaves for Australia and founds a family there.

Léa stays in France, founds a family and works in fur with her husband Mr. Rohatyn.

Very active, vibrant Léa testified and campaigned for the memory of the Shoah especially with students from Jewish schools. She was a tutelary figure of her community, that of the Rachi synagogue in Paris. Zionist, a practicing Jew, Léa Rohatyn transmitted to everyone a teaching of life. Regardless of the age of the person she was addressing, she knew how to find the right attentions, the right words for them to inhabit those who listened to them. Despite the torments, despite the suffering, Léa was immeasurably strong and possessed an extraordinarily deep intelligence. Her beauty, modesty, striking elegance and unfailing dignity accompanied her until her last breath. The testimony of her experience that it was given whole or by fragments persists in those who knew her.

She is now buried in this Land of Israel that was so dear to her.