Werner Jakubowski papers

Werner Jakubowski (1895-1942) was born August 30, 1895 in Berlin and served in the German Army during WWI. His wife Wally (or Willly, 1896-1942) was born Wally Wolf on July 15th 1896 in Rottweil. They had two children, Ruth Henriette Gottlob-Jakubowski (1922-?) and Walter (later Walter Jaye, 1925-2020). The family relocated to Belgium in 1933 or 1934 following the Nazi rise to power in Germany. Werner was deported from Bruxelles to Saint-Cyprien (Pyrénées-Orientales, France) on May 10, 1940, with approximately 4000 other "foreign Jews" expelled from Belgium by the Belgian government. Werner was interned at Saint-Cyprien and then at Gurs. Wally and the two children followed and reunited with Werner in Pau.Werner and Wally were deported on September 4, 1942 via Drancy to Auschwitz and killed. Their daughter Ruth made her way to Switzerland in February 1943 and found refuge. Their son Walter was sent to Taluyers, escaped to Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and obtained false papers. He made his way to Perpignan to join the Free French. Guides helped him cross into Spain at the end of 1942 and beginning of 1943. He made his way through Spain, arrived in Gibralter, and crossed the Atlantic to England in March 1943. He joined the Free French in England and adopted the name Wilfred Janey. He was assigned to the 501 RCC of the French 2nd Armored Division and stationed in Rabat, Morocco in December 1943. The Division was transferred to England in March 1944 and was incorporated into a US Army Corps. Walter served on the continent for the duration of the European war, immigrated to the United States in 1949, and became a naturalized citizen in 1959. The Werner Jakubowski papers primarily consist of correspondence between Werner Jakubowski while he was a refugee in France and his brother Stephan Jakubowski in New York City. Werner’s letters are from Gurs or from Meillon par Assat, in the Basses Pyrenees. The correspondence describes Werner’s family situation in France and documents efforts by family and friends to transfer funds to them from New York and to aid their immigration to the US.