The ribbon was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2006 by Henri Bomblat.
Henri Bomblat was born in Paris on September 15, 1931. His father, Simon, was from Siedlec, Poland, and his mother was Gitla (Gittle) Stolek from Warsaw. Simon and Gittle’s first daughter, Sarah Rivka, was born in Warsaw in 1919. Simon went to Berlin in 1923, and his wife and daughter eventually joined him. They next moved to Drancy, France. Simon began to work in the leather business. Gittle began making clothes at home to sell. They had two more daughters before Henri was born: Rosette in 1925 and Suzanne (now Noemi) in 1928. In 1937, the Bomblat family bought a clothing store in Paris and moved there the following year. When the Germans entered Paris in 1940, the family fled south to Saint Germain de Fossés. They stayed with the Ferry family for about 3 months, until they could return to Paris. Upon their return, they reopened the store and continued business. In 1941, the Germans began rounding up Jews for deportation to the camps. Henri found out that they were coming for his father and warned him that the French police were looking for him. His father did not go home and escaped to Montsur, near Vichy, where he was hidden by his clients, the Chassaing family. The rest of the family remained in Paris. Henri was forced to wear the yellow Star of David, but he continued going to school. In July 1942, Henri and his sister, Suzanne, left for Montsur, to stay with the Chassaing’s and their father for the summer. They left with Madame Chassaing on July 16, 1942, missing by minutes an action in their neighborhood for the Vélodrome d’Hiver roundups, a mass arrest of Jews in Paris. Henri’s mother and his other sisters were at their apartment when the French police came as part of this action. The women knew the police were coming and Rosette forced their mother to hide in another apartment. Only Sarah and Rosette faced the police when they arrived. Rosette was released, because she had a French passport, as she was born there. But Sarah was considered a foreign national and was taken to Drancy internment camp. After the arrests were over, Rosette brought their mother to Montsur to stay with the rest of the family. Rosette then went back to Paris to continue her aid work with the Colonie Scolaire, a Jewish charitable organization. She was arrested and deported to Auschwitz on No. 55 train on June 23, 1943. Both Sarah, age 19, and Rosette, age 24, were killed in Auschwitz. Henri, Simon, Gittle, and Suzanne stayed in Montsur until the liberation of that area of France by United States forces on September 15, 1944. In 1951, Henri and his parents immigrated to Tel Aviv.
Roll of white packaging ribbon with stitching that repeats the business name in blue thread. The ribbon is wrapped with a plastic band.
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overall: Height: 8.500 inches (21.59 cm) | Width: 0.500 inches (1.27 cm) | Depth: 2.130 inches (5.41 cm)
Ribbon from the Bomblat family clothing business, Maison Sibon, in Paris, France, kept by Henri Bomblat while the family lived in hiding in the south of France. The roll of ribbon was used to tie the boxes that held purchases. The Bomblat family emigrated from Poland to France in 1924; in 1937, they opened a clothing store in Paris. When the Germans entered Paris in 1940, the family fled south, but they returned after 3 months. In 1941, when the Germans were rounding up Jews for deportation. Henry was able to warn his father who went into hiding in Montsur, near Vichy. On July 16,1942, Henri, aged 11, and his sister, Suzanne, aged 14, were sent to join their father. That same day, French police came to the apartment, as part of the Velodrome d'Hiver action. His sister, Rosette, aged 18, forced their mother into another apartment; only she and his eldest sister, Sarah, aged 22, were there to face the police. Sarah was arrested and sent to Auschwitz, where she was killed. Rosette was released and took her mother south to join the rest of the family, but she returned to Paris. She was arrested there in 1943, with her colleagues in a Jewish charitable organization, and sent to Auschwitz, where she was killed. Henri, his parents, and his other sister, Suzanne, survived in hiding until liberation on September 15, 1944.
Roll of blue stitched ribbon from shop of Parisian Jews who survived in hiding