United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Danielle Snegg (1926-1990) was born Fernande Halerie in Paris, France, to Avram (Adolf) Halerie (1902-1945) and Marguerita (Ita) Halerie (nee Bercovitz, 1902-1942). Avram was born in Mihăileni, Romania and Marguerite was born in Constantz, Romania. Fernande had an older brother, David (1922-1942). Avram was a tailor, and their family was among the 175,000 Jewish families living in Paris in the 1940s. The German army invaded France in May 1940, and occupied Paris on June 14. That October, Nazis began persecuting Jews with the bombing of seven synagogues in Paris. While many Jews began leaving the city, Fernande and her family remained until 1942, when the systematic deportation of Jews began. In June 1942, German authorities required that Jews in France wear a yellow Star of David badge to identify themselves as Jewish. During this time, Fernande’s brother, David, attempted to cross the French border, but was arrested and interned in the La Lande-à-Monts transit camp. David was later taken by truck to the city of Angers and on July 10, 1942, he was deported on convoy 8 to Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center in German-occupied Poland. He arrived there on July 23 and was killed. In mid-September, Germany reached an agreement with Romania to deport all Romanian Jews, including Fernande’s parents. On September 24, 1942, both Avram and Marguerita were imprisoned in the Drancy transit camp. While in Drancy, Marguerita wrote a postcard to her sister, instructing Fernande to go stay with her friend Monique Pliez and her parents. Four days later, Avram and Marguerita were deported to Auschwitz on convoy 38, which consisted mostly of Romanian Jews. Marguerita was likely killed upon arrival, but Avram was among 223 men selected for forced labor and he was sent to the Blechhammer forced labor camp. For a time, Fernande received letters from her father, as well as from a family member, Marcel, while they were in Blechhammer. On April 1, 1944, Blechhammer was put under the administration of Auschwitz III-Monowitz, and Avram was assigned prisoner number 177396. On January 21, 1945, Avram was among 4,000 prisoners sent on a 13-day death march to Gross-Rosen concentration camp. After five days there, he was put on a train and transported to Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. Avram arrived on February 10, and he was assigned prisoner number 125620. In Buchenwald, disease was rampant due to a lack of food and horrific sanitary conditions. Avram likely died before the camp was liberated on April 11, 1945. Fernande survived the war in hiding with the Pliez family under the false name Danielle Fernande Deschamps, and began primarily using the name Danielle. She also worked with another family friend, Madame Rouxell, selling shirts on the black market. After the liberation of Paris on August 25, 1944, while attending the newly reopened Rothschild Synagogue, Danielle met and began dating American serviceman David Israel Snegg (1923-2008). David had been drafted into the U.S. Army in May 1943, and served in the 900th Signal Corps. In mid-January 1945, David’s duty station moved to Belgium, and Danielle began writing him letters in which she practiced her English. Shortly after he left, Danielle began working in an administrative office for the American army. David was discharged from the Army in December 1945, and stayed in Paris, where he was able to obtain a civilian job with the army. Danielle and David married in January 1946, and had their first son, Harry, that September. In May 1947, they relocated to the United States, and settled in Los Angeles, California, where David started an equipment rental business. They had another son, Michael, in 1948. Danielle became a naturalized American citizen in April 1953 and legally changed her name to Danielle Fernande.
box 1
The Danielle and David Snegg papers are arranged as three series: I. Biographical materials, 1942-1947 II. Correspondence, 1942-1990 (bulk 1942-1947) III. Photographs, approximately 1920-1949
The Danielle and David Snegg papers primarily consist of letters from Danielle’s father to Danielle in Paris that were smuggled out of the Blechhammer labor camp as well as love letters exchanged between Danielle and her future husband, American serviceman David Snegg, at the end of the war while Danielle waited for her father to return home. The collection also includes a postcard and letter Danielle’s parents wrote to her from Drancy in the hours before their deportation to Auschwitz in September 1942; one real and one false identification card for Danielle; David’s immunization record; and photographs of Avram and Marguerita Halerie, Danielle and David Snegg, and the Pliez family who housed Danielle in Paris during the war. Correspondence primarily consists of letters and postcards from Avram in Blechhammer to Danielle and family friends. The correspondence signed using other names is also believed to be from Avram. This correspondence primarily documents packages requested and received, provides updates on his wellbeing and spirits, asks after mutual acquaintance, and advises Danielle to enjoy herself and behave well. Some of the correspondence filed under Avram’s name appear to be in someone else’s handwriting or to bear someone else’s signature. Addressees include the Vignas, Pliez, and Ponnelle families as well as Danielle (“Fernande”). This correspondence follows a previously arranged numerical order and is roughly in chronological order as well. This series also includes letters and postcards from someone named Marcel imprisoned at Blechhammer. Marcel’s correspondence describes weather and working conditions, exchanges greetings among mutual friends (Gabrielle and the Pliez, Ponnelle, and Vignas families), thanks Danielle for packages, and asks for more aid. The letters and postcards frequently refer to someone named “François,” which might be a code name for Danielle’s father. The letters and postcards appear to have been smuggled out of Blechhammer and mailed from Dortmund. This correspondence follows a previously arranged numerical order and is largely in chronological order as well. Danielle’s letters to David describe her love and longing for him, documents her anxious wait for her family’s return from the concentration camps, recounts her daily activities, work, and leisure time, and passes along news of mutual acquaintances. Many of the letters have dried flowers attached to them or lipstick marks where Danielle kissed the letter. David’s letters to Danielle reciprocate her love, make plans for their marriage, and ask after her father.
Danielle and David Snegg papers