us-005578-irn597340-irn628033
is or was included in: us-005578-irn597340
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-camps/1982
record resource extent: overall: Height: 23.875 inches (60.643 cm) | Width: 1.125 inches (2.858 cm) | Depth: 0.250 inches (0.635 cm)
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
identifier: irn628033
has or had holder: us-005578
has record set type: Item
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Partial rosary made with clear glass beads connected by silver-colored metal chain links. The rosary includes a silver crucifix hanging below one bead, three beads closer together, another bead, and then a metal medal. The front of the crucifix has a metal corpus, or image of Christ, riveted onto the center. Above the corpus, a piece of scrollwork is screwed onto the vertical bar with a Latin abbreviation embossed across it. The back has text stamped near the bottom of the vertical bar. The front of the oval medal has an embossed image of Christ, with a halo behind his head and a cross over his left shoulder. The back has an embossed portrait of the Virgin Mary in left profile with a covering over her head. Above the medal is a broken loop of beads starting with a group of 10 beads spaced close together, followed by a bead spaced farther apart. This pattern repeats, resulting in 49 closely spaced beads and three separated beads, with one of each type of bead missing near the top. These five sets of beads are called decades. On the right side near the center, a broken chain link has been repaired with white thread.
date: 1942 September-1944 September
title: Metal and glass rosary used by an American internee
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn597340-irn628033/alternateIDs/1
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn597340-irn628033/acquisitions/1
scope and content: Rosary used by Leonie Roualet while she was interned in Vittel internment camp in German-occupied France from September 1942 through September 1944. Leonie was born in New York to Leonie Calmesse and Henry Charles Roualet, French champagne vintners who had immigrated to the United States in the 1890s. In the 1930s, Leonie’s mother returned to France to take care of her ailing brother. While caring for her brother, she too became sick, and in 1939 Leonie traveled to France to take care of her mother and her uncle. In May 1940, Germany invaded France and occupied the northern half of the country. Leonie’s sister, Henriette, began to worry about the fate of her mother and sister as she struggled to contact them, and she wrote repeatedly to the U.S. State Department for information on their whereabouts. In November, she received a telegram stating that her mother was in a hospital in Bordeaux, while Leonie was living with their uncle in Épernay. On September 24, 1942, the Gestapo arrested Leonie as an enemy alien and sent her to a prison in Châlons. From there she was transferred to Frontstalag 194 in Vittel. She remained there for two years until the camp was liberated by Free French forces on September 12, 1944. Immediately following liberation, Leonie worked for the Red Cross and helped establish the first displaced persons (DP) camp in Paris. In December 1945, Leonie returned to the United States, accompanying a convoy of refugees at the request of the American Embassy.
archival history: The rosary was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Mark Roualet, great nephew of Leonie Roualet.
type: RecordSet
biographical history: Leonie Berthe Roualet (1900-1978) was born in Hammondsport, New York to Leonie (née Calmesse, 1869-1942) and Henry Charles Roualet (1866-?). Leonie and Henry were both originally from France, where they worked as champagne vintners. They immigrated to New York in 1890, where they continued to work as wine merchants. Leonie Berthe was raised Catholic and had two older brothers, Georges (George, 1891-1951) and Andre (Andrew, 1894-1973), and one older sister, Henriette (1898-1969). Georges served in the U.S. Navy during World War I aboard the USS Wisconsin. After the war, the entire family moved from New York to Cleveland, Ohio. In the 1930s, Leonie’s mother, Leonie Calmesse Roualet, returned to France to take care of her ailing brother. While caring for her brother, she too became sick, and in 1939 Leonie traveled to France to take care of her mother and her uncle. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and two days later France and Britain declared war on Germany, officially starting World War II. In May 1940, Germany invaded France and occupied the northern half of the country. Leonie’s sister, Henriette, began to worry about the fate of her mother and sister as she struggled to contact them, and she wrote repeatedly to the U.S. State Department for information on their whereabouts. In November, she received a telegram stating that her mother was in a hospital in Bordeaux, while her sister was living with their uncle in Épernay. On December 11, 1941, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Germany declared war on the United States. Following this declaration, German authorities began arresting American citizens in their occupied territories with the hope that they could exchange them with German citizens interned abroad. On September 24, 1942, the Gestapo arrested Leonie as an enemy alien and sent her to a prison in Châlons. From there she was transferred to Frontstalag 194 in the Vittel internment camp. In Vittel, Leonie lived in hotel-like acco…