us-005578-irn597340-irn628044
record resource extent: overall: Height: 4.000 inches (10.16 cm) | Width: 5.750 inches (14.605 cm) | Depth: 3.000 inches (7.62 cm)
title: Pitcher made from an Eatonia Brand butter can and used by an American internee
date: 1942 September-1944 September
results or resulted from: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn597340-irn628044/acquisitions/1
is or was included in: us-005578-irn597340
archival history: The pitcher was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Mark Roualet, nephew of Leonie Roualet.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
type: RecordSet
has record set type: Item
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Can of Eatonia Brand butter repurposed as a small pitcher. The pitcher is a cylindrical can with the upper edge of one side shaped into a spout. A thick piece of metal wire is wrapped around the bottom of the can, converging on the opposite side of the spout. The wire is twisted together, forming a handle in a misshapen half circle. The wire is looped through two holes punched through the can at the top near the rim. There is a blue and yellow label printed around the can with English text on both sides. The bottom of the can is silver colored, and the interior is brass colored. The can is scratched overall, particularly across the bottom, and the interior is lightly rusted.
has or had subject: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/vocabularies/ehri-camps/1982
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…
has or had some members with language: eng
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
has or had identifier: http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn597340-irn628044/alternateIDs/1
scope and content: Can of Eatonia Brand butter repurposed as a pitcher and 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.
has or had holder: us-005578
identifier: irn628044