A mysterious wedding announcement card…
Not long ago in Greece Alex Tsiavos discovered a book of music hidden in a drawer in an old table. Inside this book there was a wedding announcement card dating from 1937. It is printed on 31.5 x 20 cm Velin d’ARCHES® 130 gsm announcement card, which is one of the most prestigious French-style wedding announcement cards, made from 100% cotton rag paper.
Intrigued, he decided to do some research and try to reconstitute the history of the announcement card and the family mentioned on it. This is what he discovered:
The wedding, which took place in October 1937 at the synagogue in Lyon, was that of Max Gougenheim, aged 26 and France Simon, aged 23. A year after they were married, the couple had a little boy they named Gilles.
The groom’s father, Mr Gougenheim, was a Knight of the Order of Legion of Honour, a Member of the Chamber of Commerce and a Trade Advisor.
During the Second World War, France, Max and their son Gilles were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, where they died in 1943. The same happened to the guests who received this wedding announcement card.
Today, Alex Tsiavos’s enquiries have unfortunately not enabled him to find any other members of this family.
We wish to pay tribute to Alex Tsiavos and the time and effort he has put into this search.
Velin d’ARCHES® announcement card is still produced at the Arches paper mill, but the watermark has changed: it no longer includes the 3 little flowers. However, they can still be found on Moulin du Gué® paper.
