« You really find it hard to talk about them, don’t you? »
« You’re right, Watson. I never knew them, and my father didn’t want to talk about them. Do you know why? »
« No, Watson. I heard a few confidences from his sister-in-law and from other people, but nothing I can truly verify. »
« Store that somewhere in your memory and tell the facts. »
« Yes, boss! »
Germaine and Charles were born at the very end of the 1800s. Germaine was the daughter of a Belgian immigrant, while Charles’s father had come from the Audomarois region. Both families had been drawn by the prosperity of the city of Calais.
Charles enlisted voluntarily on January 25, 1918. He joined the heavy artillery and fought against Germany until October 1919. He looked very impressive atop his steed!
On September 1, 1921, he married Germaine FAVART, although they were already parents of a daughter, Léona, born in 1917.
As the family grew, they moved through different neighborhoods of Calais. In 1932, they settled in Chemin Vert, at Fort Nieulay.
« It seems to me they stayed in that neighborhood until they died. »
« You’re right, Watson. Many of their children stayed there as well. »
The Second World War was devastating for Calais. The Calais-Nord district was completely destroyed, and many other neighborhoods suffered severe damage. On September 1, 1943, the entire family was evacuated to La Charité-sur-Loire. The following year, they were recorded as living on Rue du Champ du Seigneur. It was in that town that their twelfth and last child, Yvon, was born.
During that period, my father worked as a shepherd in the region.
« But your father was born in 1930 — he was very young then! »
« Yes, he looked after sheep from the age of thirteen to sixteen. »
On January 7, 1946, they returned to Calais and moved into the Bossuet housing estate. Eleven of them lived in that barrack; the three eldest children were already married and had moved away.
On August 6, 1954 — eight years later — the city of Calais sold Charles a plot of land at 17 Rue d’Orléans-Ville, with the condition that a house had to be built there within three years. As a war victim whose property had been destroyed, he had priority for this allocation. That house is now in ruins.
They did not enjoy it for long. Germaine died on December 14, 1956, at the age of fifty-eight, and Charles died on March 25, 1957, at fifty-seven.
« It is so sad to die so young. »
« Yes, Watson, both of them were taken by that scourge. Thank you for your help. Back into your pencil holder. »
I asked my father questions about his childhood, but he never answered me. He would only say, « That’s in the past! »
A rebrousse temps généalogie 