Collection

Montreal Holocaust Museum

Description Level

Item

Material Type

textual record

Physical Description

Identification card : Paper : printed, typed : Ink : beige, black,blue, red, green ; Ht: 8,9 cm x W: 10 cm

Other Title Information

Documentary Artifact

Date

April 05, 1957

Physical Condition

Good

Language

French

Notes

1 page. Two-sided card issued by the Consulate General of France in Montreal to Jacques Kaszemacher. On the recto, a b&w identity picture of him at age 22 on the t.r. Below the picture, b.r., is a fiscal stamp from Foreign Affairs office.Verso is stamped and signed by the Consul. Narrative: Jacques Kasma was born Jacques Kaszemacher on 1935-09-04 in the 10th arrondissement of Paris (France). His father was Uszer Hersz Kaszemacher, also known as Henric Kasmacher, born on 1913-04-05 in Parczew (Poland). His mother was Chaja Sura Bajwelcwajg, born 1915-05-19 in Warsaw (Poland). Jacques had a younger sister, Jeannine, born in 1937. In 1940, Henri Kasmacher was a driver in the French army. He was captured by the German armed forces in Saint-Die-des-Vosges (France) and was deported to the forced labour camp of Brunswiek, a subcamp of Neuengamme concentration camp ( Germany). In 1943, Chaja Bajwelcwajg was arrested and interned at the Drancy transit camp (France). She died in Drancy on 1943-09-02. Jacques was hidden in Normandy (France) during the war. After Liberation, he spent time in an orphanage ran by the OSE in Le Vésinet. He met Marcel Marceau, a famous French mime, who taught him his art. Henri Kasmacher survived the war and came back to France and remarried to Ida Wolnowicz. In 1956, Jacques Kasma settled in Montreal (Canada) where he pursued an artistic career. He acted as a mime named Tit-Bo on the children's television program "La Boîte à Surprise". He worked at the National Film Board as an editor and director. He also worked with the filmmaker Gilles Groulx. He went back to France to fulfill his military service obligations and moved back to Montreal in 1960. He was part of the Douglas hospital psychiatric research team for 20 years.

Accession No.

2014.24.18

Name Access

Kasma, Puck

Places

Montreal, Canada, North America

Archival / Genealogical

Archival Descriptions

Repository

Montreal Holocaust Museum

Less detail