Rawas and Schouela family documents

Scope and Content: Original identity, vaccination, and immigration documents issued in Egypt, Iran, Italy, and France to Isaac Rawas and Esther Schouela Rawas and their daughters. These are rare archived documents reflecting Jewish life in the Middle East and immigration from there to Canada. There are documents in t…

Scope and Content: Original identity, vaccination, and immigration documents issued in Egypt, Iran, Italy, and France to Isaac Rawas and Esther Schouela Rawas and their daughters. These are rare archived documents reflecting Jewish life in the Middle East and immigration from there to Canada. There are documents in the collection regarding Isaac Rawas' birth and military service, and there are Canadian citizenship documents for both Isaac and Esther. There is a 1932 identity document written in Farsi pertaining to Syrian-born Esther Schouela's Iranian citizenship. The context of the documents are explained in daughter Claudie Rawas' self published illustrated book titled Generations - Volume 1, written in 2023 and donated along with the original source documents. The book includes colour illustrations of these documents as well as numerous family photographs.

History / Biographical: Isaac Rawas was born in Alexandria Egypt in 1914, with French citizenship through his father who was from Algeria, then a French colony. Esther Schouela's family, originally of Damascus, Syria, obtained citizenship from Iran because Syria did not grant citizenship to Jews. Esther moved with her mother and two younger brothers to Cairo, Egypt when she was in her mid teens, joining two older brothers there. Esther married Isaac in Cairo in 1941, and subsequently applied for and obtained French citizenship as well. The Rawas' two oldest daughters, Liliane and Sara (Ninette) were born in Cairo and their third daughter, Claudie, was born in Milan, Italy, in 1948, after the family had relocated in 1947. All three daughters became French citizens at the time of their birth. The Rawas family moved to Montreal, Canada in 1953, where eventually all of the Rawas and Schouela families reunited. The documents in this collection attest to their multicultural experiences and identities.

Notes: Physical condition: Fragile documents in various sizes.Alpha-numeric designations: P23/16.