Arditti family photographs

Jacques Arditti (1911-1981) was born in Smyrna, Turkey (now İzmir, Turkey) to a prosperous Jewish banker and his wife whose names are unknown. His sister Rebecca ("Betty") was born circa 1915. After World War I and the founding of the modern Turkish state, the Arditti family moved to France and sought asylum in Bayonne. They moved to Joinville-le-Pont, a suburb of Paris, where Jacques’ brother Edouard was born December 14, 1922. In the 1930s, Jacques started his own business selling packaging for various products. Betty married decorator and artist Jacques Franck and had a son, Jean-Pierre. On December 12, 1941, Mr. Arditti and Edouard were arrested at home, imprisoned for one night at the École Militaire, and then sent to the camp at Compiègne-Royallieu, east of Paris. Mr. Arditti became ill in the poor living conditions, was released, and died at home shortly thereafter. Edouard was deported to Auschwitz on March 27, 1942 and was killed. Betty's family took refuge in Nice, and her brother Jacques joined them (it is unclear whether Mrs. Arditti joined them as well). A letter of commendation from Roger Bordet seems to indicate that Jacques joined the resistance network on the Riviera. After the war, Jacques met Jacqueline Guiard, a Catholic woman from an anti-Semitic family who disapproved of him. Jacques converted to Catholicism and married Jacqueline in 1949. Their son, Philippe, was born in 1950, baptized, and raised as a Catholic.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Philippe Arditti

Philippe Arditti donated the Arditti family photographs to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2014.