Felix Solaire, French POW

I’m trying to find any information about my Great Grandfather, Felix Solaire he was a French. He escaped from two POW camps, one of which was Stalag in Poland. He was captured in France 1941, and unfortunately that is all the information I have.
He hated discussing the War, and he never exaggerated, so I believe what he told me. I have only seen one record and France won’t cooperate with me in helping to locate his records. If anyone can help me, I would forever be in your debt.
note:
One of his escapes was directly following Easter. I remember he said he had to swim down a river and nearly froze.

 

Welcome to the forum. I believe that the French authorities will not give information until after 120 years have passed after the date of the birth of the individual.

Look at this link, and be aware that there is a limit to the number of applications for information that will be taken and that the date for applications is next Monday, early in the morning:

Recherche de renseignements sur une personne détenue pendant la Guerre d’Espagne ou la Seconde Guerre mondiale - Quota trimestriel atteint

Bonne chance.

 

Wow, I had no idea it was that long. I would have to wait for 2037 then. I thought their policy would be like ours and if we sent his death certificate over that we’d be granted access. Thank you for that information. I’ve contacted a few places and they never respond.

 

Geneva time is an hour ahead of UK time: this is the link in English. ( I have not tried this myself )

Requests for information about people held during Spanish Civil War or Second World War: Quarterly limit reached

I may have misinterpreted the French rules, I got the information from this book, which is free to download:

Mikuláš Čtvrtník

"Archives and Records
Privacy, Personality Rights, and Access"



https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-18667-7

"Personality Rights, Privacy, and Post-mortem Privacy Protection in Archives: France and United Kingdom

Mikuláš Čtvrtník"

Extract:

"However, France has maintained several closure periods for certain selected groups of archives.Footnote 4

The specific access regime subject to closure periods applies to those groups of archives that enter the field of personality protection from different sides.

Records containing matters of medical privacy constitute a special group of material.

These may be disclosed 25 years after the death of the person concerned.

If the date of death is unknown, the period is determined to 120 years after the date of birth.Footnote 5

In the broadest sense, however, the protection of personality is to be implemented by the provision declaring a time limit for access to archives concerning a person’s private life (“protection de la vie privée”).

This period is 50 years after the creation of the record.Footnote 6

Apart from this general period, for certain types of records concerning personal privacy, the periods are even longer.

At the earliest, 75 years after their creation or 25 years after the death of the person concerned, records of a statistical nature collected by means of questionnaires and containing data on a person’s privacy may be disclosed.Footnote 7 "

I am sorry that you do not receive a reply to your requests. Just keep trying. Your relative sounds like a determined chap.

Was the river he swam adjacent to the Stalag ?

 

Hello MichelleLV.

An initial search for "SOLAIRE" "Felix" via Mémoire des Hommes has produced a zero return unfortunately.

Rechercher dans les bases nominatives - Mémoire des hommes

John (papiermache) has given very good advice above. Hopefully the ICRC may have something.

Good luck with all, kind regards,

Jim.

 

[QUOTE="papiermache, post: 1054500, member:

Was the river he swam adjacent to the Stalag ?[/QUOTE]

I’m unclear on the details, but looking at a map of the area, my best guess is the river that is adjacent to the camp. The account he gave was the following:

[ we must treat people with kindness, even the most vile. When I was captured I was kind to the guards. After some time one of the guards gave me a small pocket knife. I would carve out little animals like those there (he pointed toward little carved trinkets he had made over the years). The guard let me keep the little knife even after he went home so I could continue my work. It is how I escaped. I prayed to God on Good Friday and promised that if He helped me escape I would never miss another Easter Mass. I did escape, down an icy river and almost froze to death. I have kept my word and have never missed an Easter Mass ]

So his escape was around Easter from that camp. I wish I had asked more questions, but he hated talking about the war.
He was captured and escaped twice. I found a record about Stalag where he was sent in 1941, but it says he was RAF, not French . However, his hometown of Nanterre is listed. I haven’t found any information about the 2nd capture which would have to have happened later in the war.

 

Merci!

 

Hello MichelleLV.

From your post #6 above:

"He was captured and escaped twice. I found a record about Stalag where he was sent in 1941, but it says he was RAF, not French . However, his hometown of Nanterre is listed. I haven’t found any information about the 2nd capture which would have to have happened later in the war."

The "RAF" for Felix is "R.A.F. (Régiment d'Artillerie Française)".

So, SOLAIRE, Felix, was an artilleryman (2e = Deuxieme Classe) in the 153 Régiment d'Artillerie Française.

Liste Officielle No.91, De Prisonniers Francais, published Paris 14 Avril 1941, lists Felix on page 54 as PdeG/POW at Stalag VII A Moosburg.

I hope this has cleared a few things up for you.

Next thing to do will be to find Felix's "matricule", then we will really be getting somewhere.

Kind regards, always,

Jim.

 

Well done Jim : award yourself a cup of cocoa !

Easter Days:

Easter Day 1940 March 24

Easter Day 1941 April 13

Easter Day 1942 April 5

Easter Day 1943 April 25

Easter Day 1944 April 9

Easter Day 1945 April 1

{ For full image see US National Archives or NARA : identifier - NAID: 84785944 }

 

Michelle, information regarding Stalag VII/A Moosberg in pdf format attached for you.

Kind regards, always,

Jim.

 

Jim! Yes!! Thank you so much, you are a gentleman and a scholar! If you ever come to Las Vegas, lunch is on me!!

 

Also, this is exciting for me because I had thought he said he escaped by carving into a wall and falling into the river beneath it but I wasn’t sure if I had just misunderstood. This map appears to show that the camp was, in fact, situated on top of the river. This must have been where he escaped from. I am so excited to have these records for my family. Again, thank you so much.

 

This Australian newsletter or newspaper may refer to Stalag VIIA/ Moosburg. From "Trove": a great resource sponsored by Australian government: (see screenshot )

P.O.W. the monthly newsletter of the Australian Prisoners of War Relatives Association.

This tape may be accessible in the U.S.A. from the Imperial War Museum:

"transferred by train journey to Stalag VII A, Moosburg, Germany; escapes from train; conditions on train; problem of lack of food and weight loss; arrival in camp at night; attitude of camp commandant to conditions on train for POWs. REEL 11 Continues: Aspects of period as POW in Stalag VII A, Moosburg, Germany, 10/1941-4/19: marched to camp; deloused; issued with prison clothes and clogs; assigned to working parties; Red Cross parcels; sent to working party near Munich; accommodation in barracks; work on railways; theft of goods from trains by POWs; work clearing snow in Munich streets; amusing story of guard; bribing guards;"

IWM (Production company)
Bannister, John (recorder)
Sullivan, Cornelius Laurence 'Laurie' (interviewee/speaker)
Production date
2001-10-17
Dimensions
whole: Duration 540, Number Of Items 18
Catalogue number
22394

Search at IWM Collections for the catalogue number limited to digital here:

IWM Collections

 

papiermache thanks so much! I am so happy archives are being digitized and made available to everyone. I need to transcribe the stories I was told while my great grandparents were alive. While Felix was off fighting, the women in my family were hiding Jews under their Resturant during the day and moving them at night toward Switzerland. At one point Nazis came to collect metals from their Resturant to melt down for the war effort and my great-great grandmother beat one with her shoe to cause a scene so that a family wasn’t discovered. I don’t know how she wasn’t killed.