Louise Pikovsky and her lost letters found

"Weve all been arrested. I leave the books that aren't mine and also some letters that I would like to find again if come back one day. Thinking of you and Father and Mlle. Arnold, with hugs, Louise"

This was found with a stash of six letters by Khalida Hatchy, math teacher, in a high school locker in Paris's 16th arrondissment, Jean-la-Fontaine, in 2010. Dating from nearly seventy years before, 1942-1944, they were written by Louise Pikovsky to her Greek and Latin teacher, as she grew from fourteen to sixteen years old.  Recipient of a prize for excellence in 1940-1941, her philosophical and sensitive mind comes through, inquiring deeply into the sense of the horrors unfolding around her. 

Stéphanie Trouillard, journalist, was called upon to investigate. Louise's story unfolded :  We know she was rounded up, the family was shipped to Drancy (which today there RER B goes through to get to Charles de Gaulle Airport) they were then shipped to Auschwitz, never to be heard from again. 

If she never came back for the letters, they have survived for us to know her to some small extent and to regret, again and forever, what the world lost in those years.  

“Oh ! Mademoiselle, si vous vouliez me reparler de la joie. Je suis sûre que nous ne pouvons apprécier le bonheur qu’après avoir souffert, mais est-ce que la souffrance a des arrêts. Je finis par en douter. Je vous embrasse affectueusement”

"Oh miss, if you could talk to me again of joy. I am sure that we can only appreciate happiness after having suffered, but does suffering stop? I end up doubting it. Affectionate hugs"

When asked, in the mid forties, what she would have brought with her had she been as old as she was at that point at the time of the 1940 Exodus (at the time of the Nazi invasion/occupation) she answered :

“Un tel livre doit me distraire en me faisant oublier toutes les horreurs de la vie, me redonner du courage. Il doit aussi me former le caractère et surtout, il faut que je le relise sans me lasser. Quel livre me donnera tout cela à lui seul ? Un livre de prière en français et je n’en vois pas d’autre. (…) Lorsque la terre est en proie à d’effroyables carnages, que les hommes vous causent de grandes tristesses, où pouvez-vous [vous] réfugier sinon avec Dieu ?

"Such a book must entertain me, making me forget the horrors of life, and give me back my courage. It must also form my character and above all, I must be able to reread it without tiring of it. What book alone could give me all that? A book of prayer in French and I can't imagine another one (...) While the earth is prey to dreadful bloodshed, and men cause you such great sadness, where can you find refuge but with God?" 

Ms. Trouillard has created an online memorial here (in French) and here (in English). France Culture has a piece devoted to this story (in French) here. Along with Thierry Lambert, she composed a graphic novel (in French) about her which you can find here.

In this time of rising hate, let us remember Louise. Never Again.