Address: OPLETALOVA 1013/59, PRAGUE 1
Born 22. 12. 1881
Last residence before deportation: Prague I
Address/place of registration in the Protectorate: Prague I, Waldhauserova 14
Transport AAs, no. 916 (20. 07. 1942, Prague -> Terezín)
Transport AAy, no. 958 (28. 07. 1942, Terezín -> Baranoviči)
Murdered
Rachel Blau was born as Rachel Rose on 22 December 1881 in Krakow, Poland. Her father was Moritz Rose, the house owner, and her mother was Bronislava Rose, born Rosenzweig. Rachel had nine siblings: Rosalie, Elkan, Zacharias, Abraham, Marie, Karel, Balvina, Isak, Jakob. She married her husband, businessman Oskar Szyj Blau, who was born on 29/03/1884 in Rzeszow, Poland, on 04 June 1907 in Krakow.
On May
14, 1908, their first son, Šimon, was born in Podgórza (a district of Krakow), and in 1920, their second son, Arnold, was born – this was already in Karlovy Vary, where the Blau family bought the “Marconi” house in 1919, no. 1514 (today Moskevská 1514/48). In Karlovy Vary, they run a glass and porcelain shop called “Krystal” at Tržiště 21 (Lázeňský dům Bílý lev no. 36). After the occupation of the Sudetenland in September 1938, the Blau family bought a house in Poděbrady no. 429/II (today Studentská 429/51).
In the summer of 1939, the couple separated, and in September 1939 Rachel moved from Poděbrady to Hotel Flora in Prague at Orlická Street 2020/2. In November 1939, it moved to Beethovenova Street
1013/59 (later Lützowova, today Opletalova). Her last Prague address was Waldhauserova 861/14 (today Bílkova).
According to the Jewish Museum archive, Rachel Blau had registration number 3057 and boarded the transport AAs (number 916) to Terezín on 20 July 1942. On 28 July 1942 she boarded the transport AAy (number 958) in Terezín. The AAy transport was originally headed for Minsk, but ended up in Baranovichi in the territory of today’s Belarus. No one survived this transport.
Oskar’s husband apparently managed to leave the Protectorate in the summer of 1939. Son Šimon ran away in June 1940 via Bohušovice (Těšín district). About son Arnold there is no information available. As Czechoslovak citizens abroad, both Oskar and Šimon were then covered by the so-called mobilization decree of the Czechoslovak National Committee. Oskar was conscripted into the army in June 1940 at the famous training camp in Agde in the south of France. Oskar’s last known location is the Hotel Mirasol in Amelie les Bains in the Pyrénées – Orientales region of France. Šimon was also drafted in August 1940 in Shanghai, which at that time was a popular destination for Jewish emigration. In November 1941, he became a member of the foreign Czechoslovakia in the camp in Agami near Alexandria, Egypt. He adopted the codename Bartoň, went through campaigns in the Middle East and Africa, and ended his military service in the fall of 1945 as a sergeant in the reserve.