Jacques Mydlarski

Jacques Mydlarski was born in 1931 in Paris, France to Wolf-Ber and Ruchala Mydlarski. He was the oldest of five siblings and grew up speaking French. He understood a little bit of Yiddish from his parents speaking it at home before his siblings were born. He attended public school and his family owned a business. Jacques remembers feeling lots of antisemitism at school.  

When the Nazis occupied France, Jacques’s father lost his business and car. Jacques and his family had to go into hiding. His mother found places for her children to hide with the assistance of Father Théomir Devaux. Jacques ended up going into hiding in Conches-en-Ouche with his younger brother Henri, and his aunt. They hid on the estate of and were provided aid by Madame Montclaire and Madame Montante. While in hiding Jacques remembers not getting very much schooling, but always having enough food and attending Catholic Church. Jacques and Henri hid in Madame Montclaire’s estate until the war ended. Jacques and Henri were in hiding for most of the war and did not know where the rest of their family was. They learned after that most of their relatives had perished in concentration camps.  

After the war Jacques started working to support his remaining family members. He worked in mass manufacturing, then in a clothing manufacturing factory, where he became the leader of the factory. Jacques worked towards a diploma in design.

In 1957 Jacques and Henri moved to Calgary to join a friend. Their sister Dora joined them soon after. In Calgary Jacques met his wife Lila Miller, and they got married in 1962 and they had one daughter and one son. In Calgary Jacques worked as a cutter in a uniform manufacturing plant, then as a salesman. Jacques then opened Beau Tailors and made custom suits until he retired in 1989. In 1981, Jacques went to Israel and had his Bar Mitzvah at the same time as his son because he never got to have one due to the war. Jacques spoke about his experience during the Holocaust to student groups through the Holocaust Education Symposium, and was an active member in the Calgary Jewish community.  

Jacques Mydlarski died in 2021, and his full testimony is part of the Canadian Collection of Holocaust survivor testimonies. It is preserved in the USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive and accessible through the Ekstein Library.

Jacques Mydlarski

I told the people I lived with that the allies are here.