Carven Marie-Louise

Carven, Marie-Louise In 1941, Marie-Louise Carven opened her first haute-couture shop in Paris. In spite of the Vichy exclusion laws, she continued to employ Henry Bricianer, a Romanian Jew who had become a French citizen in 1926. Bricianer, a couturier by profession, had established himself as a sewer at home where he worked with his wife for several different suppliers, including Marie-Louise Carven, after the “aryanization” of his own shop. Because of their French nationality, the Bricianers, along with their five children, believed they were protected from deportation. On October 7, 1943, however, after Ernestine Edwarski, the mother of Mrs. Bricianer, was arrested in Nice, and transferred to Drancy, she was deported to Auschwitz, on convoy no. 60. Following this arrest, two French policemen arrived at the Bricianers’ home in Paris with a warrant to transfer them to Drancy as well. However, the police allowed them 24 hours, promising to return the following day when they would be ready to depart. Henry Bricianer then appealed to Marie-Louise Carven. She offered to hide hide him in a maid’s room on the 6th floor of the building where her shop was located. He was thus discretely able to continue his work to feed the seven people in his family. Marie-Louise Carven made it possible for four out of the seven members of the Bricianer family to be lodged with some of her close relatives. She first asked her mother, Mrs. Thomazo, who took in Jacqueline, one of the Bricianer daughters. Mrs. Thomazo willingly hid Jacqueline for several months, with the help of Mrs. Boyriven, Marie-Louise’s aunt. Mrs. Régina Bricianer, her son Philippe and her daughter Nicole were also hidden for several months at the home of one of Marie-Louise Carven’s uncles. All this assistance was provided at no charge. With the help of a friend, the Bricianers were able to obtain false identity cards. These efforts allowed them to survive until the Liberation. At the heart of this rescue wasMarie-Louise Carven’s stubborn determination to conceal Henry Bricianer with part of his family as well as to mobilize several of her relatives and friends to give shelter to other family members. After the war Madame Carven’s firm became a leading fashion house in Paris, known especially for women of small size, like herself. Her designs were worn by members of the aristocracy, film stars and celebrities. Among her clients was singer Edith Piaf. On August 13, 2000, Yad Vashem recognized Marie-Louise Carven as Righteous Among the Nations.