Death of Olga Fink

They were two young medical students, Olga Kaplan and Odette Rosenstock, both aged 25 in 1939.

It was that year that Odette met Moussa at Olga’s home. Olga remembers: “Odette was a charming young woman, very pretty, slim, blonde, with brilliant blue eyes, generous and full of life. Moussa fell in love at once, but there was no question of marriage.”

They had their studies to finish and an uncertain future ahead of them, especially as two young Jewish women, at a time when Hitler was invading Poland and starting the Second World War. The destinies of the two young doctors took them both to Nice. We know that Odette joined Moussa there, and the extraordinary story of the Marcel network began. And it was in Nice that Olga met Ignace Fink, general secretary of the “Comité Dubouchage”, led by Michel Topiol. Ignace and Olga married and worked for a time on organising the rescue of the thousands of Jewish refugees on the Côte d’Azur, in liaison with another legendary figure, Angelo Donati.

On September 9, 1943, after the Italians signed the armistice, Alois Brunner led the terrible hunt for Jews that would drive Moussa and Odette, with the effective help of Monseigneur Rémond and Pastors Gagnier and Evrard, to set up the “Marcel network”. For his part, Ignace Fink continued his rescue work by distributing false papers. He was soon spotted by the Gestapo, and the couple had to leave Nice for Grenoble, where the Resistance was organising. Olga and Ignace stayed there until the Liberation. In 1945 their first son, Mathias, was born; he would become a member of the Academy of Sciences and a professor at the Collège de France…

Back in Paris, Ignace Fink devoted himself entirely to the Jewish community. He was one of the founders of COJASOR, of which he was Director General until 1993, the year he died. Today a COJASOR residence for the elderly bears the name of Ignace Fink. This residence is in… Nice.

Olga was one of the first to join our Association. As long as her health allowed, she attended the commemorations that Les Enfants et Amis Abadi organise every year. She loved to talk about Odette and Moussa and regaled us with a thousand memories.

On June 8, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and her many friends laid Olga to rest. She left “discreetly, as if apologising for it”, in the words of Rabbi Farhi, who was there in Bagneux to tell us this beautiful story, not forgetting to recall the deep friendship that bound the Finks to the Abadis.

Victor Kuperminc