Death of Sylvia Stoleru

March 28, 2018

We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of Sylvia Stoleru (née Mandel), an Abadi child, on September 7, 2017.

Sylvia Stoleru, née Mandel, was born on April 26, 1936 in Leipzig, the eldest daughter of Erich Mandel and Gisela Lauber, into a German Jewish family of German and Polish origin.
When she was 3, she and her parents fled Nazi Germany for Paris, where another part of the family was already living, and then reached Nice, where they stayed.
She was hidden by the Marcel network at the convent of the Poor Clares in Cimiez, in a small hut that is still there. Her little brother Henri, born in 1941, was hidden elsewhere.
Meanwhile, her father Erich was got across into Switzerland, where he was arrested just after crossing the border and spent the rest of the war in a Swiss labour camp. Her mother Gisela hid in and around Nice in conditions of which we do not know the details.

After the Liberation, the family was able to come together again and try to rebuild a peaceful life in Nice. In the 1950s, Sylvia took part in the Bnei Akiva youth movement, where she met her future husband, Yves Stoleru.
At a very young age she began working for a renowned fashion house, where she developed her passion for fashion and design.
After their marriage in 1961, they had 4 children: Viviane, Eliane, Chantal and David. Sylvia quickly passed on to her children her love of fashion and of things well made, which marks their professional worlds, though these are very varied.

As Yves was very active in B’nai B’rith and had always been close to the Zionist ideal, they decided to settle in Israel in 1982, where two of their children were already living. They chose to live in Jerusalem, surrounded by many friends and very active in French-speaking circles. Sylvia was known there for her elegance and the refinement of the outfits she designed and made herself. But her friends knew her above all for her kindness, her generosity and her loyalty, hidden behind a shyness that disappeared only with those closest to her. Her infectious laugh and her sensitivity allowed her to bring together very different personalities, treating everyone as equals.

Sylvia Stoleru died in Jerusalem on September 7, 2017 after a long illness, surrounded by the love of her family until her last moments.
She rests in Har HaMenuchot cemetery, beneath a beautiful little shrub that makes a most sensitive composition, as if to protect her beloved visitors from the heat of the sun.

Yehi Zichra Baruch (May her memory be a blessing)