Atara Marmor (Betty, Anne, Atara Marmor née Feuerwerker) (Clairvivre (Salagnac), Dordogne, France, September 3, 1943 – Bet Shemesh, Israel, September 21, 2003) was a French historian.
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Atara Marmor was born in Clairvivre (Salagnac), Dordogne. She was the daughter of rabbi David Feuerwerker and of Antoinette Feuerwerker. She was the oldest of 6 children, all born in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, except her, who was born during World War II.
At the time of her birth, her father was officially the rabbi of Brive-la-Gaillarde and three neighbouring Departments.
Her father, warned in 1944 of his imminent arrest by the Gestapo, through the network of the French Resistance, finds refuge in Switzerland, his native country, for the duration of the last six months of the war. Her mother, stays with her in France. She had beforehand found a potential refuge, for her and her baby. When the day came to hide, she went to those who had offered her help. But she was told : « It was too dangerous ! ». Without another alternative, Antoinette Feuerwerker found a haven in a catholic convent. The mother and the daughter shared a cell and survived on potatoes and water.[1]
At the Libération of France, rabbi David Feuerwerker becomes the Chief Rabbi of Lyon, and, with his wife, he works at the reconstruction of French Jewry. Atara lives in Lyon, from 1944 to 1946, living with her parents, quai Tilsit.
In 1946, rabbi David Feuerwerker is elected rabbi of Neuilly-sur-Seine. They live 12, Rue Ancelle. Atara will be involved in the epic of the SS Exodus. The money intended for this illegal transport was entrusted to Antoinette Feuerwerker. It’s in gold ingots. At the time, individuals didn’t possess the right to own them. Antoinette Feuerwerker seeks a place to hide them, before returning them. She chooses to place them, without her husband’s knowledge, under his bed. Her reasoning is that no one will suspect him. One day, Atara plays on the ground, and under the bed catches sight of the treasure.. Her mother told her, « These are golden buttons », in case the child talks, the news wouldn’t spread.
In 1948, rabbin David Feuerwerker becomes the rabbi of the second largest Synagogue of Paris, the Synagogue de la rue des Tournelles and the family lives at 14, place des Vosges, in the heart of Marais, until 1966. Atara goes to High School in Paris, notably at the Lycée Victor-Duruy and at the Lycée Fénelon.
In her late teens, she made a long stay in the United States,[2] where she learns American English. She spent one year in Mansfield (Ohio), living by Rabbi Harstein and his family.[3] She got used to the mamerican way of life. She completed her High School diploma in Mansfield.
She then moved to New York. The wife of the Rebbe of Lubavitch, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson, showed her the americain metropolis.
She studied in New York at the Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University.
When the dean of the French poets, André Spire died in 1966, rabbi David Feuerwerker lead his funerals. André Spire’s family requested intimate funerals in his litte village outside of Paris, and requested the presence of Atara, the friend of the only child of the Spires, Marie-Brunette.[4] She attended.
When her family settled in Montreal, Quebec, Atara studied sociology at the Université de Montréal. She then completed her Master Thesis in History in 1976 on L'Histoire des mentalités : le concours de l'Académie de Metz dans les trois évêchés en 1785-1787-1788.[5]
She spent several years researching for her Ph.D. in Architectural History on the famous architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and the School of the Bauhaus.
Since a young age, she was interested in music (she had private classes violon with Monsieur Abraham Bourlinski,[6] who will offer her a violin which will accompany her all through her life.[7]).
She loves to paint. From her bedroom with a view on the famous Place des Vosges, she paints still lives or the former Place Royale.[8]
Later, once married to Murray Marmor, a pharmacist in Montreal, an art buff, she will become an expert in art and painting. The Marmors, collectors of de masterpieces[9] will lend to Museums certain of their masterpieces or will make some gifts.[10]
Atara and Murray Marmor have two children : Gila France and Schelomo.
While visiting her daughter in Ramat Bet Shemesh (Israel), at the age of 60, suddenly on the eve of the Jewish Festival of Sukkot, on September 21, 2003, she died and was buried in Bet Shemesh. She had just decided with her husband Aliyah to Israel.