[LCR]

I translated the entire book. Looking at the pieces that I put here, I realized that uchilyvat will be hard, and decided to just put the whole text.

Nathan Vildenshtayn

In response to my questions about our roots my grandfather Nathan always answered: "Daniel, are important only two things - to love France, and walk to the Louvre." My grandfather was everything to me, and my head did not come to question his version.
[SPOILER] He was born November 8, 1851 in Fegerskhayme, in Alsace. He always told my grandmother that was the only one of the children in the family that his father, a Sephardic rabbi, died before his birth.
Finding old documents of civil status, I felt that it was wrong, began to dig further, and I must say that I still have not moved away from what I've dug up ... Sit back! .. Imagine, my grandfather had three brothers and three sisters. Their father died in 1879 and he was not a rabbi. Besides Vildenshtayny were Ashkenazi. A decent surprise, right?
And it's not all.
My grandfather had concealed from us his personal tragedy: in 1870, when he moved from Alsace, his father cursed him ...
Such a conglomeration of lies unbanal. My grandmother and died without ever knowing about it ... For me it was not just a surprise, it was an earthquake - it turns out, my grandfather, whom I adored, was a liar. He fooled us all - my father. Me. All. Why did he redrew his past? Why did he lie? To restore the picture, it was necessary to examine the facts.
His family lived in Fegerskhayme from 1709 - until then the archives have not survived. Father of my grandfather's name was Lazar. He traded postal horses and cattle, as well as all his ancestors since 1709. When my grandfather was 14 years old, he went on this thing. For trade in livestock need to know all the details of credit facilities, it was not an easy profession. It is no coincidence, Albert Kahn, who became the largest banker, was a native of Alsace, and last traded cattle. Buying and selling horses was much easier. Roughly speaking, this was a gangster craft: nag hunted for three days resulted in the presentation and then re-sold, so you bought is actually a dead horse ... of course, recognize the great horse-trader, and good horses. By the way, Nathan was able to do it. At auction in Deauville, seeing that my father hesitated, he said: "Do what you want. But I would buy this now. " And always pointed to the great mare, which gave almost nothing. While it seemed strange to me. Now I understand better what it was. And I know where the family appeared "horseness virus" ...
In 1808 by decree of Napoleon, a Nathan ben Lazar received the right to choose a name. It seems that he was inspired by an ancient castle in the upper reaches of the Rhine - Castle Vildenshtayn. What else can I say? This is almost everything. In the end, I was not at the same time ... about 1808 we were the only names - Jacques ben Nathan and Nathan Ben Jacques ... My grandfather loved the Abbe Gregoire. He created him, so to speak, posthumous idols. It is this abbot offered to give the Jews the opportunity to have a permanent family to a completely uneducated ... Nathan French Revolution has been the subject of passion: "We were nothing, - he chanted - and the French Revolution in 1789 has made of us real people." Participate in the election was for him a sacred duty, he was not joking with this. We can say that it was almost the only subject on which he never joked. He admired Clemenceau. And he hated the Germans.
In 1870 the family Vildenshtaynov there was a terrible tragedy. The Prussians occupied Alsace. My grandfather left Federskhayma, leaving the family. Perhaps it was not easy. Surely it was not without bloodshed ... In Alsace there was an old tradition that touches everyone - Catholics, Protestants, Jews. It can be stated as follows: the one who left Alsace and his family never came back. His name was crossed out from the annals, it no longer existed. His very name was forgotten. If he suddenly appeared, he was denied a piece of bread. He was cursed for life. In those days, if people wanted to get out of Alsace, they left all the family. My grandfather left alone. An aggravating circumstance: he was the eldest of seven children, therefore, he knew what awaited him, but still left. He refused to become a German, there lived a commitment to remain French. This is the key to understanding the fate of Nathan and, accordingly, our destiny. When I was young, he could not, of course, imagine what a nightmare he had experienced, but nevertheless saw the departure from Alsace was given to him is not easy. He carried a some secret shame, a severe wound. And I doubt that he was in Alsace, even after the Treaty of Versailles, even after 1919 do not think so. He often told me: "You know, Daniel, the Boches are still hosted with us." Terrible sentence ... His six brothers and sisters were ... Germans must know that when his father died, my grandfather bought a small house in Fegerskhayme - to be able to say: I have a family house there. But it was not a house of my ancestors.
Another puzzle: the tomb of Lazarus flirtatious in a Jewish cemetery Fegersayma. I'm pretty sure that he ordered her Nathan. But on the tomb is not mentioned nor his mother, Babette, nor his brothers and sisters - as if all onikuda something left. They are no longer any trace. What happened to them? What happened? Now do not know ... I, too, there was not.
In 1870, Nathan tried to go to Paris, but Paris was not available. The city was besieged. Then he went to Vitry-le-Francois. Why there? Not because the place was called Vitry, and because it was Francois Vitry - French. Yes, he, he loved France so much. Things have gone even further, it is very strange: Nathan opened a branch in New York in 1898, and he died in 1934, has never visited this same America. He was more than a couch potato. Of course, he traveled to the Netherlands - a Rembrandt, Rubens behind, and even Dutch painting had to buy it ... But my grandfather was very reluctant to leave their country, their French Republic. He sacrificed his family to remain French.
In 1871, Nathan served in the 48th regiment of infantry in Chalons-on-Marne. He then went to work for a tailor in Vitry-le-Francois. Where else could he go? A tailor's apprentice ... In the Jewish hierarchy stood just below the bum. Surely he had a difficult life. He sold the cloth - the man who sells American millionaire John D. Rockefeller, Portrait of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier and his wife of David ... He's always been a fantastic seller - one of the family. Neither my father nor myself, nor my children did not have that talent. And he was. It was in his blood. He intuitively recognize the tastes, desires and passions with great accuracy. Once one of his clients in Vitry asked him if he could sell a few paintings on which she wanted to get rid of. Paintings? Why not? Willingly. There was only one embarrassing fact: he knew nothing about the pictures. Quite a damn thing, he was a complete zero. As the cultural baggage from my grandfather was only the French language, learned in school - he went to school until the age of fourteen - and the Alsatian dialect, which he had no one to talk. But he did not give. He said yes and went to Paris.
In Paris, he got to the Louvre, he did not go there for ten days. Within ten days he looked. Observed. I tried to understand. Looked again and again. Raised his eyes. Daniel, two things are important - like France and walk to the Louvre. You should know up to the last breath, my grandfather sold the masterpieces of the largest museums in the world. In all - except for the Louvre. He could not. Sell ​​sheet in the Louvre - he could not even imagine this. He loved the Louvre and the people who worked at the Louvre. And his relationship with the Louvre were charmed visitor relations - of-zi these ten days ... I remember how he talked about the decade that changed his life. He spoke with fervor characteristic of people who possessed faith. As an atheist, who suddenly had a vision, and who became a monk. He told me: "I could not even imagine that there is." And he believed only that. He sold the picture of his client. Earned 1,000 francs. But it is not squandered them. No, he immediately invested in their canvases. He went round all the houses in Vitry, Bush bought a bed and Quentin de Latour, and immediately resold them to buy more fabric. That's how our story began.
Events began to develop at a faster rate after meeting his grandfather to Laura Levy, my future grandmother. Presumably, this poor man, without a stake and the court, almost vagabond, the only good that has been an incredible accent, fell into raptures by a brilliant and welcoming family Levi ...
Levi was born in Carcassonne Sephardim. Grandmother's sister was the mother of Darius Milhaud. Her brother married the daughter of a Provencal poet Valabrega, who more than once wrote Cézanne. Music. Poetry. Painting. These were educated people. They lived in Paris on the Boulevard Mazhanta - there February 11, 1856, my grandmother was born. I remember she told me about his childhood, it was so wonderful! .. Every day my father took her to watch as the balloon flies away, carrying mail - this balloon after landing in Paris, where necessary. He delivered the "Gazeta missing." "On the first page - told my grandmother - were published in the news, and the second page was left blank for people to write on her own." It showed me his father, indignant that "these Parisians eats animals from the zoo!". Samson Levi choked with indignation: "Shockingly, these people are willing to eat their dogs! Cannibals! ". This man thought a lot about the misery of civilization, published revolutionary tracts. He was from people who believe in the idea of ​​freedom. He believed that freedom - not a bad thing. I remember in the 1930s. - She died on February 6, 1937 - my grandmother told me: "Your great-grandfather was a communist!". And I answered her: "Nonsense ... Never in my life. Your father was a commune, it is quite another matter. Who invented communism? Marx. Engels. Rosa Luxemburg. All the Ashkenazim, Ashkenazi Jews alone. Of course, you realize that he would never trust them. " When you think about the continuation of the communist feuilleton known to know whether to laugh or cry ...
After the fall of the Commune Levy left Paris and settled in Vitry-le-Francois, where he opened a print shop. There's my grandmother got her Abitur - while this certificate meant something, you can even say that it means a lot. She wrote. I read everything that came under her arm. This is my father instilled a love of books. I am sure that she opened her eyes grandfather taught him to see beauty. My grandmother loved art all my life - until her last night.
Why did he lie to her? Perhaps there is some explanation ... I guess.
During their meeting there was a huge gap between Ashkenazim and Sephardim. From the perspective of Ashkenazi Sephardic were disgusting creatures prischedshimi from Spain, calling to Asia or Africa! To call a spade a spade, it was a dirt road ... For Sephardim Ashkenazi and were ignorant slut! .. At the time of the Sephardi girls not to marry Ashkenazim. No, never. Well, and vice versa. It was impossible to even imagine that her daughter will marry Ashkenazi Sephardic. Here in this context that my grandfather and grandmother uttered untruths: that his father was Ashkenazi rabbi, and in addition to all the deceased. The risk that someone-show from this German Alsace and expose him, was small - in fact they buried him in the shower. In a sense, Nathan repaid cursed him to his father in the same coin: he sent ahead of him in heavenly peace ... But how can you sleep Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews to wake up? Grand ... I remember he even had molilnye book - Sephardic. Surely he bought them specially for the occasion ... and I hear him: "I do not eat this stuff in the armor! And I'm not kidding! When I was serving lobster, I do not eat anything except claw! ". Yes, in terms of religion, my grandfather was a great joker. Such an atheist in the Alsatian style.
But he never opened his grandmother, even late in life - I must confess that, I can not understand ... It's madness. How could he not admit to it? By the way, now, at eighty-two years, I suddenly realize that I probably have cousins ​​somewhere - and that's after for his entire life, I have argued, foaming at the mouth that most of the Vildenshtaynov, claimed the relationship with us, or lied, or eccentric ...
 Nathan and Laura were married in the house of Levi in ​​Paris March 31, 1881 April 4 in the synagogue of Nazareth was a religious marriage. Grandmother had a small dowry, which is very handy: it allowed them to settle in the Retiro, where they took a small and modest room.
They began modestly.

Syndrome hats

Grandpa would have done without the grandma of success? It's not a fact. I would say that it accounts for 50%. Maybe even a little bit more. Yes, it can be.
My grandmother was easy to lift. In the eyes of this woman, who loved the art of equally strong, and racetracks, shining mind. She taught me everything. I was born in 1917: in four years, she took me with him everywhere - on the racetrack Auteuil, Longchamp, Saint-Cloud. And I've played. I had to go up on tiptoe to the window to throw a coin into cash, and my grandmother was standing behind me and put on all the horses, so I won in all races ... I accompanied her on the shows and high fashion collections. "You see, Daniel is very funny." Indeed, it was very funny. So many pretty girls. For four years, I loved it ... My grandfather wanted my grandmother was elegant. He liked it when she was dressed in the latest fashion. We went to the sisters Callot. This was the era of feathers. The feathers in their hats. Boa. My grandfather called her Mrs. birds. "Well, Mrs. Feathered!". And I call her Ama, it meant "My Mom".
I baptized his grandfather Toto, and he liked it. Physically, he looked like Toto, apparently he was ugly, ugly but interesting. It is very thin. Very small. With a mustache - a tribute to the era. Hair beaver. And light blue eyes ... He was a cheerful, zhovialny, always an optimist. Among her he was willing to tell stories. Laughed at by his own unfunny jokes and puns depressing. Often, he suddenly burst into laughter for no reason. Oh, he loved to have fun ... I know it's not what you expect from a man who discovered Fragonard and Watteau, but it is.
Ama and Toto.
It was an impressive pair.
I remember in the 1920s. They took me to the movies, the movie was dumb. The protagonist was wearing a strange hat, all of them laughed, but by the end of the movie are wearing a hat the entire city. When we left the theater, his grandfather said, "You know, Daniel, our profession - is to find a hat and put it before all others."
He found his hat, it was the French art of the XVIII century.

Man of the XVIII century

Fragonard, Watteau, Boucher, Pater, Greuze, Lancret, Nattier, Chardin, Houdon. When my grandfather began to sell paintings, these names are worthless. As if they simply did not exist. These painters and sculptors, all this century was not interested in anyone but the brothers Goncourt. We can say that my grandfather opened them, pulled out into the daylight. He is a ...
In the last quarter of XIX century in the official art of the Barbizon school prevailed. Bouguereau, Cabanel, Carolus-Duran. How much trash. But sometimes the real artists. In any case, these were the tastes of the time. Great Bouguereau - not such a bad artist - sold for 10 million dollars and was taken to decorate the walls of the bar in Chicago. What can I say about Cabanel? Yes, it's better not to say anything. The best of them was Carolus-Duran, the most capable. He could become a great artist. His early still lifes great, even better than Manet. But he wanted to become a member of fashionable artists ...
My grandfather was very far from the salon painting, which was in vogue during the second half of XIX century. From all the rest, however, too - impressionism, in his opinion, was terrible rubbish, everything you want, but not painting. The Impressionists were oppressed grandfather. He began to have depression. When my father, still very young, began to revolve around these artists, his grandfather sighed heavily, I know. Surely it is hoped that with age, it is my father's will. Nathan honored only paintings of old masters. Everything else does not exist. He told me: "Remember, Daniel, you need only to work with dead artists. Living Artists - absolutely impossible people! ". He understood. Only one of the contemporary artists received his approval: "Yes, this can work. Come on! ". It was Van Gogh. So there is no rule ... We had heard that he was talking about Picasso, "Picasso - clever and adorable. But someone should tell him to stop spoiling canvas! ".
Each morning, Grandpa went to the auction. Then he went to the junk - while they all came from gothic delight, so he quietly bought its eighteenth century. He was a favorite theorem: "He who walks in the Drouot every day, always able to provide a living for themselves and, and to buy new things. And if I do not, so what? So, I'm a fool. " At Versailles, it was no longer king, but the staunch Republican and penniless discovered the paintings of the Old Regime, with its gold, wigs, women in magnificent costumes, the atmosphere of the quadrille, minuet, balls, that careless air of the monarchy. He loved her - and only her.
















No.
Yes.