Paul Velsa

Paul Isaac Welsa was a French stage and film actor. He appeared in more than thirty films between 1928 and 1938.

Biography

Paul Isaac Welsa was born on at the maternity ward of the Hôpital Saint-Antoine in the 12th arrondissement of Paris to Maurice and Jeanne Welsa, both of History of [the Jews in Poland|Polish-Jewish] origin. His first known performance on stage was at the age of 17 at the Théâtre des Ternes in February 1923. He appeared onscreen, nine years later, as Corporal Bourrache in the silent film Tire-au-flanc; a screen adaptation of the 1904 play of the same name by André Mouëzy-Éon, directed by Jean Renoir.
After fifteen years spent on both theatre and film stages, his career ended during the German [military administration in occupied France during World War II|German occupation of France] in World War II. A victim of the anti-Jewish laws of the Vichy government, he was arrested shortly after his father's death and detained at Drancy internment camp from 4 May 1944, then deported in convoy no. 73 of 15 May 1944 to Kaunas in Lithuania. At the time of his arrest, he lived at 47 rue Chauvelot in Malakoff, Hauts-de-Seine. He had been married since 21 June 1928 to Rachel Joël.
He was transferred from Lithuania to Auschwitz concentration camp where he died on 20 May 1944 at the age of 38.
Paul Velsa appears on the Wall of Names at the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris