Profile Text
Birth Name: Marcel Mangel
Date of Birth: 22 March, 1923
Place of Birth: Strasbourg, France
Date of Death: 22 September, 2007
Place of Death: Cahors, Lot, France
Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish
Marcel Marceau was a French mime artist, known for his stage persona “Bip the Clown,” and an actor. He was also known as “Le mime Marceau.”
Marcel was the son of Chana/Anne (Werzberg) and Kalma/Karl/Chaim/Charles Mangel, a kosher butcher. His parents were Jewish emigrants. His father was from Będzin, Będzin County, Silesian Voivodeship, Poland. Marcel’s father was killed in the Holocaust, in 1943, in Auschwitz. His mother was from Jabłonów/Yabluniv, Ukraine. He was a cousin of Israeli singer and entertainer Yardena Arazi.
Marcel was raised in Lille and Strasbourg. During WWII, he participated in the French Resistance, along with his cousin Georges Loinger, a prominent resistance member. At wartime, he took on the surname Marceau, after French Revolution, general François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers.
He had two children with his former wife Huguette Mallet; and two children with his former wife Anne Sicco.
Marcel’s paternal grandfather was Jacob Hersz/Jacques Mangel (the son of Majer Mangiel/Mangel and Jentla Federman). Majer was the son of Jakob Herszela Mangiel and Chaja Hudesa Bryl vel Majmin. Jentla was the daughter of Icek Federman and Ruchla Hochman/Kochman.
Marcel’s paternal grandmother was Cymela/Simone Szwajcer (the daughter of Abram Mordka Szwajcer and Gnendla Russ). Cymela was born in Będzin, Będzin County, Silesian Voivodeship, Poland. Abram was the son of Szmul Lewek Szwajcer and Marya Hana Paluch. Gnendla was the daughter of Jochem Aron Russ and Rosalia/Rajzla Cubatek.
Marcel’s maternal grandfather was named Jakob/Jacques Werzberg.
Marcel’s maternal grandmother was named Berthe Vogel.
Source: Genealogy of Marcel Marceau – https://www.geni.com