Château Larcis Ducasse: The 20th Century
Henry married Émilie Gabrielle Fould (1855 – 1955), the daughter of a négociant named Abraham Fould (1774 – 1842), a branch of the Fould banking dynasty. They had been blessed with five children, including a son named André, who served as a medical auxiliary during World War I. Henri Raba died in 1925, his widow Gabrielle taking over the running of the estate until, eleven years later, in 1936, his son André Raba took hold of the reins. In a subsequent tragedy André died, in 1941, after he was arrested by German troops. According to the words of Bernard Ginestet, writing in St Emilion (Jacques Legrand SA, 1988), “André Raba was imprisoned in Libourne, accused of listening to the English radio. He died soon after, the result of brutal treatment”.
André had no heir, and so after his passing ownership of the estate passed to his niece, Hélène Gratiot-Alphandéry (1909 – 2011) and her husband Gilles Gratiot. Again according to Ginestet, Hélène also suffered some persecution and she and her husband fled France’s occupied territory. The domaine was managed in their absence by their régisseur, Pharaon Roche, and it was not until France was liberated in 1944 that they returned.
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