Jewish Individuals Involved in Rescue in France
Dr. Mussa (Moses) Abadi and Odette Rosenstock
Mussa Abadi and his fiancée, Odette Rosenstock, fled Paris in the summer of 1940 to Nice, in the South of France. The persecution of Jews in this area started in September 1943, after the Germans invaded and occupied southern France. Nice and Cannes, as well as other areas, became areas of German control. During this period, Abadi and Rosenstock began rescuing Jewish children whose parents had been deported or were in hiding. Once the children were in their protection, Abadi and Rosenstock began to look for safe hiding places to hide their charges. They were aided by the Catholic bishop of Nice, Bishop Raymond. Raymond supported the rescue efforts by opening up Catholic institutions as well as allocating a small office for Abadi to produce forged ID cards and baptismal certificates. Abadi also sought and received support from the Protestant ministers in the area as well as working with Jewish underground organizations such as the OSE and the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), which gave him financial support. Rosenstock continued to check up on the young Jews in hiding. The lives of Abadi and Rosenstock were in constant danger. Abadi and Rosenstock, and the “Marcel Network,” as they were called, are credited with saving the lives of more than 500 Jewish children.
Albert Akerberg, French Jewish Scouts (EIF)
Eugene Balthazar, Guide
André Baur* (1904-1943), Comité de Coordination, Vice President – General Union of French Jews
André Baur was a Jewish leader and rescuer in Paris. Baur served with the Comité de Coordination (established in March 1941), which served as a relief agency to help Jews in the occupied zone. In 1941, Baur became the vice president of the Union Général des Israélites de France (UGIF). Although Baur was criticized for avoiding illegal operations, Baur rejected the idea of the UGIF cooperating with the roundup of the Jews by the SS. Baur tried to intervene with Vichy prime minister Pierre Laval. As a result of his non-cooperation, Baur, his wife, and four children were arrested and eventually deported to Auschwitz in December 1943, where Baur was murdered.
Adrien Benveniste, Sixth Division, French Jewish Scouts (EIF), Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Adrien Benveniste established a rescue network to take Jewish children to Switzerland. He worked with CIMADE. He also worked with the Children’s Aid Rescue Society (OSE) at 25 Rue d’Italie in Marseilles.
Dr. René Block*, OSE
Deported and killed.
Leon Blum, Prime Minister of France
Leon Blum was a Jewish Prime Minister of France elected in 1936. Blum supported the unrestricted immigration policy that was established in the early 1930s.
Gertrude Blumenstock-Levy*, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Gertrude Blumenstock-Levy was an OSE worker at Le Masgelier children’s home. She was murdered.
Dr. Moise Blumenstock*, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Dr. Moise Blumenstock was the staff physician at Le Masgelier children’s home. He was an OSE worker who avoided arrest and escaped a roundup. He joined the underground and resistance. He was murdered in June 1944.
Rene Borel, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Rene Borel was active in saving Jews in France with OSE.
Maurice Brenner, General Union of Jews of France (UGIF-S), American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Representative
Maurice Brenner was a prominent rescue activist and member of the General Union of Jews of France (UGIF-S) in Southern France. He was an assistant to Jules Jefroykin and secretary to Raoul Lambert. Brenner was arrested in UGIF-N offices by Nazis on September 3, 1943.
Henry Bulawalko, Zionist Youth Leader
Henry Balawalko was a Zionist Youth leader who distributed information and warned Jews about imminent roundups and German actions. This helped some Jews avoid deportation.
Eve Cahen*, OSE
Deported and killed.
Leon “Alex” Chertock, Mouvement National Contre le Racisme
Alex Chertock was a leader of the Mouvement National Contre le Racisme. Chertock worked with Suzanna Spaatz and Thérèse Pierre. They organized a children’s rescue network. They worked with Protestant religious leaders in Southern France.
Rabbi Leo Cohen, French Jewish Scouts (EIF)
Rabbi Leo Cohen, with the French Jewish Scouts, set up escape routes and guided Jews from Southern France into Spain. He was arrested and later released. He continued his work throughout the war.
Marianne Cohen*, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Marianne Cohen helped smuggle Jewish children from the Italian-controlled French zone in the south to Switzerland. She was betrayed, caught and deported to Auschwitz, where she was murdered.
Dr. Jean Cremer
Dr. Jean Cremer helped organize the rescue of Jews in France.
Joseph Croustillon, Armée Juif, Rescuer
Angelo Donati, DELASEM
Angelo Donati was an Italian Jewish banker. He was a major Jewish rescue activist. (See Donati in Italian section.)
Doubinsky, President, Dubouchage Committee (Refugee Aid Committee), Nice
Doubinsky was from Odessa. He was the founder of the Dubouchage Committee (Refugee Aid Committee).
Georges Edinger, Leader, General Union of French Jews (Union Général des Israelites de France; UGIF-North)
George Edinger replaced André Baur in the General Union of French Jews (UGIF-North).
Laila Feldblum, Supervisor, OSE Home, Izieu
Roger Fictenberg, Sixth Division, French Jewish Scouts (EIF)
Roger Fictenberg helped some young Jews in La Grave (Alpes-de-Haute Provence), in the summer of 1942.
Ignace Fink, Secretary General, Dubouchage Committee, Refugee Aid Committee, Nice
Joseph Fischer, Jewish National Fund Representative (JNF)
Lena Fischmann, Emergency Rescue Committee, 1940-41
Lena Fischmann was a prominent Jewish member of the Emergency Rescue Committee.
Lisa Fittko, Emergency Rescue Committee
Lisa Fittko was a Jewish refugee from Austria. She and her husband, Hans (a non-Jew) fled to Southern France after the German occupation of France. Lisa and Hans volunteered to escort Jews from Marseilles into Spain. She volunteered as a guide for the Emergency Rescue Committee.
Robert Gamzon, French Jewish Scouts (EIF), The Sixth, Council Member, General Union of Jews of France (UGIF-S)
Robert Gamzon was a French partisan commander who founded the Jewish Scout movement, Eclaireurs Israélites de France. After the Nazi occupation of France in June 1940, Gamzon used the Jewish Scout movement to help Jews in France. He helped establish children’s homes, kitchens, welfare agencies and agricultural training facilities. In the summer of 1942, Gamzon founded a secret rescue network codenamed La Sixième (The Sixth). The Sixth produced false identity documents, found homes for Jewish children and teenagers, and organized the rescue of Jews by smuggling them across borders into Spain and Switzerland. In December 1943, Gamzon founded a Jewish partisan army in the Tarn district of southwest France. Gamzon also served in the Armée Juive (Jewish Army) as a partisan leader.
George Garel, Garel Circuit (Network)
George Garel founded the Circuit Garel, or the Garel Circuit, an elaborate rescue network to save Jews that operated in southern France from August 1942 until the liberation of France in August 1944. Garel was a French Jew who ran a small electrical business in Lyon. By mid 1943, Garel had hidden more than 1,600 Jewish children. (See Garel Network.)
Marcel Geismar*, OSE
Deported and killed.
Madam Getting, General Union of Jews of France (Union Général des Israelites de France; UGIF-North)
Madam Getting was director of Section 42 of the General Union of Jews of France (UGIF-N).
Leo Glaeser, Rue Amelot, Paris
Leo Glaeser was a leader of Rue Amelot in Paris.
Alexandre Glasberg (1902-1981)
Alexandre (André) Glasberg was a Jew born in Zhitomir, in the Ukraine. He converted and became a Catholic priest in France. In 1940, he established a charitable organization called Christian Friendship (Amitié Chrétienne). This organization was involved in the rescue and relief of Jews in southern France. Glasberg operated with the help of French Catholic Cardinal Pierre-Marie Gerlier, who was head of the Catholic Church in France. Amitié Chrétienne set up shelters for Jews who were released from the French internment camps. In the summer of 1942, Glasberg and his organization went underground. He helped to hide Jews throughout the unoccupied zone. In December 1942, Glasberg’s activities were found out by the Gestapo, and he joined the French partisan movement.
After the war, Glassberg worked with the Mossad Aliyah Bet, helping Jews emigrate to Palestine.
Dr. Gluck*, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Dr. Gluck was an OSE staff physician at the Brout-Vernet (Allier) home. He was murdered in June 1944.
Alred Grant, Salidarité
Alred Grant was a leader of Solidarité.
Dr. Pierre Grinberg, MNCR-Southern Zone
Dr. Grinberg worked with the Swiss Red Cross and OSE to save Jewish children in Southern France.
Tony Gryn, Rescuer Guide
Lazare Gurvic, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Olga Gurvic, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Claude Gutman*, French Jewish Scouts (EIF), La Sixième
Claude Gutman was a rescue activist in Southern France. He was arrested, deported and murdered.
Jacques Guttman (Griffon), Nice
Jacques Guttman (Griffon) was a rescuer who was arrested.
Marc Haguenau, Haguenau Platoon, French Jewish Scouts (EIF)
Marc Haguenau was a prominent member of the French Jewish Scouts. Working in Southern France, he organized the rescues of hundreds of Jews.
Shimon Hamel (Chameau), French Jewish Scouts
Dr. Frederic Hammel, French Jewish Scouts (EIF)
Dr. Frederic Hammel, working with Rabbi Leo Cohen, volunteered for the French Jewish Scouts to smuggle Jews from Southern France into Spain. The EIF escorted between 850 and 1200 children to freedom.
Hilde Helman
Otto Albert “Beamish” Hirschmann, Emergency Rescue Committee, 1940-41
Otto Albert Hirschmann was one of Varian Fry’s principal aides in the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC). Hirschmann was a German Jewish political refugee. He was born in Berlin in 1915. He was a young, enthusiastic Francophile and attended French school in Berlin. He left Berlin just after Hitler came to power, on his 18th birthday. Hirschmann had been active in the democratic socialist opposition to the Nazis. In the fall of 1939, Hirschmann found himself in Paris. After war was declared, he joined the French army. After the fall of France, he deserted the French army and took the name of Albert Hermant. Fry called Hirschmann “Beamish” because of his broad smile.
According to Fry’s autobiography, “Beamish had had a good deal of experience with underground work already, and, despite his youth (he was only twenty-five), he was a veteran anti-fascist with two wars to his credit. He had fought in the Spanish Republican army for nearly a year, and had then signed up for service in the French army.” Fry later adds: “Beamish soon became my specialist on illegal questions. It was he who found new sources of false passports when the Czech passports were exposed and couldn’t be used any more. It was he who arranged to change and transfer money on the black bourse when my original stock of dollars gave out. And it was he who organized the guide service over the frontier when it was no longer possible for people to go down to Cerbère on the train and cross over on foot.”
In addition to his work in guiding refugees over the frontier, Hirschmann did much of the interviewing of refugees, along with Fry and Franzi Hildebrand. In his autobiography, Fry writes “For a while Beamish, Franzi and I handled all the work. There was a small writing table and a flat-topped dressing table, with mirror attached, in my room. We used the writing table as an interviewer’s desk and unscrewed the mirror from the dressing table and used it as a second interviewer’s desk. Beamish sat at one table and Franzi at the other. I usually sat on the edge of the bed, or stood up. The refugees waited in the corridor outside my door, and we let them in one at a time. I’d talk to them a little first, and then, if there seemed to be any chance at all that they were one of “our cases,” I’d pass them on to Beamish or Franzi, who would take down their names and addresses and other information about them on ordinary white file cards.”
Hirschmann also made contacts with the French underground and the Marseilles mafia for exchanging money on the black market, which was very dangerous work.
Chief Rabbi Rene Hirschler
Chief Rabbi Rene Hirschler set up a refugee aid center for Jews in the autumn of 1940. On his recommendation, the Jewish Agency created the Camps Commission.
Eri Jabotinsky, Center for Aliya (Revisionsts), Paris
Yehuda Jakubowicz, Rue Amelot
Yehuda Jakubowicz was a leader and representative of Rue Amelot.
Marc Jarblum, Leader, Federation of Jewish Assocations in France (FSJF)
Jules “Dika” Jefroykin (1911-1987), Jewish Zionist Youth Movement (MJS), American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), General Union of French Jews (UGIF-S)
Jules Jefroykin was a prominent Jewish rescue and resistance leader in Southern France. Jefroykin, along with Simon Levitte, founded the Jewish Zionist Youth Movement (MJS) in the winter of 1941-1942. Jefroykin participated with the Jewish Combat Organization and was instrumental in smuggling Jewish children and youths from France into Spain. Jefroykin was also the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s representative in France, and along with Maurice Brener, was responsible for funding rescue activities, which were considered illegal.
Gaston Kahn, Committee d’Assistance aux Réfugiés (CAR), Council Member, General Union of French Jews (UGIF-S)
Gaston Kahn was active with CAR in saving Jewish refugees. He replaced Raoul Lambert after his arrest in July 1943. In December 1943, Kahn barely escaped arrest by the German forces. Kahn worked with Raphael Spanien. Kahn was an active Council Member of the General Union of French Jews (UGIF-South).
Louis Kahn
Rabbi René Samuel Kapel, General Union of French Jews (Union Général des Israelites de France; UGIF-S)
Rabbi René Samuel Kapel worked with the General Union of French Jews in Southern France in the Gurs camp. He warned Jews and was a relief activist.
Armand Katz, General Union of French Jews (Union Général des Israelites de France; UGIF-North)
Armand Katz was a member of Section 4 (Supply Service) of the General Union of Jews of France, and secretary to André Bauer.
Herbert Katzki, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)
Herbert Katzki was active throughout France in helping Jewish refugees. He was a rescue advocate who helped organize rescue and relief actions. Katzki worked out of the JDC office in Lisbon, Portugal.
Katzki was also instrumental in trying to implement the Europa Plan.
Yosef Katznelson, New Zionist Organization (NZO), Center for Aliya (Revisionsts), Paris
Claude Kelman, Dubouchage Committee, Refugee Aid Committee, Nice
Théo Klein, Leader, Sixth Division, French Jewish Scouts (EIF), Former President, CRIF
Théo Klein established a rescue network to take Jewish children to Switzerland. He worked with CIMADE.
Joseph Kogan, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Joseph Kogan directed the OSE children’s home at Brout-Vernet. He was arrested with two children.
Hillel Kook (Peter H. Bergson), Center for Aliya (Revisionsts), Paris
Henry Krasucki
Henry Krasucki distributed information and warned Jews about imminent roundups and German actions. This helped some Jews avoid deportation.
Raymond Raoul Lambert, Leader, General Union of French Jews (Union Général des Israelites de France; UGIF-S)
Raymond Raoul Lambert was a community leader and a leader of the General Union of French Jews (UGIF-South).
Andre Lazard, General Union of Jews of France (Union Général des Israeliets de France; UGIF-South)
Andre Lazard was an active council member of the General Union of French Jews (UGIF-South).
Charles Lederman, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Charles Lederman volunteered for the Oeuvre De Secours Aux Enfants (OSE; Children’s Aid Rescue Society), helping to save Jewish children in Lyons, France. Lederman was arrested by the Nazis and deported.
Simon Lévitte (1912-1970), French Jewish Scouts, Youth Zionist Movement
Simon Lévitte was a leader of the French Jewish Scouts. He was born in St. Petersburg, Soviet Union, and emigrated to France in 1920. He became the Secretary General of the French Jewish Scouts in 1939. In June 1940, Lévitte moved the headquarters for the Scouts to Moissac, in the unoccupied zone. In May 1942, Lévitte founded the Youth Zionist Movement (MJS), which had offices in all the major cities in France. The MJS went underground in the spring of 1942 and it was involved in the forging and distribution of identity and ration cards. It provided food, medicine and money, as well as homes, to hundreds of Jewish families. The MJS was instrumental in smuggling thousands of Jews into Switzerland. Lévitte became commander of the Jewish Army (Armée Juive) in 1943. Many members of the MJS served in the Jewish Army.
Albert Lévy, President, General Union of French Jews (Union Général des Israelites de France; UGIF-North)
Denise Lévy, French Jewish Socuts (EIF), La Sixième
Denise Lévy was a leader of the French Jewish Scouts in Southern France. She helped make and distribute IDs and ration papers to help Jews survive.
Gaston Levy
Gaston Levy helped organize the rescue and relief activities for Jews in France.
Marcel Levy, General Union of French Jews (Union Général des Israelites de France; UGIF-N)
Marcel Levy worked in Section 4 (Supply Service) with the General Union of French Jews (UGIF-North).
Georges Loinger, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secourse aux Enfants; OSE)
Georges Loinger smuggled Jewish children from France into Switzerland. Loinger was a member of OSE (Oeuvre De Secours Aux Enfants; Children’s Aid Rescue Society).
Dr. Malkin, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Dr. Malkin was a volunteer who worked with the Children’s Aid Rescue Society (OSE) in the French concentration camp of Rivesaltes.
Jacques Marburger, Guide
Germaine Masour, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Shaul Meirov-Avigur, Chairman, Aliya Bet Agency (Mossad), Paris
Léon Meiss (1896-1966), Central Consistory of French Jews
Leon Meiss was head of the Central Consistory of French Jews. He intervened with Vichy officials on behalf of French Jews. In addition, he helped Jewish resistance organizations throughout France.
Germaine Meyer, Nice
Germaine Meyer was Angelo Donati’s secretary.
Dr. Joseph “Jomi” Millner, Secretary General, General Union of French Jews (Union Général des Israelites de France; UGIF-S)
Joseph Millner served as head of the Health Section of the UGIF-S (Third Directorate) in France. In the summer of 1942, he supervised 1,200 children in 12 homes. Millner and the UGIF-S worked with the Quakers in freeing Jewish children from the French internment camps.
Dr. Eugene Minkowski, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Eugene Minkowski supervised the Oeuvre De Secours Aux Enfants (OSE; Children’s Aid Rescue Society) rescue network in the Paris area. By August 1943, Minkowski hid 550 children. He also maintained more than 100 Jewish children formerly cared for by the Fédération des Sociétés Juives (FSJ; Federation of Jewish Societies).
Dr. Modiano, Dubouchage Committee, Refugee Aid Committee, Nice
Dr. Alfred Morali, General Union of Jews of France (Union Général des Israeliets de France; UGIF-North)
Dr. Alfred Morali was a council member of the General Union of Jews of France.
Alain Mosse, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE), Garel Network
Alain Mosse worked with the Oeuvre De Secours Aux Enfants (OSE; Children’s Aid Rescue Society) and with the Garel Network in saving Jewish children. Despite the dangers of being arrested and deported, Mosse kept an official office open in Chambery. On February 8, 1944, the Nazis raided his office and took Mosse and some of his volunteers to Drancy, and then to Auschwitz.
Fernan Musnik, Jewish Resistance Leader, French Jewish Scouts (EIF), Amelot, General Union of French Jews (UGIF-North)
Fernan Musnik refused to cooperate with persecution and deportation of Jews. Deported to Auschwitz in 1943.
Professor David Olmer, General Union of French Jews (Union Général des Israelites de France; UGIF-South)
Professor David Olmer worked with Raoul Lambert of the General Union of French Jews (UGIF-South) to try to help stop the deportation of Jews in the Northern and Southern zones by appealing to French leaders.
William Oualid, Organization for Rehabilitation and Trainign of Jews (ORT)
Edouard Oungre, HIAS-ICA Officer, Paris, Marseilles
The HIAS-ICA office, under Edouard Oungre, closed after the Nazi occupation and moved to Bordeaux, then to Marseilles, opening in October 1940.
Thérèse Pierre, Mouvement National Contre le Racisme
Thérèse Pierre was a leader of the Mouvement National Contre le Racisme. Pierre worked with Alex Chertock and Suzanna Spaatz. They organized a children’s rescue network. They worked with Protestant religious leaders in Southern France.
Rabbi Prunner
Adolph Rabinowicz, Jewish Agency for Palestine (Yishuv)
Adolph Rabinowicz was a Yishuv Parachutist who jumped into France seven times. He was captured and executed.
Emmanuel Racine
Emmanuel Racine was a rescue activist in Southern France.
Mila Racine*, Zionist Youth Movement (MJS)
Mila Racine smuggled Jewish children from France into Switzerland as part of the MJS (Mouvement Jeunesse Sioniste; Zionist Youth Movement). Mila Racine was caught, and was murdered.
David Rapoport, Rue Amelot, Federation of Jewish Associations of France (FSJF)
Jacques Rather, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Abraham Rayski (Adam; b. 1914)
Abraham Rayski was a prominent Jewish Communist in France. He was active in the rescue of Jews and resistance to Nazis throughout the war. He wrote numerous articles in French underground papers and helped establish the Conseil Représentatif des Juifs de France. His actions contributed to the survival of many Jews in France during the war.
Rayski wrote several articles and an important book of Jewish rescue under the Vichy government.
Yitzhak Rozin (Irgun), Center for Aliya (Revisionsts), Paris
Alice Salomon, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Alice Salomon was a volunteer rescuers and director of La Verdière children’s home in the Marseilles area. The home was raided by the Nazis and Salomon and forty of the children were deported to Drancy in Paris.
Andrée Salomon, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Andrée Salomon worked with Julien Samuel in the Limoges sector of the Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OSE; Children’s Aid Rescue Society). Salomon helped Jewish children escape from France to Spain.
Nicole Salon-Weill, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Nicole Salon-Weill was a Jewish social worker who operated with the Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OSE; Children’s Aid Rescue Society) in southern France. Salon-Weill, along with Huguette Wahl, was caught by the Nazis hiding children and transporting them to the southern zone of France.
Chief Rabbi Israel Salzer, General Union of French Jews (Union Général des Israelites de France; UGIF-South)
Chief Rabbi Israel Salzer worked with Raoul Lambert of the General Union of French Jews (UGIF-South) to try to help stop the deportation of Jews in the Northern and Southern zones by appealing to French leaders.
Julien Samuel, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Julien Samuel worked with the Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OSE; Children’s Aid Rescue Society) in southern France. Samuel was arrested by the Nazis and deported.
Samuel survived the war and became a Jewish leader for French Jewry.
Vivette Samuel, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Vivette Samuel was a volunteer with the Children’s Aid Rescue Society (OSE) at the Rivesaltes French concentration camp.
Lucienne Scheid-Haas, General Union of Jews of France (Union Général des Israeliets de France; UGIF-North)
Lucienne Scheid-Haas was a council member of the General Union of Jews of France.
Rabbi Henri Schilli
Henri Schilli was a military chaplain at Adge and Argeles concentration camps in France. He warned Jews. He was also a relief activist.
Joseph Schwartz, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), European Director
Vladimir Shah, HIAS-ICA-HICEM, General Union of Jews of France (Union Général des Israeliets de France; UGIF-South)
Vladimir Shah was a HIAS-ICA-HICEM representative in Paris until late 1939. Shah was then sent to Brussels, Belgium to set up the BEL-HICEM office in October 1939. Shah was also a member of the council of the General Union of French Jews (UGIF-South).
Suzanne Spaak, Mouvement National Contre le Racisme (MNCR)
Suzanna Spaatz was a leader of the Mouvement National Contre le Racisme. Spaatz worked with Alex Chertock and Thérèse Pierre. They organized a children’s rescue network. They worked with Protestant religious leaders in Southern France.
Raphaël Spanien, HIAS-ICA, HICEM, General Union of Jews of France (Union Général des Israeliets de France; UGIF-South)
Raphaël Spanien was a HICEM representative in France, the co-director of the HIAS-ICA office, and a member of the council of the General Union of French Jews (UGIF-South). He intervened to rescue Jews with Gaston Kahn in Southern France.
Georges Spolianski*, Underground Committee (UJRE), Nice
Arrested by Germans, tortured and killed.
Shlomo Steinhorn, Armée Juif, Rescuer
Juliet Stern, Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO), General Union of Jews of France (Union Général des Israeliets de France; UGIF-North)
Juliet Stern, Paris branch of the Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO), was active with Eugene Minkowski, of the OSE. Stern maintained an office in Paris with the UGIF and was involved in numerous illegal activities. Along with other groups, Stern was responsible for hiding 1,000 children in Paris, who were then sent to various homes in the northern provinces. She was arrested by the Nazis on August 23, 1943, and managed to escape.
Marcel Stora, General Union of Jews of France (Union Général des Israeliets de France; UGIF-North)
Marcel Stora was a major Jewish leader. He was a leader and member of the General Union of French Jews (UGIF-North). He was arrested and deported to Auschwitz.
Dr. Aron Syngalowski, Organization for Rehabilitation and Training of Jews (ORT)
Michel Topiol, Dubouchage Committee, Refugee Aid Committee, Nice
Alexander Trocki, HIAS-ICA, Marseilles
Alexander Trocki was the co-director of the HIAS-ICA office in Marseilles.
Roger Trugman, Communist Youth
Roger Trugman distributed information and warned Jews about imminent roundups and German actions. This helped some Jews avoid deportation.
Shlomo Yaakobi (Yankelwitz), Center for Aliya (Revisionsts), Paris
Henri Wahl, Sixième
Henri Wahl, of Sixième, hid approximately 850 Jewish children in the Tarn et Garonne area.
Huguette Wahl, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Huguette Wahl operated with the Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OSE; Children’s Aid Rescue Society) in southern France. Wahl, along with Nicole Salon-Weill, was caught by the Nazis hiding children and transporting them to the southern zone of France.
Albert Weill, General Union of Jews of France (Union Général des Israeliets de France; UGIF-North)
Albert Weill was a council member of the General Union of Jews of France.
Dr. Benamin Weill-Hallé, General Union of Jews of France (Union Général des Israeliets de France; UGIF-North)
Dr. Benamin Weill-Hallé was a council member of the General Union of Jews of France.
Dr. Joseph Weill (1902-1988), Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)
Dr. Joseph Weill was a Jewish physician to the French Jewish Children’s Aid Rescue Society (OSE). He reported on the wartime persecution of Jewish children to American humanitarian organizations. He set up rescue operations in southern France and organized groups to place children into hiding. Weill fled France in May 1943. He worked from Switzerland after leaving France. He is credited with helping to save more than 4,000 Jewish children.
Laure Weill, General Union of French Jews (Union Général des Israelites de France; UGIF-South)
Laure Weill was an active council member of the General Union of French Jews (UGIF-South).
Jacques (Jacob) Weintraub, Zionist Youth Movement (MJS)
Jacques Weintraub was a member of the Mouvement Jeunesse Sioniste (MJS; the Zionist Youth Movement). He smuggled 120 Jewish children into Switzerland. He was also able to arrange for the forging of numerous documents. He was arrested by the Nazis and sent to Drancy.
Ninon Weyl-Hait, French Jewish Scouts (EIF)
Ninon Weyl-Hait wasa leader of the French Jewish Scouts. Weyl-Hait helped manufacture and distribute forged identification and ration cards.
Jacques Wister (Weintraub), Nice
Jacques Wister (Weintraub) was arrested while trying to rescue Jewish children.
Yitzchak Zakkai, French Jewish Scouts
Sabine Zlatin*, OSE Center, Palavas-les-Flots, France
Sabine Zlatin was arrested along with 32 Jewish children in Izieu on April 6, 1944. They were all murdered in Auschwitz.