Member or Cooperating Agencies with the Nimes Committee

Part 1: Aid Operation for Children through Boegner Rescue Network

Aid Operation for Children **(Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE**; French), Southern 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.

[Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), pp. 193, 232. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), pp. 88-89.]

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.

[Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), p. 179. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), p. 29.]

Dr. René Block*, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Deported and killed.

[Klarsfeld, p. 29.]

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.

[Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), p. 182.]

Rene Borel, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Rene Borel was active in saving Jews in France with OSE.

[Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 248. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), p. 30.]

Eve Cahen*, (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Deported and killed.

[Klarsfeld, p. 29.]

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.

[Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), pp. 201-202, 250. Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), pp. 182-183. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), p. 124.]

Laila Feldblum, Supervisor, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE), Home, Izieu

[Rayski, p. 350n21.]

Marcel Geismar*, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Deported and killed.

[Klarsfeld, p. 29.]

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.

Dr. Pierre Grinberg, MNCR-Southern Zone

Dr. Grinberg worked with the Swiss Red Cross and OSE to save Jewish children in Southern France.

[Rayski, p. 189.]

Lazare Gurvic, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

[Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), p. 29.]

Olga Gurvic, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

[Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), p. 29.]

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.

Georges Loinger, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours 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).

[Latour, A. (transl. Irene R. Ilton). The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1970/1981), 79, 136, 137, 210, 211, 215. Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), pp. 195, 201-202. Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), p. 182. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust

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.

[Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), p. 29.]

Germaine Masour, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

[Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), p. 29.]

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 and OSE in freeing Jewish children from the French internment camps.

[Adler, J. The Jews of Paris and the Final Solution. (New York, 1987), pp. 99, 101-102. Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 153, 245, 248-249, 263. Latour, A. (transl. Irene R. Ilton). The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1970/1981), p. 40. Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996). Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), pp. 61, 180-182, 350n13. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), p. 87.]

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.

[Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 248, 250. Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), p. 142. Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996). Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), p. 180.]

Professor Dr. David Olmer, General Union of French Jews (Union Général des Israelites de France; UGIF-South), Children’s Aid Rescue Society, (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

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.

[Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 64-67, 126. Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), pp. 26, 61.]

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.

[Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 162, 245, 247, 250. Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 13-14, 25, 27, 33, 35. Latour, A. (transl. Irene R. Ilton). The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1970/1981), pp. 67, 199. Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), pp. 59, 181, 244. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), pp. 92, 129, 118-122.]

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.

[Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), p. 109. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002).]

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.

[Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), p. 180. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), pp. 42, 86, 78-82, 120-121, 125.]

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.

[Latour, A. (transl. Irene R. Ilton). The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1970/1981), pp. 40, 42, 44, 70, 169, 174, 175. Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), pp. 132, 166, 186-187, 288.]

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.

[Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), p. 109. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002).]

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.

[Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 245, 251-253. Latour, A. (transl. Irene R. Ilton). The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1970/1981), p. 72.]

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.

[Adler, J. The Jews of Paris and the Final Solution. (New York, 1987), pp. 96, 99. Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), p. 153, 161, 243, 245-246. Latour, A. (transl. Irene R. Ilton). The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1970/1981), pp. 40, 42, 52, 63, 67, 69, 128. Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), pp. 127, 131, 157, 165-166, 186, 188-191, 194, 200, 331n14. Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), pp. 105, 113-114. Samuels, pp. 33-34, 38, 42, 75-77, 83-84, 93-94, 104, 125, 158.]

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.

[Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 245, 253. Latour, A. (transl. Irene R. Ilton). The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1970/1981), p. 156. Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), p. 180.]

Dr. Julien Weil (Jewish)

Dr. Wolf, Children’s Aid Rescue Society, (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

American Federation of Labor, Marseilles, France, 1940-1941

American foreign policy in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s had declared many of these refugees to be undesirable and did not always qualify for immigration papers. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) had pressured Roosevelt to grant a number of emergency “visitors visas-not for permanent residence in the US.” These temporary emergency visas would termporarily get these refugees out of danger.

Dr. Frank Bohn, American Federation of Labor

Dr. Frank Bohn, of the American Federation of Labor, was active in the rescue of Jews in Marseilles, 1940-41. He worked alongside the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC) to help save labor leaders, union officials, democratic politicians and other refugees who were being sought under article 19 by the Gestapo and the Nazis. Varian Fry was told about Frank Bohn’s activities before he left for Marseilles. In addition, many of these refugees had been opposition forces against the Nazi’s and had been fighting fascism’s rise in Europe since the early 1930’s. Many of the refugees rescued by Bohn were Jews.

Frank Bohn, like Varian Fry, was heavily involved in the illegal activity of smuggling refugees into Spain over the Pyrenees Mountains. Bohn worked with various foreign consulates in Marseilles to obtain passports, visas and other papers. Frank Bohn received much help from Hiram “Harry” Bingham at the American consulate in Marseilles. Bohn was not above obtaining fake documentation and passports for his refugees. Early on in their missions, Fry and Bohn agreed to divide their activities in the rescue of refugees. Fry and the ERC would help artists, and Bohn would take care of labor leaders politicians and political activists.

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 7-12, 22-23, 33-34, 51, 54-56, 59, 80-81, 92-93. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 114-117, 134, 151, 158, 160, 186. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House), pp. 12, 15-17, 74, 81, 85, 86, 97, 105. Ryan, Donna F. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. (Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 1996), p. 141. Subak, 2010. pp. 39, 58]

American Federation of Labor National Office, USA

Matt Woll, vice president, USA

William Green, president, USA

American Friends of Czechoslovakia, USA

(Lowrie, 1963; Subak, pp. 42-43)

Dr. Donald Lowrie (USA),

(Lowrie, 1963; Suback, 2010)

American Friends’ Service Committee

(AFSC; Society of Friends; Quakers), headquarters Philadelphia, PA, USA, Southern France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, 1938-1945, established 1917; received Nobel Peace Prize in 1947.

(American Friends Service Committee Archive, Philadelphia, PA; JDC Archives, NYC; HIAS-HICEM Archives, YIVO, NYC; United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, Washington, DC; Bauer, 1981, pp. 26-27, 40, 49, 114, 155-156, 207, 240, 245, 251, 287, 310, 404; Byrd, 1960; Fry, 1945; pp. 37; Genizi, 1983, pp. 172-214; Gold, 1980, pp. 155, 162, 334; Gutman, 2007, pp.419-420; Halle, 1979, pp. 129, 130, 132-138, 159, 167-168, 264; Isenberg; Marino, 1999, pp. 107, 150-151; Morse, 1967, pp. 167, 253, 258, 263, 330; Moore, 2010, pp. 34, 42, 123, 139-141; Pickett, 1953; Ryan, 1996, pp. 52, 88, 91, 93, 94, 103, 106, 122, 137, 138, 139, 148-157, 161, 175, 216; Suback; pp. 26, 37, 67, 78, 96-97, 161, 181;Vining, 1958)

The American Friends Service Committee was instrumental in providing food, clothing and shelter for many thousands of refugees in the Vichy zone. The AFSC had offices in Paris, Marseilles, Perpignan, Toulouse, Auch and Moutauban.

The AFSC concentrated its activities on helping to supply food to populations in the unoccupied zone of France. Fifty percent of the AFSC aid was given to French citizens. Much of the food relief came from the United States until March 1941. AFSC also supplied aid to internees in French concentration camps. The AFSC also aided Jewish refugees in leaving the Vichy zone.

The American Friends’ Service Committee worked on a non-sectarian basis and established a very effective aid program in the French concentration camps. They supplied food, medicine, clothing and other material to the needy refugees. They set up libraries and schools for refugee children. The AFSC worked particularly in the camps around Marseilles, Toulouse and Montauban. They worked closely with OSE to save Jewish children.

Rufus Jones (USA), Leader

Clarence E. Pickett, (USA), executive director

Rufus Jones, (USA), chairman

David J. Blankenstaff, USA, Lisbon, Portugal (JDC-HIAS-HICEM Representative)

(JDC Archives, NYC; HIAS-HICEM Archives, YIVO, NYC)

Burns Chalmers (USA), Marseilles, Southern France

(Halle, 1979, pp. 130, 132-138,159, 167-168, 274; Marino, 1999; Moore, 2010, p. 140; Ryan, 1996)

Philip B. Conrad, (USA), Lisbon, Portugal, (JDC Archives, NYC)

Henry Harvey, (USA), Vichy Representative

Howard E. Kershner, (USA), Southern France, 1940-1941 (Marino, 1999; Ryan, 1996, p. 151)

Gilbert Lesage, Head, Service Social des Estrangers (SSE); Moore, 2010, p. 142)

Princess Lieven, Southern France (Bauer, 1981)

Roswell M. McClelland, (USA), American Friends Service Committee, (AFSC) Southern France (WRB Representative), later WRB representative, Geneva, Switzerland, 1944-1945 (Ryan, 1996, p. 151)

Majorie McClelland, (USA), American Friends Service Committee, (AFSC) Southern France

Celine Roth de Neufville, Southern France

Lindsley Nobel, (USA), Southern France, (Ryan, 1996, p. 151)

Helga Holbek● (Gutman, 2003)

Helga Holbek a Danish woman, helped rescue Jewish children during World War II. She was a senior member of the International Commission for the Assistance of Child Refugees in charge of supervising 16 institutions for refugee children in southern France. At the initiative of the OSE organization, at the end of February 1941 about 50 children from the Gurs concentration camp were taken to an orphanage called Maison des pupilles de la Nation in Aspet, near St. Gaudens, in the south of France. Helga Holbek and her Norwegian colleague Alice Resch* (see Norway) took care of the children. In the fall of 1942 some of them were transferred to the Château de Larade orphanage in Toulouse, while others were dispersed in orphanages in the area, where they stayed until May 1944. “The children of Aspet” have never forgotten the benevolence and dedication of Helga Holbek. One of the children was Uri Landau who recalled the role of Holbek in his rescue and the rescue of the other children. Holbek risked her life many times for the sake of the children. She also conducted an illegal operation to save the Hungarian Jewish painter, Sigismund Kolozsvary, and his wife Matyi, who were interned in Gurs for some time. Although they had no identification papers, she managed to arrange safe houses for them, until she smuggled them out to Switzerland. Holbek died in 1983. Many of her escapades are recorded in the book of memoirs, Over the Highest Mountains, written by Alice Resch Synnestveld and dedicated to Holbek.

On July 13, 1982, Yad Vashem recognized Helga Holbek as Righteous Among the Nations.

Alice Resch Synnestvedt● (“Miss Resch”; Gutman, 2003)

During World War II, in France, the Norwegian Alice Resch known as “Miss Resch,” worked for the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization, and helped rescue many Jewish children. She was active in humanitarian aid given to the refugees and became close friends with the Danish Helga Holbek* who was in charge of supervising 16 institutions for refugee children in southern France. On the initiative of the OSE organization, at the end of February 1941, about 50 children were taken from the Gurs concentration camp to an orphanage in Aspet, near St. Gaudens, in the south of France. Resch and Holbek took care of the children until the fall of 1942, and then some of them were transferred to the Château de Larade orphanage in Toulouse. They also dispersed them to other orphanages in the area. Some of the children remained in the homes until May 1944. Many of them were smuggled out in the spring of 1944 to Switzerland. OSE employees, Ruth Lambert and Dora Wertzberg Amelan testified as to the important role of Resch in saving children during the war, confirming that Resch endangered her life many times. One of the survivors, Martin Eckstein testified that in Feb. 1943, Miss Resch personally accompanied him and three other children to the border, handing him documents that enabled him to enter Switzerland. Two brothers, Frederick Raymes and Menachem Mayer wrote about their war experiences, and the roles Resch and Holbek played in their survival, in the book Are the Trees in Bloom Over There ?, (2001).

Resch married Marcus Synnestvedt in 1943 and remained in France until 1962, when she was widowed and then moved to Norway. She wrote a book about her experiences during the war titled “Over the Highest Mountains: A memoir of Unexpected Heroism in France during World War II.” On July 13, 1982, Yad Vashem recognized Alice Resch-Synnestvedt as Righteous Among the Nations.

Gerhard Schwersensky● (b. 1909; (Gutman, 2003)

Ilse Schwersensky● (b. 1904; (Gutman, 2003)

Gerhard Schwersensky was born in 1909 in Muskau/Oberlausitz and, as a so-called Mischling, was himself a victim of Nazi racial persecution. He and his wife, Ilse (née Zimmermann, b. 1904) were members of a small group of Berlin Quakers who helped Jews who were attempting to avoid deportation by hiding. The couple, parents to three young children, gave refuge in their home to two Jewish women who were living illegally in wartime Berlin. Lottie Katz, who was in her late 20s, was an employee of the Jewish Community in Berlin. In August 1942, when she received an order to report for deportation, she contacted Mr. Heinz Hagen, a German Quaker, who referred her to the Schwersensky family. They offered to take her in. From that time until the end of the war, they accommodated her in their very small apartment for weeks at a time, sharing their meager food rations with her, as well as their clothing and other necessities. They introduced her to the neighbors as someone who had lost her apartment in an air raid. Whenever she had to leave, because the neighbors had become too curious or inquisitive, the Schwersenskys would still keep in close contact with her; at times they would send their children to her temporary hideouts – bombed-out buildings, office basements, or train stations – to bring her food and messages. The Schwersenskys’ second ward, 20-year-old Hannelore Jacoby, was employed as a forced laborer at the Blaupunkt Company until the end of 1942, when she tried to cross the border to Switzerland.

However, the attempt was unsuccessful, and she barely escaped the German border police. When she returned to Berlin, she discovered that all her co-workers at Blaupunkt had been deported. She then contacted the Quaker group, and they sent her to the Schwersenskys. Once again, the couple immediately agreed to take in the fugitive, even though the sudden appearance of a young person, who would normally be working orstudying, was bound to attract the neighbors’ attention. Nevertheless, the Schwersenskys, who gave Jacoby shelter on various occasions until the end of the war, never wavered in their conviction that this was the right thing to do. On May 2, 1985, Yad Vashem recognized Gerhard and Ilse Schwersensky as Righteous Among the Nations

Mr. Heinz Hagen, Berlin, (Gutman, 2003)

Celine Roth de Neufville, Southern France, (Marino, 1999, p. 271)

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)

USA New York, Paris, Marseilles, Lisbon, Geneva, Switzerland, founded in Paris 1927, French office forced to close March 1943

At the end of October 1940, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, under Joseph Schwartz and Herbert Katzki, helped organize an important umbrella organization for the relief of Jews. It was called the Central Commission of Jewish Assistance Organizations. The Chief Rabbi of France, Isaie Schwartz, and Rabbi René Hirshler helped organize the Commission. The Commission worked closely with the French FSJ (Federation of Jewish Societies of France) and the Refugee Aid Committee and the OSE (Children’s Aid Rescue Society).

The CCOJA worked closely with the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), under American Donald A. Lowrie, which became an umbrella organization. It also worked closely with the American Friends’ Service (Quakers) and the Polish Red Cross.

The CCOJA was disbanded in March 1942, unable to achieve many of its goals. It later morphed into the Nîmes Coordination Committee, also known as the Camps Committee.

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee also obtained French permission to aid in other relief activities in France. Morris Troper, along with Marc Jarblum, established the Commission des Centre de Rassemblement (Camps Commission). It was partially financed by the French Rothschild family. The Camps Commission worked with the French Red Cross, the American Friends’ Service (Quakers) and other religious organizations, including the French Minister of Health. The Camps Commission provided relief to Jews in the newly established French concentration camps.

Herbert Katzki and Joseph J. Schwartz, of the JDC, negotiated with French officials to alleviate the conditions in the camps and gain the release of refugees. They met with good success.

[Adler, J. The Jews of Paris and the Final Solution. (New York, 1987), pp. 142-145, 167. American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Archives, Files 594-625. Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981).

Caron, Vicki. Uneasy Asylum: France and the Jewish Refugee Crisis, 1933-1942. (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1999), pp. 18, 59, 103, 114, 131n, 159, 165, 167, 208, 218, 232, 251, 303, 311, 315-316, 335. Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 25-26, 41, 43-44. Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), pp. 49, 69, 180, 204, 343n1, 349.]

Herbert Katzki, USA, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Representative, Paris, Marseilles, France, Portugal

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.

[Adler, J. The Jews of Paris and the Final Solution. (New York, 1987), pp. 143, 167. American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Archives. Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 41, 43, 61, 156, 158-160, 163, 169-170, 179, 211, 240, 264, 331, 372-374. Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 26, 41, 44.]

Joseph Schwartz, USA, European director, France, Portugal

[American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Historical Archives. Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981). Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), p. 42.]

Morris Troper, USA, director of European Affairs, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Representative

Morris Troper, along with Marc Jarblum, established the Commission des Centre de Rassemblement (Camps Commission). It was partially financed by the French Rothschild family. The Camps Commission worked with the French Red Cross, the American Friends’ Service (Quakers) and other religious organizations, including the French Minister of Health. The Camps Commission provided relief to Jews in the newly established French concentration camps.

[Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), p. 155. Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), p. 105. Ryan, Donna F. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. (Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 1996).]

Joseph C. Heyman, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Representative

USA

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.

[Adler, J. The Jews of Paris and the Final Solution. (New York, 1987), pp. 142, 144-145. Avni, H. “The Zionist Underground in Holland and France and the Escape to Spain.” In Rescue Attempts during the Holocaust. Proceedings of the Second Yad Vashem International Historical Conference, edited by Y. Gutman and E. Zuroff, pp. 555-590. (Jerusalem, 1977). Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981). Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 60, 114. Latour, A. The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1981), pp. 24-25, 88, 98, 117, 124-127, 170-173, 190, 205, 253. Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), pp. 68-69, 102, 166, 220, 235, 257-259, 263-264, 287-288, 295. Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), pp. 68, 244, 271.]

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.

[Adler, J. The Jews of Paris and the Final Solution. (New York, 1987), pp. 142, 144. Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), p. 93. Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), pp. 204, 244.]

Joseph Croustillon, Armée Juif, Rescuer, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Representative

[Porat, 1990, pp. 113-114.]

Shlomo Steinhorn, Armée Juif, Rescuer (Jewish), American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Representative, France

[Porat, 1990, pp. 113-114.]

Samuel Sequerra, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Representative, Spain, Portugal

Paul Block, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Representative, Spain

David Blinkenstaff, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Representative, Spain

Robert Pilpel, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Representative, Portugal

Harold Trobe, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Representative, Portugal

Guy d’Esaguy, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Representative, Portugal

Saly Mayer, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Representative, Switzerland

American Red Cross (ARC), USA Southern France

(Bauer, 1981, pp. 47, 85, 98-99, 155, 169, 299, 309; Marino, 1999, pp. 50, 119; Ryan, 1996; Subak, pp. 35,51,89, 93)

Helped Emergency Rescue Committee and other aid organizations in Marseilles, France, through its Director in France, Richard Allen.

James T. Nicholson, chairman, USA

Richard Allen (USA), (Subak, 2010)

American Relief Centre (Centre Américain de Secours)

See Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France, (Subak, 2010)

Amitié Chrétienne (see Christian Friendship), Lyons, France

Cardinal Gerlier●

Father Alexander Glasberg●, Direction de Centres d’Accueil (DCA); Children’s Aid Rescue Society, (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Belgian Office

Belgian Red Cross (Croix Rouge de Belgique)

M. Declereq

Pastor Marc Boegner Rescue Network

Southern France, worked with OSE, see also Committee for Action on Behalf of Refugees (Comite d’Inter Mouvement après des Evacues; CIMADE and Le Chambon-sur-Lignon (Gutman, 2003, pp. 89-90)

Pastor Marc Boegner● president of the Protestant Church in France, co-founder and head of CIMADE (Comité Inter-Mouvements Aupres des Evacues), Amitié Chrétienne (Christian Friendship), awarded Righteous Among the Nations title June 21, 1988 (Gutman, 2003, pp. 89-90; Moore, 2010, pp. 101-128-129, 131; Zuccotti, 1993, pp. 58-59, 62, 141, 146, 150)

Boegner, Pastor Marc File 2698 In May 1941, Pastor Marc Boegner, president of the Protestant church in France, became the first leading French cleric to protest the antisemitic laws of the Vichy regime, explicitly and officially. In 1940, Boegner became head of CIMADE, a Protestant relief organization that acted on behalf of Jews incarcerated in concentration camps in France. In 1942, Boegner and Cardinal Pierre Marie Gerlier (q.v.) served as honorary presidents of Amitié Chrétienne, an organization set up to support French Jewry. Boegner supported and encouraged Protestant ministers and many active laypeople to rescue Jews, and his prestige lent great impact to his statements. Thanks to Boegner, Protestant communities sheltered thousands of Jews, primarily in Lyons, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, and the départements of Lozère, Gard, Drôme, and Tarn. Many others were smuggled into Switzerland with the help of Protestant ministers who worked in border areas under Boegner’s influence and inspiration. Starting in the summer of 1941, Boegner maintained personal contact with the Vichy leadership—Marshal Pétain, Prime Minister Pierre Laval and Commissioner of Jewish Affairs Xavier Vallat. In his talks with them, Boegner condemned the regime’s antisemitic policies and sought to have the anti-Jewish decrees rescinded. In a stormy meeting with Laval in the summer of 1942, Boegner vehemently protested the intention to deport Jewish children to camps in the east and the inhumane character of these measures.

On September 6, 1942, during the annual Assemblée du Désert at the Mas Soubeyran, in the département of Gard, Boegner preached to more than sixty parsons and urged them to rescue Jews. This courageous attitude earned him many enemies. In the summer of 1941, the radical antisemitic weekly Au Pilori began to castigate Boegner’s activity and to demand that he be prosecuted. Beecause of his courageous deeds on behalf of the Jews, Marc Boegner risked his life and liberty, likeother Protestant ministers, some of whom were arrested and deported. He was personally involved in the rescue of approximately one hundred German Jewish children who had been interned at the Gurs concentration camp in southern France. With the help of others, he helped hide the children when the gendarmerie was about to deport them to Auschwitz. Thus, the children’s lives were saved. In 1940, the Strauss family, French-born Jews, reached the city of Nîmes in the unoccupied zone, where Boegner moved in 1941. In November 1942, after the Germans extended their occupation to the Vichy zone, M. Strauss asked Boegner for his help. The minister received him warmly and sent his family to the city of Montélimar, where he arranged a hiding place for them. In 1943, when the Strausses had to move again, Boegner sent them to the Protestant seminary in Collonges, in the département of Haute-Savoie near the Swiss border, where they found refuge until the liberation in August 1944. Through his resolute opposition to Vichy collaboration with Germany and his support of the rescue of French Jewry—which he advocated fearlessly to those at the head of the regime—Boegner had a profound influence on the French Protestant clergy. As a result, thousands of Jews indirectly owe their survival to him. On November 26, 1987, Yad Vashem recognized Pastor Marc Boegner as Righteous Among the Nations.

Madeleine Barot● Marc Boegner Rescue Network, (CIMADE), co-founder of CIMADE, general secretary, awarded Righteous Among the Nations title March 28, 1988, (Fabre, 1970; Gutman, 2003, p. 402; Moore, 2010, pp. 125-127, 128; Zuccotti, 1993, pp. 68-69, 71-72, 228, 230, 231, 246; Yad Vashem Archives)

Barot, Madeleine File 3830 Madeleine Barot was active in Protestant youth movements, and secretary general of CIMADE which was established as an umbrella organization for these movements. CIMADE provided welfare for evacuees from localities along the French-German border. Since most of these evacuees returned home in the summer of 1940, the organization decided to assist victims of the Vichy regime and the occupation, most of whom were foreign Jews. In the autumn of 1940, destitute Jewish women were giving birth in the concentration camp at Gurs, in southern France. Barot presented herself at the camp gate carrying a package of bedding for the newborn infants and told the guard that she had to distribute its contents to the new mothers. Thus Barot managed to enter the camp and, together with another CIMADE activist, Jeanne Merle d’Aubigné, she visited every day, each time on a different pretext. After receiving permission from the commander of Gurs to open a CIMADE branch in a barrack, Barot took up residence in the camp. The YMCA, through diplomatic channels, unsuccessfully petitioned the Vichy authorities for entry permits for CIMADE representatives. Due to Barot’s resourcefulness and courage, she and her associates were nonetheless able to accomplish their mission. CIMADE’s presence in Gurs became a fait accompli, and Barot struggled to effect the release of camp inmates. She succeeded in having children, ill adults, and the elderly transferred to facilities that she opened under CIMADE auspices, mainly in the town of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon.

From the summer of 1942, Jews brought to these institutions also faced the danger of arrest, but Barot resolutely used underground strategies to protect her wards -- providing false papers and transferring some to other institutions and some to Switzerland. Barot’s activities are believed to have saved hundreds of Jews. On March 28, 1988, Yad Vashem recognized Madeleine Barot as Righteous Among the Nations.

De Pury, Pastor Roland De Pury●, Jacqueline De Pury●, Marc Boegner Rescue Network,

De Pury, Pastor Roland De Pury, Jacqueline File 1066 As early as July 14, 1940, in the Protestant church on Lanterne Street, in the heart of Lyons, Pastor Roland de Pury preached against the “base complacency” of the inhabitants of unoccupied France: “If France betrays the hope that the persecuted are placing in her, she will no longer be France.” Roland and Jacqueline de Pury were Swiss citizens who exhibited stunning audacity in leading a spiritual and humanitarian rebellion of Protestants in Lyons. Wave after wave of refugees, mainly Jews, lived with them and their eight children in the Croix-Rousse quarter. Roland de Pury collaborated with Father Pierre Chaillet● (q.v.), head of the rescue organization Amitié Chrétienne, to facilitate full cooperation among members of these two Christian communities in rescuing Jews. Pury was young, charismatic, and resourceful. He was an inspiring orator who had great influence over his congregants, who hid Jews who had previously found shelter in the Pury home. Scores of clergymen throughout the Lyons area took him for a model. Late on the night of January 27, 1943, Amitié Chrétienne activists held an emergency meeting at his house. That morning, the Gestapo had arrested Father Chaillet and Jean-Marie Soutou in the organization office. It happened that many Jews were expected to visit the office the following day, some for material assistance and others for forged papers. They had to find a way to prevent them from entering the office, where the Gestapo had laid a trap for them.

A solution was found. Germaine Ribière● (q.v.), a volunteer with Amitié Chrétienne, volunteered to dress up as a cleaning woman. She procured a pail and some rags, and spent the day scrubbing the stairwell of the building in which Amitié Chrétienne was located. Whenever Jews approached the building, Ribière swiftly shooed them away. This strategy was successful and not a single Jew fell into the Gestapo trap. On Sunday, May 13, 1943, asPastor de Pury, dressed in his pastor’s robe, prepared to lead mass for the large congregation, two men in civilian attire burst in. They seized Pury, forced him into a car, and sped away. His wife Jacqueline, Cardinal Gerlier (q.v.), and the chairman of the Protestant Federation, Pastor Marc Boegner (q.v.), attempted vainly to persuade the Gestapo to release him. On October 28, 1943, in the town of Bregenz, Austria, Pastor de Pury was turned over to local authorities and exchanged for German spies who had been arrested in Switzerland. After the liberation, he returned to Lyons. On May 30, 1976, Yad Vashem recgnized Pastor Roland and Jacqueline de Pury as Righteous Among the Nations.

Jules Hébrard● Marc Boegner Rescue Network, CIMADE, Lasalle, Department of Gard, France, awarded Righteous Among the Nations title December 9, 1996, (Yad Vashem Archives; Gutman, 2003, p. 300)

Odette Hébrard● Marc Boegner Rescue Network, CIMADE, wife of Jules Hébrard, Lasalle, France, Department of Gard, awarded Righteous Among the Nations title December 9, 1996, (Yad Vashem Archives; Gutman, 2003, p. 300)

Hébrard, Jules Hébrard, Odette File 7424 Jules and Odette Hébrard were a peasant couple who lived in Lasalle, a village in the mountainous département of Gard, most of whose residents were Protestants. In June 1942, the Reverend Saint-Martin, the Protestant minister in their village, who belonged to Pastor Marc Boegner’s (q.v.) rescue network, asked them to hide four-year-old Anne-Gilberte Stemmer in their home. Anne-Gilberte’s parents, who were searching for refuge, wanted to put her in a secure place. The Hébrards, who were childless, “adopted” her and served as her “aunt and uncle” for two years. She went to school and church and acted like the other village girls. In late 1942, when Hébrard was named the garde champêtre (rural policeman) of Lasalle, the family, including young Anne-Gilberte, moved into the official residence of the village hall. Anne-Gilberte responded to the Hébrards’ devotion and called them Tata and Tonton. When her father came to reclaim her, she did not remember him and did not want to leave her adoptive parents, who also found the parting difficult. Anne-Gilberte’s relationship with the Hébrards was a lasting one, even after the Hébrards adopted two other children. On December 9, 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Jules and Odette Hébrard as Righteous Among the Nations.

Pastor Paul Brunel● (b. 1884), Marc Boegner Rescue Network, CIMADE, Prostestant Church, Nimes, awarded Righteous Among the Nations title January 5, 1984, (Yad Vashem Archives; Gutman, 2003, pp. 115-116)

Charlotte Brunel● Marc Boegner Rescue Network, CIMADE, awarded Righteous Among the Nations title January 5, 1984, (Yad Vashem Archives; Gutman, 2003, pp. 115-116)

Brunel, Pastor Paul Brunel, Charlotte File 2698k The Reverend Paul Brunel (b.1884) headed the Protestant church in Nîmes, the capital of the département of Gard. Because of his position, he had contact with Vichy functionaries, especially at the municipality and in the gendarmerie, and he occasionally went to see them to secure the release of people who had been arrested. Brunel was not only acquainted with his own congregation members but also with many Jews in Nîmes. When the nature of the Vichy collaboration with the Germans became clear, Brunel joined the group of Protestant clergy under Pastor Marc Boegner (q.v.). This group helped Resistance fighters and persecuted persons. After the Germans occupied all of France, the group redoubled its efforts, concentrating mainly on providing aid to Jews. Although the local Gestapo commander stated publicly that a Protestant minister’s word was untrustworthy, the commander did not dare to attack him. Brunel helped the Kuhns, a Jewish family who left Paris at the very beginning of the war, to seek refuge in the south. M. Kuhn and his older daughter were arrested at the demarcation line, their fate sealed. Mme Kuhn managed to reach Nîmes with her thirteen-year-old daughter Gisèle and her four-year-old son Marcel. She asked Brunel for help, and he placed her with a French family as a domestic and found a small apartment for her. The two children were brought to an orphanage run by Brunel’s loyal friends, Mlle Danielle and Mme Jeanne Aigoun, the latter known as Tante Jeanne.

Brunel explained to Gisèle and Marcel that they would be Protestants until the end of the war and could then revert to being Jews. One day, in an attempt to join her mother, Gisèle left the orphanage and was arrested by the police. She was first sent to Drancy and then to a concentration camp in northern Germany. American troops liberated the camp on the day she was to be sent to her death. After a brief convalescence in Sweden, Gisèle returnedto Nîmes to locate her family and rescuer. Marcel Kuhn, who had been too little to understand, did not begin to think about the war and the man who had saved his life until much later, after he had established a family of his own. He returned to Nîmes and met with Pastor Brunel, with whom he remained in contact for many years. On January 5, 1984, Yad Vashem recognized Pastor Paul Brunel and his wife as Righteous Among the Nations.

Cardinal Pierre Marie Gerlier● head of the Catholic Church, Lyons Diocese, primate of Gaul, honorary president, Amitié Chrétienne (Christian Friendship), Marc Boegner Rescue Network, CIMADE, awarded Righteous Among the Nations title July 15, 1981

Gerlier, Cardinal Pierre Marie File 1769 Cardinal Pierre Marie Gerlier headed the Catholic Church in the diocese of Lyons. He held the distinguished title, Primate of All Gaul, and held the highest rank in the Catholic hierarchy in France. Gerlier, was a supporter of Marshal Pétain and urged his flock to support the leader. However, he expressed moderate but public criticism of the Vichy regime’s anti-Jewish policies. On September 3, 1942, the German command in France reported that, according to Prime Minister Pierre Laval, “The demands that we made regarding the Jewish question have met with unparalleled opposition on the part of the Church, the head of that opposition being Cardinal Gerlier.” Together with Marc Boegner (q.v.), the head of the Protestant church in France, Gerlier was honorary president of the Amitié Chrétienne, an organization established in Lyons, in 1941, to defend victims of the Vichy regime. On August 30, 1942, the authorities pressured the leaders of the Amitié Chrétienne to hand over 108 Jewish children that they were suspected of illegally removing from Venissieux camp. Gerlier gave his support the rescuers and the children were saved. Cardinal Gerlier also intervened with the Gestapo to obtain the release of Jean-Marie Soutou (q.v.), an Amitié Chrétienne leader who was arrested in January 1943, imprisoned, and interrogated on suspicion of hiding Jews. On July 15, 1981, Yad Vashem recognized Cardinal Pierre Marie Gerlier as Righteous Among the Nations.

Pastor (Reverend) André Morel●+, Marc Boegner Rescue Network, chaplain, Gurs French detention camp (1941-1942), Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, member of CIMADE, OSE, awarded Righteous Among the Nations title September 23, 1990, (Yad Vashem Archives; Fabre, 1970, pp. 26, 66; Gutman, 2003, p. 402; Halle, 1979)

Morel, Pastor André File 1288 Reverend André Morel was a Protestant minister who worked for CIMADE, a Protestant aid organization headed by Marc Bogner● (q.v.) and Madeleine Barot● (q.v.). In 1941-1942, Morel was active in the camp at Gurs. He provided Jewish inmates with false baptismal certificates, assisted in rescue operations, and participated in attempts to improve the prisoners’ living conditions. In 1942, CIMADE sent Morel to help smuggle Jews into Switzerland, a highly risky venture because of the difficult mountainous terrain and the many French soldiers who patrolled the area regularly to capture fleeing Jews and other opponents of the regime. Morel helped dozens of Jews run the border and neither sought nor received any remuneration. He was then transferred to Le Chambon sur Lignon (Haute Loire), where he operated in 1943-1944. Le Chambon and the surrounding villages were renowned for their active assistance in hiding Jews. Morel, in coordination with the Jewish organization OSE, located villagers willing to shelter Jews. André Chouraqui, coordinator of the local OSE team, later described Morel’s activities. Chouraqui entrusted Morel with twenty Jewish children, whom he saved by placing them in safe havens with village families. At one point, the French gendarmerie arrested and prosecuted Morel for smuggling Jews into Switzerland. Morel was convicted and fined 4,000 French francs, beyond the means of the young clergyman. Chouraqui came to his aid.

He appealed to the Jews of the region, who contributed willingly. On September 25, 1990, Yad Vashem recognized André Morel as Righteous Among the Nations.

Dr. Jean Guillaud, MD● Dr. Jean Guillard, MD●, Marc Boegner Rescue Network, CIMADE, St. Jean-en-Royan area, Department of Drôme, Vecors Mountains, awarded Righteous Among the Nations title June 10, 1996, (Yad Vashem Archives; Gutman, 2003, pp. 289-290)

Renee Guillaud● Marc Boegner Rescue Network, CIMADE, wife of Dr. Jean Guillard, St. Jean-en-Royan area, Department of Drôme, Vecors Mountains, awarded Righteous Among the Nations title June 10, 1996, (Yad Vashem Archives; Gutman, 2003,pp. 289-290)

Guillaud, Jean Guillaud Renée File 7184 Jean Guillaud lived in Toulon and was a physician in the navy. In November 1942, after the fleet was sunk in the port of Toulon, Guillaud, his wife, and their infant daughter fled to St.-Jean-en-Royan (département of Drôme), in the Vercors Mountains. The area swarmed with Resistance fighters, who engaged the Germans in fierce combat; Guillaud did his share by providing the Resistance fighters with medical supplies. In July 1943, the Guillauds were contacted in the name of Pierre Marie Cardinal Gerlier of Lyons and were asked to hide young Jewish women in their home. The rescue of Jewish girls was initiated by the Jewish organization OSE, which availed itself of a network of French clerics. Thus Margo, a young Jewish woman of nineteen, was placed with the Guillauds. She had come from Germany in 1940 with her entire family, fifteen people, and they were all interned in the Gurs camp. The OSE managed to remove her in 1942, whereas the rest of her family was deported to Auschwitz, where all of them perished. The young woman was first sheltered in an institution belonging to the OSE and then reached the Guillauds’ home in 1943. The Guillauds welcomed her with warmth and affection. Dr. Guillaud provided her with forged identification papers, and his wife Renée taught her French. In return, she took care of their infant daughter. They also sheltered Erna Wasserman, who had undergone suffering much like Margot, and renamed her Elise, a less conspicuous name.

In the spring of 1944, American forces began to airlift weapons and food for the Resistance fighters in the Vercors Mountains. In June 1944, the Germans responded with heavy bombardments, including the Guillauds’ village. The Guillauds fled to an isolated farm about 1.5 kilometers from the village. Shortly afterward, German soldiers entered the village and massacred everyone suspected of hiding wanted underground fighters and Jews. After the liberation, the Guillaudsreturned to Toulon with their two wards, whom they continued to lodge without remuneration for several months. In January 1945, one left for Paris and the other for Great Britain. Eventually, both immigrated to the United States and continued to correspond with the family who had saved them, and whom they met again many years later in the United States. Margo named her daughter Danielle, after the Guillauds’ infant, for whom she had cared during the occupation. On June 10, 1996, Yad Vashem recognized Jean and Renée Guillaud as Righteous Among the Nations.

Pierre Ogier● Marc Boegner Rescue Network, CIMADE, Lyons, France, awarded Righteous Among the Nations title March 13, 1997, (Yad Vashem Archives; Fabre, 1970; Gutman, 2003, pp. 413-414)

Henriette Ogier● Marc Boegner Rescue Network, CIMADE, awarded Righteous Among the Nations title March 13, 1997, (Yad Vashem Archives; Fabre, 1970; Gutman, 2003, pp. 413-414)

Ogier, Henriette Ogier, Pierre Pierre and Henriette Ogier lived in Lyons with their two children. On the recommendation of a priest who was following the directives of Cardinal Gerlier● (q.v.), they hired a sixteen-year-old Jewish girl as a housekeeper. Liselotte Boettigheimer had been deported from Germany in the summer of 1940 and interned in the Gurs camp. Six months later, she had been transferred to Rivesaltes. Early in the summer of 1942, Liselotte and five other young Jews were removed from the camp by the Quakers and placed in an OSE home in Vic sur Cère (Cantal). As the dangers increased, the young people were dispersed in 1943 and placed with Christian families in Lyons under the auspices of Cardinal Gerlier. The OSE staff gave Liselotte forged identification papers in the name of Lucienne Berger, born in Colmar, Alsace (to explain her strong German accent). She worked for the Ogiers until the liberation. Her employers knew that she was Jewish but treated her with respect and compassion. Fortunately, she was reunited with her parents after the war and went to live in South Africa. In 1994, she returned to France and met Dr. Maurice Ogier, the son of her rescuers, a very emotional encounter. On March 13, 1997, Yad Vashem recognized Pierre and Henriette Ogier as Righteous Among the

General Pierre Robert de Saint-Vincent●, Military Governor of Lyons, France, Patron of Amitié Chrétienne (Christian Friendship), member Armée Secrète, CIMADE, Marc Boegner Rescue Network, awarded Righteous Among the Nations title, (Yad Vashem Archives; Gutman, 2003, pp. 472-473)

Robert de Saint-Vincent, General Pierre File 3547 In 1942, General Pierre Robert de Saint-Vincent was the military governor of Lyons. Since 1941, he had also been among the patrons of the Amitié Chrétienne organization, established in Lyons to assist Jews suffering under the Vichy regime. The organization’s highly placed supporters included Cardinal Pierre Marie Gerlier (q.v.) and Pastor Marc Boegner (q.v.). In 1942, Saint-Vincent was active in the anti-German underground Armée Secrète and helped hide General Giraud, until he could flee to northern Africa. General Giraud had escaped German captivity and was being sought by the Vichy authorities for treason. On August 29, 1942, Saint-Vincent was instructed to have a company of soldiers under his command maintain order at the Perrache-Lyons railroad station while a group of 550 Jews was placed aboard a deportation train to Drancy, and from there to the east. Saint-Vincent proudly refused to follow the order, asserting that his troops would never participate in such an action. His refusal delayed the operation for 24 hours or more, during which time some of those marked for deportation fled and survived. Due to his action, the Vichy government decided summarily to suspend General de Saint-Vincent from all his army responsibilities. In November 1942, when the Germans occupied the southern zone, he had to hide in order to escape them. Using a forged identity, he found hiding places in Grenoble and later in Nice. Thus, at personal risk throughout, he placed the values of human dignity and justice above fealty to his superiors’ orders.

On June 24, 1993, Yad Vashem recognized Pierre Robert de Saint-Vincent as Righteous Among the Nations.

Jean Marie Soutou●+, Marc Boegner Rescue Network, CIMADE, Lyon area, helped found Christian Friendship (Amitié Chrétienne) with Father Pierre Chaillet in 1941, arrested with Chaillet for helping Jews, awarded Righteous Among the Nations title March 22, 1994, (Yad Vashem Archives; Gutman, 2003, pp. 268, 506)

Soutou, Jean-Marie File 5890 Jean-Marie Soutou was a young civil servant who moved to Lyons after fleeing occupied Paris. He aligned himself with the Catholic opponents of the Vichy regime, led by Father Pierre Chaillet● (q.v.). In 1941, Soutou and Chaillet took part in establishing the Amitié Chrétienne organization to defend victims of the Vichy regime and the occupation authorities. Soutou produced forged papers for Jews and participated in missions to smuggle Jews into Switzerland and hide Jewish children. He was the one who usually received the Jews who came to the Amitié Chrétienne office in downtown Lyons to obtain forged papers and obtain material support. On January 27, 1943, the Gestapo broke into the organization’s offices and arrested everyone, including Father Chaillet and Soutou. They were interrogated on suspicion of providing refuge to wanted Jews. Chaillet extricated himself a few hours later, but Soutou was incarcerated for further interrogation. Thanks to the intervention of Cardinal Gerlier● (q.v.), Soutou was released after three weeks of confinement. His comrades, aware that his life was in danger, immediately sent him across the Swiss border. After the war, Soutou held various high-ranking diplomatic positions and chaired the French Red Cross (CRF). On March 22, 1994, Yad Vashem recognized Jean-Marie Soutou as Righteous Among the Nations.

Pastor Pierre Toureille●, CIMADE, served as chaplain to prisoners in French concentration camps, appointed by Pastor Marc Boegner●, deputy chairman Nimes Committee (Comité de Nîmes), awarded Righteous Among the Nations title November 6, 1973, (Yad Vashem Archives; Fabre, 1970, p. 44; Gutman, 2003, p. 525) see appendix for full biography

Member or Cooperating Agencies with the Nimes Committee

Part 1: Aid Operation for Children through Boegner Rescue Network

Aid Operation for Children (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE; French), Southern France

American Federation of Labor, Marseilles, France, 1940-1941

American Federation of Labor National Office, USA

American Friends of Czechoslovakia, USA

American Friends’ Service Committee

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)

American Red Cross (ARC), USA Southern France

American Relief Centre (Centre Américain de Secours)

Amitié Chrétienne (see Christian Friendship), Lyons, France

Belgian Office

Belgian Red Cross (Croix Rouge de Belgique)

Pastor Marc Boegner Rescue Network

Aid Operation for Children **(Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE**; French), Southern France