By Andy Vermant
On March 6, 2025, a remarkable gathering took place in Limoges, uniting rescuers and survivors of the Shoah. The event centered on the presentation of the book Stronger Than Fear (Plus fort que la peur), featuring 36 gripping portraits of individuals who saved lives during World War II. Exactly 80 years after the end of this tragic chapter in history, participants reflected on courage and solidarity.
Powerful Portraits of Courage
The book, unveiled during the event, highlights harrowing stories of heroes from across Europe. These portraits offered attendees a glimpse into the daily lives and challenges faced by those who risked everything to save others, serving as a vivid tribute to their bravery and unity.
Moving Testimonies
At Limoges’ Musée de la Résistance, Holocaust survivors and one rescuer shared personal experiences and memories with the audience. These emotional accounts left a profound impact, underscoring the enduring relevance of such commemorations. A reception followed, allowing attendees to connect and exchange stories late into the evening. The event drew significant interest, necessitating advance reservations.
Malgorzata Quinckenstein, Author of Stronger Than Fear
A Vital Reminder of Human Connection
This unique gathering emphasized the importance of remembrance and demonstrated how human bonds transcend historical divides.
The Righteous Who Saved Jewish Children
The ceremony honoring the Righteous Among the Nations—non-Jews who rescued Jews during the Holocaust—was a deeply moving tribute to courage, compassion, and the power of unity. These resistance heroes, often ordinary citizens, risked their lives to hide, feed, and protect Jewish children from the Nazi extermination machine. Their actions remain a moral compass that continues to inspire.
Who Were the Righteous?
The title Righteous Among the Nations is awarded by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial center, to those who rescued Jews out of humanity, without financial gain. Among the 28,000 recognized globally, many are celebrated for saving children. Polish nurse Irena Sendler smuggled over 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto, often hiding them in suitcases or beneath tram floors. In the Netherlands, figures like Johannes Post and Hetty Voûte organized underground networks to place children with foster families or convents, sometimes under false identities.
Methods of Rescue: Creativity and Collaboration
Saving children required raw courage and ingenuity. Some were hidden via secret trapdoors or behind false walls; others were sheltered in underground schools or religious institutions. In Belgium, monasteries collaborated with resistance groups to house hundreds of children. The Righteous forged documents, secured food rations, and taught children Christian prayers to avoid detection. Many also preserved the children’s Jewish identity by safeguarding diaries, photos, or religious items, hoping for eventual family reunions.
Bonds Spanning Generations
The event highlighted lifelong connections between rescuers and survivors. Eliezer (Eddy) Goldstein, who hid with a Dutch family as a child, shared how his rescuers became “new parents,” even after the war. “They gave me not just a hiding place, but also love in a time of hate,” he said. For descendants of rescuers, this legacy remains alive. The granddaughter of a French farmer honored as Righteous recalled: “My grandfather always said, ‘You’re only human if you care for a stranger.’”
A Moral Legacy for the Future
The ceremony stressed that these stories are not relics of the past but lessons for today. Schoolchildren read letters written by hidden children during the war—texts filled with fear yet hope. Historian Dr. Eva Moraal noted that rescuers often acted out of “everyday bravery,” not as heroes but as people who refused to look away.
This unity transcends time and borders. Dutch and Israeli youth collaborate on oral history projects, immortalizing the Righteous in digital archives. Initiatives like Amsterdam’s Kindermonument, bearing the names of 18,000 murdered Jewish children, link the past to contemporary struggles against discrimination.
A Bridge Between Generations
The event closed with a call to active remembrance. Quoting the Talmud, a speaker declared, “Whoever saves one life saves the entire world.” In an era of polarization, the Righteous remind us of the power of small acts: an open door, a shared meal, or a hand held in darkness. Their legacy challenges us to build bridges—not despite, but because of our shared humanity.
This history of connection, the closing statement affirmed, is not an endpoint but a compass. “In choosing to care, they defied the logic of hatred. That is their immortal lesson to us all.”
The Rescue of Jewish Families in Limoges: Collective Resistance Against Persecution
Limoges, in France’s Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, is renowned for its historical defiance of oppression. During WWII, despite Vichy and Nazi occupation, the city became a refuge for hundreds of Jewish families. Its citizens—clergy, doctors, teachers, and farmers—united in a quiet yet powerful solidarity network. Their collective courage not only saved lives but also symbolized civic unity in a fractured time.
Limoges: A Stronghold of Resistance
After Germany’s 1940 invasion, France was split into occupied and Vichy zones. Limoges, initially under Vichy, saw intensified Nazi raids on Jews from 1942. Thousands of Jewish refugees, including children, sought shelter. The city’s residents, steeped in republican and anti-fascist traditions, refused to comply with persecution.
The Rescue Network: Church, Resistance, and Citizens Unite
Rescue efforts in Limoges stemmed from unprecedented collaboration:
The Catholic Church’s Role: Bishop Louis-Paul Rastouil and clergy turned convents, churches, and schools into sanctuaries. The Couvent de la Providence hid dozens of Jewish children under false names. Nuns taught them Catholic rituals but secretly preserved their Jewish identity.
Civil Resistance: Doctors like Jean-Baptiste Lebrat and teachers organized underground networks. The resistance group Francs-Tireurs et Partisans provided forged papers, ration cards, and safe houses. Citizens took in children, often posing as relatives from bombed cities.
Jewish Community Solidarity: Groups like Œuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OSE) covertly partnered with non-Jewish residents to smuggle children from camps like Drancy to Limoges.
Acts of Courage
The Chansigaud family hid three Jewish brothers in their barn, sharing meager rations and alerting them to patrols.
Teacher Marcel Deprez refused to hand over attendance lists, declaring, “All my pupils are French.”
Nurse Marguerite Pelletier provided medical care to hidden Jews and sabotaged Nazi records to delay deportations.
Raids and Betrayal
Despite efforts, danger loomed. A February 1943 raid targeted Jewish men. Though many escaped via warnings from the resistance, 26 were arrested and deported. The tragedy galvanized the city: “For every one they take, we’ll save ten,” vowed a resistance fighter.
Legacy and Memory
Yad Vashem recognized dozens from Limoges as Righteous, including Bishop Rastouil and Dr. Lebrat. The city’s Mémorial de la Résistance enshrines rescued children and their rescuers.
In 2021, Rachel Cohen, 93, who hid in a convent as “Marie,” shared: “The nuns whispered my real name at night, saying, ‘Never forget who you are.’ My rescuers were ordinary people who chose to be extraordinary.”
Limoges: A Beacon of Light
The rescues in Limoges prove resistance need not be armed. It thrived on civil disobedience, ingenuity, and moral leadership. As historian Patrick Cabanel wrote, “Here, the Vichy regime was not just opposed—it was morally defeated.”
The people of Limoges remind us that solidarity knows no borders of faith, class, or origin. Their legacy breathes life into France’s motto: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. In an age of rising hatred, their story is a call to vigilance: “Sauver un enfant, c’est sauver l’avenir” (“To save a child is to save the future”).
Torchbearers for Tomorrow
The Board of the Claims Conference safeguards the past while illuminating the future. Without their efforts, countless survivors would lack recognition. Their work pledges to coming generations that memory and justice will endure.
From the U.S. to Europe, Israel to South America, their names live on: Abraham Biderman, Yitzhak Pindrus, Marc Eisenberg, Dvorah Serrao, Elaine Culbertson, Gloria Golan, Andrew Baker, Matthew Bronfman, Alan Pines, Daniel Rosen, Etta Zimmerman, Ariel Zwang, Herbert Block, Johanna Guttmann, Michael Hilsenrath, Michael Newman, Raymond VJ Schrag, Alon Schuster, Daniel S. Mariaschin, Seth Riklin, Adriaan Cohen, Marie van der Zyl, Glenys Lindenberg, Aviva Ptack, Colette Avital, Abraham Rosental, Roger Cukierman, Pierre-Francois Veil, Jorge Knoblovits, Haim Vitaly Ben Yaakov, Oleg Mortkovich, Claudia Fellus, Mariano Schlimovich, Raya Kalenova, Ariella Woitchik, Nina Bassat, Robert Goot, Doron Almog, Yaakov Hagoel, Jack Jacobs, Arieh Lebowitz, Harold Jacobs, Mary Kluk, Max Arpels Lezer, Stefanie Seltzer, Sara Friedman, Ronald Lauder, Paul Anticoni, Michael Helfgott, Sergio Bergman, Carole Sterling, Mark Dainow, Abraham Lehrer, Julius Berman, Esther Farbstein, Miriam Griver, Menachem Hacohen, Dalia Itzik, Gita Koifman, Jona Laks, Ilse Melamid, Menachem Rosensaft, Melita Ŝvob, Gideon Taylor, Elie Valk. Through their dedication, the Claims Conference remains a bastion of hope and justice.
This article was originally published in indegazette.be