Jewish Refugee Wills €2Million To French Village For Protection Against Nazi

February 4, 2021 Breaking News, Foreign, tourism Leave a comment

A Jewish refugee who fled the Nazis with his family from Austria during World War II has bequeathed fortune of over €2million to the French village whose residents hid them from persecution for many Decades.

Eric Schwam arrived Chambon-sur-Lignon with his parents and maternal grandmother in February 1943.

Schwam died aged 90 on December 25, made his decision to make the village the sole beneficiary of his will in ‘Gratitude’ for the welcome he received from the residents 78 years ago.

‘It’s a large amount for the village,’ Mayor Jean-Michel Eyraud said.

Schwam and his family arrived in 1943 and were hidden in a school for the duration of the war.

He later studied pharmacy and married a Catholic woman from the region near Lyon, where they lived.

‘In his will, Schwam indicates that he made this choice in gratitude for the welcome the inhabitants of Chambon gave him during the war,’

Schwam also wrote that the money be used for Educational and youth initiatives, in particular, scholarships.

Over the centuries the village of Chambon-sur-Lignon has taken in a wide range of people fleeing religious or political persecution.

Around 2,500 Jews were taken in and protected during World War II by the village, whose residents were honoured as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ by Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre.

A commemorative plaque of the rescue of Jews during their WWII persecution is affixed on the village school of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon.

Schwam’s father was a doctor, while his mother Malcie created a library in the Rivesaltes camp in 1942, one of the many set up to imprison Jews.

Friedal Reiter, a young Swiss social worker, wrote a diary that contained information about the family’s history.

It is thought that Reiter helped the family move to Chambon-sur-Lignon after the Rivesaltes camp closed in November 1942.

Schwam was placed in a children’s home run by Secours Suisse, a sub-sector of the Red Cross of Switzerland which helped children during the Second World War.

His mother also worked there.

The entire family survived the war and his parents returned to Austria.

Schwam later studied pharmacy at the University of Leon in 1950 and graduated in 1957.

Chambon-sur-Lignon, located on a remote mountain plateau in southeast France, large Protestant community known for offering shelter to those in need.

Jewish Refugee Wills €2Million To French Village For Protection Against Nazi

Related Articles

Check Also

US house approves bill to sanction Russia

Jewish Refugee Wills €2Million To French Village For Protection Against Nazi

Share this:

Related Articles

Check Also