Armand and Celestine Vergnes
Righteous Among the Nations
Proceedings of the ceremony of June 20, 2010:
- "A large crowd thronged June 20 2010 in the Chapel of Our Lady of Massip (Toulouse with a strong performance came in for special chartered by the French Committee for Yad Vashem and the Jewish-Christian Friendship).
The ceremony was attended by the mayor, Mr Stephane Berard , the Consul of Israel Marseille Shmuel SIVAN, representative of the General Council, Mr President DELBOS associations including that of the ITEP Massip, and Dr. Albert SEIF, regional delegate of the French Committee for Yad Vashem.
latter, hidden child as 82 of his comrades in the same convent of Our Lady of Massip, between December 1942 and July 1944, recalled the role of Bishop Jules Geraud Saliege, archbishop of Toulouse, Companion of the Liberation, Righteous Among the Nations in 1946 and cardinal in the rescue of Jewish children, helped by his Auxiliary Bishop Louis de Courreges Ustou, Denise Bergon director of the convent, Mrs. Marguerite Roques his trusty right arm and Miss Louise THEBE secretary of the diocese works: all four of the Righteous Among the Nations.
Albert Seifer recalled the bonds of friendship that unite the witness, Maurice GERBER since 1945. 8-year-old Albert Seifer was hidden and saved from 1942 to 1945 by Armand and Celestine VERGNES who owned casings to Capdenac.
It was a very moving moment when the Consul of Israel Shmuel SIVAN told the story of the rescue and handed the medal of the Righteous and the Diploma of Honour VERGNES children Peter and Ginette. The Bnei Brit Toulouse, on the initiative of its president Max BRAND, offered two books on Israeli children Vergnes.
An exhibition at Yad Vashem These are not child's play "caught the attention of the public and a 17-minute DVD on the Holocaust and passing loop.
the afternoon, children hidden ND Massip Annie BECK, Nancy Alexander PREDZESKI Monique BARKAT Serge POTOK placed Pradinas (KOPEL and Leon), her sister Suzanne and Albert ALTER SEIF testified before a large audience that was attentive to their crossing ND Massip, surrounded the affection of their "moms of war."
(Report written by Albert Seifer).
From g . r.. Ginette Soulacroix and Pierre-Vergne Vergne, Armand and the children of Celestine VERGNES; Maurice GERBER; Mr Shmuel SIVAN Consul of Israel, Mr Stephen Berard Capdenac Mayor, Dr Albert SEIF regional delegate of the French Committee for Yad Vashem.
(Dr. C. Gordon / BCFYV: DR).
Summary File Yad Vashem:
- "The Gerber family is from Galicia (south-eastern Poland) and arrived in France in 1932.
parents, Jacques and Sabine, then two daughters
- Dora 18 years
- Sarah, 15
- and a boy: Oscar 9.
After a brief stay in Metz, the family arrived in Capdenac (Aveyron) where Jacques sells clothing in markets while his daughters work in the casings of Armand M. Vergnes.
Gerber Then leave for Toulouse, where the Aveyron was born in 1934 a second son Maurice.
In 1941, while anti-Semitism continues to strike, Oscar is put away in Switzerland. Both married, Dora and Sarah hide in the Toulouse region. Jacques spent the war hiding in a confined room in Toulouse.
Maurice, age 7, is entrusted to Armand and Celestine Vergnes. This will hide the couple from 1941 to 1944.
The little Jew will grow with the children Vergnes Pierre and Ginette and another boy of Polish descent, also collected. Considered and treated as if it was really the family, Maurice will be educated years from July to October.
One warning will disturb Capdenac. One day a company of German soldiers will engage in exercises in the village. Mauritius has to hide under a bed all afternoon ....
At the Liberation, Jacques Gerber can reconstruct his family in Toulouse. "
The Dispatch :
- "I expect you to host Jewish children." Saliège Bishop, Archbishop Toulouse, had called Bergon sister Denise, Director of the Convent of Massip in an interview in August 1942. "I'm going to have to lie," she had warned then Bishop Saliège had replied: "Lie, lie, you'll have all my absolution. "
Albert Seifer, Yad Vashem representative in Toulouse, tells this part of history, because it is his story. He has seven years when it arrives at the station and Denise Capdenac Bergon picks him in a carriage to accompany him to the convent. Her sister Bertha is 11 years old. They will both be hidden and hosted by Sister Margaret and Sister Denise Bergon Roques from March 1943 to May 1944 (the sisters had asked parents to pick up children at the announcement of the arrival of the Das Reich).
"We were staying at the monastery and the boys were enrolled at Saint-Julien-d'Empare. I was an altar boy because the nuns, the better we hide, we had learned the prayers and songs ... "
(June 20, 2010).
NOTE: This page has been drafted with the participation of Albert Seifer, he is thanked.
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