Talk at the Collège J.-P. Vernant in Toulouse
March 7, 2012
On March 7, 2012, at the Collège J.-P. Vernant in Toulouse, the subject was memory, passing it on, handing over the baton.
At the invitation of Madame Alonzo, the head of the school, Éric Gagnier, father of Geoffrey, a Year 10 pupil, spoke about the award of the Medal of the Righteous to his grandparents, Hélène and Pierre Gagnier (this so moving ceremony took place at the town hall of the 12th arrondissement of Paris). A very clear slideshow prepared by Éric Gagnier helped the pupils understand what a Righteous person was, how one is defined and by whom the title is awarded, but also what acts of resistance his grandparents carried out: hiding people and providing false papers so that they could move about, forged ration cards, taking in Jewish victims hunted by the Germans but also by the collaborationist Vichy regime, and protecting young people taken in by the scout movement.
I had the honour of taking part in this morning of meetings with five Year 10 classes, accompanied by their history teachers, to talk with them about Odette and Moussa Abadi, creators of the Marcel network, a network that rescued Jewish children in the diocese of Nice between 1943 and 1944. Their actions were made possible by the help of Monseigneur Rémond and Pastors Gagnier and Evrard.
The young pupils, who had watched the documentary about the network, asked me many questions about the hidden children, my own story and how a young child might have experienced that period. It is always difficult to recall this painful story. But committed men and women worked in the utmost discretion, even after the war, refusing honours and thanks. So it seems to me that today I must play this role of witness, of ferryman – as the great-grandsons of the Gagnier couple are now doing.
Andrée Poch-Karsenti