2022 commemoration for Odette and Moussa

October 28, 2022

Despite the passing of time, there were still some twenty of us gathered around Odette and Moussa on Sunday, October 23, 2022 at Montparnasse cemetery.

Every year, some people are unable to join us for family or health reasons. Yet we keep our little boat of remembrance afloat thanks to a solid handful of faithful members and sometimes new ones. This year we had the pleasure of welcoming someone whose family sheltered a 15-year-old Jewish girl for a year and a half, allowing her to escape the tragic fate that might have been hers. We will tell you this story soon.

Under the October sun, Norbert, Jeannette’s son, recited the Kaddish, around which everyone came together in remembrance. Jacqueline Denechère, a friend of Odette, and her daughter Catherine, who were unable to join us, nevertheless took care to convey their attachment to this act of remembrance by each sending us a letter. Catherine Jourdan’s words were beautifully delivered by Victor Haïm’s theatrical diction.

Odette and Moussa: two names chanted together in my heart, a couple united in life and in death. But also two people whose individuality I do not want to forget. Odette, who devoted her whole life to caring for others; Odette, faithful to her vocation, her love and her friendships; Odette, all generosity and simplicity, but with a soul tempered by fierce determination; Odette, her elegance, her frank laugh, her smiling humour. Moussa, who straddled the Mediterranean to settle in France and opened his heart wide to our medieval literature; Moussa, who married the theatre for life, even when he had to give up the stage; Moussa, who spoke loud and clear; Moussa, his gravelly voice and his mischievous smiles.

The further the memory of Odette and Moussa recedes in time, the more I sometimes seem to see them coming closer. Because they speak in the ear of the child who used to visit them with her parents, and childhood comes towards us as we grow old; because they still and always awaken in me the spark of theatre that nourished their lives, and they let me breathe the fragrance of the enthusiasm that lived within them; because nowadays they seem to me more than ever a source of inspiration in a society where people live for themselves, withdrawn into a very poor desire for comfort and security, whereas the world so badly needs free and courageous knights such as they were in perilous and cruel times.
Knights who fight against the will to humiliate and destroy, to make people suffer and die.
But noble knights who do not kill – who take care.

Catherine Jourdan – October 23, 2022

The lines sent by Jacqueline Denechère were read by Andrée Poch-Karsenti, our president.

A fine friendship bound me to Odette and Moussa for many years.

We met quite regularly over a good meal or simply for a coffee in a bistro. Just to chat, to talk about this and that, but also, more seriously, about current events. Together we protested against the many injustices, the poverty of so many people, the indifference of the well-off. I sometimes saw how both of them burned with anger, more than I did, surely, because they had lived through a terrible story they had never told me about. When their rescue of the hidden children was revealed, I was overwhelmed. Such discretion, such modesty about part of their lives taught me what true humanity was. To pay tribute to them is to honour two exceptional people who, in the troubled times we live in, where children are still victims, would not hesitate to shout: “Enough is enough!”

To you who keep their memory alive, I say “Thank you”.

Jacqueline Denechère – October 23, 2022

Emmanuel Gagnier, the association’s General Secretary and grandson of Pastor Gagnier, then read a text inviting everyone to take their share of responsibility for keeping alive the memory of the Marcel network.

When we organised this commemoration, as we do every year, Andrée asked me this year to speak in her place. I must admit that, being more used to staying in the shadow of my Internet publications than speaking before an audience, this suddenly entrusted responsibility was something of a challenge for me. But Andrée bluntly reminded me that for years she has been the one shouldering it tirelessly. So I asked myself, not without difficulty, what I was going to say. Then I thought again about the purpose of our association: “Preserving the memory of Odette and Moussa Abadi and keeping alive the history of the Shoah”.

“Keeping alive the history of the Shoah” – museums, history books and many associations take care of that, as we do. But “Preserving the memory of Odette and Moussa Abadi” – who takes care of that? Us? How many of us are there? How many will there be tomorrow? Forgetting is the enemy of History. And the story of Odette and Moussa and of the Marcel network is not in the history books. It is in our words, in our actions, in a few books all the same, and above all in our commitment to passing it on to as many people as possible despite our small circle. And the passing of time is gradually shrinking that circle. So the question arises of how to make this story endure. For that is our responsibility as its keepers. Every day we see how necessary it is for stories like this one to be remembered, and for the human values it tells of to be spread as widely as possible.

By gathering again today, we help to preserve their memory, and that is already important. But what more can we do? Who will ensure this passing-on in 10 years, in 20 years? I would like each of us to ask ourselves: “How can I contribute?” Let us not count on others to pass it on for us. Let us remember what Moussa said: “Be watchmen – watchmen and awakeners. Talk to your children, to your grandchildren. Tell them there was a time when a Jew was worth 50 francs.” If the Marcel network is not in the history books, be history books yourselves, and make your children and grandchildren history books – books of this History!

Emmanuel Gagnier – October 23, 2022

Jeannette did not fail to use her storytelling talents to recount a few anecdotes about who Odette and Moussa were, and about what she lived through as a hidden child.

We then met at the restaurant “Chez Papa”, a stone’s throw from the cemetery, to share the friendly drink that the association traditionally offers to all those present. The great majority of us prolonged the pleasure of being together over a convivial lunch, full of conversations about everyone’s memories and plans.

We are tempted to say “see you next year”, but that would hide our wish to see you well before then at the association’s activities.