Unveiling of four plaques in Grasse

July 15, 2024

How did this project begin? More than 20 years ago, a film told of events that had been forgotten, except by a few “hidden children” – children whose lives had been saved thanks to a couple: Odette Rosenstock and Moussa Abadi, two young Jews fleeing Paris, who had taken refuge in Nice. The city was in the free zone, then under Italian occupation for ten months before enduring the German occupation.

Odette and Moussa decided to help the persecuted Jewish children. To do so, they contacted Monseigneur Rémond, Bishop of Nice, to ask for his help, as well as Pastors Gagnier and Evrard. Together they set up the Marcel network, which would save 527 children from deportation and death.

A little over two years ago, the association Les Enfants et Amis Abadi and AMEJDAM (Association for the Memory of the Jewish Children Deported from the Alpes-Maritimes) joined forces to set up a project recalling that children were placed in the Alpes-Maritimes, and in particular in Grasse, in four places – the convents of Sainte-Marthe and Jeanne d’Arc, the Institut Fénelon and the Maison des Enfants, now the Cascade Parfumée – as well as with foster families.

Mr Richard Kiss, municipal councillor responsible for remembrance, warmly welcomed the presidents of the two associations, who explained their wish to honour Grasse, a town that made the rescue of hidden children possible. And so, on June 10, 2024, memorial plaques were unveiled in turn at the four places of memory in the presence of Mr Jérôme Viaud, Mayor of Grasse, Mr Richard Kiss, Mr Hervé de Crozals (former head of the Institut Jeanne d’Arc), Andrée Poch-Karsenti and Michèle Merowka. Sophie and Marianne Kuperminc made the journey, both coming in memory of their mother, who was hidden at the Institut Jeanne d’Arc.

In the presence of the standard-bearers, the ceremony continued more solemnly at the Institut Fénelon, where a large plaque recalling the Resistance actions of the Marcel network was unveiled by Mr Viaud, Mrs Merowka and Mrs Poch-Karsenti.

Three pupils recited texts, in particular Primo Levi’s If This Is a Man, followed by speeches by Mr Lionel Leandri, head of the school, Mrs Andrée Poch-Karsenti and Mrs Michèle Merowka, Brother Charles Moïse, Rabbi David Touboul and Mr Jérôme Viaud, Mayor of Grasse.

Mrs Merowka expressed her emotion, comparing the plaques put up by her association in memory of the deported Jewish children with the actions of Odette and Moussa, which helped save 527 Jewish children from deportation.

Mrs Céline Barbusse, head of the Grasse archives; teachers, including Mrs Ponomarova and Mrs Benyamina, who took an active part in our project to pass on the memory of the Shoah; Mrs Sylvie Triballier, president of the National Association of Members of the National Order of Merit, and her regional representative, Mr Virgile Zianga; some members of AMEJDAM who had come from Nice; and people from Grasse honoured us with their presence.

The ceremony was followed by a friendly drink offered by the Institut Fénelon.

“La Maison des Enfants”, the former Fondation Chiris, which has become the “Cascade Parfumée” under its new owners, Valérie and Paul Roustan, then welcomed us and our guests to their magnificent estate. Thanks to the town hall for the catering.