This Sunday, Saint-Martin-Vésubie will be recognized as a “Member Municipality of the Cities and Villages of the Righteous of France”.
The unveiling of the steles in tribute to the Righteous Among the Nations of the Vésubie and the Jewish refugees deported in 1943, will be conducted by deputy Eric Ciotti, President of the Alpes Maritimes Department, Daniel Wancier, President of Yad Vashem Nice-Côte D’Azur, and Henri Giuge, Mayor of Saint-Martin-Vésubie, in the presence of Mr. Pierre-François Veil, son of Simone Veil.
This ceremony will be an occasion to unveil the little-known history of Saint-Martin-Vésubie, which had been designated by the Vichy government as one of the Maralpine localities meant to house foreign Jews assigned to residence.
Thus, in 1943, the village welcomed three hundred Jewish families, mostly from Central and Eastern Europe; under the protection of the villagers and Italian soldiers, they lived there a period of peace and serenity, able to practice their worship, send their children to school, and gather in the village.
On September 8, 1943, the Italian capitulation abruptly ended this brief period of happiness. Guided by villagers, most families fled towards Italy through the Cerise and Fenestre passes. Some who stayed in the village were arrested by the Germans, despite the solidarity shown by the inhabitants to save them.
Those who, despite the harrowing difficulties of mountain walking, managed to reach Italy, were awaited by the Germans at Borgo San Dalmazzo. 328 were arrested and deported to Auschwitz, and only 12 survived the Holocaust.
The gratitude of the saved Jews has persisted over time, and their testimonies allowed the Yad Vashem Committee to recognize Saint-Martin-Vésubie as a community of the Righteous Among the Nations and many of its inhabitants to receive this title.
Alongside the stele commemorating this episode in the commune’s history, the ones bearing the names of the Righteous and those bearing the names of the deported who never returned from the death camps and never received a burial will be unveiled.
