The Marcel Network: How One French Couple Saved 527 Children from the Holocaust

by Coleman, Fred

• ISBN13: 9781612345116
• ISBN10: 1612345115
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-11-30
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

He was a graduate student, and she was recently out of medical school. In 1943, the young Jewish couple found themselves trapped in German-occupied France. They had nothing-no money, no influence, no protection. And yet, improbably, these two deprived people stood up against Nazi atrocities, risking their own lives to save others' children. Syrian immigrant Moussa Abadi was only thirty-three and his future wife, Odette Rosenstock, twenty-eight when they formed the Marcel Network to hide French Jewish children in Catholic convents and boarding schools or with Protestant families. Their clandestine organization became one of the most successful operations of Jewish resistance anywhere in Europe. By the end of the war, 527 children owed their survival to the Abadis. The Marcel Networktells the rescuers' full story for the first time. Drawn from a multitude of sources, including hundreds of documents in the Abadis' archives and dozens of interviews with the now grown children they rescued, the Abadis' story still resonates today. Their struggle against overwhelming odds is an example for others to follow in the world's current trouble spots. Fred Coleman's book also breaks new historic ground, demonstrating how the Catholic Church, French Christians, and Jews themselves did far more to save Jewish lives than is generally known.

Table of Contents

Children	p. 1
Moussa and Odette	p. 5
The Bishop	p. 13
The Pastors	p. 19
Zazou	p. 27
The Germans	p. 35
Same Child, New Identity	p. 47
Three Girls	p. 53
The Convent	p. 65
Boys	p. 77
Switzerland	p. 91
Close Calls	p. 99
Odette Arrested	p. 105
Moussa Alone	p. 115
Auschwitz	p. 123
Bergen-Belsen	p. 133
Liberation	p. 145
Reunions	p. 153
Depression	p. 167
Discreet	p. 173
Drama	p. 177
The Couple	p. 187
Revelations	p. 199
Epilogue	p. 207
Acknowledgments	p. 217
Notes	p. 219
Selected Bibliography	p. 229
About the Author	p. 231
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