The Children's Home in Chamonix

Memento from Chamonix

Memento made after the war with photographs of the staff at the children's home in Chamonix and activists in the Underground cell of L'Aide la Mere aux Famille in Saint-Étienne. Amongst those featured: Anna and Fella Schmidt. The background is adorned with a Menorah and verses from Psalms (chapters 92 and 146) written in French. 

The memento was donated to Yad Vashem by Pierre Vidal Guy, who was one of the Christian children living in Chamonix.  The non-Jewish children living there lent authenticity to the assumed identities of the Jewish children living at the children's home in Chamonix.    

After the war, Juliette Vidal and Marinette Guy, who established the children's home and were later recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, adopted the five-year-old Pierre. 

Photos identified:
Annette Veil (cousin of Simone Veil) – worked at "Le Foyer", resistance cell headquarters in Saint-Étienne.
Paulette – the cook (Jewish).
Mirelle Levy – Director of the children's home in the Hotel de la Paix in Chamonix (Jewish).
Danielle – a Jewish woman who converted to Christianity before the war, she was caught and deported to Auschwitz via Drancy.
Madeleine-Leon-Kon – the kindergarten teacher in Chamonix.
Anna Schmidt – Fella's sister.  She worked as assistant kindergarten teacher, and brought children to the home when their parents were deported.
Fella Schmidt – the girls' counsellor, pictured here with Jacques Levy, a boy from Paris.
Laure – worked at Saint-Étienne.
Eva Fleischer, codename: "Jacqueline".  Worked at Saint-Étienne.
Claire Barwitzky – a German Christian who lived in France because of her opposition to the Nazi regime.  After the war, she was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations for her work in protecting and taking care of Jewish children in Chamonix.

Yad Vashem Artifacts Collection, Museums Division,
Donated by Pierre Guy Vidal, Chamonix, France