Conference La chaumière, maison refuge

You've all heard of the Maison d'Izieu, unfortunately because the story had a sad ending, with 44 children rounded up and deported... But did you know that there were in fact some 15 similar houses opened by the same association, OSE (Œuvre de Secours aux Enfants), to shelter Jewish children during the Second World War? And just after Izieu, in June 1943, it was in Saint-Paul-en-Chablais, on the heights of Evian, that OSE rented another large house in this area then under Italian occupation: a former boarding house, ideally located close to the Swiss border, with capacity to house up to a hundred children.
And unlike Izieu, this story had a happy ending... so this fine local history deserves to be better known by all Chablais residents, as do the actions of this so-called "rescue" resistance...
Virginie Drocourt discovered the existence of La Chaumière because two members of her family were "hidden children" and sheltered in this house. She found numerous archive documents, as well as first-hand witnesses. She was thus able to reconstruct the history of this children's colony, and retrace the journey of the many children who found shelter there, far from the fury of war - a story she will share with passion and numerous illustrations.
=> With the participation of students and teachers from secondary schools working with the association AU NOM DE LIBA on the "Enfants de la Chaumière" educational project.
Conference organized in partnership with the Association Mémoire et Patrimoine and the Pays d'Évian-vallée d'Abondance art and history organization.
Conference followed by a friendly drink.