A Jewish refugee who fled the Nazis with his family from Austria during World War II has bequeathed an undisclosed fortune to the French village whose residents hid them from persecution for years.
Eric Schwam, who arrived in Chambon-sur-Lignon with his parents and maternal grandmother in February 1943, is believed to have left around two million euros to the village in southeast France.
Schwam, who died aged 90 on December 25, made his decision to make the village the sole beneficiary of his will in ‘gratitude’ for the welcome he received from the residents 78 years ago.
‘It’s a large amount for the village,’ Mayor Jean-Michel Eyraud said.
Eric Schwam, who arrived in Chambon-sur-Lignon with his parents and maternal grandmother in February 1943, is believed to have left around two million euros to the village in southeast France
Schwam, who died aged 90 on December 25, made his decision to make the village the sole beneficiary of his will in ‘gratitude’ for the welcome he received from the residents 78 years ago
He declined to specify the amount since the will was still being sorted out, but the town’s deputy mayor Denise Vallet, who told a local website that she met with Schwam and his wife twice to discuss the gift, said it was around two million euros ($2.4 million).
Schwam and his family arrived in 1943 and were hidden in a school for the duration of the war, and remained until 1950.
He later studied pharmacy and married a Catholic woman from the region near Lyon, where they lived.
Around 2,500 Jews were taken in and protected during World War II by Chambon-sur-Lignon, whose residents were honoured as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ by Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre (file photo)
A commemorative plaque of the rescue of Jews during their WWII persecution is affixed on the village school of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
In his will, Schwam wrote that he wanted ‘to thank them for the welcome many extended me in the field of education’, according to CNN.
Eyraud said Schwam asked that the money be used for educational and youth initiatives, in particular scholarships.
‘In his will, the only thing he [Schwam] indicates is that he made this choice in gratitude for the welcome the inhabitants of Chambon gave him during the war,’ Vallat told France3.
Chambon-sur-Lignon, located on a remote mountain plateau in southeast France, has historically had a large Protestant community known for offering shelter to those in need.
Around 2,500 Jews were taken in and protected during World War II by the village, whose residents were honoured as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ by Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre.
Chambon-sur-Lignon, located on a remote mountain plateau in southeast France, has historically had a large Protestant community known for offering shelter to those in need
Over the centuries the village of Chambon-sur-Lignon has taken in a wide range of people fleeing religious or political persecution, from priests driven into hiding during the French Revolution to Spanish republicans during the civil war of the 1930s, and more recently migrants and refugees from the Middle East and Africa
Schwam’s father was a doctor, while his mother Malcie created a library in the Rivesaltes camp in 1942, one of the many set up to imprison Jews.
Friedal Reiter, a young Swiss social worker, wrote a diary that contained information about the family’s history. It is thought that Reiter helped the family move to Chambon-sur-Lignon after the Rivesaltes camp closed in November 1942.
Schwam was placed in a children’s home run by Secours Suisse, a sub-sector of the Red Cross of Switzerland which helped children during the Second World War. His mother also worked there.
The entire family survived the war – and his parents returned to Austria. Schwam later studied pharmacy at the University of Leon in 1950 and graduated in 1957.
Over the centuries the village of Chambon-sur-Lignon has taken in a wide range of people fleeing religious or political persecution, from priests driven into hiding during the French Revolution to Spanish republicans during the civil war of the 1930s, and more recently migrants and refugees from the Middle East and Africa.