Memorial Boarding School Vézelay

Memorial plaque on the facade, inaugurated on November 11, 2007:
"In this house,
former boarding school of Sainte Madeleine,
Marie ARNOL (Sister Léocadie, director)
1881-1952
surrounded by Augustine RIGOLLAT (Sister Placidie),
Marie-Thérèse TOTAL (sister Marie),
Sisters of Providence from Sens,
and with the help of some Vézeliens, were
Jewish children hidden in the period
1942-1944.
She was recognized by the State of Israel
as "Righteous among the nations" because,
at his own risk, had helped Jews
who were hunted during the occupation."

In 1942, Agnès Navarro, a nun belonging to the Ancelles de Notre-Dame-de-Sion, began taking in little Jewish girls, either because they had been placed there by their parents or because they had survived raids. Agnès Navarro set up a placement network and every two or three months several children were sent to Vézelay, to the Monastery of Sainte-Madeleine.

Marie Arnol (Sister Léocadie) took significant risks in hiding these little Jewish girls. At the time of the liberation in September 1944, approximately fifteen Jewish children (between the ages of 7 and 13) were hidden in the asylum.
The girls were given false Christian names and some attended religious services. Since most of them did not have food cards, local traders brought food. Sister Léocadie removed the word "Jew" from the ration cards some of them had.
(Source: Yad Vashem)

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Wim Wouters