Bergon Denise

Bergon, Sister Denise File 1807 During the occupation, Sister Denise Bergon was principal of the Notre-Dame de Massip boarding school in Massip, a small town in the département of Lot, in southwestern France. In December 1942, Bergon began to use her school as a place of refuge for Jewish children whose parents had been deported or forced into hiding, thus saving eighty lives. Bergon also helped adult Jews and entire families. She hid eleven adults in her school and arranged alternative shelter for several Jewish families. Her activities had the blessing of Jean-Géraud Saliège (q.v.) the Archbishop of Toulouse. The children in Notre-Dame de Massip were given false identity papers and fictitious names and were dressed like Christian children. Only four sisters knew that the children were Jewish. The children attended classes regularly throughout their stay. Bergon believed that the separation from their families should not harm their education. Bergon gave the children warmth and love and created a homelike, calm atmosphere in her boarding school. Annie Bach was fifteen years old, in September 1942, when she and her parents were arrested. With the help of the underground, Bach escaped and went to Toulouse, where she was referred to the boarding school in Massip. Bergon herself traveled to Toulouse to fetch the girl, who was utterly alone. In her postwar testimony, Bach wrote the following: “When I arrived in Massip, there were already other children there. There were in all eighty or eighty-five whose lives were saved because a sister, Mme Bergon, was capable of showing energy, courage, and enough imagination to confront all dangers. She, and only she, knew how to make decisions calmly at the most dangerous moments.” Nati Michel Fréjer, another Jewish child who found refuge in Bergon’s boarding school, subsequently wrote of his experience: “At the Massip pension, we felt like ordinary children. We went to school with the local peasants’ children and were evengiven piano lessons… Sister Bergon was always willing to listen to us, and she was the only one we went to when we had problems. ” Albert Seifer was eight years old and his sister was twelve years old when their mother brought them to the school in Massip, in the early summer of 1943; the two Jewish youngsters stayed there until June 1944. Albert later recalled that the boarding school had admitted refugees aged five to twenty and that life there was wonderful. The sisters were like adoptive parents, and all the children loved and admired Denise Bergon. Hélène Oberman was taken to Massip in February 1943, and recalls that fifty to sixty children lived there in a warm and friendly environment. Bergon also helped the Jewish children remain in touch with their parents, who were in hiding. Despite the considerable danger, she took the Oberman children, Hélène and her brother, to visit their parents in their hiding place. The plight of French Jews worsened in 1943. The Germans conducted numerous raids in the Massip region. Bergon prepared the children for whatever might happen. At the slightest danger, they hid in the nearby fields and woods. Thus, at the risk of her own life, this nun managed to save a large number of Jews. In 1979, the French government awarded her the citation of the Legion of Honor for her activities during the occupation. On February 10, 1980, Yad Vashem recognized Denise Bergon as Righteous Among the Nations.