Cartier Lucie

Cartier, Lucie File 584 In 1942, the Germans arrested the Mol family, Jews of Polish origin, at the French-Swiss border as they attempted to escape from Belgium to Switzerland. The parents were deported to the east, but French police sent their three-year-old son, Freddy, to a monastery, whence he was moved to the Jewish orphanage in Paris, which was monitored by the authorities. The Weils, a French Jewish family, illegally removed Freddy Mol from the Paris orphanage and became his foster parents. In late 1943, the French police searched for Freddy Mol in Paris, after tracking him down via the monastery that sheltered him in 1942. Mol owes his life to Lucie Cartier, who saved him and his adoptive parents. Cartier, a devout Catholic widow, had worked as a cashier in the Weil’s store before the war. Through a family friend who worked at the Paris préfecture, the Weils learned of an impending roundup of Jews, and they were on the wanted list. They had to abandon their apartment quickly and find a hiding place; Cartier came to their aid. Although helping Jews was very dangerous, Cartier made her parents’ apartment available to the Weils, who lived there until the liberation. She hid Freddy in another apartment on the outskirts of Paris, where she saw to all his needs for many months until the liberation. Cartier risked her life for humanitarian reasons and out of affection for her former employer. After the war, Mol settled in Israel and raised a family. Cartier saved her money to visit him and his children in Israel. On February 2, 1971, Yad Vashem recognized Lucie Cartier as Righteous Among the Nations.