Cugnasse Gilbert

Cugnasse, Gilbert (Abbé) File 8472 Abbé Gilbert Cugnasse was the head of the seminary “Petit Séminaire” of Pratlong in Lacaze (Tarn). From 1942 until the liberation, he hid Sigismond Wolf, a Jewish refugee from Luxemburg, in his establishment. He also welcomed and sheltered Jacques Kamnitzer and his brother Nicolas, sons of Berlin Jews who had converted to Catholicism and settled in France. Since they were still Jewish under the Vichy laws, they were in as great a danger as Jews who had not converted. Sheltering them was forbidden. In the winter of 1943-1944, a number of underground units were formed in the Monts du Sidobre area, including Lacaze and the neighboring small town of Vabre. Near Lacaze were two underground units run by Jewish fighters under the auspices of the Jewish scout movement, the EIF. Abbé Cugnasse spontaneously transformed his establishment into a field hospital for underground fighters. Those wounded while harassing German military convoys received first aid there, as were the fighters wounded when Germans launched an assault against the EIF units on August 8, 1944. On May 3, 1999, Yad Vashem recognized Abbé Gilbert Cugnasse as Righteous among Nations.