Durand Gilbert

Durand, Gilbert During the war Gilbert Durand, a renowned philosopher and anthropologist, led the Gallia underground network, which was affiliated with the French Interior Forces (FFI) in Chambéry (Savoie). Under his combat name, Commander Beck, he was in charge of several important activities, including a service that made false identity papers. From 1942 to June 1943, on his own initiative and contrary to the network’s instructions, he oversaw the creation of more than 60 false identity cards for persecuted Jews. Through his temporary housing network, he had also arranged for safe havens for Jews being pursued as well as foster families for approximately 15 Jewish children, entrusted to his care by Mr. Grollmund, the representative of the French Jewish Council (UGIF) in Chambéry. On his own initiative, he provided false papers and a hideout for a Jewish couple named Reinharez, their son Didier and his sister, who were fugitives from Paris. The Reinharez family had been obliged to leave their apartment in Chambéry in a hurry because they had taken in a friend, wounded by Militia men, and the victim’s bloodstains led to their door. Through the care of a trusted friend, Gilbert Durand ensured that Didier’s parents and sister were escorted to Pressins, an isolated hamlet in Isère. He arranged to have false papers made for Didier in the name of Robert Muffat-Joly, and placed him at a “Compagnons de France” work site in the Drôme region. The center, however, was denounced and the many Jews it had taken in were obliged to scatter. Didier roamed the countryside in search of shelter. In Sillans (Isére), a farmer hired him to work as a farmhand until the end of the war. All his family survived thanks to the bravery of Gilbert Durand. Discovered and arrested by the Gestapo, Durand was tortured for several weeks and incarcerated for eight months but never revealed his secrets. His actions in the Resistance earned him numerous decorations. On August 13, 2000, Yad Vashemrecognized Gilbert Durand as Righteous Among the Nations.