Leenhardt Suzelly

Leenhardt, Suzelly File 395a Suzelly Leenhardt, an upper class Protestant who lost her husband in World War I, lived in Marseilles with her son’s widow and her granddaughter. On September 1, 1942, her friend, Germaine Muehlenthaler (q.v.), brought Esther Strauss, a seventeen-year-old Jewish girl, to stay with her. Strauss was the daughter of German Jewish parents who had fled to France. Her parents had been interned in the camp at Gurs, and Esther had requested a visa for the United States. The visa was denied, and she had to hide. After several raids at the children’s home where she lived, she appealed to Germaine Muehlenthaler. Suzelly Leenhardt agreed to take her in, and Esther was to pretend she was a housemaid. Though a devout Protestant, she let Esther observe her own religion. On the eve of Yom Kippur, Leenhardt took Strauss to a neighbor to hear a recording of the Kol Nidre prayer. The women in Leenhardt’s house prayed together every evening. While Suzelly and her daughter-in-law recited Psalms in French, Strauss recited them in Hebrew. Leenhardt was extensively involved in humanitarian actions, some of which will never be known because of her extreme modesty. She adhered to a principle that she taught Strauss: “Good deeds speak for themselves.” Her daughter-in-law taught school most of the day, so Leenhardt took responsibility for obtaining food and had to stand in line for many hours. Her kindness was not limited to the hospitality she gave to Esther Strauss. Hearing of an impending raid on a hospital, she took a Jewish patient home and hired a nurse to look after her. The patient, a detention-camp internee, underwent an operation, and Leenhardt successfully prevented her return to the camp. In her postwar testimony, Strauss stated, “During the months that I spent in her home, I was exposed to a special kind of atmosphere: love of humankind, love of God, and boundless devotion.” Esther Strauss escaped to Switzerland and survived theoccupation. When she resumed contact with Leenhardt after the war, Strauss discovered that after she left, Leenhardt was apprehended and imprisoned for aiding Jews. On December 12, 1967, Yad Vashem recognized Suzelly Leenhardt as Righteous Among the Nations.