Perrin Joseph-Marie

Perrin, Father Joseph Marie File 8606 Joseph Marie Perrin was director of the Dominican friary in Marseilles. Immediately after the defeat of France and the occupation in 1940, together with a number of other clerics, he sheltered German refugees whom France had agreed to hand over to Germany, according to some repugnant clauses in the armistice agreement. These refugees included politicians and trade union officials as well as intellectuals, scientists and artists, who were hunted by Vichy police. Edmond Michelet (q.v) sent them to the friary, which became a relay station on their escape route. In the same way from 1941 on, Father Perrin, together with Fathers Stève and Parseval protected and saved dozens of Jews who had escaped from the Milles camp. At the same time, Jewish women were given shelter in the Dominican convent of Tourelles in Montpellier. In 1942, Father Perrin was transferred to the community of his order in that city, and there too he hid Jews on the run. The escape process included the preparation and delivery of false documents (from Brazil, Lithuania, etc.) and then the clandestine crossing of the border into Spain. A Jewish refugee, S. J. Friedlaender, who escaped from the Milles camp, testified that Father Perrin helped him. Dwora Joffe, who was given asylum at the Tourelles convent, wrote later: “These religious community members opened their doors to us, fed and housed us and organized our escape through the Pyrénées, which were already covered with snow.” On August 2, 1999, Yad Vashem recognized Father Joseph Marie Perrin as Righteous Among the Nations.