de Vilmorin Roger ; Brother: Olivier

Lecureur, Camille Lecureur, Germain De Vilmorin, Olivier De Vilmorin, Roger File 4487 At the beginning of World War II, the seven members of the Meller family, originally Polish Jews, were living in Blanc-Mesnil, near Paris. Blanc-Mesnil was very close to the Drancy camp, where French Jews were taken, pending deportation to the east. From their house, the Mellers watched the construction of the fence of this infamous detention camp. M. Meller, a loyal and skilled flourmill technician, worked for two French brothers, Germain and Camille Lecureur, who valued and befriended him. Meller was also on good terms with the de Vilmorin brothers, the Lecureurs’ partners. In August 1942, when the Lecureurs discovered an impending police roundup of Jews in the Blanc-Mesnil area, they feared that the Mellers would be arrested and deported. They moved the husband, wife, and three of their children to Verrières-le-Buisson, about twenty-five kilometers from Paris, where the de Vilmorins lived. They provided the two oldest Meller boys, aged seventeen and twenty, with forged identity cards and moved them to two farms near Paris, where they worked for seven months, changing residence often because the gendarmes frequently inspected farms. They finally found safe shelter in Verrières. For two years, until the liberation, the Meller family remained in Verrières-le-Buisson, with the assistance of the de Vilmorin brothers. On June 17, 1990, Yad Vashem recognized Germain and Camille Lecureur and Roger and Olivier de Vilmorin as Righteous Among the Nations.