Lançon Joseph ; Daughter: Neury Thérèse (Lançon)

Lançon, Joseph Lançon (Neury), Thérèse File 4239 Joseph Lançon, nicknamed “Jo,” was a Catholic widower who lived with his children on a modest farm in Veigy-Foncenex, a small village in the Alps, several hundred meters from the Swiss border. During the occupation, Lançon smuggled hundreds of refugees to Switzerland at the request of Abbé Jean-Joseph Rosay (q.v.), the priest of his village and of the neighboring village, Douvaine. Lançon was assisted by his eldest daughter, Thérèse, and a young neighbor, François Périllat (q.v.). Lançon was a member of a team known as “the Douvaine escape network,” which helped hundreds of Jewish refugee children cross the Swiss border to safety. One of the Jewish survivors, Jean Valbot, who met Lançon through Father Figuet, later described the border-running experience. At his meeting with Lançon, it was decided that Valbot and his family would cross the border that very night, September 9, 1943. Delay was impossible because control of the border was about to pass from Italian into German hands, and crossing would henceforth be much more difficult. Late that night, the Valbot family met with Lançon, who led them directly to the spot chosen for crossing the border, a hole in the barbed wire fence through which the refugees could cross into Switzerland. Thus the Valbots, like many other Jews, had their lives saved. Joseph Lançon performed these rescues out of pure altruism, with no thought of reward. Regrettably, however, Lançon paid dearly for his behavior. On October 5, 1943, the Germans arrested his daughter Thérèse; she was miraculously freed after a few days. On February 10, 1944, François Perillat, Joseph Lançon, Father Rosay, and Father Figuet, activists in the smuggling network, were arrested after informers tipped off the Germans. All but Father Figuet were deported to a death camp, where they perished. Valbot later described them as “sublime examples of love, courage, and devotion.” On May 16, 1989, Yad Vashemrecognized Joseph Lançon and his daughter Thérèse Neury-Lançon as Righteous Among the Nations.