Ané Prince Jean & Marianne ; Jean ; Child: Guillaume

Ané-Prince, Jean Ané-Prince, Marianne Ané-Prince, Jean Ané-Prince, Guillaume File 2980 Sara and Nechama Melzer, Austrian Jewish sisters lived in Brussels until the German invasion on May 10, 1940, when they fled to France. They wandered around France until they were arrested and interned at the Gurs detention camp in the Pyrénées. After their release from Gurs, they were required to live under close police supervision in Aulus-les-Bains, a village in the département of Arriège. The Melzer sisters rented a small apartment and bought their provisions from local peasants – all of whom knew they were Jewish.. They purchased their meat and milk from the Ane-Prince family, and the head of household, Jean Ane-Prince, promised them shelter if necessary. In late August 1942, the two sisters were warned of the gendarmerie’s impending arrests in the village. Jean Ane-Prince kept his word and took them to his summer cattle pen, in a pasture far from the village. The pen was an open-air shelter whose only furnishing was a wooden bench. The two sisters, and ten more Jews who had entreated Ane-Prince to hide them, slept on piles of hay in the pen. Ane-Prince and his two sons, Jean and Guillaume, visited every day, provided food and the latest news, and refused the sisters’ offer of reimbursement. By summer’s end, the weather was too cold to permit further use of the cattle pen, and the rescue operation, which had become a topic of conversation in the village, could easily be discovered by the Jew-hunting gendarmerie. Jean invited the two Melzer sisters into his home and hid them in an attic. He found other hiding places for all the others who had been hiding in his pen. After a few days, Sarah and Nechama were placed in a comfortable hiding place in the Hôtel de France. In November 1942, when the Germans occupied the area, the Ane-Prince family found itself in increasing danger. The Melzer sisters decided to cross into Spain during the first week of December, beforethe heavy snowfalls. One morning at 3:00, they left their hiding place and moved to the Ane-Prince home. They hid in the attic until December 7, when Ane-Prince led them to Col d’Espagne, a mountain pass 2,000 meters high, where they crossed the border successfully. On October 2, 1984, Yad Vashem recognized Jean and Marianne Ane-Prince, and his sons Jean and Guillaume as Righteous Among the Nations.