Louault Bernard & Jeanne-Marie (Durand)

Louault, Bernard Louault, Jeanne-Marie Bernard and Jeanne-Marie Louault were farmers who lived in Norcay in the district of Chédigny (Indre-et-Loire) with their four children and Bernard’s parents. Their isolated farm was located about a hundred meters south of the partition line. Practicing Catholics, the Louaults were opposed to war, which for them brought back painful memories of the one in 1914-1918. Jeanne-Marie’s father had been killed at the front, and her grandmother had lived through three wars: the one in 1870, the one in 1914-1918, which had taken her son, and this war, which had mobilized her grandson. In March 1942, a neighbor showed up at their farm accompanied by two young men. He introduced them as Ernest Braunschweig, 19, and his 18-year-old brother François. They were Jews who had fled Germany following the Kristallnacht pogrom and the internment of their father in Dachau. They had an older brother who had enlisted in the Foreign Legion. After being demobilized, he had found a job at a neighboring farm. Ernest and François had been interned at various camps and were subsequently released as farm laborers. Their mother and sister were hiding in the vicinity. Informed of the persecutions of the Jews and thinking they could help with the fieldwork, Bernard hired the two young men and lodged them in a small uninhabited house. François worked alongside Bernard and Ernest worked at a neighbor’s, Mrs. Thibauld, a widow whose two sons were prisoners in Germany. “Our two boys,” as Jeanne-Marie called them, were hard workers and also courageous. They quickly integrated themselves in the Louault family. One morning in November 1943, the calm of the farm was interrupted by the sound of a truck. The Gestapo had come to arrest them following a denunciation. Hearing the noise of the engine, François jumped out the window and hid in the woods. Ernest was handcuffed, but took advantage of a bend in the road to jump out of the truck and escape. François stayedwith the Louaults a few more days until Bernard found a solution at the home of a friend, Mr. Prouteau*. François then joined the Resistance. Ernest went underground as well and joined up with his younger brother. They fought until May 1945. After being demobilized, they returned to the Louaults to reassure them of their well-being and maintained solid ties with their rescuers thereafter. On May 6, 2002, Yad Vashem recognized Bernard and Jeanne-Marie Louault as Righteous Among the Nations.