Dauvilliers Maurice & Jeannine

Couanet, Georges Couanet, Marie-Louise Dauvilliers, Maurice Dauvilliers, Jeanine Georges and Marie-Louise Couanet, as well as Jeanine and Maurice Dauvilliers, who was a driver, lived in Paris. Georges Couanet was physician to the Jewish Trevgoda family, and was also their friend. The Couanets were also clients of Juda Trevgoda’s hair salon. Practicing Catholics and true patriots, the Couanets’ opposition to the Germans extended over three generations, in 1870, 1914 and 1940. In July 1942, Juda and his eldest son were arrested and deported to Auschwitz where they were murdered. The two younger Trevgoda children, Michel, 8, and his sister Jenny, 1 and a half, were entrusted to a foster family in the countryside through the Children’s Relief Organization (OSE). On two occasions their mother, Simone, escaped arrest. She then went to the Couanets asking for refuge, who offered her their maid’s room for a year at no charge. She remained hidden there until Dr. Couanet was conscripted to go to Germany in March 1944. Just before he left, the two Trevgoda children contracted scabies and Dr. Couanet had them hospitalized at Saint Louis hospital. Once they were cured, Michel was taken in by a nurse in Versailles, and Jenny went to live with an aunt in Paris. In January 1944, the police went to arrest the aunt and her daughters. One of them pretended to be ill, which prompted the policemen to grant them a reprieve. As Jenny was not on their list, one of the daughters wrapped her in a blanket and knocked on the door of their neighbors, Jeanine and Maurice Dauvilliers. She asked the Dauvilliers to take care of the child, and they agreed immediately to keep her for several days. Because they both worked, they entrusted Jenny to Maurice’s mother in Aubervilliers, who looked after her until March 1944. After this ordeal, Simone Trevgoda and her two children finally found a safe shelter together with a family 40 kilometers from Paris, where they remained until the Liberation. On August 25, 2003, Yad Vashem recognized Georges and Marie-Louise Couanet, along with Maurice and Jeanine Dauvilliers, as Righteous Among the Nations.