Chassaing Ferdinand & Armandine (Bouttier)

Chassaing, Ferdinand Chassaing, Armandine Ferdinand and Armandine Chassaing were shopkeepers in Montsûrs (Mayenne). Ferdinand, a veteran of the 1914-1918 War, had received the Croix de Guerre with several stars as well as the Médaille Militaire for bravery on the battlefield. With the German Occupation, he renewed his patriotic engagement. In 1941, the French police went to arrest a Mr. Bomblatt, a foreign Jew living near Paris. He managed to get away and sought refuge in Monsûrs, where he made friends with the Chassaings. During this period, the German military command requisitioned the couple’s house and billeted soldiers there. The village also had a rest camp for German troops returning from the Eastern Front as well as an internment camp for Gypsies. The constant presence of Germans in the village and the danger to those who helped Jews did not prevent the Chassaings from coming to the aid of three Jewish families, including the Bomblatts. Armandine even traveled to Paris to bring back the two youngest Bomblatt children for the holidays, as it was too dangerous for their father to travel. She arrived at their Parisian home on July 16, 1942, the ill-fated morning of the Paris Winter Velodrome roundup. She barely had time to snatch the two little ones away before the police arrived. Their two older sisters, however, were arrested and deported to the “East” where they were murdered. Their mother managed to escape and went to join her husband in Montsûrs. The Chassaings took them under their wing and found a small house for them in the village. They provided for all the Bomblatts’ needs at no charge and kept them safe, setting an example for other inhabitants. The Chassaigns also took in two other Jewish families, the Klebanoffs and the Golbergs. They also benefited from the protection and generosity of the Chassaings who were motivated by their hatred of the occupying force and their attachment to French republican values. On December 31, 2003, Yad Vashemrecognized Ferdinand and Armandine Chassaing as Righteous Among the Nations.