Foucault Marcel

Foucault, Marcel Paula (Pessa) Leska fled Poland for Belgium in 1938, and in 1940 escaped to France with her sister Chana Rechtszaid, brother-in-law Mathis Rechtszaid, and their two children, Paulette, 7, and Maurice, 3. In August 1942, the Rechtszaid family was living in Aiguebelette-le-Lac (Savoie) under government order. In the middle of the night of August 27, French gendarmes rounded up all the Jews in the area, including Chana and her two children. Mathis Rechtszaid managed to escape through the rear of the house and avoid arrest. On the way out of the village, the bus stopped in front of a hotel and Chana left her children with the owner, promising to come back soon to fetch them. They never saw her again. She was deported to Auschwitz, and murdered. Years later, in her testimony to Yad Vashem, Paulette explained that she and her brother were probably left at the hotel because they were not on the list of Jews registered with the police as living in Aiguebelette-le-Lac. A few days later, their father, who had joined the Resistance, came to pick up his children and put them on the train to Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), where their Aunt Paula met them. In Marseille, the children were introduced to Paula's friend, Marcel Foucault. Foucault was also a member of the Resistance, and had provided Paula with false identity papers. He took care of her daily needs, finding her places to stay and paying for her rent and upkeep. He brought the children to a temporary hiding address with a French family until he was able make more permanent arrangements for them. He continued to take care of Paula and her niece and nephew for the remainder of the war years. After the war, Marcel and Paula married, and they had three children. On February 26, 2009, Yad Vashem recognized Marcel Foucault as Righteous Among the Nations.