Mathéry Paul

Mathéry, Paul On January 15, 1944, at 10 o’clock in the morning, a Gestapo unit burst into the town hall of Avon (Seine-et-Marne) and proceeded to arrest Paul Mathéry, the town clerk, and Charles Ziegler, the interpreter. This event was closely followed by the Gestapo’s arrival at the Petit College in Avon, a Catholic boarding school run by Father Jacques (Lucien Bunel*) of the Carmelite Order. They proceeded to arrest the father superior as well as three Jewish boys hidden in the school under his care. Louis Malle’s film, Au Revoir Les Enfants, retells these tragic events. Paul Mathéry, originally from Bas-Rhin, had furnished false papers to the three Jewish children that ensured them an alternate identity. He had also established food ration coupons for them. Paul had done the same for Resistance members, evaders of Forced Labor Service (STO) and many Jews who had sought refuge in Avon. For several months he had also lodged in his family home two Alsatians deserters who had been forcibly inducted into the German Army, including his own brother. Paul was a great French patriot and made no secret of his deep aversion to the occupier. A non-commissioned officer in the reserves in 1939, he had fled to Switzerland at the end of the military operations. After being interned there, he had escaped back to France, returning to his job at Avon’s town hall. Paul Mathéry and Father Jacques quickly became friends, united by their mutual rejection of Nazism. They were among the founders of the Vélites-Thermopyles Resistance network, along with the mayor of Avon, Rémy Dumoncel*. Engaged in the rescue of Jews and evaders, this network also transmitted much information about the movements of German troops around Fontainebleau. Paul had the advantage of speaking German, which facilitated his administrative relations with the local German military command to the benefit of the Resistance. Paul Mathéry was, however, discovered, arrested and emprisoned at Fontainebleau, where hewas interrogated and tortured. He was then deported to Mauthausen where he died on August 2, 1944, leaving behind a wife and a 12-year-old daughter. On January 21, 2002, Yad Vashem recognized Paul Mathéry as Righteous Among the Nations.