Godrie Lucile (Huteau)

Godrie, Lucile Marie Lucile Marie Godrie lived in Saint Pezenne (Deux Sèvres) with her son and two daughters. Her husband was infirm, and was mostly confined to the hospital; but despite the difficulties of supporting her husband and three children in a time of war, Godrie took an enormous risk and gave shelter to a Jewish family. Salomon-Sadi Bodenheimer and his wife Elvire had emigrated from Germany in 1934, and settled in Strasbourg with their children Renée (b. 1921), Alfred (b. 1925) and Robert (b. 1931). In December 1940 they moved to Paris, following the advice of a German officer who liked Salomon (probably due to the fact that he was originally German), and told him that in the capital the family should be able to find a safe place to stay. The Bodenheimers stayed in Paris until the fateful events of July 1942 – the great roundup of the Jews of Paris. On July 15th 1942 Renée – who had been working as a secretary to support her family – heard at work about the imminent arrests, and rushed home to warn her family. The family decided to flee, and they managed to get to the town of Niort (Deux Sèvres), many kilometers away from Paris. There Alfred decided to join the resistance, and so separated from his family and went on to Lyon. With the help of a friend the Bodenheimers were directed to Lucile Godrie in the beginning of 1943. Although she was struggling on her own, and knew full well the risks if she were caught, Godrie agreed to take the four Bodenheimers under her care. The family came to live with Godrie and her children, and Renée helped Lucile with the daily tasks of running the household in addition to working, in order to make extra money for them. Robert, who was still a child, went to the local school along with Lucile’s daughter Luce, and the two quickly became friends. No one besides the vice-principal of the school knew about Robert’s real identity, and he made sure Robert was excused from attending religion classes. TheBodenheimers stayed with the Godries until the liberation. There were constant rumors about Lucile hiding a Jewish family, which increased the risk of being discovered – but luckily she was never denounced. “Lucile not only gave us a roof above our heads and often also food, but she gave my parents moral support which they remembered until their last day,” wrote Robert to Yad Vashem many years later. “She was well aware of the great danger of hiding a Jewish family – not just to her, but to her family.” After the war the two families stayed in touch for many years. On March 22, 2011, Yad Vashem recognized Lucile Marie Godrie as Righteous Among the Nations.