Rateron Jean & Noëllie (Touron)

Rateron, Jean-Auguste Rateron, Noëllie Nicolas Deutsch immigrated to Paris from Hungary in 1925 and shortly thereafter sent for his family: his parents, his sister and his sister’s husband and child. Nicolas married Yolande (née Weisz) and had three children: Georges (b. 1929), Marie Ève (b. 1932) and Pierre (b. 1938). In 1935, he started a business manufacturing raincoats; the 15 employees of the company were all extended family members. Upon the outbreak of war, Nicolas volunteered to join the French army. After a ceasefire agreement was reached with Germany, Nicole was released from duty on June 22, 1940. He returned to his business until April 1941, when laws were enacted forbidding Jews to own businesses. In the aftermath of the harrowing Vél d’ Hiv roundup in July 1942, the extended Deutsch family fled south. At first they stayed at a hotel in the town of Loches (Indre-et-Loire), but they were forced to move on once their local residence permit expired. They went to a different hotel in the town of Felletin, and in November 1942 Nicolas procured a residence permit that allowed them to stay. The Deutsches rented a place in the nearby village of La Jasseix, three km south of Felletin, along the road leading to Tulle. During this period, Georges Deutsch, Nicolas’ and Yolande’s eldest son, befriended Auguste and Noëllie Rateron, a childless couple who lived nearby, and the families became close. The Raterons offered the Deutsches two rooms on the first floor of their house should they ever need them. On November 4, 1943, the Gestapo raided La Jasseix. Nicolas hid, and as soon as he was able escaped across the Creuse River, hiding with farmers, fellow members of the underground, with whom he was acquainted. He asked the farmers to inform his family of his whereabouts; they told him that his pregnant wife and three children had been arrested. The next day, Nicolas moved into the Raterons' home. Most days he would leave early in the morningand hide in nearby fields, returning to the house only in the evening. Except for the Raterons, no one in town knew of Nicolas' whereabouts. On several occasions, armed with counterfeit identification papers, he snuck into Paris to look for his family, but always returned to Felletin and his hideout with the Raterons. He stayed there until the war’s end. After the war, Nicolas discovered that his family had been taken to the Drancy transit camp. On December 7, 1943 they were sent on Transport no. 64 to Auschwitz, where they were murdered. Nicolas remained in close contact with the Raterons following the war, until their passing. Until 1960 his adopted son, Thomas, regularly spent his vacations with the Rateron family. On 29 August, 2011, Jean-Auguste and Noëllie Rateron were recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.