Villot Jean & Jeanne (Boulin)

Villot, Jean Villot, Jeanne The Haim and Genia Ways family immigrated to the Alsace region of France in 1924, along with their two daughters, Blanche (b. 1914) and Sonia (b. 1918). Haim, who managed a textile factory, passed away in 1936. When Alsace was annexed to Germany in 1939, the family, like most Jews in the region, resettled in southwest France. The Wayses moved to Périgueux, which was still unoccupied at the time, and Genia and her daughters received an apartment and a small stipend from the municipality. Sonia enrolled in a local high school and became close with her 12th grade philosophy teacher, Jean Villot, who took her and her family under his wing. In the winter of 1940, when the local Jews were ordered to report to the local police station, Jean and his wife Jeanne, a teacher, arranged false documents for the family that asserted that they were members of the Russian Orthodox Church. These documents allowed them to continue their lives in relative peace. Ever vigilant, Jeanne would press Jean’s nephew, who worked in the police department, to warn them when trouble was expected, and whenever arrests were imminent, the Villots would hide the Ways family in their home until the danger passed, an act that endangered themselves and their two small children. In June 1944 Sonia was working as a nurse’s aide at a local hospital when a Gestapo man, accompanied by two French policemen, entering the building. She noticed that the police were holding a list of Jews at the hospital, supplied by an informant, and Sonia saw her own name on the list. She managed to escape out a window and hid in the Villots’ home for the next 30 days. Recalling the story at age 93, Sonia remembered every detail and was moved to tears when recalling the kindness of the couple who saved her life and the lives of her family. On January 10, 2012, Jean and Jeanne Villot were recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.