Jacquemard Juliette

Ménigault, Rodolphe Ménigault, Marie Madeleine (Cribellier) Jacquemard, Juliette Sora and Moise Lajzerowicz, originally from Poland, moved to France in the early 1930s and were married in Paris in 1933. In 1934 their only daughter, Micheline, was born. In 1941 Moise, seeing how the events of the war were advancing, started to fear for his family. Believing at first that only men were being targeted by the Germans, he fled alone toward the “free zone” in south of France. Sora, left alone with Micheline, stayed in Paris and provided for both of them, mainly by going to the countryside a few times a week to buy food and supplies. On her way there she would pass through the Audeville train station, where Marie Madeleine Ménigault worked as the chief of the station. The two women started to talk and became friendly. Sora sent Micheline on vacation at the Menigaults’ home the summer of 1941. Marie Madeleine lived right next to the station with her family: Rodolphe, her husband, and their three children, Jeannine, Bernard, and Rémy. In the following summer of 1941, while massive arrests of Jews took place in Paris, Micheline was at the Ménigaults’ home and was thus spared. Sora, who was in Paris, received a warning of the upcoming events and managed to run away, joining her daughter in Audeville. Rodolphe and Marie Madeleine sheltered both of them, despite the great risk of being discovered—and its possible consequences. The Ménigaults presented Sora and Micheline as their sister-in-law and niece. Micheline went to school with Rémy, who was the same age, under a false identity. To avoid rumors and suspicion, Sora almost never went out. Marie Madeleine used her position at the train station to collect different fragments of letters thrown away from the trains by those being deported, and Rodolphe sent the letters to their destinations. Unfortunately, in September 1943 rumors in the town began, and the mayor told the Ménigaults that he heard they were giving shelter to Jewish fugitives: this was related to the fact that Micheline, unlike the other children, never went to catechism class. No longer able to stay, Sora and Micheline had to leave. Rodolphe arranged for them to be sent to a safe place with Juliette Jacquemard, the Ménigaults’ trusted acquaintance. Juliette lived in Etampes (Essonne). She took in the two women, in addition to Moise, who joined them at some point. They all stayed safely there until the liberation. The whole Lajzerowicz family managed to survive thanks to the courage of the Ménigault couple and Juliette Jacquemard, who helped them by acting when so many remained silent. On February 5, 2013, Yad Vashem recognized Rodolphe and Marie Madeleine (Cribellier) Ménigault and Juliette Jacquemard as Righteous Among the Nations.