Louise Roger
Louise RogerIsrael news photo: reproduction

Louise Roger, a Righteous Among the Nations from France, was posthumously honored at Yad Vashem Tuesday. Her grandchildren, Robert Roger and Marie-Terese Roger, who arrived especially for the event from France, received the medal and certificate of honor on her behalf. 





The Rescue Story:

On October 22, 1940, the Jews of Baden and Palatinate, Germany, were deported to France, where they were put in detention camps.  Among the deportees were the Odenheimer family: Julchen and Hugo Odenheimer, their six year-old son Herbert (now Ehud) and his grandmother, Sophie.  

Sophie died in the Gurs Camp where the family was interred; Julchen and Hugo were deported to Auschwitz in September 1942 where they were murdered.

In early 1941, Ehud was removed from the detention camp with several dozen other children and brought to a children’s home run by O.S.E., the Society for Rescuing Children, a Jewish organization in France. He was hidden with several different Christian families until he arrived at the home of Jules and Jeanne Roger. By the end of 1943, Jules’ underground activities increasingly endangered the young Jewish boy hiding with them, and the Rogers decided to move Ehud to the home of Jules’ mother, Louise in the village of Argy.

Ehud lived with Louise under an assumed identity, Hubert Odet, until the end of the war. He took part in the daily activities of the household, working on their farm, studying in the local school, and even served as a choirboy in the local church, to help hide his Jewish identity. “Grandma” took care of Ehud, providing for all his needs and providing him a safe haven, despite the difficulties and risks. At the same time, she also made sure that he did not forget his Jewish identity even though she was not Jewish.

Louise Roger died on June 24, 1947. Jeanne and Jules Roger were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations in 1989.

Close to 23,000 individuals have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.  For more information about the Righteous Among the Nations program, click here.

The event honoring Roger took place in the presence of Dr. Ehud Leob, who was rescued by Louise Roger. Also in attendance were Chairman of the Commission for the Designation of the Righteous Among the Nations, retired High Court Justice Yaakov Türkel; Chairman of Yad VaShem, Avner Shalev; the French Ambassador to Israel, Christophe Bigot; members of Aloumim, the Association of Jewish Children Hidden during the Holocaust; Holocaust survivors and French participants in an educators’ seminar currently taking place at Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies.