He was just a young toddler


 He was just a young toddler when his Jewish family tried to escape the Nazis by crossing the Swiss border in 1942.


They almost made it, but in the end, they were caught and taken to a camp in Rivesaltes, a place known for its cruelty, near Perpignan in southern France. He and his brother were separated from their parents. After he grew up, he spent many years trying to piece together the story of how they survived.


He knew that Father Louis Bezard, a French priest, had hidden them in a suitcase and carried them through a train station in Toulouse. He also knew that in a town called Marssac, they had been raised as French Catholic boys by different families. He remembered being reunited with his mother, but also learned that his father had died in a concentration camp. But the biggest mystery was how he and his brother had escaped from the camp in the first place. Who had rescued them?

The answer came 66 years later, from an archivist. It turned out that a woman named Mary Elmes, who led the Quaker delegation at the camp, had hidden them in the trunk of her car while she was on a visit. She drove them right past the Nazis! Even more surprising, she hadn’t just saved them, but hundreds of other children in similar situations.


Mary Elmes (pictured at 94) was arrested by the Nazis and imprisoned for six months, but she survived. After the war, she never sought recognition for her actions and quietly returned to normal life.Sometimes, people do the right thing without expecting anything in return. Many of these heroes stay unknown, unless someone like the little boy, now a grown man, decides to search for them. It took nearly 70 years to find Mary Elmes, and by the time he knew her name, she had passed away. But he still found a way to honor her. He nominated her as "Righteous Among the Nations," and in 2013, she became the first and only Irish person to receive this special recognition.

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