Fonds Alice Ferrières (MDXXXIII)

Diary, correspondence,and testimonies from the archives of Alice Ferrières, who ran a network (“Roseau Ferrières”) in WWII to save children. The collection includes a list of people with whom Alice Ferrières corresponded as well as testimonies of former hidden children. In the summer of 1943, as the situation for Jews in France worsened, the leaders of the Jewish Scout movement decided to close the children’s home in Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne, in southwestern France, and disperse the girls living there. Some of the girls were housed in a private girls’ school in Murat, in the département of Cantal, where they pretended to be Protestants. Alice Ferrières taught mathematics at the school and protected fifteen Jewish youngsters in the town, including the Jewish girls who attended the school. In her home, she supplied food, privacy, and a genuine refuge. Before the Germans encircled Muret, she was able to deliver the Jewish youngsters to peasants in the vicinity, who sheltered them in their homes. Her apartment also served as a temporary refuge for several adult Jews until she could arrange permanent shelter for them in a nearby village. She was recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.

Arranged in six series: 1. Diary of Alice Ferrières (Fond MDXXXIII-1); 2. Correspondence with individuals (Fond MDXXXIII-2). Alphabetical order; 3. Correspondence with organizations (Fond MDXXXIII-3); 4. Le Réseau Ferrières (Ferrières network): Files of assisted persons, correspondence, newspaper articles, and miscellaneous notes; 5.Testimonies (Fond MDXXXIII-5); 6. Various records (MDXXXIII-6): Correspondence and post-war records.