Erich Schwam, a Jewish refugee who arrived in the village with his mother and father in 1943, bequeathed an estimated sum of at least a few hundred thousand euros to the commune in south-central France, according to the notary in charge of his testament .
“We are extremely honored and will use the sum according to Mr. Schwam’s wishes,” said the city’s deputy mayor, Denise Vallat, to CNN on Saturday.
In the will dated November 9, 2020, Schwam wrote that he wanted to “thank them [the village residents] for the welcome that many have given me in the field of education. “He asked that the money be used to finance scholarships and schools in the village.
Major contributions will also be made to three foundations that support health workers, children with leukemia and animal rights, according to a city press release.
Le Chambon and surrounding villages received Jewish refugees, most of them children, after 1940, according to the city hall website. Barack Obama mentioned the village in his comments at the April 2009 Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony and Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, awarded the commune the title of Justo in 1990.
Friedel Reiter, a young Swiss social worker who volunteered to help refugees at the time, recorded the family information and it is likely that she helped transfer them to Le Chambon when the Rivesaltes camp was closed in 1942, the city said.
When he was just 12, Schwam was taken care of by Secours Suisse, a sub-sector of the Swiss Red Cross who specialized in helping children during the war, where his mother also worked. Schwam enrolled in a pharmacy course at the University of Leon in 1950, graduating in 1957.
The city is unsure whether he returned to Le Chambon regularly and is asking for more information about “the Viennese Jewish boy” who was so generous over 75 years later.
“We didn’t know Mr. Schwam, now we’re trying to establish who he was and what happened to him here,” said Vallat.