An Austrian who fled the Nazis with his family during World War II bequeathed a large part of his fortune to the French village, whose inhabitants hid them from persecution for years. Eric Schwam, who died at the age of 90 on December 25, wrote the surprise gift in his will for Chambon-sur-Lignon, located on a remote mountain plateau in southeastern France, which historically has a large Protestant community. known for providing shelter for those in need. .
“It’s a big sum for the village,” Mayor Jean-Michel Eyraud told AFP.
He declined to say the amount because the will was still sorted, but his predecessor, who told a local website that he had met twice with Schwam and his wife to discuss the gift, said it was about $ 2 million. euros ($ 2.4 million).
Photo by JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK / AFP via Getty Images
Schwam and his family arrived in 1943 and were hidden in a school during the war. They remained until 1950.
He later studied pharmacy and married a Catholic woman in the Lyon area where they lived.
Eyraud said Schwam demanded that the money be used for educational initiatives and for young people, especially scholarships.
About 2,500 Jews were received and protected during World War II by Chambon-sur-Lignon, whose residents were honored as “Righteous Among the Nations” by Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Center.
Over the centuries, the village has gathered a wide range of people fleeing religious or political persecution, from priests led in hiding during the French Revolution to Spanish republicans during the civil war of the 1930s, and more recently migrants and refugees from Middle East Africa.