In the summer of 1943, thousands of Jewish refugees in Italian-occupied southern France enjoyed a rare respite from persecution, protected by an unusual force: the occupying Italian Army, who temporarily shielded local and foreign Jews ...See moreIn the summer of 1943, thousands of Jewish refugees in Italian-occupied southern France enjoyed a rare respite from persecution, protected by an unusual force: the occupying Italian Army, who temporarily shielded local and foreign Jews despite pressure from the Germans and the French Vichy administration. In one Alpine village, Saint Martin Vesubie, life was, briefly, renewed as Jews attended synagogues, schools and cafés, and Yiddish was heard as often as French. With the invasion of Nazi troops in September the lull was broken and most of the Jews were deported. Veteran French filmmaker Andre Waksman, whose family survived the Holocaust in southern France, reconstructs this little known World War II history. Written by
National Center for Jewish Film
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