Paul Vergara

   Paul Vergara was born on April 8, 1883, in Marseille. He served as a pastor in Pouzauges in 1910 and then at the Oratoire du Louvre from 1933 to 1954.

On February 10 and 11, 1943, a large-scale roundup targeted stateless Jews in all districts of the capital and in the suburbs. It initially targeted children gathered at the Union générale des Israélites de France (UGIF), an organization under the control of the Nazis and the Vichy government. This roundup was organized by the French police, officially to appease the Nazis and prevent the deportation of French Jews.

   In response, on February 12, Suzanne Spaak, a Protestant resistance fighter and one of the leaders of the Mouvement National contre le Racisme (MNCR), founded by the Jewish section of the M.O.I., contacted Pastor Paul Vergara, known for his sermons in support of the Jews.

   A spectacular rescue operation to save the children, who were still gathered at the UGIF on Rue Lamarck and Rue Guy Patin in Paris, was carried out jointly by the MNCR, the Œuvre du Temple de l’Oratoire du Louvre, and the Union des Femmes juives (UFJ). Marcelle Guillemot, a social worker, is the director of the “La Clairière” medical-social center and youth club, which is affiliated with the Oratoire du Louvre.

   During the service, Paul Vergara and Mr. Guillemot handed out a flyer to the Protestant congregation inviting them to visit the UGIF and offer to take a Jewish child “out for the day.” In fact, the children, aged 3 to 18, were taken to “La Clairière.” To the neighbors, they were supposed to be young orphaned refugees, victims of the bombings. False identities were created for them.

   Suzanne Spaak is compiling a list of families interested in fostering a child.

Starting on February 15, 1943, and in the days that followed, all the children taken from the UGIF, as well as other Jewish children in the neighborhood of foreign origin, were gathered at “La Clairière” before being placed with foster families.  

 On February 16, the Gestapo uncovered the ruse, but the 63 Jewish children in their care were already safe. Suzanne Spaak was imprisoned at Fresnes Prison and shot in 1944. Marcelle Vergara, the pastor’s wife, was also imprisoned at Fresnes but escaped death. Paul Vergara and Marcelle Guillemot managed to flee, each to a different location. Hunted by the Gestapo, Pastor Vergara went into hiding until the Liberation.

    Paul Vergara is the author of several essays on Christianity.

   Suzanne Spaak (posthumously), Pastor Vergara, his wife Marcelle, and later Marcelle Guillemot were recognized as “Righteous Among the Nations.”