MARTY, Violette – widow of rescuer Jean-François Marty (1920 – 2004)
Jean-François Marty, the son of a school principal, lived in Toulouse and was active in the French underground. In 1942, he met Violette Nahoum, who had fled to Toulouse from Paris with her parents and brother. Marty, who sympathized with the Nahoums, provided them with forged identity and ration cards and found a French family to shelter them. He warned the Nahoums of impending raids, helping them to escape in time. This exposed Marty to substantial risks, because large numbers of German troops were stationed in the vicinity of Toulouse and an SS division was permanently billeted in private homes in the area.
In September1943, when the Nahoums no longer felt secure, M. Nahoum decided to slip into Spain together with his son. Marty accompanied the father and son and helped them escape across the border. From there, they continued to Morocco. When the roundups of Jews intensified in May 1944, Mme. Nahoum and her daughter decided to leave Toulouse and flee to Spain in M. Nahoum’s footsteps. Marty provided forged visas which allowed them to stay in the closed military zone near the border and found a border runner to help them cross. Marty then accompanied Nahoum and her daughter and, using secret trails, they reached the town of Lérida in Spain, where they were put in the town jail. After their release, the Nahoums continued on to Morocco, where the family was reunited. Marty was caught by the Spanish police and imprisoned, but he later escaped and joined the Free French. After the war, Marty and Violette Nahoum resumed their friendship, married, and settled in Israel.
On January 14, 1995, Yad Vashem recognized Jean-François Marty as Righteous Among the Nations
(Excerpt from”The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations”, France, Yad Vashem Press, p. 381)
