NICHOLAS DUHR
French Rescuer
Born and raised in Sierck les Bains, Moselle, France in 1915, Nicholas Duhr spent the war years in the small town of Saint Georges les Baillargeaux, Vienne. Although he married and became a father during this period, he proved himself a courageous and tireless worker on behalf of hundreds of people in need of escape from the Nazi war machine. While a great many of these people were Jewish, others included North Africans, Americans and French. Duhr did not discriminate. His rescue activities began in September 1940, when he helped a young Frenchman, Charles Briquet, escape from a German prison camp by providing him with false identity papers and indispensible food ration coupons.
Before long he became the leader of a local resistance group, part of a network attached to the Renard (Fox) network of Poitiers. He was designated captain of the resistance group O.C.M. (Civil and Military Organization). In charge of three paramilitary groups, he helped about two hundred people cross over the border, giving each refugee a pack of cigarettes and ten francs to make the passage a bit easier.
Go to the Next Page