NEWS RELEASE
CONTACT: The Canadian Society for Yad Vashem
David Eisenstadt
Communications Counsel
416-696-9900 ext. 36
deisenstadt@tcgpr.com
YAD VASHEM HONOURS FRENCH RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS
DAUGHTERS FROM CANADA AND SWITZERLAND
ACCEPT POSTHUMOUS HONOURS
Evelyne Jacobson (left) of Montréal, PQ and Irene Dutont of Switzerland, daughters of Helene
Marthe Ducommun and Rev. Marcel Ducommun receive the medal and certificate on their parents'
behalf in the Garden of the Righteous at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. The Ducommuns were
recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations for sheltering Jews during the
Holocaust. [photo: Isaac Harari]
JERUSALEM – May 2, 2010 - Yad Vashem has posthumously honoured Rev. Marcel and Helene
Marthe Ducommun from France as Righteous Among the Nations. Their daughters Evelyne
Jacobson of Montréal, Québec, Canada and Irene Dutont of Switzerland accepted the medal and
certificate of honour on their behalf. The ceremony took place in the presence of siblings Nadia
Rosenblum and Maurice Grubain, children of Abraham and Sarah Gurbstein, the Jewish parents to
whom the Ducommuns provided refuge and H.E. Christophe Bigot, Ambassador of France in Israel.
…/more
-2Rescue Story:
The Grubstein family emigrated from Poland to France in 1932. When the Nazis invaded France in
May 1940, the Grubsteins were among the many refugees that escaped to Southern France.
During their flight, the family was arrested several times, sent to a detention camp, and eventually
arrived in the Tarn District. Upon arrival, Abraham and Sarah Grubstein, and their three children,
Jacques, Maurice, and Nadia, located the leaders of the Jewish community in Castres and requested
assistance for a hiding place. The family was eventually referred Rev. Marcel Ducommun in the
village of Senegats.
Rev. Ducommun, who tended to the pastoral needs of three small villages, immediately agreed to
provide shelter for the persecuted Jewish family who hid inside the church compound and were given
free access to the parsonage. The Reverend and his wife, Helene Marthe, acting out of a sense of
strong moral and religious beliefs, cared for the Grubsteins, visiting them regularly and tending to
their needs. They even gave the family permission to plant vegetables in a garden adjacent to the
church.
Meanwhile, Jacques and Nadia occasionally attended the local school where the Pastor’s wife was a
teacher. When Rev. Ducommun, a member of the French resistance movement, would hear of
imminent arrests, he hurried to warn the Grubsteins, who would flee and hide in coal miners’ huts
near the village.
The village residents cooperated with the Ducommuns, safeguarding their secret. The Grubsteins
remained under the Ducommuns’ devoted care for two years and were later rescued. After the war,
the Grubsteins became French citizens and changed their name to Grubain. Rev. Marcel Ducommun
died May 2, 1990; his wife Helene Marthe died June 11, 1994.
On December 21, 2009, the Commission for the Designation of the Righteous Among the Nations at
Yad Vashem awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations to Rev. Marcel and Helene Marthe
Ducommun.
-30ABOUT YAD VASHEM
Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Remembrance and Education Centre in Jerusalem is the universal
guardian and imparter of the Shoah’s (Holocaust’s) legacy and the protector of human values. Visited
by more than a million annually, Yad Vashem is internationally recognized as being at the forefront of
Holocaust commemoration, education, documentation and research. www.YadVashem.org
Visit the Righteous Among the Nations Program:
http://www1.yadvashem.org/righteous_new/index.html
ABOUT THE CANADIAN SOCIETY FOR YAD VASHEM
The Canadian Society for Yad Vashem is one of Yad Vashem’s largest and most prominent of its 28
representative bodies worldwide. The Society supports Yad Vashem’s initiatives and implements its
important vision across Canada.
Through its educational and commemorative activities, the Society carries out Yad Vashem’s mission
of ensuring that the Holocaust and its lessons are forever engraved in the memory of humankind.
www.yadvashem.ca