Madeleine Barot

Madeleine Barot ( born July 4, 1909 in Châteauroux, † December 28, 1995 in Paris) was an important figure in French Protestantism and in the Ecumenical Movement. During the Second World War, she saved many Jews their lives.

Life

Madeleine Barot was born in a family of teachers. After a higher education in Clermont- Ferrand and Versailles, she studied history at the Sorbonne. After completing her studies, she studied history archives and library science. She did an internship at the Bibliothèque nationale de France and in 1935 an archivist at the École française de Rome, where she worked until 1940.

During her studies, Madeleine Barot was a member of the Fédération des associations universal chrétiennes d' étudiants ( General Confederation of Associations of Christian students). It came from the Girl Scouts and out of work under Protestant students. On August 15, 1940, she was elected as the General Secretary of the Comité inter Movements auprès of évacués, CIMADE and thus succeeds by Georgette Siegrist. At the founding of the Cimade also Suzanne de Dietrich participated. The first task of Cimade was to afford the products marketed by the German invasion of Alsace -Lorraine human assistance and to assist them in their resettlement in other French, in particular south west regions. Madeleine Barot got their work in the Cimade access to the Camp de Gur, the French internment camp near Pau, in which most of them Jews, and political prisoners were incarcerated. She shared with other helpers of Cimade the lives of persons accommodated in barracks refugees suffering from cold and hunger and constantly lived in fear of being extradited to the National Socialist German Reich. Within the Cimade she organized first escape routes, mediated Hide and provided the people watched with false papers. She held on for a longer time in Le Chambon- sur -Lignon, to help the Jews found refuge there. The residents of this village and its surroundings are known for their courageous support of the Jews, they could still retain 3,000 to 5,000 people from deportation to concentration camps. Madeleine Barot accompanied the Office of the Secretary General of the Cimade until 1956.

Madeleine Barot, who were certified as " indomitable energy ", worked on an international level. So they led in July and August 1939 at the 1st World Conference of Christian Youth in Amsterdam chair a local commission. On this by Willem Adolf Visser 't Hooft -organized World Conference discussed the need to promote the spirit of resistance.

1953 Madeleine Barot worked in the World Council of Churches in the project " The man and the woman in the church and society." Here she was instrumental in the recognition of the status of women in the church. Madeleine Barot also worked in a responsible position in the Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture ( ACAT). And they took over duties in the Protestant Federation of France.

1980 has been awarded for their selfless efforts on behalf of persecuted Jews during the Third Reich with the honorary title " Righteous Among the Nations " Madeleine Barot by the National Israeli Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem.

In 1986 she founded together with the Catholic Jacqueline Rougé the French section of the Conférence Mondiale des Religions pour la Paix ( World Conference of Religions for Peace ).

Madeleine Barot died on December 28, 1995 in Paris.