Do I stand or do I not?
- Apr 6
- 2 min read
The Armistice of June 22, 1940, divided France into Vichy France under German control, and the remainder the so-called Free Zone. The Free Zone, however, turned out to be less than free. By 1942, Jewish families were hiding and desperately fleeing. The Archbishop of Toulouse, Jules Gerald Saliege, publicly defied the Nazis and wrote the following, “In our diocese, children, women, men, fathers, and mothers are treated like a lowly herd. The Jews are men and women. They are part of the human race; they are our brothers… A Christian cannot forget this.”
His words struck deeply in the heart of Sister Denise Bergon, the young Mother Superior of the Convent of Norte Dame de Massip, about 100 miles from Toulouse. The convent included a boarding school, and she was certain she could hide Jewish children there. Fearful of the danger to her fellow nuns, she knew she would have to keep her activities largely secret. She wrote to the Archbishop, her heart burdened by the idea of bearing false witness. The Archbishop wrote back, “Let’s lie, let’s lie my daughter, as long as we are saving human lives!”
And so the young nun began searching the surrounding forests for Jewish children. She also accepted any child brought to her by desperate parents, many of whom provided money or jewelry for their children’s upkeep. She carefully and secretly noted such gifts, as well as names and contacts of all her charges. She explained the presence of these new students to her fellow nuns by saying that they were refugees from the East, who having been raised as atheists knew nothing of the Catholic mass. A clever ruse indeed!
The children under her care, in later years, wrote of her loving and individual care and the warm, home-like atmosphere she provided. Every child was educated and even taught piano lessons. In early 1944, the threat of discovery became a daily struggle. Sister Denise paired the children, one older and one younger, and taught them to immediately run for the forests at the first sign of Nazi inspection of the convent, which they were forced to do many times.
Following liberation in August of 1944, Sister Denise was able to reunite some children with their parents and in every case returned valuables to assist families in reestablishing themselves. When all was said and done, 83 Jewish children left the Convent of Norte Dame Massip alive and well.
From the vantage point of 80 years, it is easy for us to applaud Sister Denise for her heroism, and to imagine that somehow she had an extra dose of courage and holiness. In reality, of course, she was a 30-year-old in a desperate and dangerous situation who was asked to make life’s most pivotal decision. “Do I stand or do I not?” Her decision was clear… I wonder how many of us would do the same?
