Office of Public Relations

Pomona, NJ 08240

 

Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust to Receive Recognition at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

 

Ceremony Set for October 12, 2006 4:30 pm, in the Holocaust Resource Center

 

For Immediate Release

Friday, September 8, 2006

Contact: Tim Kelly

Stockton Public Relations

(609) 652-4950

 

Jessica Hudson

(609) 652-4524

 

Galloway Township, NJ Two brave individuals have been given the high honor of being recognized as Righteous Among the Nations: Rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust by Yad Vashem (in Jerusalem), the Jewish memorial to those killed in the Holocaust. Current and former students at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey are linked to these heroes.

 

Mr. Giovanni Palatucci, the great uncle of current Richard Stockton College History major Nick Palatucci, engaged in rescue work for 5 years before being captured by the Gestapo; at the age of 36 he died in Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany in 1945. He was honored, posthumously by Yad Vashem in February 2005.

 

Mme Jeannette Brousse, lives in Annecy, France, the same town where she worked for the Haute-Savoie government as a young woman. In the course of her job, she learned of planned arrests of Jews, and through the French underground warned them, housed some of them and arranged safe houses for many Jews, especially children when their parents were going to hide and escape from Nazi-occupied territory. As one example of her numerous brave actions, Rabbi Schili, who was the director of the rabbinical academy in Paris, testified that she saved him and his family in 1943-44, putting herself and her family in mortal danger.

 

Mme Jeannette Brousse is the mother-in-law of Stockton Sociology graduate Jacqueline Brousse, who is married to Denis Brousse. Jeannette Brousse has been honored in many countries for her heroism, and has friends around the world from among those whom she saved.

 

We are fortunate that Mme Brousse will be present on Thursday October 12, 2006, when she and Mr. Palatucci are honored. Attendees at this event, open to the public in the Open Study Area by the Holocaust Center in Stocktons library, will learn about the process of Yad Vashems investigations of candidates for Righteous Among the Nations, and have a chance to hear from Mme Brousse and her sons Denis and Michel (who is accompanying her from France) about her decision to be part of the resistance, and some of her experiences as a rescuer.

 

This occasion marks the first time that Stocktons respected and internationally known Holocaust Center will host people who have received the honor of Righteous Among the Nations. This event will be held on Thursday, October 12 at the Holocaust Resource Center of the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey at 4:30 P.M.

 

This event is co-sponsored by Academic Affairs, the Holocaust Center, the Masters in Holocaust and Genocide Studies program, the General Studies Division, the History program and the Womens Studies program and the Undergraduate Minor in Holocaust & Genocide Studies.

 

# # #