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Historian Lucien Lazare, Witness to French Jewish Resistance, Dies at 101
By Drooid · · How we work
Death of a Holocaust Scholar
In September, Lucien Lazare, a historian and former teacher whose memoirs illuminated a little-known Jewish resistance unit in occupied France, passed away at his home in Jerusalem at the age of 101. Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial authority, announced his death and noted his long-standing role on the memorial’s commission that honors individuals who aided Jews during World War II.
Wartime Service and the Marc Haguenau Unit
Lazare recounted that, after escaping Nazi persecution, he was recruited by a resistance member in the late spring of 1944. He joined the Marc Haguenau unit—a small company of roughly 200 fighters described by Lazare as “all of us green.” The unit’s operations included the liberation of Castres in southern France, the receipt and distribution of Allied-dropped parachutes, and a costly clash that inflicted severe losses on the fighters. In August 1944, the group ambushed a German train as Wehrmacht forces retreated eastward, prompting the surrender of the German soldiers involved.
Key Figures and Numbers
- Lucien Lazare – Historian, former teacher, member of Yad Vashem’s commemorative commission.
- Marc Haguenau unit – Approximately 200 members; active in southern France during the final months of Nazi occupation.
- Operations – Liberation of Castres; distribution of parachutes; ambush of a German train in August 1944.
Official Acknowledgment
Yad Vashem’s announcement highlighted Lazare’s contribution to preserving the memory of Jewish resistance and his participation in the memorial’s commission, underscoring the organization’s role in documenting individual acts of bravery during the Holocaust.
Legacy and Historical Significance
Lazare’s 2015 memoir, *Le Tapissier de Jérusalem*, preserves his personal recollections of the resistance, including the “feeling of victory” after the train ambush. Scholars and educators cite his work as a rare first-hand account of underground Jewish operations in France, enriching the historical record of the Holocaust and the broader narrative of European resistance movements.