First Published: 2:32 PM PDT, May 17, 2021
Nearly 77 years later, Schwam expressed his gratitude to the residents of the village for protecting his family and keeping them safe in Chambon from the Nazis during World War II and left2 million euros ($2.4 million US dollars) after his Dec. 25, 2020 d
A 90-year-old Austrian man bequeathed millions to a French village that rescued his family from the Nazis after his death in December, according to a report.
In 1943, Eric Schwam and is mother, father and grandmother arrived in the village of Chambon-sur-Lignon as they escaped the Nazis. It is not known how the family got there. They had previously been held at Rivesaltes camp, a military facility in southern France used to intern civilians before it closed in 1942, the BBC reported,
Jewish refugee who fled Nazis with his family from Austria during World War II leaves two million euros in his will to French village whose residents hid them from persecution
Eric Schwam was a Jewish refugee who arrived in Chambon-sur-Lignon, southeast France, with his parents and maternal grandmother in February 1943
Schwam, who died aged 90 in December, is believed to have left around two million euros to the village
He bequeathed the fortune in gratitude for the residents hiding them from Nazis
Austrian man leaves fortune to French village that saved his family from Nazis
An Austrian man who died in December has left an undisclosed fortune to the French village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon to thank residents for hiding his family from Nazis during World War II.
Erich Schwam, a Jewish refugee who arrived in the village with his mother and father in 1943, bequeathed a sum thought to be at least a few hundred thousand euro to the commune in south-central France, according to the notary in charge of his will.
“We are extremely honored and we will use the sum according to Mr. Schwam’s will,” the town’s deputy mayor, Denise Vallat, told CNN on Saturday.