Written by: Dr. Carol Rittner, RSM
What were the distinctive religious attitudes and perceptions of the righteous Christians? For them, was Christianity perhaps more the religion of Jesus than the religion about Jesus?
Sister Agnes (Clare) Walsh was a Roman Catholic nun, a member of the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, whose principal work was with the ‘poorest of the poor’. Born in Hull, England, she entered the community in Mill Hill, London, in 1916. From there she was assigned to convents in Ireland and Jerusalem before being sent to France in the late 1930s to convalesce after falling down some stone steps in Bethlehem, when she caught her foot in the dress of an Arab woman.
Sister Agnes remained in France throughout the war, mostly at the convent in Cadouin, south-west France, where she served as Assistant Superior. Untroubled by the Germans – thanks largely to her Irish passport, issued by mistake when she left Ireland for Jerusalem — she quietly continued her work in the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul.
In Cadouin, the Daughters of Charity ran a private school for girls aged 10-13. They were mainly taught domestic skills – valuable skills for farmers’ daughters and future wives – but art was not forgotten, and Sister Agnes taught them to draw and paint.
When the Germans occupied all of France in 1942, the Convent Superior, Sister Louise Granier, was afraid that someone might denounce Sister Agnes to the Germans because she had never lost her English accent. Fortunately, the Germans did not come to the convent – but the Crémieux family did.
One night Pierre Crémieux took his wife and three children – a boy aged seven and four-month-old twins (Alain and Colette) – to Cadouin. Pierre and his family were Jewish and were seeking refuge from the terrifying round-ups of Jews for deportation happening all over France at that time. A chance encounter with Sister Louise on a railway station had led Pierre Crémieux to believe the convent would help.
For three months, until the family could escape abroad, Sister Agnes took the family into her care. She kept them safe until one day she received a call from a Resistance fighter. She was to tell ‘her friends’ to leave immediately – which they did.
The Crémieux family never forgot the actions of the Sister who helped their family to escape the Holocaust. It was their testimony that led to Sister Agnes’ recognition as Righteous Among the Nations at the age of 94.
Quotes
“One should not forget that at the time helping a Jew was a crime.”
“Sister Agnes… remains for me a symbol of sweetness, candour, calm and goodwill unusually associated with courage and determination.”
Carol Rittner RSM, “Conscience and Courage, British Righteous during the Nazi Era,” Perspectives (Journal of The Holocaust Centre, Beth Shalom), Spring 2001.
Carol Rittner, RSM and Sondra Myers, eds. The Courage to Care: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust (New York: New York University Press, 1986).